The COVID-19 pandemic kept us all away from NAB in Las Vegas and then the Nashville derecho followed by the wake low conspired to keep my NAB-AT-HOME interview with Frame.io from going online when their big news of Frame.io v3.6 went live. At least none of us reading this were caught on a roof working as hurricane-force winds blew in.
I sat down for a virtual interview with Frame.io found and CEO Emery Wells a week or so ago for a long chat, not just about the new v3.6 update (and cool features like the new Transfer app) but talk about the history of Frame.io and how it came to be. It’s been an amazing ride for a company that grew out of necessity for a post-production and finishing facility that had designed tools for their needs. Emery and his team have built Frame.io into way more than just a review and approval service. They are positioning Frame.io leaning into the future and that’s a big benefit to all media creation professionals out there. Grab a coffee and enjoy our chat … not exactly an “exclusive” video interview despite what other websites might tell you.
As mentioned in the video above, here is the link to the 2014 article Review and Approval Options for Video Pros where we first mentioned Frame.io, before it even launched. It’s an interesting read to take a look at other services in that article and see who is still standing and who is not.
I would also encourage you to read about the camera-to-cloud workflow mentioned above in the Anatomy of a Cloud Workflow: How the HPA Made a Movie with Frame.io article on the Frame.io blog. It’s a fascinating look into an amazing workflow. It’s crazy to think this kind of thing might be possible and could become a regular workflow. We are that’s far removed from dial-up internet connections when you look at the overall age of the internet. It’s great to see a company focusing on the workflow for the media creation industry.
Frame.io Transfer
While there are many things in the Frame.io v3.6 update I think the dark horse for this the new Frame.io Transfer app. The ability to selectively download media from an EDL or XML will enable come cool workflows as will the ability to just get out of a web browser for some of your Frame.io tasks.
Since Frame.io creates multiple proxy versions for each video file you upload they are leveraging this automatic proxy creation to give the end-user the ability to download what he or she might need. There are many times you don’t need the full resolution original even when it’s a small file like the 1280×720 listed above. Notice above I have an individual mp4 file selected.
Now, look at what happens when you have an entire directory selected.
You’re still asked what you want to download but that includes everything in the directory as the desired resolution. If you’ve got a situation where you uploaded a day of shooting you could download those small proxy files and go to working logging or even editing. When done reconnect to the full resolution media. It’s cool that we’re even seeing this automatically created proxy media used in apps like Lumafusion.
You would, of course, want to test any mission critical workflows utilizing this new batch proxy download option but it shows some of the customer-focused, forward-thinking workflows that Frame.io are designing. Good for them! And good for us.