Tim Bicio (left) co-developed “Zion” — the DAM system for EON Ent. John “DJ” Des Jardin, also of EON, views Zion as a way for the Wachowski brothers to better exploit all their creative assets.

EON’s Zion DAM system underscores a trend toward increased use of DAM systems by production companies specializing in digital content. This suggests that more and more people in roles allied to digital production (marketing, publicity, engineering, administration, training, for example) will be interacting with DAM systems.

According to EON visual effects supervisor John “DJ” Des Jardin, Zion provides a foundation for generating revenue streams and future projects. “As long as Zion exists,” says Des Jardin, “the Wachowski brothers can make other forms of entertainment based on what is in the database.” Expect more production companies to take an interest in digital asset management systems to maximize the current and future value of their digital assets.

Global Beats
Increasingly, image production occurs at diverse locations outside of the organization. DAM systems help organizations communicate across countries and cultures by providing a common project structure and protocols for creating, naming, changing and storing assets. As studios outsource more and more digital production to teams across the world, it becomes increasingly important that the production be backed by a robust DAM system. Effective DAM systems enable companies to benefit from round-the-clock production as assets journey across the globe toward their final version.

Alien Brains
Perhaps the biggest trend is that there is now a viable marketplace for companies specializing in developing and selling turnkey DAM systems to digital production firms. Companies now have the option to purchase turnkey products such as NXN’s Alienbrain and extend the feature set of the purchased system to mesh with the organization’s workflow.

NXN, a leader in the DAM field, has convinced major content creators such as Sony Imageworks, Electronic Arts and Pixar to adopt variations of NXN’s core digital asset management suites. Born in the asset-intensive world of game development, NXN will continue to expand its offerings into the content creation marketplace by adding functionality to handle project management, scheduling and billing. NXN’s vom Scheidt calls this enhanced DAM approach “digital production management.”

“Zion” managed all work product for the Matrix universe: the feature Matrix Reloaded, Animatrix and Enter the Matrix the game. Matrix Reloaded photo by Jasin Boland and courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures; Animatrix image © 2003 Warner Home Video. All rights reserved.

Staying in the Loop
When many of the established digital production companies in the effects field started years ago, asset management was much less of a concern. You created a file tree. You put files in it. You backed it up occasionally. No big deal.

Not anymore. Digital asset management systems are as essential to the health and growth of a digital production business as any other financial or physical asset. It is the DAM system that organizations use to communicate its work to the rest of the marketplace. So it’s important for producers, coordinators and project managers in digital production to contribute to understanding and improving DAM systems. After all, nearly everyone in a digital production environment spends a significant portion of their time interacting with the DAM system. Why not make sure it works well?

As Brown of Rhythm & Hues puts it plainly: “If you don’t know where things are and how things are supposed to be put together you are in big trouble.” So the next time you consider working with a digital production entity ask about its digital asset management system. See if it shows you where things are and how things are supposed to be put together. See if the system provides the information your team needs to get the project done.

Visual effects producer Rick Baumgartner was recently nominated for a 2003 Primetime Emmy Award for his work on the series finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He is currently producing visual effects for the new primetime NBC show Las Vegas at Stargate Digital. Visit Rick’s Website for more information on producing visual effects.