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Filed under: Distribution •Editing •Interactive •Motion Graphics •NAB 2010 •NAB 2010 Insight •Pre-Production •Production •Visual Effects •Web Video •

Adobe Community Leaders Summit

“From Script to Screen”

diagram courtesy Adobe Systems

In Creative Suite 4, Adobe put a big emphasis on XMP Metadata as a standardized way to carry information about footage from the shooting stage through editing and post to delivery. Adobe is now trying to extend that reach back into the scriptwriting and preproduction phase with Adobe Story, currently in public beta through Adobe Labs. Story is an online word processing application optimized for writing scripts and screenplays. If you use common screenwriting conventions to identify your scenes, this information can be used as a shot list for a future version of OnLocation (part of Premiere Pro).

Story is clearly a beta. Some nice features are already implemented; some obvious features aren’t. We were pleased to hear at the meeting that at least one big obvious (but currently missing) feature is in the pipeline, in response to user requests - so Story’s story is not completely written yet.

On the “screen” side, Adobe is also putting a big emphasis on using their speech transcription technology to help create text-searchable video. Richard Harrington posted a tutorial here on PVC; there was also a session at the Max 2009 Design conference on how to do it:

Anyone who has used Adobe’s automated speech transcription knows that the results can be highly variable, and Adobe acknowledges this: “Speech Transcription is going to remain a technology that works for some, sort of works for others, and is purely comical for many” Simon Hayhurst candidly admitted in a recent email exchange; “it’s inherently an imperfect science.” Their view is that it works better if you think of it as a tool for keywording, rather than producing readable text. That said, improvements are in the lab and on the way. And if you have the script on the front end, it’s only logical to assume that it could be used to create a more accurate transcription on the back end - a process Adobe refers to as “script alignment.” This shows another reason why Adobe is so interested in users fitting Story into their workflow.

Although “script to screen” is a laudable goal, the fact is that many of us are only involved in small parts of a project’s overall workflow, putting us at the mercy of those who come before or after. Rather than putting all of our eggs in the basket of expecting operators and artists to enter the correct information in the correct format at the correct point in the workflow, at least equal emphasis needs to also be put on ways of automatically entering or generating this information, as well as being able to add or recover it after the fact. (Better automation of text tagging for video would also be a Very Good Thing.)

Equally loud was a murmur from fellow attendees that they’re less interested in big-picture issues like metadata and more interested in features that immediately impact the look of the work they’re doing (such as new eye candy features in After Effects - or even workmanlike features, like improved masking), how easy it is to do that work (such as better media management in Premiere), or even better ways to interact with clients (the Clip Notes format changing from CS3 to CS4 caused some early adopters a lot of grief). By asking for these smaller-picture features, are we forsaking the forest for the trees? Or is that simply the reality of our current worlds?

last page: extruded text & easier interactivity

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If Trish and Chris not talk anything about next version of AE, apart of wishes of users, then is truth that the next version is weak, only 64 bits and possibly a bit more. I expected a decent 3D system with visible grid and basic primitives… It is a pity.

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  02/05  at  05:03 PM

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“If Trish and Chris not talk anything about next version of AE, apart of wishes of users, then is truth that the next version is weak”

No, it’s not true at all.

We can only talk about what has already been released to the public. Nothing about the next version of After Effects (aside from the 64-bit issue) has been released to the public. Therefore, we can’t talk anything any possible future features in AE, no matter how great they may or may not be.

Don’t assume silence is either good, or bad. Silence just means: we’re not allowed to say anything.

“Those who know don’t say; those who say don’t know.”

- Chris

Posted by Chris Meyer  on  02/05  at  05:34 PM

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