Metadata — it’s one of those industry buzzwords that can make your eyes glaze over. But as the new world of digital HD imaging meets the traditional world of 35mm film, metadata has become a key to making digital productions work more efficiently. It saves everyone time, aspirin and money.
Using it to your advantage helps manage assets and pertains to every piece of product motion picture studios and broadcast facilities create. For filmmakers, using metadata begins when you buy a roll of film and ends when you release the picture, according to cinematographer David Stump, ASC (Primal Scream, Red Riding Hood), a specialist in visual effects. He says metadata should be used on virtually every project, large or small, at every step in the process (from principal photography to dailies timing and color grading after the edit) to maintain the artistic intent of the creators all the way through the production process.
The industry has done a good job of automating so many other processes, Stump says, it’s time to use the power of computer networks to streamline the handling of media — individual frames, scenes and entire films. It saves mountains of paperwork. Feature film studios such as Sony Picture Entertainment and Warner Bros. are just two to recently announce programs to digitize their film content using metadata at the central core to identify and quickly locate specific pieces of content at will.
Led by Stump, a group of the world’s top cinematographers gathered at the recent NAB 2005 trade show in Las Vegas to push efforts for a common metadata standard that would bridge digital video and film production systems.
Stump described a shot where metadata matters: “You film a scene where a cannonball lands near some soldiers with no physical flame effects. Instead, separate shots of flames are filmed by a second unit crew. All the film is scanned and the elements are composited as a seamless shot.
“With header information embedded in a standard metadata file, that same visual effects shot can be accurately recreated at any time in the future,” Stump continued. “The metadata file would identify elements of the composite shot, including color corrections needed to recreate the original look, and all workflow information from pre-production through distribution.”
A universal metadata standard would also have great value for efficient asset management, Stump added. Metadata files describing all media assets owned by the studio would be stored in a computer database. “Maybe they’ll need a shot of flames in some future film,” Stump said. “The metadata files will enable the studio to determine if they have something appropriate in their archives. They will be able to find and scan the negative, instead filming another shot of flames.”
The Technology Committee of the American Society of Cinematographers is serving as a clearing house for information on creating a uniform metadata system.
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