'Game Of Thrones' - Avid

The American epic fantasy television drama series 'Game Of Thrones' needs a highly efficient way of managing an epic amount of source material while ensuring that the offline, online, grade and audio post maintained the high production values and filmic look of the original shoot.

The production chose local Avid-based facility, Yellow Moon, to provide offline editing and dailies service using Avid Media Composer. Using 16 terabytes of Avid Unity storage, the self-contained workflow was transported to Screen Scene in Dublin where the online was completed using Avid DS 10.5 and an integration of Avid ICON and Pro Tools to provide a finished audio mix to complement the stunning visuals.

Avid Unity integrated seamlessly with the HBO team’s Macs, which were responsible for transferring the dailies back to the US. Similarly, the team used a Cache-A LTO data storage facility for additional archiving, working once again in partnership with the Unity.

With such a huge production, I think it's brilliant how they have managed to create a seamless way of post-producing the series from around the globe. Footage is sent almost instantly to different studios/cities around the globe e.g. Los Angeles, New York, Dublin and London simultaneously. It shows us that as technology is advancing, and the world is becoming 'smaller'. Tasks that would have been seen as nearly impossible 20-30+ years ago are now achievable. 

"As the shoot wrapped in Belfast, all material moved to Screen Scene in Dublin, which was fully prepared for the remaining offline edit, vfx, sound post and picture finishing."

The Avid Advantage

One of the biggest advantages for the 60 people in Screen Scene working on the project was the fact that offline edit, sound post, vfx , grading and finishing were within steps of each other, playing a vital part in meeting schedule deadlines.

The Challenge

Create, edit, and manage an epic amount of content for an epic television series

The Solution

Design a highly-efficient workflow around a wide array of Avid solutions to ensure that the high production values and filmic look are maintained throughout every stage of the production process.

http://www.avid.com/US/about-avid/customer-stories/Avid-Workflows-Help-Bring-Game-of-Thrones-to-Life

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With such a big production budget (reportedly $60 million alone for the first series) and team, they have made it possible to work seamlessly from different locations across the globe. Game Of Thrones aside however, I think that smaller productions are still able to take advantage of the ability to transfer footage too and from one another to create the most efficient and fluent process of working possible.