Ds 01 03 2018 by Itp India

WPP license no. MR/TECH/WPP-82/North/2018 License to post without prepayment Postal Registration No. MCN/99/2018-2020 Published on 3rd of every month. Posting date: 5th & 6th of every months Posted at Patrika Channel Sorting Office, Mumbai-400001 Total number of pages 56 Registered with Registrar of Newspapers under RNI No. MAHENG/2009/33418 Vol. 10 | Issue 03 | MARCH 2018 | ` 50

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TECHNOLOGY CAMERA SUPPORT SYSTEMS

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MARCH 2018 VOLUME 10 ISSUE 03 EVENTS CALENDAR 2018 CABSAT Show

14th to 16th Jan Dubai World Trade Centre, UAE

BES Expo

26th to 28th Feb Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, India

BVE show

27th Feb to 1st March, ExCeL London, UK Convergence India 2018

7th to 9th March Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, India NAB Show

7th to 12th April Las Vegas Convention Centre, US Broadband TV Connect Asia 2018

24-25 April 2018 AVANI Riverside Hotel, Bangkok Broadcast Asia

The narrative of Breathe, an Amazon Prime Original, has a 22 universal flair with a gritty, realistic visual appeal

12 DOMESTIC NEWS 18 INTERNATIONAL NEWS 28 VISUAL SUPPORT

Camera support systems help cinematographers adhere to fast-paced production schedules without compromising on their creative comfort.

DONE DEAL How does Belden plan to leverage the Snell Advanced Media acquisition?

50 THE RIGHT CONNECT

Convergence India 2018 is set to take its connectivity agenda forward by displaying the latest technologies and giving delegates networking opportunities galore

6 MARCH 2018 | DIGITAL STUDIO

26th to 28th June Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre, Singapore BIRTV 2018 Show

22nd to 25th August Beijing, China IBC Expo

14th to 18th September Amsterdam RAI, Netherlands Broadcast India Show

25th to 27th October Bombay Exhibition Centre, Goregaon, Mumbai Digital Studio India Channel Partner Awards

26th October Hotel Sahara Star, Mumbai Inter BEE

14th to 16th November Tokyo, Japan

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VIEWPOINT Vol. 10 | Issue 3 | March 2018

ITP MEDIA (INDIA) PVT LTD 898 Turner Road, Notan Plaza, 3rd Floor

Breath Of Fresh Air

VINITA BHATIA

The advent of international streaming entities like Netflix and Amazon has added a punch to the emergent OTT landscape in the country, which already had the presence of players like Hotstar, VOOT, SonyLiv, etc. These giants have realised that to capture a captive market like India, they need to stop selling their existing content, or even repackage it. Global companies, especially, are letting their English features take a backseat and are concentrating on Indian content instead. While the demand for localised content is on the rise, what is interesting to note is the way this is presented to the Indian audience. The storylines are off-beat, the action is edge-of-theseat and the imagery is what one would expect from a feature film. Just take a look at the multi-lingual Breathe, an Amazon Prime Original. Its narrative has a universal flair with a gritty, realistic visual appeal, the performances are realistic and the same can be applied to locations, production setup, background music and sound design. You can read how director Mayank Sharma, and cinematographer, S Bharathwaj, went about putting this web series together, in our cover story. In another development, last month, Belden announced its decision to buy SAM and merge it with Grass Valley. However, the news did not come as a surprise. Both companies have a long history of acquisitions. What the industry is keen to know, though, is how the two companies will merge their operations and product lines, and what this means for their solution partners and customers. This is precisely what we reveal in our ‘Analysis’ column. Moving on to camera support systems, given the plethora of options therein, we present the latest developments in the key product domains—tripods, lenses, lighting, etc., in our ‘Technology’ section. We also discover how preparedness with layered security systems and protocols is one of the best ways for broadcasters to protect their valuable media assets in the ‘Broadcasting’ column. These are some of the interesting articles that we have put together for an action-packed March issue. We are sure you will enjoy reading this edition, as always. Until next time!

Bandra (West), Mumbai - 400050, India T +91 22 6154 6000

Deputy managing director S Saikumar Group publishing director Bibhor Srivastava EDITORIAL Editor Vinita Bhatia

ADVERTISING India Commercial director Manoj Sawalani M +91 98201 76965 manoj.sawalani@itp.com South India Director Sanjay Bhan M +91 98457 22377 sanjay.bhan@itp.com

STUDIO Head of design Milind Patil Senior designer Vinod Shinde Contributor Saili Bandre

PRODUCTION Deputy production manager Ramesh Kumar

CIRCULATION Distribution manager James D’Souza T +91 22 6154 6006 james.dsouza@itp.com

.................................................................................................................................... The publishers regret that they cannot accept liability for error or omissions contained in this publication, however caused. The opinions and views contained in this publication are not necessarily those of the publishers. Readers are advised to seek specialist advice before acting on information contained in this publication which is provided for general use and may not be appropriate for the reader’s particular circumstances. The ownership of trademarks is acknowledged. No part of this publication or any part of the contents thereof may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form without the permission of the publishers in writing. An exemption is hereby granted for extracts used for the purpose of fair review. Printed and Published by Sai Kumar Shanmugam, Flat no 903, Building 47, NRI Colony, Phase – 2, Part -1, Sector 54, 56, 58, Nerul, Navi Mumbai 400706, on behalf of ITP Media (India) Private Limited, printed at Indigo Press India Pvt. Ltd., Plot No. 1C / 716, Off Dadoji Konddeo Cross Road, Between Sussex and Retiwala Ind. Estate, Byculla

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ADVISORY BOARD

ADVISORY BOARD DIGITAL STUDIO INDIA ADVISORY BOARD 2017 We are happy to introduce the Digital Studio India Technical Advisory Board for 2017. The board—comprising Indian television and broadcast industry veterans and thought leaders—offers insights about market happenings, ideas for features and news, thoughts on technology and trends, editorial contributions. The board also lends its knowledge and experience to help Digital Studio India continue to offer the most timely editorial features, case studies, and information relevant to the industry.

DINESH SINGH

K YEGNESHWARA IYER

Chief Technology Officer, NDTV Limited Singh has over 22 years of experience with companies like NDTV, NVL Ltd - Sony Broadcast equipments, Thomson, etc. Some of his notable projects include India’s first digital production set up with robotics camera in the Parliament, film-based project in Ramoji Film City and turnkey project of Bangladesh National Open University, Bangladesh that includes four studios with PCRs, radio audio studio, microwaves and FM transmitter.

Head Of Technology Technical & Broadcast Operations, Times Television Network Iyer has spent more than three decades setting up networks and developing business software for various broadcasting companies. A co-applicant in a patent application for real time graphics on TV, he conceptualised and delivered innovative technical processes in news broadcast television, developed mobile apps and mobile app back-end architecture.

PIYUSH GUPTA

MANAS RANJAN MATI

Group CTO, India Today With over 19 years of experience in TV and broadcast, prior to managing technology and integration within India Today Group, Gupta has been with Network 18 for almost 15 years and has headed operations and technology development for CNBC TV18, CNBC Awaaz, CNN-IBN, HomeShop18 and Colors.

Executive Director & Head of Technology, Walt Disney India Mati heads Walt Disney India’s technology initiatives since the last four years. Prior to that, he was responsible for information technology, business applications and media technology functions for Disney Channel and Disney Media Distribution businesses in Asia Pacific and Japan.

RAJASEKHARAN HARIKRISHNAN

AK MADHAVAN

VP and CTO, Viacom 18 Media Harikrishnan heads the technical operations of Viacom 18 Media since the last four years. He has a rich experience in broadcast TV industry, production and post-production environment and also in designing and systems integration. He earlier headed technology and operations at Neo Sports Broadcast and has also worked with NDTV.

Founder and CEO, Assemblage Entertainment AK Madhavan launched his entrepreneurial venture, Assemblage Entertainment, at 55, after spending 14 years as CEO of Crest Animation Studios. Previously, he has managed senior roles with Dalal Street Journal and with DDE-Org Systems, a information technology solutions provider, where he also began his career.

SUBASH SAHOO VP – FWICE and General Secretary –WIMPTSEA An alumnus of FTII Pune, Sahoo has been part of Bollywood for over 22 years as sound designer. He has won the National Award twice, besides bagging several state awards. Sahoo is currently the general secretary of Western India Motion Pictures & TV Sound Engineers Association, and VP of Federation of Western India Cine Employees.

10 MARCH 2018 | DIGITAL STUDIO

NEWS

THIS MONTH IN THE BROADCAST AND PRODUCTION INDUSTRY

RELIANCE INDUSTRIES LIMITED TO ACQUIRE STAKE IN EROS INTERNATIONAL PLC ANNOUNCES JOINT PARTNERSHIP WITH EROS INDIA TO SET UP INR 1,000 CRORE FUND TO CO-PRODUCE AND CONSOLIDATE CONTENT

Kishore Lulla will resume his position of group chairman and CEO of Eros.

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and Eros International PLC (Eros) announced that RIL, through a subsidiary, has agreed to subscribe to a 5% equity stake in NYSE-listed Eros at $15 per share. The transaction is subject to customary regulatory and other approvals. Furthermore, RIL and Eros International Media Limited (Eros India) have agreed to partner in India to jointly produce and consolidate content from across India. The parties will equally invest up to INR 1,000 crore in aggregate (approximately $150 million) to produce and acquire Indian films and digital originals across all languages. Additionally, it was announced that Jyoti Deshpande,

12 MARCH 2018 | DIGITAL STUDIO

group CEO and MD of Eros will step down from her executive role after more than 17 years in Eros and move on to head the media and entertainment business at RIL as president of the chairman’s office. She will start her role at RIL from April 2018, but will continue to remain as a non-executive director on the board of Eros. Kishore Lulla will resume his position of group chairman and CEO of Eros. In her new role at RIL, Deshpande will lead the company’s initiatives in media and entertainment to organically build and grow businesses around the content ecosystem such as broadcasting, films, sports, music, digital, gaming, animation, etc., as well as integrate RIL’s existing media investments such as Viacom18 and Balaji Telefilms with a view to build, scale and consolidate the fragmented $20 billion Indian M&E sector. Mukesh Ambani, CMD, RIL commented, “We are pleased to join hands with Eros, as it will bring further synergies into our plans, making for a win-win partnership. We are delighted to welcome Deshpande into the Reliance family and believe that she will not only give wings to our plans but also play a pivotal role in transforming the sector.” Commenting on the development Lulla said, “I am very pleased that Eros is partnering with RIL in its entertainment journey with several synergies across technology, content and digital with Eros Now. We look forward to collaborating and growing as we continue to make new strides on the digital and content forefronts. I am confident that together, we can make a meaningful difference. Deshpande has been an invaluable part of the incredible Eros growth journey and I am confident that she will make a positive impact on the industry in her new role at RIL.” Deshpande commented, “I am delighted that RIL has strategically aligned with Eros, so the association continues. My new assignment at RIL will allow me to push boundaries, set new standards of excellence, assemble a world-class young leadership team and adopt a collaborative approach to architect and execute this ambition in true RIL tradition.”

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DOMESTIC NEWS

CANON ANNOUNCES THE ‘FUTURE BROADCASTING’ PROJECT ASSOCIATES WITH AVID/REAL IMAGE, WESTERN DIGITAL AND LIVEU TO SHOWCASE STATE-OF-THE-ART SOLUTIONS IN THE SEGMENT

The inaugural event of ‘Future Broadcasting’ project at Guwahati on 22nd January, 2018

Canon recently launched the ‘Future Broadcasting’ project in association with other companies, including Avid/Real Image (a division of Qube Cinema Technologies), Western Digital and LiveU. Activities planned under the aegis of this campaign are workshops and events designed to give users a hands-on experience on products like Canon Cinema EOS C200, Cinema EOS C300 Mark II and XA 15 & XF 405. The objective of this project is to get industry professionals demonstrate the workflow of these solutions. Commenting on the growing demand for newer solutions in cinema and PRO DV segment, Kazutada Kobayashi, president and CEO, Canon India, said, “With the digital and social media emergence, video consumption has significantly increased over the past few years. Addressing our customer’s growing requirement in this segment, we have forayed into the mainstream cinema business. ‘Future Broadcasting’ is an endeavour to connect with our customers across geographies. Starting from Guwahati and Imphal, we will continue this campaign across other geographies like Bhubaneshwar, Kolkata, Jaipur, Coimbatore, Bangalore and Bhopal to make our solutions accessible to the masses.”

14 MARCH 2018 | DIGITAL STUDIO

Sharing his thoughts, Eddie Udagawa, VP, consumer imaging and information centre, Canon India, added, “We have a 360-degree imaging solutions portfolio. To provide the best imaging experience to our customers, we partnered with leading industry brands that complement our technological edge. We believe that first-hand demonstration and conversation with trade experts would help the audience gain deeper insights about our products, and are looking forward to penetrate deeper in various regions of the country.” The demonstration would be organised for target audiences, including English news gathering, news channels, regional channels, GEC, film institutes, defense, documentary genres, etc. Elaborating on their partnership with Canon, Sathish Kumar P, GM, Real Image, said, “We, along with Avid, are happy to partner with Canon for this exclusive workshop and tap the broadcast markets in the North East and introduce Avid products to these markets. Real Image will present an overview of the Avid Media Composer editing application and Avid newsroom workflows, storage, asset management, cloud-based and social media workflows will also be highlighted in the presentation. We will also showcase

Media Composer | First. The free-to-use Media Composer | First provides users with a comprehensive editing toolset with many of the same features and functionality that Media Composer editors rely on, in a new powerful, streamlined interface.” Talking about the evolution of video transmission units and its association with Canon, Yaal Eshel, VP, Sales, LiveU stated, “Since inventing cellular bonding in 2006, our portable live video transmission units have replaced traditional SNG trucks, offering greater mobility and cost-effectiveness for global news gathering. India is a prime example, where many broadcasters are using our technology to go live from anywhere. We are excited to partner with Canon and Avid to present our latest solutions, including the LU600 HEVC, offering unmatched quality and reliability for newsgathering, sports and any other live video productions. We will also demonstrate LiveU Solo, our cost-effective plug-and-play device bringing broadcastquality live streaming to the online market.” The inaugural event of the project was held in Guwahati on 22nd January, followed by Imphal on the 24th of January. This was followed with an event at Bhubaneshwar in February.

www.digitalstudioindia.com

DOMESTIC NEWS

SONY PICTURES, THE UN FOUNDATION LAUNCH ‘THE PICTURE THIS’ FESTIVAL PANEL OF JUDGES FOR THE FILM SUBMISSIONS INCLUDE:

Sony Pictures Television Networks (SPTN), in partnership with the United Nations Foundation, has announced the opening of the ‘Picture This Festival for the Planet’ (www.sonypicturethis.com), a short-film competition for emerging filmmakers, everyday storytellers and changemakers globally to showcase the positive future they see for the planet. Starting 30th January, people from over 70 countries around the world can submit videos between one and eight minutes in length inspired by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of global goals agreed upon by all 193-member states of the United Nations to end poverty, protect the planet and promote prosperity for all. Andy Kaplan, president, Sony Pictures Television Networks, said, “At Sony, we are proud champions of the intersection between storytelling and innovation and are incredibly excited to spearhead Picture This. With the support of the United Nations Foundation and our other partners, we look forward to elevating and amplifying these important development goals through the voices of emerging creatives and acknowledge their good work in a meaningful way.” Partners in this year’s festival are The United Nations Foundation, the United Nations Association of the United States of

16 MARCH 2018 | DIGITAL STUDIO

• Andy Kaplan, president, Sony Pictures Television Networks • Megan Boone, environmental advocate and actress from the TV series ‘The Blacklist’ • Elizabeth Cousens, deputy CEO of the United Nations Foundation • Marie Jacobson, EVP Programming & Production of SPTN • Tom Bernard and Michael Barker, copresidents of Sony Pictures Classics • NP Singh, MD and CEO, Sony Pictures Networks India • Glenn Gainor, president, physical production, Screen Gems • Debbie Levin, president and CEO, Environmental Media Association • Damian Bradfield, president and CMO, WeTransfer

America, WeTransfer, Sony World Photography Awards, Sony Alpha Universe, the Environmental Media Association and leaders and environmental visionaries from around the globe. SPTN launched a similar contest in 2016 across its channel portfolio worldwide, including its flagship brands AXN, Sony Channel, Crackle and Animax, which will also participate in this year’s festival. NP Singh, MD and CEO, Sony Pictures Networks (SPN) India, said, “Much of India’s development agenda is embodied in the Sustainable Development Goals. SPN is supporting the ‘Picture This Festival for the Planet’

because we believe that heightened social consciousness leads to positive social impact. Visual storytelling is a powerful tool to inspire social change across the world. That is why we would like to invite students, professionals, academicians, environmentalists and filmmakers to submit their entries. Picture this, to picture a change.”

FORM IV (Statement about ownership and other particulars about the newspaper/magazine DIGITAL STUDIO to be published in the first issue every year after the last day of February) Name of the Publication: DIGITAL STUDIO Periodicity of the publication/ Language: Monthly/English Printer’s Name: Saikumar Shanmugam Nationality: Indian (i) Whether Citizen of India: Yes (ii) If a foreigner, country of origin Not applicable Address: Notan Plaza, 3rd Floor, 898, Turner Road, Bandra (W), Mumbai- 400 050, Maharashtra Publisher’s Name: Saikumar Shanmugam Nationality: Indian (i) Whether Citizen of India: Yes (ii) If a foreigner, country of origin: Not applicable Date: February 28, 2018

Address: Notan Plaza, 3rd Floor, 898, Turner Road, Bandra (W), Mumbai- 400 050, Maharashtra. Editor’s Name: Vinita Bhatia Nationality: Indian (i) Whether Citizen of India: Yes (ii) If a foreigner, country of origin: Not applicable Address : Notan Plaza, 3rd Floor, 898, Turner Road, Bandra (W), Mumbai- 400 050, Maharashtra. Name and address of the individuals who own the newspaper/magazine and partners or shareholders holding more than one percent of the total capital. ITP Media (India) Pvt Ltd., ITP Holdings Inc, PO Box 500024, Dubai, U.A.E. I, Saikumar Shanmugam, hereby declare that the particulars given above are true to the best of my knowledge and belief. Saikumar Shanmugam Signature of the publisher

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PLGZ18_205x275_Digital STudio (India).pdf

CMY

20/2/2018

3:17 PM

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Martin Berger, CSO of Riedel Communications; Matthias Bode, CEO of Archwave; and Thomas Riedel, founder and CEO of Riedel Communications.

RIEDEL CREATES ZURICH IP ENGINEERING HUB WITH ACQUISITION OF ARCHWAVE AND CYMATIC AUDIO 18 MARCH 2018 | DIGITAL STUDIO

Riedel has acquired Swiss engineering company, Archwave. This partnership will create a strong R&D hub in Zurich and increase its global engineering team to over 100 engineers while expanding its R&D capabilities for IP and standards such as AES67, which will further boost interoperability in the broadcast world. Archwave is an audio-networking and streaming specialist that promotes open standards for the interconnection of audio and video equipment in professional environments. “At Riedel, IP standards are vital not only for our intercom portfolio but also for all of the other Riedel product lines,” said Thomas Riedel, founder and CEO of Riedel Communications. “By collaborating with Archwave, we are taking another important step towards providing complete networking solutions that allow broadcasters to work the way they want to work. With our new engineering team in Switzerland, we now have all the tools we need to create the plug-and-play workflows that our clients need for their transition to IP.” As part of this agreement, Riedel will also acquire Cymatic Audio, an audio specialist within the music industry. This move allows Riedel to enter new markets and get closer to musicians, who already rely on Riedel technology in the background. “It is not often that such a strong and obviously strategic fit presents itself, but that is what I found with Riedel. Its strength, operational excellence, and commitment to open technology were the factors that drove the development of this new relationship. We also appreciate that the deal offers new channels to markets within the existing Riedel organisation. The team and I are extremely excited to move forward as part of the Riedel family,” said Arie van den Broek, CEO of Archwave Technologies B.V. With this cooperation, Archwave and Cymatic Audio will remain an autonomous unit within Riedel, while Riedel will adopt Archwave technology solutions for its own product portfolio.

www.digitalstudioindia.com

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

ESTONIAN BROADCASTER ERR SELECTS AVID TO MODERNISE ITS NEWS WORKFLOWS

Tom Cordiner, senior VP of global sales, Avid.

Avid, a technology provider for the creation, distribution and monetisation of media assets for global media organisations, enterprise users and individual creative professionals, announced that Estonia’s national public broadcaster, ERR, has invested in

a story-centric news workflow based on Avid MediaCentral, an integrated platform designed for media. Further, with the adoption of MediaCentral | UX, the cloud-based web front-end for MediaCentral, ERR’s teams have become more collaborative, with the ability to deliver compelling programming faster for three Estonian and Russian TV channels. Estonia’s largest broadcaster needed to modernise its news studios’ outdated infrastructure to successfully compete in the current media landscape. It also needed a centralised approach to news creation, analysis, archiving and graphics, and the ability to deliver UHD content. As a member of Avid’s customer community for over 20 years, ERR turned to Avid and its partners, Hannu Pro and TVC, to upgrade its news, graphics and studio workflows. “Avid understands how the market is changing and offered the most comprehensive and tightly integrated solution that allows us to address the challenges and demands of contemporary broadcasting,” said Jaanus Lillenberg, ICT director, ERR. “With MediaCentral we have a reliable, state-of-the-art workflow with modern news,

graphics, and studio solutions that enable us to engage viewers with a visually appealing look for our TV channels.” Avid worked closely with ERR, Hannu Pro and TVC to create a customised solution that includes Maestro | TD Control for displaying large-scale high-resolution graphics on video walls, triggered by Maestro | Designer. Avid MediaCentral | UX provides a single use interface for collaborative media production leveraging MediaCentral | Production Management and MediaCentral | Asset Management modules, and the MediaCentral | Newsroom Management module from any device including mobile devices. ERR has also implemented MediaCentral Ingest to orchestrate file-based workflows, the Avid Airspeed 5500 video server, and several Avid Media Composer suites for non-linear editing. “Today’s news broadcasters need to ensure their productions stand apart by creating top-quality news packages with stunning graphics,” said Tom Cordiner, senior VP of global sales, Avid. “ERR’s new story-centric workflow based on MediaCentral provides a highly integrated, future-proof system with all the tools needed for advanced news and graphics production.”

tion in Hungary to date. The new Octopus system is integrated with GV Vertigo channel branding graphics, Imagine Communications Nexio video servers and Mosart studio control automation. Echo TV selected Broadcast Solutions Hungary as primary systems integrator to manage this large-scale project. For the newsroom core, Broadcast Solutions Hungary partnered with Silicon Computers Kft, which has worked for nearly 15 years as the Octopus

master distributor for Hungary. Both companies are also based in the Budapest so are able to provide Echo TV with very local service. Silicon Computers organised and provided most of the technical training for Echo TV’s newsroom staff in their own language. It is also providing ongoing first level support to Echo TV as it already does to other Octopus broadcast customers in Hungary, including TV2 and ATV.

HUNGARY’S ECHO TV CHOOSES OCTOPUS 8 NEWSROOM SYSTEM Hungarian television channel, Echo TV, is ramping up its news coverage with new people, programmes and facilities. Following a major technical upgrade, the channel recently went live from newly built ultra-modern production studios in Budapest. Spearheading its drive for greater creativity and efficiency, Echo TV chose a full-blown Octopus 8 newsroom computer system using almost all of the currently available modules. 80 concurrent user licenses were purchased, making this the biggest Octopus installa-

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DIGITAL STUDIO | MARCH 2018 19

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COVER STORY

he trailer of Breathe, an Amazon Prime Original opens with a scene where actor R Madhavan (Danny Mascarenhas) is submerged in a waterfilled bathtub with his eyes open. A voiceover claims that the only rule when it comes to saving a loved one’s life is that there are no rules. The camera captures his motionless body from above. And when Madhavan emerges gasping for breath, every water droplet dripping from his head in the yellow-lit luminous bathroom lends a sense of the ominous action and drama set to follow in the web series that released on 26th January, 2018 on Amazon Prime Video. Welcome to the digital debut of director Mayank Sharma, who gave viewers edge-of-the-seat cinematic thrillers like Airlift and Baby. Breathe, the web series, is Amazon’s second Indian Original after last year’s cricket-themed Inside Edge and has cinematographer S Bharathwaj capturing the action for the digital audience. The eight-episode drama also follows maverick and depressive Mumbai cop Kabir Sawant (Amit Sadh), who is dealing with his inner demons caused by his daughter’s accidental death, while tracking a series of deaths connected to organ donors in Mumbai. His investigation leads him to Madhavan, a soccer coach trying valiantly to save his son, Josh, from the life-threatening cystic fibrosis. Amazon has smartly packaged this series as a multi-lingual one – it is available in English, Tamil and Telugu. This will further its reach outside the urban cities to South Indian towns, where Madhavan has a substantial fan following. “The success of our first Original Inside Edge, showed us how much our customers value content that is created especially for them,” said Vijay Subramaniam, director, content, Amazon Prime Video India. “We remain committed to creating more high-quality original content for our customers to enjoy, and are pushing boundaries of content creation by exploring new genres and unique content themes. We are thrilled to start the New Year with the launch of our second Amazon Prime Original, Breathe.” In fact, Amazon has commissioned 17 Indian series, including Bodhidharma: Master of Shaolin; Gursimran Khamba’s The Ministry starring Irrfan Khan, Mirzapur by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar, Stardust and Vishpuri by Vikramaditya Motwane, Madhu Mantena, Anurag Kashyap and Vikas Bahl, The Family Man by DK Krishna and Raj Nidimoru, and Made in Heaven by Ritesh Sidhwani, Farhan Akhtar, Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti.

DIGITAL EXPECTATIONS Breathe is an interesting premise for a thriller movie, but capturing it for the digital medium does present intrinsic challenges. Especially, since Indian audiences are just beginning to appreciate the nuances of digital entertainment. Hence, keeping them hooked to a turn of events at the end of every episode, so that they look forward to the release of the next one every Friday, is a creative task. “With TV, and especially digital TV, the bond between ourselves as storytellers and the audience is very strong,” said Sharma, who conceptualised and co-wrote the series for Abundantia Entertain-

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COVER STORY

BREATHE AGAIN

The narrative of Breathe, an Amazon Prime Original, has a universal flair with a gritty, realistic visual appeal BY VINITA BHATIA AND ADRIAN PENNINGTON

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COVER STORY

ment and Amazon Prime. “This gives us even more incentive to create stories and characters that are compelling for the viewer.” Vikram Malhotra, CEO, Abundantia Entertainment noted, “Abundantia has been at the forefront of creating genre-breaking and impactful content and we are excited to collaborate with Amazon Prime Video to produce our first Original series, Breathe. With this, Abundantia extends its content and story-telling prowess to a new platform with a show that I believe will excite not just Indian Director Mayank Sharma with cinematographer, S Bharathwaj.

Breathe was entirely shot on the RED WEAPON and might well be the first major Indian series to do so.

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viewers but also appeal to a global audience. Breathe’s talented crew has done a fine job of bringing to life a thrilling yet emotionally anchored story.” Sharma, whose credits as chief assistant director include Chashme Baddoor and Table No. 21, had previously worked with Bharathwaj, but Breathe is by far their biggest project to date. The executive producer is Vikram Malhotra who produced Chashme Baddoor as well as the Bollywood features Chef, Airlift, Baby, and Bombay Talkies. Aware that Amazon planned to release the series in India and in more than 200 territories worldwide they decided to compliment what they felt was the story’s universal appeal with a gritty, realistic style. “My biggest challenge was to make this story, which is set in Mumbai, appear real and believable,” recalled Sharma. “We were very sure that the performances of the actors had to be very naturalistic and the same applied to locations, production design, background music and sound design. Being a psychological drama, we needed a different approach blocking and lighting by creating an intriguing atmosphere for the story,” he explained. “We worked very closely together to achieve it.” That began with an elaborate recce of locations in Mumbai,

prioritising 53, which had rarely, if ever, been seen on film or TV before. For example, Kabir’s police station is a 140-year-old building in the south of the city “which took us a lot of time to acquire permission to shoot there,” reported Bharathwaj, given the stringent heritage rules. “We tried to retain some of the aesthetics popular with the genre while experimenting with style and colours when it demanded.” The story’s two central protagonists have parallel storylines until a point where they merge. On one hand is Danny, a single devoted dad, whose young son, Josh, suffers from a congenital lung disease that can be cured with an urgent lung transplant. Unfortunately, for the child, he is fourth on donor list of organ recipients, so, Danny decides that the only way he can save his son is by killing the other recipients and push Josh up that list. On the other hand, is a guilt-wracked inspector Kabir Sawant, who lost his daughter to a gunshot wound from his own gun after he forgot to lock it. In grief, he turns to alcohol in a bid to battle his demons. “We decided to approach each of their parallel tracks differently. Danny’s character and his world was shot with static blocks, showing the stillness he is going through in his life while Kabir’s world is depicted with fluid, handheld shots to keep the uneasiness and unpredictability. The overall intent was to immerse an audience into their worlds,” Sharma explained. And the actors enjoyed working with Sharma too. Talking about her experience, Neena Kulkarni (Juliet Mascarenhas, Danny’s mother), said, “I really enjoyed working with Sharma because he got so involved in Breathe.” Madhavan was similarly impressed. “The way Sharma got our nuances, the way he set our acting styles, the way he set our pitch – that was right on spot and international,” he elaborated. Amit Sadh (Kabir Sawant) claimed that he was grateful to Sharma for directing him so well and guiding him to be able to achieve what was required from this character. Hrishikesh Joshi, who essayed the role of Prakash Kamble, Sawant’s subordinate, went so far to say that if the audience liked this series, then the entire credit should go to Sharma.

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COVER STORY

EXACTING DELIVERABLES Amazon has strict delivery specifications that required a 4K resolution master (technically: recorded in ProRes 422 HQ codec, 3840 x 2160, 23.98fps with 5.1 audio and 16:9 aspect ratio). Hence, for Bharathwaj the RED WEAPON with HELIUM 8K S35 sensor was the format of choice for this deliverable, as the filmmakers were interested in the camera’s creative flexibility. “The way Sharma had conceived the story and set it up in the realistic environs of Mumbai demanded a very raw, gritty approach as far as cinematography was concerned,” said the cinematographer who hired the camera for a test on the city’s streets after viewing demos on social media. “Compared to all the other cameras we tested during pre-shoot, the HELIUM sensor stood out for its sharp picture quality and it performs exceedingly well under low light conditions.” “We were amazed with the result of the test shoot,” added Sharma. “The black levels, the support to natural available light, and the latitude it gave was tremendous.” Breathe was entirely shot on the RED WEAPON and might well be the first major Indian series to do so. In fact, it was a two-camera set up for which Bharathwaj selected Ultra Prime Lenses F1.9 (16, 24, 32, 50, 85, 135) along with an Alura Zoom. He shot the entire series at 8K resolution, “which gave some really sharp images that heightened the realism required for the story.” In keeping with the script, the lighting package was also kept to a minimum, which meant playing with natural light available at various Mumbai locations. The dominant lighting units on the production were ARRI Sky Panel S60 C colour tuneable LED fixtures. “I wanted to use the Skypanel’s as much as possible, so we could precisely control the colour,” explained Bharathwaj. “We also used ARRI 6Kw, 4Kw, 1.2Kw and Par 8ft and 4ft Flo bank fluorescent units. “Different lighting styles were used for the two main characters,” he continued. “For Kabir’s house we used contrast lighting with no fill lights, while Danny’s featured a more sombre lighting design.”

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IN KEEPING WITH THE SCRIPT, S BHARATHWAJ KEPT THE LIGHTING PACKAGE TO A MINIMUM, WHICH MEANT PLAYING WITH NATURAL LIGHT AVAILABLE AT VARIOUS MUMBAI LOCATIONS. THE DOMINANT LIGHTING UNITS ON THE PRODUCTION WERE ARRI SKY PANEL S60 C COLOUR TUNEABLE LED FIXTURES.

ROLLING WITH EMOTIONS Bharathwaj employed a lot of handheld work, especially for scenes with Kabir to depict the character’s inner turmoil. “The RED camera is very comfortable for handheld shooting,” he said. “The investigation scenes needed to retain a lot of docu-drama aesthetics, so shooting handheld and Steadicam were the obvious natural choices. For the action chase sequences, he employed Jimmy Jibs and the scenes featuring Danny’s house were mostly shot using the lightweight Panther jib. Future Work Studios in Mumbai managed the post-production on the series, with the grading being done by colorist Andreas Bruckl overseen by the DOP. “I approach colour correction in a very technical way,” noted Bharathwaj. “Bruckl and I are right at home together talking about colour science and how light reacts inside a camera.” The DOP added, “For managing RAW data, REDCODE compression (available with all RED cameras) was very efficient. It’s a long web series and to save drive space and data management we did the recommended compression of 8:1 mostly.”

For the two-camera, S Bharathwaj selected Ultra Prime Lenses F1.9 (16, 24, 32, 50, 85, 135) along with an Alura Zoom.

Available to an international audience in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu languages, along with English subtitles, the show was released online in January and has received favourable reviews from the pundits and audiences alike. “Working for an online video medium definitely gives you the independence to think radically and not restrict yourself,” said Sharma. “There is no pressure to meet a certain screen running time or to maximise box office receipts on an opening weekend. This medium gives content creators a great shelf life. The audience can explore your content at any time for year after year. It also allows a writer and director to explore the depth of a story, dwell deeper inside the minds of the characters and it allows you to see the narrative from different points of view. All of this is possible so long as you have a compelling story to tell.” He stated, “I just hope that with Breathe, audiences in India and across every other country realise that Indian content can give them an equivalent experience which they get from watching any international series. The story, narrative style and the technical finesse are similar - or we hope might even be better if put against any international show.” With the advent of digital platforms in India, and their increasing popularity, especially in urban cities, a huge space opened up for players like Amazon. Local web series like will only Breathe fresh air into what was earlier considered a more English-dominated content domain.

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CONSUMER CONNECT — ARK

HITECH MEDIA SOLUTIONS LAUNCHES EXCLUSIVE STORE FOR SEAGATE AND LACIE PRODUCTS Mumbai based IT reseller, HiTech Media Solutions has launched the first exclusive reseller outlet in India to retail Seagate brand of products. These include the entire range of internal and external drives from all brands in the Seagate portfolio, including LaCie. The store will not only have every Indian product of Seagate and LaCie under a single roof, but will also have an Experience Zone providing a comprehensive range of hands-on demo of LaCie Big’s and Professional drives where creative professionals can test technologies and features to help choose the right drive. While inaugurating the store, Sameer Bhatia, Country Manager, India & SAARC, Seagate Technology, said “This is a commendable initiative from Hitech Media Solutions. They have set a new benchmark in partner loyalty and we, at Seagate, assure them of our full support and wish them every success.” Sunil Sharma, CEO of HiTech Media Solutions, said, “Earlier, we were selling only LaCie products. While planning to open our second store, we thought it a great opportunity to not only consolidate our alliance with Seagate but also to offer customers a one-stop-shop for all Seagate products.

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THIS IS A COMMENDABLE INITIATIVE FROM HITECH MEDIA SOLUTIONS. THEY HAVE SET A NEW BENCHMARK IN PARTNER LOYALTY AND WE, AT SEAGATE, ASSURE THEM OF OUR FULL SUPPORT AND WISH THEM EVERY SUCCESS – SAMEER BHATIA, COUNTRY MANAGER, INDIA & SAARC, SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY

Our Experience Zone has a unique feature which will benefit customers immensely.” Seagate is the global leader in data stor-

age solutions, developing amazing products that enable people and businesses around the world to create, share and preserve their most critical memories and business data. LaCie, the premium brand of Seagate Technology, designs world-class storage solutions for photographers, videographers, audio professionals, and other power users. With leading technology, performance, quality, and customer support, LaCie helps you realize your creative vision. We differentiate ourselves with a focus on design, unmatched technical performance, and long-term reliability. For the past 15 years, we have also had a close partnership with Scottish designer Neil Poulton, who designs all our professional products, including our award-winning Rugged, d2, 2big, 5big, and 8big Rack storage solutions. Visit www.LaCie.com for more details. Contact: HiTech Media Solutions - Shop No-5, Kuber Complex, Opposite Laxmi Industrial Estate, New Link Rd, Veera Desai Industrial Estate, Andheri West, Mumbai - 400053

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TECHNOLOGY - CAMERA SUPPORT SYSTEMS

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TECHNOLOGY - CAMERA SUPPORT SYSTEMS

VISUAL SUPPORT Given the plethora of options in camera support systems, we present the latest developments in key product domainsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; tripods, lenses, lighting, etc BY PRADEEP SUVARNA he past few years have seen plenty of evolution when it comes to camera support systems. This has gone a long way in helping cinematographers create better films and realise their visual aspirations. Traditionally, cinematographers use a lot of gear, and for certain projects, when they have to work with a small crew, this can be present many challenges. At times like these, they have to be careful about the camera support systems and production devices they select so that their output quality is premium, while ensuring they are not saddled with lot of equipment while moving about. Here we present some of the latest developments in the key camera support system domains that can help content creators adhere to fast-paced production schedules without compromising on their creative comfort.

TRIPODS Cinematographers operating cameras need to set up and change locations of their rig often during a shoot. This can be extremely time consuming and exhausting. Having a tripod that can do this job much faster gives

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TECHNOLOGY - CAMERA SUPPORT SYSTEMS

them the luxury to concentrate more on the creative side and accurate framing. There have not been many product innovations in the well-established manual supports segment. However, in 2017, Sachtler and Vinten, both part of the Vitec Group, introduced a carbon fibre tripod technology called flowtech. This 75mm-version offers a fast way of setting up and adjusting tripod legs, while moving all breaking clamps to the very top of the tripod and keeping the tripod weight to an absolute minimum. Talking about the product, Tobias Keuthen, director, global product marketing management, Sachtler, said, “With flowtech, operating the camera in changing conditions becomes much faster. The top position of the breaking clamps also avoids the constant bend over. Due to the integrated hinge locks mechanism, flowtech can be used without a spreader, which allows for extremely low angle shots and without the need to carry a separate pair of baby legs.” When it comes to the tripod, its head and legs are an essential part of the camera operator’s professional gear and need to fulfill the highest expectations. They have use the best camera and lens, but if this is mounted on an unstable tripod or if the head doesn’t allow for a smooth camera movement, then the output will result in a shaky picture, risking the entire production. Not only is this a creative disaster, but also a great cost liability. Therefore, Keuthen pointed out that maximum tripod stability and a perfect pan / tilt behaviour are both essential for the operator to get the expected picture in the frame. When it comes to tripods, camera

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range of camera-lens combinations and a tripod that can handle multiple shooting heights allows faster rig changes giving more time to shoot,” he added.

“INCORPORATING FULL-SPECTRUM LEDS IN INNOVATIVELY DESIGNED FIXTURES WITH FEATURES LIKE BI-COLOUR WITH GREEN ADJUSTMENT AND FULL COLOUR, ALLOWED PRODUCTIONS TO BE MORE COST EFFICIENT.” – ALAN IPAKCHIAN, PRODUCT MARKETING MANAGER, LITEPANELS.

operators expect it to set up quickly so that they can set install the camera on it in a matter of seconds. “The speed of deployment in conjunction with the transportability of a camera rig becomes more important the more often the shooter needs to change location during a production. Having an easy to adjust, lightweight tripod with minimum complexity and size is a must in such environments. Using a tripod head that can carry a wide

LIGHTING While many would like to believe that lighting is a precise science, Peter Daffarn, MD of thinks it is much more of an art and can be considered to be similar to painting but with light. According to him, it is easy to simply light a scene so you can see what is happening; but often, particularly in drama, what you don’t see, hidden in shadow, is often more important. “A recent major scene for a Hollywood blockbuster was lit using all tungsten hot lights as that gave the quality and feel that they were after. For others it is the ability to have a full range of colours available that is popular however for lighting the talent a good quality white is not only popular but necessary—not many directors like their stars to be green or yellow, with the exception of Shrek and the Simpsons!” Daffarn exclaimed. His advice to cinematographers has often been to not start thinking what light source they need but rather what type of lighting is needed on the scene. Then they can work back and find the right source to give the quality they are looking for. According to Alan Ipakchian, product marketing manager at Litepanels in recent times LED panel lights have become quite popular in cinematography. With the benefit of LEDs, cinematographers can power them by battery so they are not tethered to a cable. LEDs are also heat-free so they don’t have

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TECHNOLOGY - CAMERA SUPPORT SYSTEMS

to worry about burning the set walls or even the talent. The portability and the quality of light is what are most popular for cinematographers when choosing lighting options. Rod Aaron Gammons, MD of Rotolight agreed with Ipakchian and stated that one of the most impactful developments in recent times is the huge power consumption saving that comes with using LED lighting rigs over traditional tungsten alternatives, which can deliver significant cost savings for both studios and cinematographers. “We are also seeing an increasing number of lights that can be operated with batteries, which makes them ideal when shooting in remote locations or on sets where space is at a premium,” he said. Daffarn, too, called LED a recent game changer for lighting. “In the early days the quality of LED was extremely variable. But, it is starting to really find its way and the general quality of LED lights is good these days. However, more conventional lights are still valuable and if used with care can be energy efficient and certainly cost efficient compared to LED,” he opined. In his opinion it will be a shame to see all tungsten lighting removed from the palette as currently there is nothing to truly replace a tungsten Fresnel. “When you go to various trade fairs and industry expos it is easy to think that only LED is the option but conventional forms such as tungsten, fluorescent and HMI are still a valuable and useful source of light,” he pointed out. Ipakchian, on the other hand, felt that incorporating quality full-spectrum LEDs in innovatively designed fixtures

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“THE SPEED OF DEPLOYMENT IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE TRANSPORTABILITY OF A CAMERA RIG BECOMES MORE IMPORTANT THE MORE OFTEN THE SHOOTER NEEDS TO CHANGE LOCATION DURING A PRODUCTION.” – TOBIAS KEUTHEN, DIRECTOR, GLOBAL PRODUCT MARKETING MANAGEMENT, SACHTLER.

that have features, such as Bi-colour with green adjustment and full colour, allowed for productions to be more efficient and ultimately cost efficient. “It saves time on set and in post-production. You can battery power them to save time on running and wrapping cable. It allows you to dial in your specific lighting needs without having to gel or get scrims to reduce the output. The

technology has moved rapidly in the sense that you can now have effects built-in. So, if the shoot doesn’t require one, a specialty light like an ambulance will not have to be ordered separately,” he noted. According to Gammons, aside from the cost savings that come with low power consumption, the use of batteries for shooting in remote locations can deliver further financial savings, and also means there is no need for cinematographers to carry around large, heavy lighting rigs when shooting away from the studio. “The sophistication of the built-in lighting effects essentially allows for extra creativity and flexibility on set without the need for any additional equipment—again, in turn allowing for further cost savings—and are being used in critically acclaimed films,” he explained. Stefan Lange, a VFX cinematographer, recently used Rotolight’s CineSFX feature when working on the BAFTA-nominated film Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool. One of the film’s scenes sees two characters watching the 1979 sci-fi thriller Alien in a cinema, and the director wanted to project the film’s flicker onto the faces of the audience. Lange therefore used the flicker effect to achieve the desired shot, with no additional cables needed and no time wasted: it was simply an instant solution with an easily adjustable effect to help Lange get the desired result. Cinematographers have varied requests when it comes to lighting. Daffarn said, “One of our most common requests is that our customers want bright, low power and cheap lights. Our standard answer is you

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TECHNOLOGY - CAMERA SUPPORT SYSTEMS

can pick any two of those and we can find a light for you!” Ipakchian added that cinematographers expect to have full spectrum lighting that renders great colour and skin tones. They want to light their scenes with quality lighting to make beautiful images. “Cinematographers also want to be able to shape and diffuse their lighting, so it is also important to make the controls in the lighting simple and offer a variety of light shaping and diffusion functionalities. There are times where you have to dim the light down to below 5% just to get a little glimmer of light in the eyes,” he stated. According to Gammons since cinematographers are often working in highpressure situations, they need to ensure they can work efficiently, and to the highest possible standard within a certain time frame. This therefore means they are looking for lights that are powerful, quick to set up and versatile— being able to finely tune the colour of the light, or to operate a larger lighting setup via DMX control are huge advantages, for example. “While there are plenty of lights that can fit this bill, the very best options also include advanced features that allow cinematographers to experiment creatively and control their work with an incredible amount of precision. Tuneable colour temperature, combined with accurate colour rendition is very much in demand. LED lights in general used to have a reputation for poor colour rendition, but since then the technology has advanced to such a level that it can meet the very highest demands of cinematographers,” he added.

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“WE ARE WAITING TO SEE HOW THE MARKET DEVELOPS IN THE NEXT FEW YEARS. THE GROWTH OF FULL FRAME HASN’T UPSET THE MARKET FOR ANY OF THE OTHER TYPES OF LENS, THOUGH— IT IS JUST ANOTHER CHOICE FOR CINEMATOGRAPHERS.” – LES ZELLAN, CHAIRMAN AND OWNER, COOKE OPTICS.

LENSES Amongst the latest developments in lenses, full frame is amongst the most popular trend. Brands like Sony Venice, ARRI ALEXA LF and RED Weapon can already shoot on it, and others are expected to embrace it soon. Looking at is growing adoption, about a year ago, while people were still sitting on the fence, Cooke designed its S7/i purpose-built full frame lenses even before

any large format cameras were available. Through its relationships with the camera manufacturers and cinematographers, it felt that the demand would be there. Les Zellan, chairman and owner of Cooke Optics said, “Now, we are waiting to see how the market develops in the next few years. The growth of full frame hasn’t upset the market for any of the other types of lens, though— it is just another choice for cinematographers.” According to Sunil Kaul, MD, Asia Pacific of Leica Camera India, there are three key developments that have hugely impact the film making industry, namely mirrorless technology, LED (for both display and lighting) and information network. As the cost of making high density display panel today is lower as compared to a decade ago, high-definition TV has become a norm. Hence, while it was prohibitive to produce a 4K video earlier, the cost today is probably one quarter of what it used to be. “High speed recording also another feature that is getting cheaper, bullet time, slow motion, 360 degree video, both software and hardware are more accessible and are more wallet friendly. In recent years, Leica launched a series of mirrorless that include most of the above mentioned features such as their TL, SL, CL series which fit to different budget for different needs,” Kaul added. Zellan is unsure whether the newer lens additions have made things more efficient for users. “If anything, they make things more complicated—now, in addition to addressing the look and the story, you have to think about whether you are shooting 35mm, 65mm, anamorphic… you have all these options,” he

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TECHNOLOGY - CAMERA SUPPORT SYSTEMS

said. However, the abundant options available also mean that they can make a better choice on what to choose to tell their story. According to Kaul, as more companies join the industry, competition will increase and resulting in lower average price for the end user. Talking about user expectations, he said, “When it comes to lens, most cinematographers tend to lean more towards optic quality, adaptability across different system and also speed (in-terms of both focusing and manual control). Some prefer light-weight, some prefer smoothness of focusing ring, some prefer weather seal, while others prefer lenses with in-built stabiliser.” RIGS When it comes to rigs, there are many involved within. Some are purely mechanical, while others play an electrical role. However, the objective is that they have to work in sync. Basically, rigs are the addition equipment that surround a camera or are attached to it, which help it function perfectly. This could include the matte box or follow focus, support for the larger lenses and adapters, mounts to add lights, monitors or microphones. These are often customisable, based on the functionality of the equipment and the nature of the project

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it is supposed to be used at. According to Hans Salzinger, head of sales, ARRI, in India the focus is more on the camera, but choosing the right accessories can help save money significantly. “We concentrate on getting the most lightweight and smallest camera. But you will need more parts to mount on the cameras, which is a big challenge, since these parts might be of different brands. Hence, ARRI works produces accessories that will fit other cameras, like Sony and RED,” he said. He cited the example of their matte boxes with swing away arm that makes it easy to exchange lenses quickly. “Our filters are absolute colour true, without reflecting, barcode for better archiving, easy to clean and it protects the filter from scratches because of superior coating,” Salzinger added. Several innovations are taking place in the rigs domain. For instance, the typical mechanical follow focus has increasingly being replaced by wireless control units, which can store a larger database of lenses. “With these tools, you have the possibility of using a scale ring on the system so that the focus puller knows the position of the focus— whether it was 0.5 m, 5m or infinity. This helps in better precision in focus pulling. With

“WHEN YOU GO TO VARIOUS TRADE FAIRS IT IS EASY TO THINK THAT ONLY LED IS THE OPTION. BUT CONVENTIONAL FORMS SUCH AS TUNGSTEN, FLUORESCENT AND HMI ARE STILL A VALUABLE SOURCE OF LIGHT.” – PETER DAFFARN, MD, PHOTON BEARD. larger sensors and smaller bandwidth of the focus area, things are more challenging for the focus puller. For e.g. there is a higher chance of things being out of focus in an action scene, increasing the probability of re-shoot. That’s why such tools helps to save time and cost,” Salzinger explained. Also, if the focus puller has little room for navigation during the shoot or has to move beside the cameraman because it is a Steadicam shoot or handheld shoot, then it is not possible it use a mechanical FF Lens Data. With tools like the ARRI Master handgrip, users can programme different functions on each of unit for various shoots, so they one hand free to hold and operate the camera. Ultimately, the role of camera support systems is to help cinematographers do their job with minimal distractions or difficulty. It should work so effortlessly, that the camera assistant or the DoP does not have to think about how it works or its technical nuances.

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SAFE & SECURE Being prepared with layered security systems and detailed protocols is one of the best ways to protect valuable content BY BINDU GOPAL RAO roadcasters and media companies are delivering content across various platforms and are increasingly transitioning towards IP-based delivery services. This has made them vulnerable to cyber breaches, attacks and theft. So how are they safeguarding their networks, protecting their precious systems, data, IPR and customer information from these attacks? As evidenced by an increasing number of high profile attacks that have wreaked havoc on the segment, it is clear that the media and entertainment industry has become a prime target for cybercrime. Security concerns facing the industry as a whole include valuable client assets being compromised

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and held ransom such as the 2016 attack on Larson Studios, where hackers demanded $50,000 in return for stolen content. Also of threat is a company’s internal confidential documents being leaked, as witnessed by the 2014 hacking incident at Sony Pictures. Hackers stole an estimated 10TB of data and assets from Sony Pictures and leaked three unreleased movies, a script for James Bond Spectre and personal information and emails from countless Sony employees. “The damages included Sony cochairperson Amy Pascal’s career, a heavilydamaged IT infrastructure and millions of dollars in civil damages,” recalled Peter Lambert, sales director, EditShare. Illegal redistribution of broadcast content

continues to grow rapidly around the world. It is a very serious threat to the revenues of broadcasters and rights owners, especially with respect to premium live sports and entertainment content. SAFETY MEASURES Compliance with evolving security best practices is expected to ultimately become become big stakes for doing business in the media and entertainment space. Even today, audits against these best practices are becoming more common as part of the selection process for service provider partners. The globally governing Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Content Delivery and Security Association

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To protect illegal video streaming, broadcasters are deploying advanced channel monitoring and content recognition systems, along with watermarking.

Globally, the TV industry loses an estimated $28 billion in revenues due to piracy. Of that, $7 billion could be recaptured if effective anti-piracy actions and legitimate offerings were put in in place.

Source: 2017 global Pay-TV Innovation Forum research

(CDSA) advocate for a multi-layer approach spanning management, personnel asset management, physical access, IT security, training, incident management, workflow and script handling. To protect their content from illegal video streaming, broadcasters are deploying advanced channel monitoring and content recognition systems, along with

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watermarking for advanced subscriber level identification. “The latest watermarking technologies are completely invisible to viewers, and comply with the security requirements of premium sports rights holders and movie studios. Importantly, the watermarking can identify any subscribers leaking content in seconds to allow rapid termination of content theft,” said Neil Sharpe, product marketing director, Friend MTS. Key elements of the network access layer include WAN security (firewalls, etc), Internet security (antivirus, etc), network access, authentication and account management and I/O management. “The management layer focuses on the organisation and management of the facility. It could span management policy, risk management and incident response, business continuity and disaster recovery, workflow, segregation of duties, employee hiring practices and how to engage with third parties. The physical layer focuses on the mechanisms and practices that prevent unauthorised entry to your facility. A comprehensive network access layer will focus on the mechanisms and practices that manage who has access to your video production infrastructure and the assets it provides access to,” added Lambert. PRIVACY MATTERS Unlawful distribution of premium content is a growing concern for content owners and platforms and companies are using various tools to deal with this threat. K Yegneshwara Iyer, VP and head of technology, Times Network explained, “We take care to continuously educate our users on best practices to handle all content and on the legal, financial, goodwill and operational consequences of mishandling content. We also put reasonable restrictions on access to content in a shape and form that could be exploited to our company’s detriment. This could be as simple as denying access to people who don’t need the access to allowing only low-resolution access to premium content or allowing delayed access to content – once it has passed its use-by date.” Broadcasting companies, typically, work

“IN THE PAST, SECURITY EFFORTS WERE FOCUSED ON CREATING BARRIERS PREVENTING ACCESS TO MEDIA ASSETS. HOWEVER, AS CYBER CRIMINALS HAVE FOUND WAYS AROUND THESE, THE FOCUS HAS SHIFTED TO FILE AUDITING TO PREVENT INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL THEFT.” – PETER LAMBERT, SALES DIRECTOR, EDITSHARE. in an open internal environment that is not immediately conducive to tight security measures. In an industry that is constantly working under time pressures, imposing security workflows is seen as affecting business deliverables. Consequently, internal risks are higher than external. Broadcasters are generally able to secure their external perimeter but are less successful when it comes to creating internal fences. This leaves them open to potential insider attacks. However, this is not unique to the broadcasting business alone, but is applicable to other industries as well. “In broadcasting, however, the ease of transporting data and media in the modern world means that the risk of breaches and leakages is higher. In broadcasting, as in other industries, ample solutions exist to protect and safeguard media and other data assets. The biggest challenge in broadcast is the workflow and the perceived efficiency reduction brought on by lockdowns of access on a need-to-have basis,” Iyer pointed out.

DIGITAL STUDIO | MARCH 2018 37

BROADCASTING

TECH TALK In the security industry, it is well understood that some security events can be more easily detected through correlation of separate events occurring on different systems throughout the facility. For example, it may be possible to detect unauthorised media asset access via file moves in a storage server combined with file copies to removable storage device such as a USB. Solutions supporting this approach are called Security Information and Events Management (SIEM) systems. “To harness the power of SIEM in your video production facility, it is important to choose media production elements that are capable of forwarding file audit logs to third-party systems. These systems provide centralised collection of file audit log data as well as log data from switches, routers, firewalls and other elements of the IT infrastructure. They also normalise the data so that it can be stored efficiently,” explained Lambert. SIEM systems also provide the capability to look across individual files and correlate events to more precisely identify specific events and threats. Once detected, SIEM systems are capable of notifying responsible parties so that an immediate response can be mounted. The broadcasting sector is challenged in the application of many standard IT technologies due to the kind of workflow and processes that have evolved. Identification of content is extremely difficult. Unlike a PDF or any other office document, media - both audio and video can be cut up and bits and pieces used making tracking much more difficult. While it is easy to restrict access to media, once access is provided, tracking usage is a tedious, expensive and impractical solution. “Restrictions are imposed on users’ ability to copy material on non-authorised media like external hard disks. The ability to upload or FTP is also restricted from endpoints where media is accessible. Ideally, broadcasters would like fingerprinting every distinct frame of media, which could, then, be tracked throughout its lifecycle. But, that will require all systems to come on a common platform to share tracking information,” said Iyer.

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CLOUD CONTROL That modern, collaborative production workflows owe a great deal to the use of file-based content shared on enterprise-wide and cloud-wide networks for their efficiency is undeniable. But equally indisputable is the fact that as workflows transitioned from tightly-guarded tapes to enterprise-wide and worldwide cloud-based networks, the exposure to exploitation; the ‘threat surface’ in security speak, has grown exponentially. With new broadcast workflows and the growth in OTT platforms, there is a greater potential for content redistribution because many of the OTT apps have an insufficient level of security to prevent content redistribution. “To provide end-to-

end security, it is essential for broadcasters and platform operators to address content protection across set-top boxes and OTT apps, using a unified, watermarking based approach to security,” averred Sharpe. Motivated by the value of the content being produced, pirates seek to exploit vulnerabilities in lax studio operations as well as the closely associated and often interconnected ecosystem of postproduction service providers. “Preparedness with layered security systems and protocols is one of the best ways to protect valuable content in the era of cybercrime. In the past, security efforts were focused on creating barriers preventing access to media assets. However, as cyber criminals have found

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BROADCASTING

“IN BROADCASTING, AMPLE SOLUTIONS EXIST TO PROTECT AND SAFEGUARD MEDIA AND OTHER DATA ASSETS. THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE IS THE WORKFLOW AND THE PERCEIVED EFFICIENCY REDUCTION BROUGHT ON BY LOCKDOWNS OF ACCESS ON A NEED-TO-HAVE BASIS.” K YEGNESHWARA IYER, VP AND HEAD OF TECHNOLOGY, TIMES NETWORK

Through IOT you can automate many of these mundane tasks remotely. With this attractive global exchange comes the risk of hacks.

ways around these, the focus has shifted to file auditing to prevent internal and external theft,” said Lambert. NET FIX Cloud workflows for broadcast are still maturing. Many processes like second copies, multiple-GPU based tasks among many others are good candidates for cloud workflows and are being adopted at pace. However, security of data in transit, security of data at rest in a third party data centre and the chances of data loss and the potential for recovery after a loss are all variables today. Controlling security of cloud-based workflows needs to be approached much the same way as one would approach internal

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workflows. It is important to consider cloud resources as an extension of internal processes and apply appropriate controls of access and data protection at every step of all workflows. MAKING THE CONNECTION Broadcasters should be aware of risks of liability of data loss that cloud vendors are willing to undertake and factor that into their management processes for data and its security. Managing security of cloud workflows and cloud storage of large media assets becomes complicated due to the addition of latency in data transfers. “While media was streaming locally within a facility as SDI signals, everything was hard wired and secured. With increasing transmission of media data over IP, media has become as vulnerable as other data that is transmitted over IP links. Consequently, it is important to apply the same measures of securing connections, end-points,

monitoring data flows and using methods like checksums to minimise data corruption in transmission,” Iyer emphasised. As IoT becomes a reality in the broadcasting industry, security solutions are changing too. Connectivity is a huge advantage to clients who are working on global productions. Previously you would need to send the tape or hard drives back to the facility, which could be 5,000 miles away. Through IOT, one can automate a huge amount of tasks, such as ingest, transcode and file based delivery. Being connected to the post-production house from any location worldwide helps improve efficiency, reduces wasted time on shipping and helps with the bottom line of a production. “Furthermore through IOT you can automate many of these mundane tasks remotely. With this attractive global exchange comes the risk of hacks,” Lambert cautioned. FUTURE PERFECT Almost any production/post production leveraging the IoT for content exchange will require cloud based security as part of the workflow. Clients want to make sure that there content is secure at all times and how can they do that if their files are on a third party server somewhere around the globe. “We are seeing media and entertainment companies turn towards more integrated security services. There’s a demand for managed content protection services that deliver demonstrable success against video piracy, as opposed to just deploying security software and hardware devices,” said Sharpe. He added that increasing use of cloud based workflows will help standardise and homogenise many of these processes and as this happens, security will become easier to configure and maintain. However, the efficacy and practicality of security of cloud based broadcasting workflows and the usability of cloud based security solutions for broadcasting remains to be proved. Iyer is confident, though, that both will improve to a point that they will become the standard rather than the experimental alternative that they now are. Here is hoping that his confidence that piracy and other threats will be unsuccessful in disrupting the industry is not misplaced.

DIGITAL STUDIO | MARCH 2018 39

QUICK CHAT

SHIFTING SHADES Dan Cole, senior colorist, Technicolor London, served up a buffet of ingenious hues and shades to paint a vivid image of the future for USS Callister BY PRADEEP SUVARNA he human mind is a tricky thing – it comes up with complex questions like what will happen in the future when technology becomes all encompassing and falls outside the purview of legalese? Are robots and autobots capable of criminal activity and can they be sued for it? These are just some of the theories explored in the USS Callister, Charlie Brooker’s anthology series about futuristic technology. This feature-length first episode of Black Mirror’s fourth season melds comedy, drama and bits of horror, tracing how gaming and artificial intelligence have made inroads into every aspect of modern life. Dan Coles, senior colourist, Technicolor London worked on this feature. He tells us how he employed several different grading

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styles and looks for the distinctly different setups within the film. How did you start out in post business and become a colorist? Was it something you always wanted to do? Like many people in post, I began as a runner and originally wanted to be an offline editor. I started out at SVC, which specialised in commercials, promos and short form – I remember carrying several huge 35mm film cans into the telecine suite for a Spice Girls promo grade, and hanging around to watch some of the session. So, 1997 was when I first became interested, though it was not until I moved to Telecine that I actually trained as a colorist. One of my first jobs there was assisting in the DVD mastering of Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas with Terry Gilliam – at that point I was

confident I had found the right job. It was after Telecine that I became one of the founding members of Pepper, and that was where I started to undertake my own jobs both in long and short-form grading. I spent nine years at Pepper, and have now been a senior colorist at Technicolor for nine years, helping to establish them as one of the top UK drama post houses. You have worked on a mixture of feature and TV productions. How do they differ and which do you prefer? I love a variety of work – feature and TV yes, but also a variety of genres within those fields. The features I’ve been involved in (both studio and independents) have traditionally been more ambitious, and allowed more grading time than the TV productions. In recent times, though, it is

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ABOUT DAN COLES Dan Coles, senior colorist at Technicolor London, has a rich experience in grading both feature and TV productions. He loves the creativity and challenge of grading and creating a ‘look’, and makes up for all that time in a darkened room with lots of outdoor activity. Coles has won two RTS Craft & Design Awards, the latest for his grading work on The Eichmann Show in 2015, and prior to this, for his work on Battle for Haditha in 2008. His credits for Technicolor include Victoria, The Collection, The Level, Him, Flowers, VEEP, Grantchester, Endeavour, Capital and The Eichmann Show.

Recently I’ve been working on Hatton Garden for ITV, Trauma also for ITV, and Detectorists Series 3 for BBC4. Next, I have Series 2 of Flowers (for Channel 4) and Delicious Series 2 for Sky. I also have a new Netflix/BBC series for 2018 and an Amazon/ ITV series. It goes without saying I’d love to do some more Black Mirror too, if possible. Talking of Black Mirror, how many episodes did you grade? Just the one episode – USS Callister.

harder to draw a line between feature and TV, as many of today’s TV productions are incredibly ambitious and bold. What’s the post community like in London? Is there anywhere else you’d like to work? I love working in London and feel lucky to be surrounded by so many talented people – both from the post community, and the freelance production community – it is very inspiring! Spending so much of my week in a dark room I like to get outdoors and active at weekends – for that reason if I was to choose to work in a different city it’d have to be somewhere with a great outdoors – Vancouver would tick that box! Tell us what projects you have been working on recently and what’s next?

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As each episode required a totally different look and feel, did you get a tight brief on these looks or were you able to have some part in creating them? Both really – we talked about lots of different looks and USS Callister employed several different grading styles and looks for the distinctly different setups within the film. I listened to ideas from the DOP and the director and also went away and came up with some ideas of my own, which I would then present to them. We also had to test these looks in both SDR and HDR to make sure they worked across both formats. What was the collaboration like between you and the cinematographer, director and DoP? It was an incredibly collaborative experience for me and I feel we really pushed some boundaries with the time and effort we put

“WORKING WITH 4K FILES IN HDR HAS TAUGHT ME THAT THE HUMAN EYE VERY QUICKLY ADAPTS TO THIS NEW AESTHETIC, AND IN MY EXPERIENCE IT DOESN’T TAKE LONG TO START TO REALLY ENJOY THE HDR IMAGE. EMERGING TECHNOLOGY TRENDS SUCH AS 8K ARE SOMEWHAT INEVITABLE, BUT THAT HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE WAY.” in. My favourite projects are invariably the ones where everyone feels able to pitch in and become involved in the grading process. How did Baselight support your work on this series? My Baselight TWO (Generation VI) system performed fantastically – not only as the grading system but as an editorial system too. We had raw 4K files in the timeline that were cached and the performance was fantastic to the point where we sometimes forgot we were working in 4K at HDR. Following the theme of the series, do you think there is a dark side to technology? I think when you watch USS Callister in 4K HDR you will see there is also a bright side to the technology.

DIGITAL STUDIO | MARCH 2018 41

QUICK CHAT

If you could start over, would you pursue a career as a colorist once again? Yes, I probably would – it allows me to work on some fantastic projects with some extremely talented and inspiring people. Is there a movie or TV show grade that you particularly admire or something that inspires you? I absolutely loved the look of Fargo Season 2. Currently, Stranger Things Season 2 and Mindhunter look stunning with their respective 80’s vibes. I really enjoyed Ozark too.

How long have you been using Baselight? Endeavour Series 1 was my first job on Baselight, back in 2013. You won your second RTS Craft & Design Award for your work on The Eichmann Show in 2015. What was special about this project? Working on The Eichmann Show presented a number of grading challenges. Primarily - the issue of continuity due to the number of formats used within the film. Specific formats we encountered included colour 35mm, colour Super 16mm graded as monochrome, archive newsreel footage, monochrome 35mm, colour Super 16mm, monochrome Super 16mm, tele-recording sourced original trial footage, as well as the stunning principal Alexa photography. After carefully and sensitively matching the contrast levels between the different

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sources, the images flowed together seamlessly allowing us to feel a part of the trial itself, which, along with so many other aspects of the work in this powerful film, added to the sense of realism. Do you have an all time favourite project that you have graded on? The Killer Inside Me – an independent feature directed by Michael Winterbottom. This was one of my favourite projects. The brief was 1950’s American film noir. Beautifully shot by Marcel Zyskind on 35mm – we had a brilliant time grading it. We referenced old print looks and played with magenta and crimson tones throughout. One of my favourite TV pieces was Cilla where we referenced and created a period look and feel to great success, which was inspired by photographer John Bulmer’s project The North.

What’s your opinion on HDR, wider colour gamuts, 4K, 8K and other emerging technology trends? Having the capability of achieving a far greater tonal range in the colour palette, and having a greater degree of range and therefore control in highlight details represents an exciting challenge for colourists. Creatively we can bring more to the table, but it is also a game changer in that different eyes in the room are now more likely to see those wider gamut colours in different ways, so you really have to be at the top of your game. Working with 4K files in HDR has taught me that the human eye very quickly adapts to this new aesthetic, and in my experience doesn’t take long to start to really enjoy the HDR image. Emerging technology trends such as 8K are somewhat inevitable but that has always been the way. My golden rule is stick to the three ‘Cs’ – collaboration, creativity and continuity.

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THE MAN, THE MYSTIQUE

To present how papacy influenced the world over the years in Pope: The Most Powerful Man in History, cinematographer Dane Lawing wanted each era to have a historical look with a distinctly cinematic feel BY PRADEEP SUVARNA evisiting history for a TV series can be a challenging affair – while on one hand, viewers want to know what transpired years ago, they do not want to visualise it through the dusty lens of antiquity. And when the protagonist at the heart of the series is a character who is always a topic on intrigue, then the ante is raised further. When CNN decided to come up with its sixhour, six-part mini-series on the centrifugal character of Christianity, the idea was to present how each pope used their influence to shape the course of world history and the religion during their time. Produced by Glass Entertainment Group and Rearrange TV,

44 MARCH 2018 | DIGITAL STUDIO

Pope: The Most Powerful Man in History, goes inside the Vatican to reveal the true nature of power and control held by popes through the ages. HISTORY IN FOCUS To present the historical vignettes in this CNN Original docu-series, titled, Dane Lawing, SOC, the DOP for this project wanted each era to have its own look and a distinctly cinematic feel. To achieve this, he relied on Cooke S4/i prime lenses. “I just love these lenses,” said Lawing, referring to these lenses. “For the last year and a half, I used either the S4/i series or the miniS4/i primes pretty much exclusively. I like the cinematic look it gives; they are not harsh — especially with digital

cinematography — and they have a contrast I really love, with deep blacks where the midtones don’t suffer and great bokeh. It is a look I would call creamy.” Lawing also likes the discipline of shooting with a prime lens, and with 25 to 35 setups a day he did not spend any more time switching lenses than he would have if using a zoom lens. His team used a lot of candlelight in this production, and at one point considered lighting almost entirely with candles, as that was the actual source of light for many of those real events. However, they faced legal issues with locations and the art department was terrified of dealing with the continuity issues. Lawing recalled, “So, we created a convincingly natural look with LED lighting

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PHOTO: JON HIRSCH

BEHIND THE SCENES

PHOTO: JON HIRSCH

TRIED, TESTED AND APPROVED Director Randy Counsman wanted Pope: The Most Powerful Man in History to have a unique look, so Lawing shot at a 32 FPS baseline for editing on a 24 FPS timeline. “It is just slow enough that it doesn’t feel so overcranked,” he explained. “I gave Counsman a bunch of tests at a number of framerates, and he liked 32 the best. That is also the frame-rate I use for underwater and fashion work, as it smoothens movement really well.” He also enhanced the look with a number of custom LUTs and utilised creative filtration for each location and timeframe. Some of those LUTs were motivated from The Borgias TV series, and the World War II look was influenced by the film, Dunkirk, as he wanted to avoid the typical de-saturated look and go for the more cinematic look. One of the scenes in which the S4/i primes really stood out is when Pope Pius XII first

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PHOTO: JON HIRSCH

and placed practical candles in our frames to complete the effect. The bokeh and falloff were really nice and not at all distracting,” he added. As a cinematographer with more than 20 years of experience, Lawing was familiar with Cooke lenses by reputation and from other DPs, but only started using the S4/i primes himself in 2016.

IN HIS KIT Dane Lawing used a Cooke S4/i kit with eight primes: 18/25/32/40/50/75/100/135mm, relying mostly on the 25mm and 40mm for much of the two-camera shoot, with 138mm +1 and +2 diopters added for close-up work. He used an ARRI Alexa SXT as A camera, with an Amira as B camera.

sees the atrocities of the concentration camps early in the Second World War. “As we circle around Pope Pius and a group of Bishops watching a 16mm film of a concentration camp, we see their faces,” said Lawing. “That scene looked so good that we ended

Cinematographer Dane Lawing on the set.

up overshooting it, shooting right down the projector’s lens. I can shoot into a film projector, directly at hot windows – it just looks fantastic. I don’t have to worry the way I would have to with other current or vintage glass. In fact, my first AC told me how little work he had to do to protect the lenses from flaring. At one point, our B camera had matting like it technically should have been, but we were able to pull them out for a beautiful artistic look. That’s what you get from the S4/is.” The premiere episode, The Rise of the Pope is scheduled to air around 1st April 2018 and examines the origins of the papacy and how Catholicism, against all odds, spread throughout Europe. It uncovers the truth about the one world leader who is neither a politician nor a general — but commands the attention of both. Combining never-before-seen footage, exclusive interviews, and dramatic recreations, this series focuses on the men who have held this unique and complicated position, and reveals the unexpected true stories from the Vatican’s past.

DIGITAL STUDIO | MARCH 2018 45

ANALYSIS

DONE DEAL How does Belden plan to leverage the Snell Advanced Media acquisition? BY VINITA BHATIA

n 8th February, the broadcasting world woke to news that Belden has completed its acquisition of Snell Advanced Media (SAM), and that the entity would soon merge with Grass Valley. This was not entirely unexpected as many in the industry were already speculating that Belden, which has a history of acquiring companies, had been in advanced talks with UK-headquartered SAM for a while. What people in the business, instead wanted to know was about the change in guard in these companies, and that

46 MARCH 2018 | DIGITAL STUDIO

became clear soon. It was announced that Tim Shoulders would continue to lead Grass Valley, while Eric Cooney, who was appointed president and CEO of SAM in June 2017, would be part of the integration team. For those who came in late, it was only in January 2018 that Shoulders replaced Marco Lopez, who incidentally had been a member of the Belden’s management team since 2011. The entire industry has been waiting for the more details about the acquisition but not much has been forthcoming. Many decided to wait till the 2018 NAB Show to get a clearer picture, but not us.

At Digital Studio, we decided the only way to put the speculations to rest was by asking the people at Belden and SAM, which is exactly what we did. Here we present what they have to say. COMPANY SPEAK Belden Inc’s officials said that post he acquisition of SAM, the plan is for Belden to combine the SAM and Grass Valley operations and go to market under the Grass Valley brand. They added that they would continue to be headquartered in Montreal, Canada, under the leadership of Grass Valley’s President, Shoulders, like we

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ANALYSIS

TO STAY COMPETITIVE, OUR CUSTOMERS REQUIRE SUPPORT FROM THEIR SUPPLIERS TO HELP INCREASE THEIR EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS. THEY NEED TO REACH NEW AUDIENCES, ACROSS DIFFERENT MEDIA, WITH MORE DYNAMIC CONTENT.” –DAVE COHEN, VP OF MARKETING, GRASS VALLEY.

mentioned above. Additionally, as has been vastly mentioned in the media, the SAM brand will be retired. However, they revealed that many product brands used by SAM and its predecessors through the years will be retained. “We are excited about the advantages this transaction enables us to offer our customers, who continue to deal with a rapidly changing broadcast landscape that includes almost constantly evolving viewer and advertiser behaviour, changing business models and enormous unprecedented competition. To stay competitive, they require support from

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The SAM brand will be retired. However, many product brands used by SAM and its predecessors through the years will be retained.

their suppliers to help increase their efficiency and effectiveness. They need to reach new audiences, across different media, with more dynamic content,” Dave Cohen, VP of marketing, Grass Valley stated. He added that this announcement improves their overall offering to provide customers with the most comprehensive, innovative selection of products and

services, with assured interoperability, and extend their ability to offer inregion support to the global broadcast community. Timothy Shoulders, president, Grass Valley, a Belden Brand stated, “With this investment, Belden again demonstrates our commitment to the broadcast industry. Adding SAM’s employees and products to the Grass Valley family extends its global reach, makes us more agile and provides even more domain expertise to enhance Grass Valley’s industry-leading solutions in networking, news and live production and content delivery for broadcasters. Our customers face competition and uncertainty like never before. This transaction will help them navigate the technology options available to them with fewer concerns around interoperability and deployment complexity while providing them greater access to the innovators developing the solutions of tomorrow.”

DIGITAL STUDIO | MARCH 2018 47

ANALYSIS

“ADDING SAM’S EMPLOYEES AND PRODUCTS TO THE GRASS VALLEY FAMILY EXTENDS ITS GLOBAL REACH, MAKES US MORE AGILE AND PROVIDES EVEN MORE DOMAIN EXPERTISE TO ENHANCE GRASS VALLEY’S INDUSTRY-LEADING SOLUTIONS IN NETWORKING, NEWS AND LIVE PRODUCTION AND CONTENT DELIVERY FOR BROADCASTERS.” –TIMOTHY SHOULDERS, PRESIDENT, GRASS VALLEY, A BELDEN BRAND. Eric Cooney, former president and CEO, SAM added, “The team at SAM has worked hard over the past several years to deliver world-class products that have met or exceeded the needs of our target customers. We are energised by their loyalty and we thank our customers for helping us get here. We believe that by becoming part of the Grass Valley family within Belden, we can offer our customers an even greater opportunity to continue growing with us. The collection of talent and technological muscle customers now have at their disposal is unequaled. And, with the backing of Belden, our company has the stability and resources that this industry demands to continue innovating and meet the competition head on.” Belden does not intend to broadly

“THE TEAM AT SAM HAS WORKED HARD OVER THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS TO DELIVER WORLDCLASS PRODUCTS THAT HAVE MET OR EXCEEDED THE NEEDS OF OUR TARGET CUSTOMERS. THE COLLECTION OF TALENT AND TECHNOLOGICAL MUSCLE CUSTOMERS NOW HAVE AT THEIR DISPOSAL IS UNEQUALED.” – ERIC COONEY, FORMER PRESIDENT AND CEO, SAM.

48 MARCH 2018 | DIGITAL STUDIO

communicate the closing of this transaction until it is in a better position to provide useful information to its employees and customers. It anticipates executing an aggressive external communications effort at 2018 NAB Show where the combined company’s product roadmap will be exhibited on a single stand. INDUSTRY TAKE Needless to say, the announcement of this acquisition has set the industry a-twitter, since both companies are major players in the broadcasting and content management space. While SAM supplies products and solutions for live production, postproduction, asset management, playout, infrastructure and image processing, Grass Valley has an array of products that range

BIG DEAL Here is a look at some of the major deals that Belden was involved in recently: • December, 2009 Acquired Telecast Fiber Systems, which made cable and wiring products. • July, 2012 Purchased Miranda, which manufactured production, playout, and delivery solutions for broadcast infrastructure industry, for $357 million. • December, 2012 Bought New York-based PPC, which provided broadband connectivity solutions for the service provider market. • January, 2013 Acquired Softel, a UK-based provider of captioning and subtitling products and later merged it with Miranda. • January 2015 Gets control of Tripwire, a provider of threat, security and compliance solutions, for $710m. • June 2017 Acquired Thinklogical, manufacturer of KVM signal extension and switching systems for video, from Riverside Partners for $160m. Belden planned to accelerate the company’s broadcast solutions platform and provide it with the technology that would enable it to get a stronger foothold in the KVM switching market.

from cameras, servers, control systems and graphics processors. However, it is interesting to note that there is significant overlap of some product SKUs between the two companies, so customers, channels partners and competitors would like to see which products—for instance the production switchers, automated playout kit or replay servers—Belden will retain and which will be phased out. Additionally, it will be important to see that given the impressive portfolio that Belden currently has, how it will manage this vast and varied product range, as it pushes its agenda of interoperability forward.

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EVENTS

THE RIGHT CONNECT

Convergence India 2017 was all about connectivity. This year’s event is set to take that agenda forward by displaying the latest technologies and giving visitors networking opportunities galore BY VINITA BHATIA

he 26th edition of Convergence India 2018 is all set to roll from 7th to 9th March, 2018 at New Delhi’s Pragati Maidan. This international exhibition and conference, which operates under the ‘Digital Convergence India’ aegis, will be co-hosted with another event, the 2nd Internet of Things. The trade show, organised by Exhibitions India Group, has become highly relevant to the country’s ICT industry. With the constant evolution of convergence, the lines between telecom, IT and broadcast sectors are getting blurred. Hence, it will have pavilions where players from all these domains can showcase their latest solutions and products and also participate in the conference where industry leaders will discuss and debate the challenges, opportunities and roadmap ahead.

50 MARCH 2018 | DIGITAL STUDIO

COME ONE, COME ALL This year, Convergence India 2018 will have three distinct Technology Zones. The first will be for Internet of Things India, which was launched and co-located within the main event. It will showcase IoT technologies from

global and domestic exhibitors, including hardware, software, services and security solutions, covering development areas and future of IoT including smart cities, wearables, design applications, industrial IoT, data analysis. Last year, visitors showed great

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EVENTS

THE CONVERGENCE INDIA 2018 WILL HAVE THREE DISTINCT TECHNOLOGY ZONES. THESE WILL INCLUDE THE MOBILE & ACCESSORIES ZONE, THE SATCOM PAVILION AS WELL AS THE INTERNET OF THINGS PAVILION, WHICH WAS LAUNCHED AND CO-LOCATED WITHIN THE MAIN EVENT LAST YEAR. interest in technologies like cloud computing, connected cars, green energy solutions, home automation, mobility and logistics solutions. The Mobile & Accessories Zone has been created to bring mobile ecosystem including mobile devices, wearables and accessories under a single roof. Here, manufacturers can showcase their latest products with demonstrations to distributors and large retailers. The SATCOM pavilion will see the participation of satellite operators, broadcasters, DTH service providers as well as user organisations such as banks, defense, government agencies, telecom service providers, oil and gas, etc. Last year, the event witnessed the

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Images from Convergence India 2017.

attendance of 635 exhibiting companies and 18000 square meters exhibit space. The three-day event witnessed a footfall of 19000 visitors, which was a 46% increase in exhibitor participation as compared to last year, according to the organisers. Connectivity was a major focus throughout the three Convergence India conference tracks, which included 27 sessions, and the wider ecosystem of policy makers, business leaders, industry experts, entrepreneurs, tech enthusiasts, innovators, and investors. The event welcomed official government representatives from around the world.

Indian government leaders in attendance included the Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology and Law and Justice, PP Chaudhary, who inaugurated the trade show. Prof Ashutosh Sharma, secretary, Department of Science and Technology was the Guest of Honour at the opening ceremony. Other top level Indian government attendees included representatives from the DoT, DeiTY, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Home Affairs, Information & Broadcast Ministry, MTNL, C-DOT, TEC, TCIL, Prasar Bharati, BECIL, AIR, Doordarshan, etc.

DIGITAL STUDIO | MARCH 2018 51

IN DEPTH dock10 decided to deploy IPE’s provides a range of intelligent PDUs, which in this case were eMU3 ACO units, at its MediaCityUK studios

WHAT’S UP, DOCK10?

A leading UK television facility, dock10, has deployed IPE’s eMU3 automatic changeover units at its MediaCityUK studios BY PRADEEP SUVARNA hen it comes to power management in a broadcasting facility, power control and monitoring are critical issues for systems administrators. And given the high use of power in these facilities, what they keenly require is a simple, centralised control solution to manage every aspect of power performance, from controlling individual outputs to monitoring alerts. The need for such a system has never been greater than now, when the cost of power is steadily rising. That was something that dock10, a leading UK television facility, realised and decided that it needed a system that would help it would help it with automatic changeover (ACO) units that conserves electricity. Moreover, the company wanted an effective power management system that could help it reduce overall operational cost. After checking with various brands available with systems integrators, it decided to deploy IPE’s provides a range of intelligent PDUs, which in this case were eMU3 ACO units, at its MediaCityUK studios. IPE’s eMU3 ACO

52 MARCH 2018 | DIGITAL STUDIO

includes 12 power outputs, dual inputs with automatic, local or remote changeover, and an embedded web server enabling remote control and monitoring facilities. SINGLE POINT OF CONTROL With the eMU3 ACO, the systems administrators at dock10 can control up to 48 individual outputs from one ethernet cable, reducing their overall network deployment cost. Its intuitive web interface provides quick and easy access to control and configuration facilities. The unit also monitors the health of racks, and provides visual indications of the status of every output and provides email alerts if pre-set limits are exceeded. Dock10’s technical operations manager, Darren Jones said, “As a facility that boasts an annual output of 1000+ hours of live transmission including ‘Match of the Day’ and ‘Blue Peter’, as well as providing campuswide services to the whole of MediaCityUK, 24-7 resilience and reliability are key to our operation. The ability to monitor in real-time and have clear visibility of equipment ‘states’ and pre-empt potential issues by SNMP and email alarms was also important.”

All IPE PDUs provide continuous polling and at-a-glance system status for every output on every connected PDU with the ability to configure individual PDUs and outputs. On the eMU3 ACO, each input is also monitored and the active input clearly displayed. Network settings including IP address, subnet mask, gateway and API port numbers can all be configured, and SMTP server and email addresses can be set so that systems operators can receive pre-set email alerts. Jones added, “We continually evaluate equipment and infrastructure to stay at the cutting edge of technology, and all of the technology under consideration was tested against market competitors in a ‘shoot-out’. The IPE PDU won out and is now a central component of a robust technology hub in MediaCityUK, enabling us to provide the resilience that our clients expect.” Reuben Such, head of IPE Products’ sales and support, added that dock10 is a longstanding user of the company’s Intelligent Display System and the PDU deployment is a natural extension of the total visibility and control dock10 provides for its clients across the board.

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BE INSPIRED EVERY MONTH WPP license no. MR/TECH/WPP-82/North/2017 License to post without prepayment Postal Registration No. MCN/99/2015-2017. Published on 3rd of every month. Posting date: 5th & 6th of every month. Posted at Patrika Channel Sorting Office, Mumbai-400001. Total number of pages 52 Registered with Registrar of Newspapers under RNI No. MAHENG/2009/33418. Vol. 9 | Issue 12 | DECEMBER 2017 | ` 50

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EVENTS

INTER BEE 2017

THE MAKING OF

THE BEST OF

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WPP license no. MR/TECH/WPP-82/North/2017 License to post without prepayment Postal Registration No. MCN/99/2015-2017. Published on 3rd of every month. Posting date: 5th & 6th of every month. Posted at Patrika Channel Sorting Office, Mumbai-400001. Total number of pages 114 Registered with Registrar of Newspapers under RNI No. MAHENG/2009/33418. Vol. 9 | Issue 10 | OCTOBER 2017 | ` 50

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27th

BROADCAST INDIA SHOW • MUMBAI

TIGER ZINDA HAI

, A N N IV E RSA RY S PEC I A L

STAR POWER MEET THE RISING STARS AND CINEMATOGRAPHERS OF THE YEAR WHO STOOD HEAD AND SHOULDERS ABOVE THEIR PEERS AT THE SECOND DIGITAL STUDIO INDIA CHANNEL PARTNER AWARDS 2017

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Total number of pages 68 Vol. 9 | Issue 8 | AUGUST 2017 | ` 50

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BRINGING KILLER CONTENT TO VIEWERS

WATCH THE FUTURE UNFOLD

LOO AND

THREE’S COMPANY

BEHOLD

TOILET: EK PREM KATHA’S RUNAWAY SUCCESS HAS TAKEN MANY BY SURPRISE, INCLUDING ITS EDITOR-DIRECTOR SHREE NARAYAN SINGH

RU EDIRIWIRA, VYNSLEY FERNANDES, AND JOHNJIT AHLUWALIA HAVE SET CASTLE MEDIA APART IN A CROWDED MARKETPLACE

FOR OUR NINTH ANNIVERSARY, WE PRESENT NOTEWORTHY PROJECTS THAT LEVERAGED CUTTING-EDGE TECHNOLOGIES

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Total number of pages 92 Vol. 9 | Issue 7 | JULY 2017 | ` 50

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OPINION

2017

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POWER OF NINE

THE BEST OF

2017

E -AG NEW N THE QUEE AT IN THE S TH RGE AS E V LIE ME , BE L E M18 T WIL IACO TEX O, V CON P CE AND ROU KING, G , S VAT L BE SHU T WIL HAN TEN SUD CON

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Total number of pages 68 Vol. 9 | Issue 6 | JUNE 2017 | ` 50

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IN CONVERSATION

HOT

RAJNEESH MITTAL, CTO, ZEE ENTERTAINMENT

100 00

2017

HYPER CONVERGENCE

THE JOURNEY SO FAR

A KEY HIGHLIGHT OF THE 2017 NAB SHOW WAS THE CONFLUENCE OF MEDIA, ENTERTAINMENT AND TECHNOLOGY, AND THE LIMITLESS OPPORTUNITIES IT PRESENTS

A CLOSER LOOK AT THE SUCCESS STORIES OF INDUSTRY PIONEERS

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IN DEPTH

With big-ticket artists coming through multiple times per week, MW Comms ‘jumper connection’ allow the theater’s administrators to change production easily for each performing artist

TRICK OR TREAT

Clear-Com and MW Comm Solutions solved the tricky facilitywide intercom coverage requirement at Washington DC’s MGM National Harbor Theater BY PRADEEP SUVARNA hen The MGM National Harbor Resort opened in December 2016 at Washington DC, it had a wow factor that astounded even this been-there-done-that county. Within a year, according to the city’s officials, the $1.4 billion resort and casino had over 6 million visitors, many of who came to enjoy the performances at its 3000-seat theater. Over the past year, the MGM National Harbor Theater has emerged as a leading entertainment destination in the country attracting popular including Bruno Mars, The Who, Chris Rock, and Tom Jones. What was needed now was to upgrade its diverse intercom and audio-visual system without affecting its continual operational schedule. Systems integrator PSX Worldwide Audiovisual Technologies of New Orleans, LA was hired to translate the theater’s ambitious AV design into a functional and dependable reality. “The hybrid intercom system at The

54 MARCH 2018 | DIGITAL STUDIO

Theater at MGM National Harbor is all based on Clear-Com technology, including three HelixNet digital partyline intercom systems and a two-wire, four-channel analog partyline system,” said Ed Vigueira, senior engineer and project manager, PSX Worldwide Audiovisual Technologies. “When we anticipated challenges in achieving the specified connection choice, we turned to Clear-Com, a provider of real-time communication and connectivity solutions, for help – and help they did.” GOING BACK TO THE BOARD Mindful that PSX Worldwide needed answers fast to complete The Theater’s AV integration on time, Clear-Com directed Ed Vigueira to MW Comm Solutions for a creative custom solution to this tricky intercom challenge. “MW Comms came through for us by designing and custom-building 1 x XLR to 10 x shielded CAT-6 jack rack-mounted distribution boxes for this project, giving us a clean, dependable way to bridge the gap from the base stations to the patch bays,” Vigueira

said. “With the addition of shielded STP patch cables, we had everything we needed to get the entire intercom system working. There was no noise, no latency, and MW Comms plug-and-play design saved us many hours of labor. At the same time, this solution allowed us to get 10 physical outputs out of each intercom channel.” Originally, The Theater’s AV design specified connecting the venue’s diverse intercom systems over shielded CAT-6 cables. These intercom cables would have been terminated to shielded punch blocks inside patch bays at The Theater’s equipment racks, while using XLR connectors at field panels throughout the complex. What’s more, the custom solution added more flexibility and configurability. Normally, a theatre system is hard-wired and it changes very rarely. However, the Clear-Com HelixNet solution with the MW Comms ‘jumper connection’ allows The Theater to make changes on the fly. With big-ticket artists coming through multiple times per week, this allows them to change production easily for each performing artist. The importance of MW Comms custom solution, spurred into existence by ClearCom’s knowledgeable customer support, made all the difference to The Theater at MGM National Harbor’s AV installation. Using the solution offered by Clear-Com and MW Comm Solutions, PSW Worldwide successfully completed its AV installation at The Theater at MGM National Harbor. “Our client was delighted with the final intercom product, and the designer was satisfied that we had met his requirements,” said Vigueira. “As a systems integrator, you sometimes find yourself squeezed between specifications and physics. Fortunately, Clear-Com and MW Comms stepped up and solved this challenge for us; easing the pressure!” “Part of being a trusted intercom supplier is assisting clients with their technical issues, no matter how unique these problems may be,” said John Kruman, regional sales manager at Clear-Com. “Better yet, the CAT-6 connectivity solution that MW Comm Solutions devised for PSX Worldwide could prove to be useful to other integrators and venue operators down the line.”

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