NCM Upfront
The Ask.
NCM the company that makes movie trailers asked for Quicktime Pro-Res playback and surround sound as the show was to take place in a large movie theater in new York City. I added to the look by suggesting we use alpha channel wipes for transitions to avoid uncomfortable dips into black for transitions.
What I did.
Managed expectations by having meetings to test Pro-Res Live Playback. Pro res is not known for being utilized for Realtime live playback, adding alpha channel and surround sound also added to the complexity. This style of playback while very clean and elegant required a lot of programming discipline to keep all the different layers of media working seemlessly together.
How I did it.
This took a lot of programming planning. While Watchout could handle alpha channel playback and surround sound. It did not want to. Watchout had to be programmed with layers that covered then revealed the alpha channel. Media was loaded offline and pre-programmed as much as possible. We were challenged onsite with surround sound as we tapped into a movie theaters surround audio system to get the best audio quality possible.
What I used to do it.
Watchout was the media server that proved most capable and gave the ability to search the timeline using the find function as the agency did not use conventional Cue numbering or naming conventions.