NEW YORK — Emery Wells, principal of digital content studio Katabatic Digital in New York City, has launched Frame.io (http://frame.io), a new video review, collaboration and sharing platform for creative media teams. Developed over the past three years, Frame.io is designed to work as a unified solution that replaces the many different tools pros have been using for file sharing, video review, and even e-mail communication.
Wells says as a studio owner, he often had to overcome workflow obstacles that came with working with multiple vendors and freelancers, all of whom needed to share media. “Collaboration was cumbersome,” he recalls, noting past use of Vimeo, YouTube, HighTail and YouSendIt, to name a few. “We wanted to create an all-in-one solution that would manage the process of creating content — audio, video, photos…”
Frame.io is browser based, so users don’t need to install any specialty software. The company is offering several different pricing options at the initial launch, including a free plan that allows professionals to try out Frame.io on a single project to get a better feel for how it works. The entry level price of $15/month is designed for freelancers and allows them to work on three active projects. For $25/month, subscribers can work on an unlimited number of projects. Frame.io’s “team” package is designed for small boutiques, where a group can collaborate for just $50/month. A larger studio of say 15 employees would opt for the $150/month plan. The company will also offer an enterprise package for large facilities.
Media that is brought into Frame.io is stored in a data center in northern Virginia — there it is secure and backed up. Redundancy in other parts of the world is planned in the future. Original files are stored in their native format. In addition, Web previews are automatically created for viewing and collaboration.
“You don’t have to be compression expert,” says Wells. “Everything is transcoded on Web. We always store the original files: documents, videos — if we can generate a preview we do. If we support it, we generate it.” This includes JPEGs of raw files from DSLR cameras.
At NAB, Frame.io will be holding demonstrations at the Red Digital Cinema booth (SL1517). Some of the features they’ll be highlighting include the ability to transcoding video assets for guaranteed playback on any device, including professional formats; hover scrubbing for instant preview of clips; a seamless drag and drop interface for simple manipulation of files, content and communications; and time-based, frame-specific comments and annotations for clear communication.
Watch a demo video here: