INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Data Centers
Lights , camera , data center : Australian films take it to the Edge
Robert Linsdell , Managing Director A / NZ at Vertiv , and Daniel Sargent , Head of Sales at Natural Power Solutions , discuss how the exponentially data-hungry requirements of the film industry does not rely on the cloud alone . Production companies need to manage , store and draw value from their assets right where it ’ s needed .
Blockbuster locations doubling for any scenery in the world are driving huge demand in Australia , with the country ’ s flattened COVID-19 curve drawing major film companies to take up residence among our beautiful landscapes and stateof-the-art studio facilities .
The international spotlight is firmly on Australia and this has seen the film industry experience a threefold increase on 2019 levels .
As we gear up for major Hollywood studios , TV productions and streaming services like Netflix and Disney expanding in Australia , the industry needs to consider the infrastructure that supports it all – both in front of and behind the camera .
Going on location , compute location
Many don ’ t realize that behind all the special effects and set designs of a blockbuster is the demand for computeintensive applications and latency-free computing power .
The fast-in , fast-out IT infrastructure required to support these short-cycle projects has become a major consideration for the industry ’ s ambitions and ultra-high-definition ( UHD ) production formats .
Robert Linsdell , Managing Director A / NZ at Vertiv
It ’ s an exponentially data-hungry business , and against this backdrop production teams are often spread across four corners of the globe , with no bandwidth for slow data communications and rendering delays .
Directly moving data – including IoT sensors , footage , and audio – from the production warehouse to the cloud can create an abundance of latency issues , leading many to put the idea of performing at the ‘ Edge ’ into practice .
Take The Mandalorian for instance . Instead of being filmed at multiple locations , it was produced in a specialized studio that allowed the filmmakers to add in special effects and make edits in real time during filming .
Supporting dynamic photo-real digital landscapes and sets , while allowing room for creative flexibility , demands production companies to scale-up their data center capacity and power these high-density projects more efficiently on site via a ‘ senseinfer-react ’ loop of visibility and control .
The bigger the movie , the bigger the compute
Supporting a high-spec digital stage , fitted with floor-to-ceiling LED screens and computer-generated imagery ( CGI ) capabilities is no simple feat .
Not only are the compute requirements unique to each production project , but the moving parts of the data center must also perform as quietly as possible to avoid disrupting the shoot , or the talent .
One such Sydney-based production company , generating huge volumes of data in its football pitch-sized production warehouse , supported its filming methods with a modular , non-containerized data center that reached just 80 decibels inside and 60 decibels outside .
What does that sound like ? It is comparable to the level of noise background music makes , and that ’ s just the beginning of the data center ’ s future on-location .
From 35mm film to AI
While the 35mm film was the standard for making and distributing movies for about a century , now we ’ re seeing high-spec digital stages enable critical processes and allow production companies to compete in the expanding market .
The transformation of the movie and TV industry is only just beginning . AI is already being used to automate the production of trailers and enable predictive analytics , and its role on the creative side is set to expand with algorithms currently being developed to automate scriptwriting and camera work . p
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