Using Prelude as simple DAM

Question

Hi,
I wanted to check if it is possible to use Prelude as a simple Digital Asset Management system.
We keep all of our older raw footage on offline hard drives (mostly red carpet interviews). I am looking for a simple solution where I can import basic file infos into a database, add some metadata to it (which event location, names of people in video, which hard disc, ...).
I understand from the previous post that Prelude only searches the currently open project, but does that mean that all assets have to be on-line as well? Or can I simply add all footage to the same project (which I would only use to search for files) and then search for, lets say, a name, and Prelude lists all footage where the meta-data includes this name and I know which harddisc to pull and find the file on?
I have researched several specialized DAM solutions, but most are optimized for images and do not support video well. That ones that are out there for video assume that you need your content accessible 24/7 and are optimized for that. So maybe Prelude would offer a work-around?
Thank you!

Answer 1

Michael,
Thank you for addressing our questions.   Due to my internal purchasing
process, I still haven't received my copy of Prelude, but I'll try to
answer your queries as best I can.
When you think about a DAM as part of Prelude I'm curious to understand
what key features you'd like to see there. For example, if Prelude were to
simply remember every asset and all associated metadata for each asset
into a database and make is searchable, is that sufficient?    Yes and no.
Yes, if this would help to reduce load time.  No, if it means not seeing
the clips.  We need to see the clips because, for us, such a database
could easily reach tens-of-thousands of clips and we can't remember them
all.  I work in government, where we have multiple producers creating
assets, and are required to keep media because they are considered public
documents.
The speed issue might be helped if you could select when to turn on clip
loading or viewing.  I would think that loading metadata would be faster
than loading media, so what if you could tell the system to load all the
metadata from a library before doing a basic search on it.  Then, based on
the clips that are selected, switch to view mode for just those clips in
order to refine the search.  The feature should be switchable, because
when loading media into the system for the first time, you might want to
start by viewing clips and metadata.
An additional feature I would like to see is for Prelude and Premiere to
work together in the opposite direction from what you addressed in your
email.  For example, if you could add notes or markers in Premiere that
would automatically update the metadata of the original clip.  Or, perhaps
Prelude could track when clips are used by automatically adding a metadata
field to the original clip that included date and the project name where
it was used.  The more automation here, the better.
Also, since we are generating file based masters of our completed
programs, it would be nice for Media Encoder and Prelude to interact so
that we can add appropriate metadata and track which masters are stored on
the server.
Would you need to share this database with others?  Yes, internally.
What would you expect when your media is archived or moved offline -
should Prelude know about that somehow?   Yes, we would need to track the
location.  It would also be helpful to have a low-res thumbnail available
for offline clips.
Would you like to have archival/backup features as part of Prelude that
update the DAM properties as well (maybe with labels for whatever drive or
LTO you've put your media on)?   YES!  This approach would be a nice
solution to the previous question.  Also, Don't forget off-loading media
to blue-ray.  There are very robust devices which are network enabled and
can generate blue-ray disks. For example, the Rimage products can create
data, or playable disks with printed labels for either archive or finished
products.  Here is another point where connectivity could be applied if a
program was being sent to Encore.
What other features would you consider critical to your workflows?   The
items we feel are most critical are viewable clips, and searchable
metadata.
It would be nice if Prelude could search a "Master Project" and send
selected files to another project, so that you could return to the "Master
Project" and do additional searches.  In addition, the ability to append
projects might be useful.
Also, for a "Master Project," it might be smart to be able to designate it
as "write only" from the start, in order to protect it against accidental
erasure.  If you do that, please include an auto spell check prior to
saving any individual entry.
Any features feel like 'must haves' related to cloud workflows?  No, I
think of the cloud as another archival or backup location, perhaps because
we do not use it.  Our IT manager considers it too expensive at this time.
If there is functionality that I am unaware of, I'd be interested in
learning what it is.
Feel free to ask additional questions.  Also, if you are willing I may
send some to you when I start working with the program.
Thanks,
        .jhm
Jeff Moshier
Executive Producer - CITV
City of Richardson
972-744-4027
[email protected]