TalkBack Thames' XMPilot Success Story

Leading UK-based production company, TalkBack Thames, used the XMPilot metadata workflow solution to ingest and log rushes for its popular house buying series, Escape to the Country. After a one-week prep, a five days shoot resulted in 40 hours of rushes on XDCAM media. With XMPilot, it took two hours to ingest and log all the material.

Neal Davies, senior assistant editor at TalkBack Thames, says: “XMPilot changes the way post production works. It turns a two-day long-log into a two-hour job almost automated. In fact, the only job our loggers have to do is check the footage to see that it’s all been shot right, because the logging process is effectively wiped out.”

Mark Bos, production executive at TalkBack Thames, responsible for Escape to the Country, says: “The first time I saw XMPilot was at IBC in Amsterdam and I instantly knew there was an opportunity to use it on Escape to the Country.”

Davies says XMPilot immediately benefits the post production process. “XMPilot is an end to paper log sheets. XMPilot connects to your iPad or iPhone wirelessly from your camera. This transmits video, timecode and information of which, there and then, you can log that clip. You can sort it into categories, you can do specific labels – good takes, bad take, whether there might be an issue with light – any information that will benefit post production you can tag to that clip, there and then.”

Easy logging and recall of information

XMPilot is compatible with XDCAM EX and XDCAM HD422 camcorders, as well as the PMW-F3 Super 35mm full-HD compact camcorder. It uses a compact Wi-Fi module or a cable to stream proxy-quality video and audio, as it is captured, to an app on a laptop or handheld device, such as the iPad or iPhone. Metadata categories and rankings appear in the app’s interface for logging. Data is then returned wirelessly to the camcorder and embedded in the MXF video file stored on the camcorder’s Professional Disc or solid state memory. This metadata can then be easily recalled in post production.

“What this workflow allows you to do is capture all of your logging on location in a very simple and straight-forward way and record that with your video clips and then when you’re back in post production the whole ingest process becomes very smooth and quick,” says Alan Turner, Sony XMPilot project manager.

User-friendly operation

TalkBack Thames used XMPilot for both Escape to the Country and a video featuring luxury car brand, Aston Martin. Matt Worthington, edit assistant at TalkBack Thames, describes his experience with XMPilot on the iPad: “On our Aston Martin shoot, I got my hands on the iPad and the way the data is stored and logged onto the iPad through the camera makes our job so much easier and completely eradicates the need for logging.

Davies adds that XMPilot works seamlessly with the iPad, as with other handheld devices. “The iPad writes the information onto the cards. Once the cards are brought back into post production, all that information is clearly labelled so you know where, when and how it was shot and even to the extent, what take the director liked best. Instead of trawling through tapes like years ago, or even nowadays, shooting onto cards, you’ve got no kind of reference other than a bunch of numbers, so XMPilot turns numbers into user-friendly information.”