Prior to 2009, 90 to 95% of commercials were shot on film, lending themselves to a 100-plus year preservation master created in the archival medium of film. But the rock-solid reality that you could “always go back to the neg” has eroded in just a few years as spot production has become 90% digital, and now image preservation is more a choice of cost than a byproduct of process. This is a monumental shift, the implications of which are still to be determined. A hard drive on a shelf lasts two to four years. A true digital archive providing 25-plus years of preservation is a line item. It’s someone’s responsibility–but whose? That question and other concerns served as a catalyst for the AICP to conduct a survey of its general (production company) members in order to assess the state of digital production and preservation in the commercial industry, and to evaluate the legal and technological pressure points of 100 percent digital production and delivery. What follows is a sampling of the survey feedback received, providing a handle on perceptions in the marketplace at large.

Survey responses–technology
Production companies shoot, store and deliver large amounts of video for their clients, with most shoots generating between 250 GB to 1500 GB per day. All footage (raw digital negative shot predominately with ARRI Alexa) is transferred from cards (which are wiped) to hard drives (which are saved). Eighty-two percent of production companies store their raw digital negative on single hard drives kept on a shelf. Sixty-nine percent store finished masters in the same way, making hard drive storage a critical part of the media lifecycle.

With film lasting 100 years, how long should we expect digital media on hard drives to last? According to the members surveyed, hard drive storage carries considerable risk: 

78% of members surveyed expect hard drives to last less than five years; 18% expect failure within six to 10 years; 96% expect failure before 10 years; 27% reported data loss that significantly impacted the company in a negative way; 51% feel “safe” about the digital storage options they use; 27% have “fingers crossed”; 12% feel they’re “probably going to lose some data”; and only 6% felt “Very safe”

This timeframe becomes a problem for finished assets: 69% of production companies store finished assets on single hard drives. While more than 53% expect finished masters to be available for a minimum of 10 years. 31% noted they’d like their finished masters to last over 50 years.  People expect LTO (Linear Tape Open) storage to last longer, with 43% expecting failure before 10 years. Unfortunately, 71% do not use LTO.  51% have a digital archive policy and implement it on every job. 33 percent don’t have a real one and “could use some guidance coming up with best practices”.

Survey feedback–legal considerations
Managing technology to provide long-term media storage is a challenge. Managing expectations of legal liability should be much more straightforward, but is also quite unclear:
20% of surveyed production companies have contractual and legally binding language to provide clarity for long term storage responsibility. 53% rely on mutual assumptions and industry standard practices. 25% claim that “it’s unclear”. 
75% of production companies save both RAW digital negative and uncompressed finished masters “just in case,” even without contractual obligation. 
69% believe responsibility lies with the agency or client. 17% are unsure and 13% believe no one is contractually bound to store assets. 
79% were interested in helping AICP define a standard set of practices. 

Conclusions
The survey did not explicitly ask about financial pressure points but clearly long-term storage requires significant investment and has potential to generate revenue.

As for conclusions that can be drawn from AICP member company feedback, there’s a strong need for an agreed-upon media storage policy–for production, postproduction and agencies–that addresses technological and legal realities. Masters that need to last for 50+ years should not be stored on hard drives rated for five years. Long-term storage solutions like LTO are not common practice and will require education. Production companies who are not contractually obligated to manage large and expensive media libraries need to operate without fear of clients who may hold them responsible for those projects. AICP is actively working on behalf of its members in an effort to address this issue and find solutions.

More to come
More details relative to survey feedback will be shared during an AICP Town Hall session on digital asset management, hosted by the technology sub-committee of the AICP West chapter board on Tuesday, Oct. 21, at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, Calif.

After a presentation reporting full survey results, a panel discussion on digital asset management will be held, moderated by Roberta Griefer, SHOOT’s publisher and editorial director.

MySHOOT Profiles