Encodi, a secure video sharing system for the media industry operated and supported in South Africa by Inverse Films (Pty) Ltd, was recently used on five feature films, including the BBC movie Reckless and the local screen adaptation of Nelson Mandela’s biography Long Walk to Freedom.
As post-production specialist Barry Strick of Inverse Films explains, Encodi was specifically designed for the film industry and for rushes in particular, as it provides easy access to cuts, dailies and other video content.
“It offers increased security for the client as each user has a unique login name and password. Encodi is able to track access with its “statistics’ function, which provides the name, date and time that each video is viewed and the computer it was viewed on.
“The system has a facility to upload ALE (log) files with rushes, putting in markers for every slate and take, making it easy to find a particular shot. Uploads are accomplished with Aspera technology built into Encodi, which makes uploads four to 10 times faster. An upload confirmation email is sent by Encodi for each file to confirm that the rushes are online,’ says Strick.
Encodi was developed by Online | Apps | Co in the UK. The owner of the company, Jon Marsh, was previously head of IT for a leading UK broadcast media group.
Strick notes that the system was designed from the ground up and tailored to the requirements of film industry users by IT experts with industry knowledge and experience.
“Encodi is reliable and easy to use with intuitive menus,’ he continues. “At Inverse Films we take care of all user administration from access rights management to dealing with user interface training and support to handling any FAQs.’
Projects can include stills (locations, etc), casting videos and offline edits for viewing and approval.
Inverse Film’s Encodi system is locally operated, so expenditure can be included as part of the “qualifying South African spend’ if accessing the South African Department of Trade & Industry rebate.
“Finally and most importantly for local users, Encodi is one of the few systems that streams reliably to South Africa on computers and iPads. The system is well suited to the local market, as it offers an affordable, local and international online viewing and collaboration solution,’ concludes Strick.
Contact Barry Strick on +27 82 826 3030 or visit www.inversefilms.co.za
Screen Africa magazine – January 2013
