An International Film Festival Connects Through the Cloud
Challenge
In 2023 the Sundance Film Festival returned to Park City, Utah. Presided over by the Sundance Institute, this year’s event incorporated the learnings of the last two years to present a hybrid in-person/online festival to be enjoyed by attendees both “on the mountain” and in distant locations. A key component was creating videos of each day in the form of “The Daily Recap” to be shown at next-day screenings. With less than a 24-hour turnaround, the video team was challenged by time, winter conditions, traffic, and unreliable internet access.
Solution
With a post-production workflow powered by Adobe Creative Cloud, the Sundance team turned to Camera to Cloud and Frame.io to speed up their video capture and editorial process. Using Canon C200 cameras outfitted with Atomos Ninja V with Atomos Connect modules and Sclera Digital LTE modems, the video teams were able to move nimbly around the many festival events, with stable internet connectivity, and stream what they captured directly to editors in nearly real time. The mobile journalists also leveraged the FiLMiC Pro integration to power their social media pipeline.
Results
Not only did the Camera to Cloud workflow vastly increase the speed at which the team could turn around “The Daily Recap,” it also reduced stress on the editors to get approvals from key stakeholders—who were now able to review cuts on their phones in Frame.io from wherever they were rather than having to trek back to the office. The new workflow also meant that the teams could collaborate more creatively with the creative director who could “call audibles” with the camera crews to ensure they were capturing what the editors needed for the cut. The result? Videos that were better, timelier, and more inclusive for all attendees in all locations.