Production firms are in danger of losing valuable footage if they continue to transport and store rushes on hard drives, according to a survey commissioned by web-based production service Aframe.

A survey of 200 industry figures carried out by Loudhouse Market Research for Aframe found that 65% of film and TV professionals had experienced at least one storage malfunction, while 25% had suffered three or more failures.

“If you think of the amount of content that can be shot and stored on drives, that is terrifying,” said Aframe chief executive David Peto.

“Once a production is finished, [kit] is most likely covered by a standard office insurance policy, and that will only cover the cost of the drive - not what is on it.”

The research also found that 77% of professionals still use courier services. 79% either don’t know how much they spend on couriers or they are spending at least £5,000 of their production budgets on courier services a year.

“For an industry that has moved so quickly to embrace the benefits of technology, including HD, 3D and on-demand, it is amazing that those producing one of the UK’s most creative assets are still relying on outdated systems,” Peto added.

“In order to be at the forefront of creativity the industry needs to ensure its back office departments are running smoothly and cost-effectively. This includes content storage and distribution.” 

The survey of 200 film and TV professionals found:

43% of film and video production professionals use couriers heavily – once a week or more

53% of heavy courier users say that courier costs are a factor when they plan for their productions

18% send production data or footage internationally once a month or more

33% need to replace their data storage more than once a year

78% back up their content on to another hard drive, only 9% utilise cloud-based online storage

 

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