FilmGrid

Film post-production requires collaboration between geographically-distributed companies and individuals. The distribution and management of digital assets (film footage and related data) in current post-production workflows are largely manual, relying heavily on couriers and supervisors. These labour-intensive processes make it difficult to maintain an accurate picture of the status of a production, leading to inefficiencies and complications.

Joe Dunton and Co. and EPCC have produced FilmGrid, a prototype Grid-based software solution designed to address these issues by better managing the flow and availability of data.

High Level Architecture

FilmGrid is a distributed system. Each user accesses the system through a client application, each collaborating site has a server and there is one central registry. Each server may support several clients. The following image depicts an example installation:

Each client is associated with a single server. This server handles all search and asset transfer requests on behalf of the client. The server also stores assets and is responsible for keeping them secure and transferring them to other servers. Each asset is associated with identifying metadata such as the scene and take number.

Normally the server will be on the same local network as its associated clients, with the other servers on separate networks connected by the internet, or a purpose built wide-area network. This means that transfers from clients to local servers can be extremely fast (relative to inter-server transfers).

Users retrieve data by issuing a request for an asset via their client to their local server. The server authenticates the user then checks if the asset is held locally. If it is, the server checks the user’s authorisation to access the asset before initiating the transfer. If the desired asset is not held locally, then its location will be determined and – provided the user is authorised – an inter-server asset transfer will be initiated on the user's behalf.

The central registry is responsible for keeping the details of the servers and users involved in a project. The registry is also responsible for storing central project data which holds information on associated shots and scenes. In the case of the registry being unavailable, servers can fall back on cached data, which prevents the registry from becoming a central point-of-failure.

The important distinguishing feature of the FilmGrid architecture is that it is fundamentally a distributed system – it does not rely on a single central site. This has two major advantages:

• There is no central point-of-failure. If one site goes down, the others can still continue working.
• Data isn't transferred unnecessarily. If other partners don't require an asset, it need only be stored on the local server.

Usage Scenario

FilmGrid is designed to be deployed as the workflow solution for modern motion picture post-productions. It replaces existing manual processes with more efficient and reliable digital ones. For example, the traditional courier used to transport film assets between partners is replaced with network transfer, and the hand-edited storyboard is replaced with a easy-to-edit digital storyboard which conveys up-to-date information to all partners.

Dependencies

The FilmGrid server software must be installed on a Linux machine at each partner in the production. The client software is platform independent, but requires Java to be installed.

Interface

There is a Java client interface for users to interact with the FilmGrid system. It is composed of the following tools:

• Asset Manager: a data transfer tool for moving assets securely, reliably and efficiently.
• Storyboard Manager: a high-level visual overview of the production.
• Scene Manager: data management system designed to reduce the scope for confusion in the current manual process. Provides detailed information on the scenes and shots in a film, including what work has been done to them and by whom.

The Asset Manager is demonstrated in this video.

The Storyboard and Scene Manager are demonstrated in this video.

Further Details

More information on FilmGrid can be found in this factsheet and this booklet. In addition, a paper on FilmGrid was presented at the SMPTE and VSF 2008 Joint Conference.

• Contact: charaka(at)epcc.ed.ac.uk
• Programming Language(s): Java 1.5
• Supported Operating Systems: Platform Independent Client
• Supported or Required Middleware: Globus Toolkit
• Other Dependencies: Java 1.5