Service Offers Review-And-Approval Capabilities, Tools For Archiving, Retrieval
By Carolyn Giardina
NEW YORK --Post house Nice Shoes, New York, has introduced Nice Spots, a pay-as-you-go hosted Web-based application that allows ad agencies, postproduction facilities, broadcasters, corporations and others to exchange media and to quickly review and collaborate on rough cuts and final edits. Nearly two years in development, and based on Nice Shoes’ spot production experience and customer needs, the service includes review and approval capabilities, as well as tools for archiving and retrieval designed to eliminate the need for costly storage and couriers.
Under the direction of Nice Shoes director of new media services John DiMaggio, lead programmer Scott Treude and designer Rowland Holmes, Nice Spots could also be used for applications such as viewing and commenting on casting tapes, location scouting and dailies. Additionally users can store metadata (information about a clip), and this information is searchable.
Meanwhile, Nice Spots could archive finished masters; essentially a high–quality file is created and stored that is suitable for dubbing or broadcast, while Quicktime and Windows Media files are provided for fast viewing and download.
New York-based editorial shop Go Robot and agency Berlin Cameron & Partners, New York, served as beta sites for the application. Nice Shoes partner Dominic Pandolfino explained that users of this service do not have to be Nice Shoes clients, and in fact the company is targeting a broad range of users from agencies to advertisers, production companies and editorial house.
“There are many sets of eyes that need to view, comment and approve at all stages of production and post,” he said. “Nice Spots allows that to happen in a streamlined, efficient manner, cutting down dramatically on the cost of doing business.”
Adding that the application is easy to use and customizable, DiMaggio added,
“Agencies have years of material archived in warehouses and they spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to store their masters and retrieve dubs. With Nice Spots, an agency’s material is at their fingertips, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, from anywhere in the world.”
Nice Spots servers and storage live at a New York-based ‘computer hotel,’ which offers multiple layers of security, power redundancy with backup diesel generators, and scalable Internet bandwidth.
Data is stored on hardware from Network Appliances. Using Fibre Channel technology, all data resides within a fault-tolerant environment allowing for multiple failures with no data loss. The storage easily scales by simply adding more drives.
For added security, Nice Spots virus scans uploaded files. If a virus is detected, the file is deleted and a warning message will appear.
A free 30-day trial is currently offered; pricing had not been determined at press time.
Alec Baldwin Urges Judge To Stand By Dismissal Of Involuntary Manslaughter Case In “Rust” Shooting
Alec Baldwin urged a New Mexico judge on Friday to stand by her decision to skuttle his trial and dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against the actor in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie.
State District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case against Baldwin halfway through a trial in July based on the withholding of evidence by police and prosecutors from the defense in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film "Rust."
The charge against Baldwin was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it can't be revived once any appeals of the decision are exhausted.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey recently asked the judge to reconsider, arguing that there were insufficient facts and that Baldwin's due process rights had not been violated.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer on "Rust," was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal when it went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the revolver fired.
The case-ending evidence was ammunition that was brought into the sheriff's office in March by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins' killing. Prosecutors said they deemed the ammunition unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin's lawyers alleged that they "buried" it and filed a successful motion to dismiss the case.
In her decision to dismiss the Baldwin case, Marlowe Sommer described "egregious discovery violations constituting misconduct" by law enforcement and prosecutors, as well as false testimony about physical evidence by a witness during the trial.
Defense counsel says that prosecutors tried to establish a link... Read More