As production companies work within increasingly confined schedules in delivering new series to air, cloud-based technologies are helping them to be more efficient. For example, cloud-based video services give organizations the benefits of video technology, without the major investment in hardware, infrastructure, and network that is often required for larger scale deployments.

In an effort to speed the review and approval process of an upcoming singing competition show in the U.K., entertainment producer Initial has implemented the Aframe cloud video production and asset management platform.

Instead of shipping DVDs of the full 75-minute, full-resolution broadcast or contestants’ pre-airing performances, Aframe allows the Initial team to upload content directly into Aframe’s secure cloud-based platform so the entire team can review the show, “Your Face Sounds Familiar,” a comedic celebrity singing competition that debuted in the U.K. last month.

Aframe has helped eliminate nearly a full day spent waiting for review content to arrive, saved shipment costs and hassle, and kept production teams on the same page creatively with newfound ease, according to Executive Producers Nic McNeilis and David Staite.

“Aframe is a great way to view footage quickly and efficiently,” McNeilis and Staite said in a joint statement. “The fact you can now view on any device from iPhone (News - Alert) to iPad to desktop whilst ensuring all footage remains secure is really reassuring and beneficial to production.” 

“Your Face Sounds Familiar,” which was created by Endemol (News - Alert) Spain, has been sold to 26 countries and counting, including the U.S., China, Russia and across Europe, Latin America and Asia. The program challenges six celebrities to look, strut, and sound exactly like music icons. The twist is that they’re impersonating stars far younger or older, or of a different gender.

Each week Initial’s post-production house, Crow TV, sends producers several 2 to 3 minute videos of contestants so they are able to monitor how well contestants were adopting their new personas, as well as a full copy of each Saturday’s live broadcast to be analyzed in preparation for the next show. Uploading a 1.5 GB file of a 75-minute episode took less than seven minutes – and that file is made viewable to users in a matter of minutes.

Once uploaded, Aframe automatically creates a H.264 web proxy of any footage so that anyone who needs to watch the video can do so from a standard web browser such as Internet Explorer, Chrome or Safari. Initial’s project administrator controls who has access to files by easily assigning rights to team members. In addition, the security of Aframe’s servers has been FACT certified, and connections to Aframe are encrypted according to the latest standards.

“As a former post-production company owner I know from experience how painful the review and approval process can be,” said David Peto, CEO of Aframe. “We built Aframe to free video production companies from the hassles imposed on them by technology – and are honored that such an esteemed group as Endemol’s Initial is using Aframe to set new levels of productivity.”