Media Asset Management , and more specifically video asset management, has its own unique challenges that are different from image or photography management. This session from the Festival of DAM explores the challenges of managing video and the associated workflows for your digital asset management system.
Watch the replay to hear from two post-production experts about their experiences making video assets available for use across organizations. They specifically look at:
The Evolution of DAM vs. MAM
What should the user experience be for workflows
Understanding the culture and the people to drive adoption
Here are some of the highlights:
When creating video workflows, try to find the easiest way for users to find what they need.
Bad metadata is often the greatest source of frustration experienced by day-to-day users of metadata.
Understanding who you are designing the environment for, and how they think, will get you very close to an effective metadata schema that does much of the work for you, and that's a big part of building an effective workflow.
Even the most sophisticated turnkey Media Asset Management (MAM) system will require some customization as it's impossible for any company to anticipate the workflow needs of every other company.
When looking at a solution for managing video workflows, consider:
Is it a complete system with built in workflows to which you need to adapt, or is it more of a tool for creating custom workflows and building a system from the ground up?
What’s the interface like. Is it utilitarian, like a tool for managers, or is it designed to appeal to general and created users?
Does it do anything that no other system does? What are the bells and whistles? Does it have an AI component for example?
What is the learning curve for average users?
What does support look like? How many engineers do they have on staff? What is the depth of knowledge and familiarity with the product that their tech support is expected to have? Do they have solid hands on experience with the code or are they reading from a manual?
What infrastructure will you need to have on site for this product to work?
Whatever workflows you adapt, make sure they are easy and logical. The end result your digital asset management users are expecting is just one stop on their creative road trip and you are trying to provide an express lane.
Adaptation and adoption will be smoothed greatly by creating workflows inside your DAM system that resemble the ones users already know.
You may have a design system for differing user needs. Keep this in mind when you're putting together a new DAM-based workflow.
Building a digital asset management system that's intuitive and obvious is not a simple task. It requires that you consider who your users will be, their job function, and the user experience.
Keep in mind the experiences you've had with search based products in your own life. Remember those successes and frustrations and keep them in mind as you design a system for someone else.
There has been a general culture shift from images to video.
Why the right DAM is perfectly placed to handle your complete video production workflows.
It doesn't make sense to have one specialized tool for every workflow or requirement. In fact, it introduces a lot of unnecessary complexity and friction.
The definition of a digital asset has evolved to include all things digital, from PDF to NFTs and even work orders,
Many organizations have multiple specialized systems, and even multiple DAMs, MAMs, project management tools, etc.
Digital asset management is the heart of an organization's media, so it should be positioned in such a way that it’s the central source of truth for any workflow which results in a digital asset.
Consider how your production workflow connects to your DAM or MAM. The ideal solution can easily manage your workflows and still have all the infrastructure feed stability and the requirements of a DAM.
Many organizations have raw assets stored on a disk somewhere that can't be found when needed. It's much easier to have raw assets in the same place as final assets, tied together and interconnected to the rest of the archive.
For video, speed and storage strategy to support your large and ever growing file size is critical.
DAMs can always get you more storage, but a DAM should also help you store thoughtfully so your large files are saved to less expensive cold storage and hot storage is reserved for needed now assets like proxies.
It's now common to see videos rolling in at one terabyte for one video, so storage and speed of processing are critical, which is where traditional digital asset management systems fell short.
Video assets tend to be very sensitive. They require permissions, conditional permissions, role based permissions , and even talent approval workflows to give you the level of control needed to protect your assets while still making them accessible to the people who need them.
A DAM isn't necessarily an editing tool, but it can and should perform some editing functions, as well as integrating with key platforms that should feel like an extension of the digital asset management solution. For example, editors may live in Adobe Premiere or Pro Tools, but their work lives in the DAM. A live connection adds a layer of visibility and simplicity that will greatly streamline video workflows.
Facilitating your video workflow through your DAM system should be incredibly simple - from pre-production to post-production, including talent approvals and sharing to external partners and social media.
It's possible to bring it all under control by connecting your workflows and assets and centralizing communication through your DAM.To learn more about how Orange Logic can help you with your DAM needs, schedule a call today!
