ConnecTechAsia 2019, 07: Hoods Inc. Productions Powers its New Modern Media Operation with EditShare

EditShare, a technology leader in intelligent scale-out storage, AQC and media management solutions, announced last month that Singapore-based Hoods Inc. Productions (Hoods Inc.) has designed its next-generation media operation around EditShare media solutions, putting XStream EFS scale-out shared storage, Flow production asset management and Ark archiving and backup at the core of its media production operation. Known for City Sharks, Knockout, Double Trouble and Yolo Pronto, Hoods Inc. replaced its legacy sneakernet set up with EditShare’s connected infrastructure. The future-proof set-up eliminated the production inefficiencies with a connected and collaborative workflow that gives Hoods Inc. more time to focus on the creative aspect of their growing list of projects.

“Hoods Inc. has created some of Singapore's most innovative children’s programmes and their outstanding content has led to a busy schedule. To keep pace with the productions, Hoods Inc. must leverage technology that manages the nuances of today’s file-based workflows with the flexibility to grow into the future,” said Peter Lambert, APAC sales director, EditShare. “EditShare provides a highly efficient, scalable production infrastructure with collaborative tools that allow companies like Hoods Inc. to eliminate redundancy and tap into a larger pool of creative content producers and ultimately thrive as a business in what is a very competitive and fast-moving market.”

Esan Sivalingam, CEO and Co-Founder at Hoods Inc., commented on the value of the investment, “With the legacy set up, staff was often tied up with duplicating rushes and other content then consolidating back to finalise projects. It was just inefficient. Now, with EditShare as the media foundation, we have been given back the valuable commodity of time into our production schedule.”

Deanna Tan, Head of Post Production at Hoods Inc. added, “With EditShare, the media is connected to the right staff moments after it arrives at the facility. We can sit down at any workstation and use Flow to review the rushes and provide feedback to editors who can collaborate with colleagues easily through project sharing. But the most important aspect is that EditShare provides the flexibility to expand. Should we need more storage or need to move into the cloud, it’s as simple as adding a node or module. This is critical for our business as we grow.”

Flow production asset management provides Hoods Inc. with tools to search, browse, view metadata, log, create sub-clips and add markers. Producers and assistants can quickly assemble storyboards or organise media into projects, folders, and sequences, which can then be retrieved by editors with a simple drag and drop of files into their NLE. Advanced project sharing capabilities of the XStream EFS shared storage platforms enable editors to collaborate on projects and quickly evolve narratives. Ark rounds out the end-to-end workflow with integrated backup and archiving for a fully connected workflow from ingest to final output.

Tan highlighted the benefits of having a tiered storage environment where the archives are part of the production, “With Ark, we can move the content off our XStream EFS server and recall it fully or partially at any time. This is crucial when it comes to managing rushes. Before Editshare, we’d always have two copies of rushes stored on two different hard disks (as backups). We kept track of the media contents in a spreadsheet. To pull content from the archive, our editors would have to look at an excel sheet and then manually search the hard disk that contained the project or rushes, and then copy the media to the main storage. Today is completely different. Once filming is completed, we can input our rushes into the system and schedule it for scanning into Flow and onto the EFS shared storage solution so everyone can browse the content. We can also simultaneously schedule it for Ark, giving us that backup copy immediately. Unlike before, all of the media is indexed and metadata captured automatically making content searchable across Flow, EFS, and Ark.” Sivalingam concluded on the benefits of the connected workflow, “It’s a digital transformation that has accelerated our productions significantly.”

In addition to media management, security was another key factor in selecting EditShare solutions. In the past, Hoods Inc. would have to manually copy content onto individual drives to restrict access. The rules-driven approach of EditShare lets administrators control who can access what content and when, enhancing the level of security.