Pronology’s Asset Management Solutions Used at 88th Annual Oscars

Pronology, a developer of tapeless workflow solutions, continues its winning streak with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The organization once again employed Pronology’s media asset management solutions for the 88th annual Oscar’s telecast, which aired Sunday, February 28 on ABC. The production team has been relying on Pronology’s user-friendly interface to give them the ability to monitor and approve all pre-recorded content for 6 consecutive years.

“Pronology is grateful to have the opportunity to put our solutions to the test and prove ourselves each and every year for The Academy,” says Jonathan Aroesty, president of Pronology. “Putting together a broadcast of this magnitude, with so many moving parts and assets, is a huge undertaking. Pronology is extremely proud that our solutions, including our brand new mRes standalone multi-resolution encoder, have once again provided an extraordinary level of visibility and creative control over the thousands of pre-produced audio and video elements quickly, so that producers can make approval decisions. This is incredible when you’re talking about such an enormous, complex show like the Oscars.”

At the heart of the Pronology solution is its interactive interface that enables users to log, annotate, organize, view, and remotely exchange content and information instantaneously. This allows all members of the creative team to collaborate in real time. Pronology’s advanced solutions once again proved to be particularly handy for managing the voice overs for this year’s nominee packages, which were recorded on-site at the Dolby Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland Center. The use of Pronology’s asset management software offered a secure portal for the audio department to arrange, share, and transfer content to Chainsaw, the edit facility charged with compositing and delivering all of the final elements.

“Pronology was once again an integral part of the workflow during both the pre-show and air of the 88th Oscar telecast, “says Academy Awards Engineer-in-Charge Tim Kubit. “A production of this magnitude requires hundreds of playback elements, the creation of which need to be reviewed, commented on, and approved in a secure environment by many people prior to the live broadcast. Pronology’s asset management software ensured data protection throughout the creative and approval process, allowing our team to work efficiently and securely.”

Prior to the broadcast, every clip must be formally “approved” by ABC Broadcast Standards and Practices (BS&P). With Pronology, the BS&P team was able to monitor the deliveries coming from Chainsaw in real time, directly from its offices across town. As soon as content was created, it could be approved for air, greatly eliminating any potential workflow bottlenecks and further streamlining the process.

What was fresh to the mix this year was Pronology’s new mRes standalone multi-resolution encoder. Previously part of Pronology’s MAM system, the company’s custom-built, standalone encoder records three tiers of video—a high-resolution media file, an edit proxy, and a live web-streamable proxy—without missing a frame of action. Pronology’s new clip controller application allows the encoder to be operated with a simple-to-deploy, easy-to-use standalone control application. Additionally, it integrates with most storage and NLE systems.