| FUZE MOVIE MAKES REVIEW & APPROVAL SIMPLE |  |   | | | SAN FRANCISCO — Thanks to the Web, it’s no longer necessary for collaborators to be in the same city, or even country. And a new product from Fuze Box called Fuze Movie is designed to make the review and approval task even easier for producers, directors, editors, visual effects pros and designers. | | (1/18/2010) | | Randi Altman | |  Fuze Movie (www.fuzemovie.com) is essentially the former SyncVue product, created by veteran Hollywood editor Michael Buday, with code cleanup and new skin. Fuze Box acquired the product from Buday in 2007, keeping him onboard as the chief software designer and principal developer. Fuze Box has a roadmap planned and will be adding additional features to the product in the IBC timeframe.
Some recent users of the tool include John Paul Dochertry, visual effects supervisor on The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and John Farhat, visual effects supervisor on Book of Eli.
Using Skype and the Fuze Movie application, which downloads to your computer and includes a frame-accurate player, Fuze Movie allows all involved in the project to review a shot, scene or entire movie in high-resolution and in realtime, with the ability to mark-up the footage. Users could scrub through the footage, frame-by-frame, to highlight areas in need of further review. Users can also add voice notes to any frame of the movie, which can then be saved as a playlist and sent to someone offline.
Other features include:
- Ability to play any media file supported by QuickTime V.7.1 or higher.
- Ability to play Windows Media and MXF files (via a plug-in from Telestream) providing compatibility with Sony’s Blu-ray based XDCAM formats.
- A database enabling users to track all assets (media files) wherever they may reside; on a server, local or networked drive, or on the Web.
- A built-in FTP function that allows media within a project to be automatically uploaded to multiple FTP locations. Clients running Fuze Movie will automatically receive media files as they become available — keeping everyone in the project in-sync.
- Printed video frames with graphics, titles, notes and timecode can be exported as HTML files for viewing locally or online.
- Upon completion, XML locator annotations can be exported to NLE editing solutions, such as Final Cut Pro (Avid export is coming).
Fuze Movie is available now and is priced based on a quarterly subscription licensing model. Discounted introductory pricing starts at $229 for a two-seat, three-month license and volume discounts (for quantity of seats and duration of licenses) apply.
Fuze Box also has a Web conferencing tool called Fuze Meeting, which allows desktop and screen sharing on Mac, PC and iPhones. Fuze Box is working on being able to export files from Fuze Movie to Fuze Meeting.
“The pieces plug into each other very well,” explains Dan Settle, product manager for Fuze Movie. “People on mobile devices will be able to be brought into meetings instantly and they can see attendees and have access to the same controls, including movie playback and graphic mark-ups. People in the field, producers and directors could review shots with team.”
This iPhone capability will find its way to Fuze Movie at some point in the future.
| |
