In Broadcast - March 2019 - 42

42

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 9 - Issue 3 | March 2019

InForm

Coming Soon: The Future of Media
Contributing Editor Adrian Pennington looks ahead to object based
broadcasting, cloud post-production, ultra-high frame rate cinema,
and entertainment on wheels...
Cloud Lift Off
Cloud is coming of age lifting postproduction out of the restrictions of
physical location. Long theorised, the
technology is rapidly maturing. Late
last year VFX house Untold Studios
launched in Shoreditch as the world's
first cloud-based studio. It has Sohonet
links for super-fast connectivity to
AWS Cloud where all processing and
rendering take place. From Linuxbased workstations artists can open
3D design, animation, compositing and
paint software. All storage, creative
applications and processing takes
place in the cloud.
"What we're doing is putting
technology back at the forefront
of what a creative studio can be,"
says Sam Reid, Head of Technology.
"Instead of being a brake to the
creativity of artists we want the
technology to enable anything they
want to do."
The set-up enables the facility to
ramp up or scale down really quickly
just paying for the compute and
storage it uses with no capex outlay.
As data demands have grown the
pressure on finite on-premise storage
space has grown. Companies like BASE
Media Cloud offer facilities a managed
way of outsourcing their requirements
to the cloud. Aframe is in the
business of facilitating cloud-based
production. Forbidden Technologies
has developed a cloud-based remote
production suite based on its codec
Blackbird and continues to develop
browser-accessed editing tools. VFX
tools developer Foundry markets a

Intel & Warner-Bros.
collaborated on a connected
in-car entertainment

cloud-based pop-up VFX pipeline for
smaller houses wanting to take on
large projects.
Ultimately, it will be a matter of
the virtual facility coming to the
talent rather than the talent having
to move to a central location. VFX
house Jellyfish has already armed
itself for a bordered post-Brexit
world by investing in a cloud-based
infrastructure. In theory, artists could
work from Paris or Berlin with all the
material accessible and secured online.
"The technology has now evolved
to a point where any filmmaker with
any VFX project or theatrical, TV or
spot editorial can call on the cloud to
operate at scale when needed - and
still stay affordable," says Chuck
Parker, Sohonet CEO. "The ability to
collaborate in real-time with teams
in multiple geographic locations is
a reality that is altering the post
production landscape for enterprises
of all sizes."
InCartainment
With connectivity for mobile phones
saturated in many markets, attention
is turning to joining everything

Connected devices to
reach 22 billion by 2024
(Source: Ericsson)

online from self-driving cars to highperforming industrial robots.
The dual trends of 5G networks
and the explosion in sensor-laden
products are the enabling forces for
what mobile operator's lobby group
GSMA calls 'the era of Intelligent
Connectivity'.
This year the first consumer handsets
with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 855
chip will be released. These will be
capable of two-way Gigabit speeds,
computer vision and neural network
capabilities to support the surge of AI
voice, gaming and extended reality
experiences over 5G networks.
The telecom network is evolving and
is quickly becoming integrated into
every kind of industry. According to
Ericsson's November 2018 Mobility

Report
[https://www.ericsson.
com/assets/local/mobility-report/
documents/2018/ericsson-mobilityreport-november-2018.pdf] by 2024,
the number of connected devices will
exceed 22 billion.
Connected vehicles are the current
fastest growing connected vertical
outside of phones. AT&T already has
the most number of connected cars
"in history" at 27 million, according
to research firm Chetan Sharma
Consulting.
The introduction of driverless
cars over the next few decades is
predicted to open up an infotainment
market worth anywhere from US$800
billion in 2035 to
US$7 trillion by 2050,
according to Strategy
Analytics. Computer,
internet and consumer
electronics companies
are jockeying for a
piece of the pie. None
more so than Intel,
which coined the term
Passenger Economy for the explosive
growth in yet-to-be-realised economic
potential when today's drivers become
idle passengers.
Intel partnered with Warner Bros.
to mock-up an autonomous BMW X5
with an experience based on the DC
Comics universe. The vehicle's interior
was fitted with a large-screen TV and
projectors spanning 270-degrees,
mobile devices, sensory and haptic
feedback, and immersive audio and
lights to offer passengers a virtual ride
moderated by Batman's trusted butler,
Alfred. Both companies have vowed
to continue R&D on the vehicle at the
Warner Bros. lot in Hollywood.
The future of in-cabin entertainment
is a focus of Amazon and Samsung
which are integrating their voice

BMW X5 featuring 'InCartainment'

http://www.inbroadcast.com https://www.ericsson.com/assets/local/mobility-report/documents/2018/ericsson-mobility-report-november-2018.pdf https://www.ericsson.com/assets/local/mobility-report/documents/2018/ericsson-mobility-report-november-2018.pdf https://www.ericsson.com/assets/local/mobility-report/documents/2018/ericsson-mobility-report-november-2018.pdf https://aws.amazon.com/ https://www.ericsson.com/en https://vimeo.com/intelpr/review/310238424/226a3cf2f0 https://vimeo.com/intelpr/review/310238424/226a3cf2f0

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of In Broadcast - March 2019