Services
At present MUPPITS is still a research project and we are actively seeking input from the industry. The MUPPITS project is developing a service oriented approach to managing file-based production and post-production in film and TV. It has developed a management system that provides producers with full control of file-based content as it develops from shooting to post production to final delivery. Service level agreements are set up between the producer and the various facilities with the rules and naming conventions agreed. The producer initiates the required actions and MUPPITS automates the movement of files and invocation of services. All transactions are recorded and a complete audit trail is maintained using metadata. There are many applications of this service based approach throughout the emerging digital media industry.
A Digital Marketplace
The MUPPITS digital marketplace equates to affordability, accessibility and choice; affordability by reducing costs and time; accessibility to simplify the access to the different services required throughout the production and post-production industry; choice by providing a one-stop service with a variety of materials necessary to complete any job.
With recent technology innovations and the new era of digital content becoming proven practices, Companies can significantly reduce the operational overhead for developing and maintaining their services and significantly improve quality, customizability and effectiveness of services offered.
The MUPPITS digital marketplace is being built on these advances in technology which include Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and community web services (as the simple explanation given under the Services tab). MUPPITS is also developing innovative business practices that will transform the service and business models for the sharing and distribution of digital content.
The list of what MUPPITS can do is theoretically endless and covers all functions connected with the post-production industry that could be offered as services accessible over the internet, although it should be stressed at present only a subset of services will be implemented during the projects lifetime. The final demonstration will be in September 2010, further details will be published here when they are available.
Tapeless Production Example:
Summary of the demonstration at Pinewood studios on 26th November 2009
The recent demonstration at Pinewood Studios took the form of a mini documentary made about the moving of BBC Research and Development from Kingswood Warren to West London. The Documentary focused on the old facility and its heritage.
Kingswood Warren was the location where some production stills were pre-shot for use in a CGI rendered shot, which was processed by Smoke and Mirrors. Molinare was the editing facility and the final documentary sent to Pinewood Studios for review.
Ian Childs, a former Head of Research, was interviewed live during the presentation at Kingswood Warren with two camera positions being recorded on the BBC Ingex system. At the end of the recording the Ingex system wrapped the video and audio in an MXF wrapper and dispatched it to the MUPPITS data warehouse in Pinewood Studios. An alert was sent to the producer, who reviewed a copy of the clips on his i-phone before marking the shots as ‘good’ for automatic transfer to Molinare for edit. A CGI composite of the changes to the Kingswood Warren building was made at Smoke & Mirrors, which, when complete, was automatically dispatched to Molinare to incorporate in the final edit.
All of these actions are pre-planned and are covered by service level agreements (SLAs) between the individual client and the service providers. The above was a demonstration of proof of concept. It was an example of some of the services that can be managed by MUPPITS. Any other operations that can be classified as a service can also be used in a MUPPITS scenario.
Render Resource Sharing Example
A post house in London running a MUPPITS data warehouse bids on several scenes in a CGI based feature movie. In the past sales would make rough estimate of processor numbers against time. If it looked like that there would be a shortfall the post-house would have to buy more processors to complete the job on time. This might not be straightforward as there may be instantaneous obsolescence issues or not enough power and cooling in the building. Once the rendering starts they may have under or overestimated the resources required. A company running a MUPPITS system can make an accurate estimate of the render resources required using a Render Estimator Tool developed in the MUPPITS Project allowing a more accurate price estimate. This utilises service level agreements with other facilities to allow automatic sharing of render or storage resources, thus reducing spikes in capital spending and the continual problem of instant obsolescence.