CineDev has released Altera, a clip-based metadata management system for
film and TV production workflows
Altera was designed to complement camera footage used by media professionals on-set and in post-production. Created with data wranglers and digital imaging technicians (DIT) in mind, Altera helps to streamline the editing or creation of metadata archive files such as ALE and EDL with tools that accelerate the process and help to minimize costly mistakes.
As production times reduce and the demand for media content increases, on-set production teams are increasingly looking at ways to streamline processes for quicker turnaround times. Editing metadata on-set and in film labs typically involve a manual process of editing spreadsheets that can lead to human errors that trickle throughout the production pipeline. Altera has been production tested over the past year during its beta phase on major productions such as Wrath of Man, House of Gucci, Cyrano, Morbius, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Batgirl and The Marvels.
Altera lets data managers replace a clunky workflow that often involves three different tools to edit: CSVs, ALEs and CDLs.
What can it do?
Import/Export
Users can import metadata from a wide variety of formats and transform and adapt the metadata for any need. You can merge and export to multiple different formats in one go.
Smart Bins
These allow you to filter and group metadata attributes dynamically based on user-defined rules and keywords. You can work with an up-to-date list of clips that match the specified metadata attributes.
Database
This allows users to import reference lookups to take advantage of powerful built-in tools in Altera such as Check and Compare. It also supports a variety of file formats from a simple CSV to more elaborate formats such as MHL, CCC, or AMF. The Database allows you to filter and clean up file data to optimize databases for efficiency.
Check and Compare
You can verify data against any imported metadata or database with Check and Compare tools. The easily allows you to pinpoint mismatches in data to fix anomalies.
Merge and Append
Users can merge data from columns within multiple files or combine multiple files together with confidence. Altera uses smart checks to avoid possible conflicts when merging data.
Reports
You can create and export reports in PDF or HTML formats. There is also the ability to customize layouts to suit your production needs.
Pricing & availability
Altera is now available for macOS. Pricing per user starts at £20 per month or £149 per year. Altera will be available for demos on stand 244 at BSC Expo 2022.
