David Carroll, Sr. Systems Architect,Sony Electronics Inc.

June 22, 2010

Sony: Media SOA Systems for Digital

Entertainment Production

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Sony Electronics and Software AG

are working together globally to develop a Media Production Workflow solution

based on SOA for the Entertainment

Industry, including motion picture and

television production and distribution.

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•Enterprise Media Workflow SOA Platform

•Based on 40+ years of Sony’s media industry experience

• Includes world class IT products� webMethods 8 suite (embedded)

� Oracle 11g Enterprise (embedded)

•Other features:

� Sony ProUI GUI for low light environments

� Media Workflow Template library

� Web Services and adapters for 3rd Party Media products

� Media Bus to manage file movement and storage

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What is the problem?

•Dramatic film and television production techniques have been relatively unchanged for over 50 years. The changes

have mostly related to adding sound, color, and wide

screen formats to the same process of capturing images

on film, physically editing the material, and optically

copying the final product for distribution.

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What is the problem?

•About 15 years ago, new technologies began to change the production process:

� Telecine – scanning film to video tape

� Video editing – producing negative cut lists

� Video based Visual Effects

� Film recorders

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What is the problem?

• In the past 5 years changes have increased dramatically:� High Resolution data scanning of film

� Large RAID disk systems to store a complete production

� Digital Editing and Visual Effects

� Digital Intermediate and color correction systems

� Laser film recorders to write out the finished digital images

� High resolution digital cinema cameras equal to film cameras

� Digital cinema projectors and digital distribution of movies

� Demand for content in alternative formats (Web, iTunes, etc.)

� Shortening of release schedules for Theatrical, TV, DVD, etc.

� New technologies and formats proliferating rapidly

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Other issues?

•All of these changes have created new issues:� Digital formats plus accessibility of the Internet has increased the

effect of piracy and production leaks to a billion dollar problem

� Compressed schedules with more types of distribution have

increased the complexity and amount of work to finish a title

� Vastly increased visual effects have added complexity to

management of the production process

� Digital acquisition encourages shooting more footage (tape or

memory is “free” compared to film and processing)

� Increased resolution (4k vs. 2k) has multiplied storage

requirements

� 3D projects are becoming common, increasing complexity and

number of files

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What is the result?

•The Media and Entertainment Industry is moving rapidly from film and “traditional” video content production to

digital file based content.

•More than 40% of major motion pictures are now shot with digital cameras.

•90% of major films are edited and processed digitally, even if they are shot on film.

•A growing percentage of dramatic television shows are now shot digitally.

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Why is digital production different?

•Each shot captured digitally results in a large high resolution moving picture file, as well as additional files

for sound and metadata.

•These files must be transported and stored on RAID arrays to insure against data loss and corruption.

•The files must be processed or “transcoded” into lower resolutions and different formats for post-processing,

editing, and visual effects, resulting in more files.

•All these files must be carefully managed throughout the process

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Digital Island ProblemDigital Workflows

based on legacy

techniques

Content ingested in

multiple formats

Redundant activities

Physical media

handoff between

“digital islands”

Transport of physical

media

Manual operations

Manual tracking

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File based production goals

Ingest

Capture

VFX ArchiveStock

FootageMarketing

DIProcess

DistributionServicing

SoundEditorial

2K/4KScan

PictureEditorial

Dailies

Sony Imaging Technology

DigitalBackbone

Content

More creative

freedom

Non-creative tasks

automated

Easy access to

high quality

content

Improved process

efficiency

Centralized data

management

Improved security

Scalable and

Flexible

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•Blockbuster movie 2012

•Shot (mostly) digitally

•30 million frames

•12,500 shots

•Every frame online

•Equals 1,875,000 ft of 35mm film

•347 hours of footage

•240 Terabytes at HD resolution

•1.44 Petabytes at 4K resolution

•Online for 6, 12, 18 months…

The Storage Problem

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Digital Production Pipeline

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Film

Dailies Editorial VFX DI

Storage

Transcoding/File Conversion

Conform

Digital

Master

Distribution

Master

Cinema(DCP)

TV(Int’l)

IPTV Hotel/FlightBlu-ray

Memory

Acquisition Digital ProductionPost Production Distribution/Broadcast

Digital Tape

Internet

Media

Terrestrial

Satellite

Home

Theater

Entertainment

Distribution Viewing

SOA based Workflow/Metadata/Asset Management

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Color

Grading

EDL

NLE

Receive

Content

Ingest

Central

Storage

Transcode

DPX

Typical Studio Post-Production Workflow

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15

Project ABC Project XYZUser

Joe

Jane

Fred

Ingest Tech

• Privilege-1• Privilege-2

• Privilege-3

Ingest Tech

• Privilege-1

• Privilege-5• Privilege-7

Editor• Privilege-2

• Privilege-4

• Privilege-6

Editor

• Privilege-2• Privilege-7

• Privilege-9

Colorist• Privilege-2

• Privilege-7

User Role Mapping Requirements

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Loosely Coupled Integration

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Traditional Tightly Coupled Systems Loosely Coupled SOA Systems

Changing a tool can break

the system!

Changing a tool is easy!

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Sony ProUI Graphical User Interface

Designed for low-light,

color critical

operations

Based on Golden Ratio

Clear area of primary

focus regardless of

monitor size

Intuitively pleasing to

eye

Implemented as

custom “skin” of

webMethods UI

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Notification

Status

managementTask

management

Sony ProUI Task GUI designed

for Production Environment

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SOA Platform Selection

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SOA Platform Selection

•Sony Solutions Engineering SOA Evaluation� Software AG webMethods 7

� Oracle 10g

� IBM Websphere

� Tibco

� Active Endpoints/Red Hat JBoss

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SOA Platform Evaluation

• Criteria

� Analyst Evaluations

� Design Tools, Debugging Tools

� Platform Completeness

� Developer Support

� Standards Support

� Embedded Business Model

� Suitability for Media Operations

�Long running processes

�Asynchronous operations

�Workflow persistence (for restarts)

�Human tasks

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After a lengthy evaluation, Sony Solutions Engineering

selected Software AG webMethods as the embedded SOA

platform to use in their media workflow product.

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System Architecture

SOA + Media Tools

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Sony Media Backbone Conductor Architecture

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Ingest Editorial Dailies VFX Conform DITrailer

Service I/F Service I/F Service I/F

Adaptor Adaptor Adaptor

Service Description

Service Description

Service Description

Transcoder ColorProcessing

FileTransfer

WEB UI E-MAIL SMS XML PORTAL Client I/F

BPM (Business Process Management)

Service Abstractions

Hardware Layer

Services

FileMgmt

MetadataMgmt

StorageMgmt

Media Bus Management

DPX Proxy DB

Media BusStorage Fabric

& Network

XX

YY

Rhozet Anystream ES

B (

Ente

rprise S

erv

ice B

us)

-M

essag

ing

Security

Govern

ance

BusinessRule Engine

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Conductor

SAG webMethods 8

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Sony Media Backbone Conductor Platform

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SONY WORKFLOW SOLUTIONS

webMethods SOA PLATFORM

SONY WEB SERVICE INTERFACE

webMethods BPM ORCHESTRATION

SONY GUI

SONY WEB

SERVICE

WRAPPERS

THIRD PARTY

SERVICES

SONY UNIQUE

SERVICES

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SONY MEDIA BUS

Customer STORAGE & NETWORK

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EG

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Get There Faster.

HA System Design with webMethods 8

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Case Study:

Sony Pictures Entertainment Post-Production

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•Sony Pictures Entertainment � Motion Picture Workflow Process Analysis – 2009

� Movie Production Workflow Automation - 2010

•colorworks Post Production Facility� Conductor Install: Oct-Dec 2010

Post Production

Digital Intermediate

Visual Effects

Film Scanning

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Sony Pictures Workflow Analysis

Document and analyze existing workflows and data flows in

each selected post-production area

Identify SPE post-production workflows that potentially

benefit from workflow automation and SOA features.

Develop to-be versions of workflows using Conductor

services and automation logic to demonstrate potential

operational efficiencies and cost reductions.

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Scope of Analysis

Post-production only, bounded by ingest/dailies at the beginning and digital intermediate (DI) and archive

processes at the end

Some workflows outside the bounds of post production

were documented to identify interface points with

Conductor services

� Post-production Management

� Distribution

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Post-production Management

Content Ingest

Dailies

Visual Effects (VFX)

Marketing Trailers

Stock Footage

Picture Editorial

Sound Editorial

Digital Intermediate (DI)

Final Finish

Archive

Distribution Backbone

Workflow Areas

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System Architect

Process Analyst Lead

SPE Business Analyst

Process and UI Analyst

Post Production & Storage Consultant

Analysis Team

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Motion Picture Production

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Get T

here Faste

r.

Picture

Editor

Dailies Facility Production

Crew

Ingest Technician Director of

Photography

Movie Ingest T

ape W

orkflo

w

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Identify and select major post-production areas to analyze

Conduct on-site workflow analysis:

� Interview post-production management; collect KPIs

� Interview post-production staff; observe workflow

� Collect working documents, GUI screen shots

Close involvement in studio “digital backbone” initiative

Analysis Approach

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Product design

informed by

analysis

findings

Over 90 use

cases in eleven

areas of post-

production

Analysis Findings

Media Transformation

Metadata

35mmCamera

Scanner

Digital

Camera

Prod’n

Sound

Prod’n

M’data

Off-lineTrailerEdit

Off-line

Edit

Prod’nData

Capture

Dailies

Color

Dailies•Screen•On-line•etc

Sound

Prep

Sound

Mix

ADR/

Foley

On-lineEdit/Conform

Music

Record

Visual

EFXTitles

DI

Distribution

Archive

Orc

hest

ration

Ingest Trailer

StockFootage

Sound

DI Ingest

DI

VFX Ingest

VFX

Arch

ive

Finishing

Dailies

Editorial

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Analysis Observations

Management of files and content transfers will provide high

value due to many data islands

Creative areas of a production preclude automation, yet

would still benefit from progress analytics features

Lines of control within a production are potentially very

fluid.

� Studio management control and visibility of production crew

activity is limited during creative phases

� Conductor will improve studio��production company

relationship

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To-be Workflow – Content Ingest / Dailies

Receive Ingest Work Order

Transcode Ingested Content

Unexpected Error

Check Ingest Status

Process Ingest

Receive Ingest Result

Fail

Complete

Notify Media Engineer

Check Status

Register New Assets in MAM

Transfer Assets to Digital Backbone

Notify Dailies Recipients

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To-be Workflow – Transcode

Receive Transcode Request

Initialize Service and

Job ID

Check Authorization

Get Asset Info

Verify Access

Permission to Asset

Query Which Transcoder Device to

Use

Receive Device

Information

Send Device Job to

Monitor

Copy Error / No Resource

Prepare Request to Transcode

Device

Submit Job to Transcode

Device

Transcode Error

Send Error Notification

Unexpected Error

Send Transcode

Result

Receive Device Job Completion

Prepare Results

Save Transcode Device Job

ID

Wait for Available Device

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Conclusions

It’s a Digital Content World

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Conclusions

•A SOA approach can provide an effective solution to current and future issues arising from file based digital

media content production.

•Software AG webMethods 8 Suite provides a powerful platform for building embedded industry specific

solutions, like this Sony media workflow platform.

•By managing complex workflows across multiple organizations and the millions of files used in the

production process Sony Media Backbone Conductor will

increase productivity and creativity in digital media

content production.

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Thank you!

David Carroll

david.carroll@am.sony.com