Resolution has won three big post-production contracts, thanks to a new logging system that allows producers to organise rushes and cut sequences from their own offices.
Resolution has won three big post-production contracts, thanks to a new logging system that allows producers to organise rushes and cut sequences from their own offices.

The new series of RDF Media's Scrapheap Challenge , which starts shooting this week, Strictly Come Dancing for BBC Entertainment and Spy (working title), a new series for Wall to Wall, will all be post-produced by the London facilities house. All three contracts were picked up after producers were introduced to a logging system called Retrieve and a viewing set-up called Review developed by Resolution to speed up the production of Big Brother for Endemol. The company spent five years developing the system which is also being used for the BBC's Top Gear.

'Producers will always want to come for viewings but this helps to reduce this to one main viewing,' said managing director Mike Saunders. 'They can log in and look at the cut or just play live. With Retrieve, a director can rationalise footage and prepare for the edit, which can seriously cut digitising time.'

Retrieve encodes rushes onto a central server, where they can be logged with metadata and shot descriptions, which are added by the production team. Resolution then supplies producers with a real-time feed from an offline suite of the actual output of the Avid straight to any office desktop equipped with a regular PC and broadband line. Producers can decide on preferred shots and build 'stories' and create digitising lists as Avid log exchange files and edit decision lists (EDLs) for the edit suites. Versions of cut sequences are also available to download from a searchable database.

The encoded rushes are retrievable and viewable from anywhere on the network and over the web and a 'play story' feature allows producers and editors to view Windows Media versions of assemble edits, with all the metadata intact and visible, before sending an EDL. The clips are encoded, meta-tagged by description, time-stamped then archived to download as a complete file or for viewing at a later date. The process not only speeds up the process of viewing rushes and aiding the edit but also eradicates transfer and courier costs.

Resolution will exhibit the new logging system at the Broadcast Production Show.

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