Customer Stories - Forum's Cinemas - Avid NEXIS | PRO's
For cinema lovers, a trip to Paris isn’t complete without visiting the Forum des Images. Formerly known as the Paris Video Library, the celebrated cultural institution is dedicated to all things cinema and audiovisual.
Founded in 1988, its archive collection boasts nearly 8,000 films with Paris as the subject or setting, as well as several hundred other film-related documents from rare or difficult-to-access collections. In addition to the archive, the public can enjoy screenings, festivals, master classes and conferences.
"Our aim was to offer the general public simple access to a collection of reference films in Paris and to offer regular programming with screenings in the Forum's cinemas," says Philippe Boulanger, technical director of the Forum des Images.
As part of a project led by the City of Paris, the Forum des Images is building a new, free-of-charge digital media learning centre. Thousands of students aged 12 to 18 will be able to use the latest digital tools, learn from media professionals, and explore the intersection of technology and art. Students will be able to explore subjects like writing, cinema, animation, and 3D modelling.
The Forum des Images’ busy audiovisual department produces more than 80 recordings of Forum events every year. Shot in XDCAM and DSLR media formats, these multi-camera recordings create a huge amount of raw footage to be stored and managed.
The department also produces content like program trailers and celebrity interviews to help promote the many activities that take place at the Forum. All of this results in over 450 post-production projects each year. Surprisingly, just two people manage the post-production department, who bring in freelance editors to help as projects demand.
As one of Avid’s first customers in the early 1990s, the Forum des Images has used Media Composer for editing since its inception, with two Media Composer editing suites working on local storage. But the growing volume of audiovisual projects, combined with the new digital media learning center, stretched post-production resources to the limit.
To optimize post production and provide real-time collaboration capabilities, the Forum added three more Media Composer suites and Avid NEXIS | PRO software-defined storage. Working closely with the Forum’s IT department, Avid Channel Partner CTM Solutions integrated the new storage system into the existing workflow.
“Avid NEXIS | PRO collaborative storage is used by the department to store current montages and share them between editing stations,” says Sébastien Garcia, technical coordinator for the Forum des Images’ technical department and one of the two staff who manages post production. “With Avid NEXIS | PRO SAN-based architecture, the post-production department is more flexible than before and able to better manage disk space.”
With Avid NEXIS | PRO, the small post-production team at the Forum des Images now manages its many projects much more easily and efficiently. The affordable system means Avid’s shared storage—renowned in the media and entertainment industry for its performance and reliability—is no longer reserved only for major film studios, broadcasters and post houses. It’s within easy reach of media organizations of all kinds and teams of all sizes. For the Forum des Images, it’s just right to help bring an understanding of the world through film.