“Creativity is paramount, technology is secondary.”
In our new blog series, we delve into the ever-evolving landscape of cloud-based editing. We will explore six guiding principles to carrying out creative workflows in the cloud, starting with ‘creativity’.
An Introduction to Creativity in the Cloud
When creating an infrastructure such as the cloud, it is essential to consider the workflow of creatives, and the ways in which creative organisations will utilise the system. In the case of the broadcast and media industry, the use of cloud infrastructure has acted as a canvas for new technological advances for over a decade. Some of the biggest and most exciting opportunities that have arisen over the years previous have been because of the cloud and its infrastructure. The question is, why has the cloud soared so astronomically in the broadcast and media industry, and how do the seemingly unreachable limits of its creativity keep developing so substantially? Let’s start by exploring the creative possibilities of the cloud, and how it has rapidly become the ideal work tool for media service providers everywhere.
Prioritising User Experience
Many offices in the broadcast and media industry now work remotely from all around the globe, embracing a unity of incredible diversity and talent. The implementation and rapid development of the cloud in remote workflows has made this possible. For many employees everywhere, workflows are simpler, more effective and more user friendly than ever before. It is important to capitalise on this user experience and do everything that we can as media service providers in the industry to develop a community space that allows for creatives to thrive. As an industry, it is vital to continue the rise of flexible infrastructure as far as post-production and beyond into specific, tailored workflows for all broadcast and media organisations. In every case of cloud implementations of remote working, the most important thing to consider is the need of creatives using the pipeline. Without this detailed customisation, the cloud can dramatically decrease in efficiency.
In the case of many organisations in the industry, rapidly changing business requirements and asks of teams has called for rapid user creation. For this reason, the developments of user deployment in the cloud have been game-changing, re-imagining the way that teams in broadcast and post-production can scale to meet deadlines and provide content in even just a few hours. By prioritising user experience in cloud native pipelines and designing workflow components for the fast end-to-end flow, the industry can continue to thrive and embrace all and every aspect of remote working.
Building the Cloud With Creatives in Mind
The cloud, in its raw form, has not been primarily designed with creatives at the centre, it is merely a platform for integrators to build on. The way it operates for creative implementation is a function of the solutions that providers build.
With the nature of the cloud being local no one (you can’t walk into their data center) solutions need to be remote-friendly. This natively remote & distributed nature allows for large groups of creatives to collaborate on important projects – from teams, communities or even entire industries, the cloud is accommodating for all forms of creative unity. This style of collaboration is ideal for creatives to bring their heads together and bounce ideas off each other, laying the groundwork for the new and budding technological projects of the future.
The implementation of the modern remote access workflows has gradually provided a scalable and achievable solution to post-production workflows, allowing for teams to work on-set, remote, or hybrid at any moment they choose. The nature of cloud infrastructure means that its services are naturally customisable, and unlike investing in large, fixed hardware platforms the penalty for getting things wrong and making changes for the better is low. Teams can edit and share in the cloud without the need for on-site storage, pulling files in and out with ease and rendering in record time. This frees up time for more creative input in a post-production scenario, which would not have been possible due to tight and stressful deadlines previously. The uprise of cloud-based services, systems and operations within the broadcast and media industry has meant that teams now have space to collaborate, create new ideas and embark on projects held on the back burner for years. It is truly a revolutionary step in the world of media service providers and their approach to the industry.
Embracing Technology Transparency
As more and more creative opportunities arise with the help of cloud-based services, transparency has become less of an issue due to the extreme accessibility and glass-window feel of the cloud.
Technology at the hand of cloud development has become entirely transparent, encouraging healthier and more vibrant workspaces for employees. For media service providers, transparency is vital, with so many teams now working from home without a communal office space, everything must be secure and shared to function correctly. With this new branch of benefits available, post-production and broadcast teams have a way to work like never before, embracing the newfound transparency of the storage solutions presented to the industry. Now that users can be so easily deployed, and with the level of accessibility at an all-time high, remote, hybrid and on-site teams can work on any project with the security of complete technology transparency.
Creativity, and making space for creatives, is what helped build our Lens Portal. Our managed service platform was specifically designed for quick and easy user deployment to encourage the creatives of the broadcast and media industry to thrive. Customisable, scalable, and easily integrated into any workflow, Lens is at the forefront of the industry for aiding in creative technological endeavours. Request a demo here.
