mediasmiths
Over the past few weeks, when not distracted by such minor trifles as the General Election, the media have been getting themselves into a bit of a tizzy over the tax domicile disagreements between multi-millionaire entrepreneurs Duncan Bannatyne and James Caan of Dragons' Den fame. As the Dragons' production team head back into the Den to record another series of the BBC2 hit, I’m reminded of a time when things were a little more harmonious in the den - and the story even has a tenuous connection to digital production workflows...
It was the spring of 2007 and I was working with the Dragons' Den production team to implement a trial of BBC R&D's Ingex automated tapeless production system. Ingex is an open-source software solution that runs on commodity PC server hardware and provides anyone that cares to implement it a cost-effective file-based HD/SD studio recording solution. We knew that introducing this (then) very new technology would not come completely without teething troubles, but it was an honour to be working on such a well known and established BBC brand with the kind of technology that fundamentally changes the production landscape. However, in a prudent bit of risk-mitigation, the first three outings of Ingex on DD were run in parallel with a tape-based workflow, with all of its inherent foibles, as well as at least one misunderstood advantage…
It is easy to forget that part of the television magic of DD lies in the fact that pitches are delivered in real-time, with few (if any) interruptions. Pitches in the Den can run for hours, necessitating multiple tape changes. These tape changes were generally a source of consternation in the Den. They would often break up the natural rhythm of a pitch and were typically put off until the last possible moment as the gallery PA’s clock wound down and the camera operators began to get a "tape end" warning in their viewfinders. Of course, the file-based Ingex kit was largely immune to such stoppages, and other hiccups notwithstanding, could be comfortably left to record for hours on end until the internal disk cache filled up. As it was a trial, we were recording using a low-end Avid codec, so our 1 TB internal cache was not likely to fill up in a hurry - a distinct advantage over the much more finite resource of a 43 min Digi...
However, one of the inherent and often overlooked benefits of a tape-based workflow is that a tape change marks an ideal time for Dragons, punters and production crew alike to, ahem, unleash their personal dragons and take a much needed comfort break. During one particularly intense web technology related pitch, in which the crew had already done the first tape change with barely a slow down in proceedings, the second tape change came as a great relief to many of us. The punters were carefully sequestered from the Dragons during these mass excursions, but the crew could use one of two loos, the closer and less crowded of which was the one frequented by the (male) Dragons. I made my way into serpent-infested territory and stumped up to do the needful. Duncan and James were already there, taking care of their respective business requirements. An innocuous conversation began between the three of us in which I offered up a couple of throw away generalities on the dos, don’ts and what-fors of technology implementation projects. Then, with business taken care of, we were back in the Den taking up our respective posts, James and Duncan in front of the cameras and me behind a trio of screens displaying the Den cameras’ output. As I watched the next stage of the pitch ensue, both Duncan and James proceeded to quote, verbatim, my throw away technology lines. I beamed brighter than most of the studio lights, and had something juicy (pun intended) to relate to my fellow geek compatriots as we watched the action and tinkered at command lines.
The DD production team are now in the next evolutionary stage in their use of file-based workflows. Under the able guidance of BBC Studios and Post Production, who are now providing Ingex as a managed service to internal and external productions after having made extensive operational enhancements to the system, DD will be completely file-based this series with nary a tape back up to be seen. While this undertaking is not entirely without risk (what worthwhile technology implementation is ever completely without risk?), Ingex has grown into a robust and reliable technology, which delivers consistent results - and which, thanks to the open approach taken by the BBC, is free for download and use by anyone who wants it. As hard disk technology continues to grow in capacity and file-based recording technologies become more and more ubiquitous, my concern for the DD team, as well as the broadcast industry as a whole, is this: when will we next get to use the loo?
