By Roger Jackson
Previously: Why We’re Different
Quality Control
At Kinonation we’ve automated much of what has traditionally been manual. Films are uploaded to us instead of shipped on hard drives. Digital movie assets are stored in the cloud instead of locally at our office. Transcoding and metadata authoring is triggered automatically and happens in the cloud, replacing the existing process of “guy in a room for a day” — which is expensive and error-prone — with cloud computers that rarely make mistakes. But one very much human element we retain is QC — quality control.
Dead Bodies
The content ops team at Kinonation will QC a film only when ALL the film assets are uploaded. There are 32 required fields – the filmmaker’s progress bar turns green when all are complete. These assets include the main video, trailer, metadata, images, captions. Prepping film deliverables for VOD is hard work – like a half-marathon after the IronMan race to finish production! This is one of the biggest challenges we have. Of the hundreds of new films submitted to us each month, almost a fifth don’t get through QC – we call them “dead bodies” and we do our best to help them get up and finish the race.
Top 10 QC Fails
This failure rate is way too high, and is most often caused by either a lack of technical knowledge to deliver to the required specs – or simply inertia caused by a feeling of “this is way too hard.” The top 10 QC problems are:
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main video upload paused but not completed (hang in there, it will finish!)
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video file with non-square pixels. i.e. display aspect ratio stretched
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video file too small (upload software handles any size, aim for ~1GB per minute)
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missing poster art, or poster art contains url
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bars, tone, title card, MPAA card or anything else in front of film
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website or Facebook url in trailer
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letterboxed video
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closed caption or subtitles file missing or incomplete
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closed caption or subtitles file not synced to audio
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missing chapter/ad breaks
So here’s what we’re doing to make it a little easier for filmmakers to push their films over the Quality Control finish line, so we can distribute to VOD services and the film can get seen.
Knowledge Base
We implemented the excellent ZenDesk system, which combines customer support with an expanding Knowledge Base. We made it mandatory that all questions to support@kinonation.com must not just be answered, but also re-written as a generic answer in the knowledge base. That way the knowledge base expands and the system becomes more 24/7 responsive and scalable.
Ask for Help
If your film is not quite across the goal line – maybe you’ve completed 27 of the required 32 fields – ask us for help. We want you to succeed, and the content ops team like it when you ask for our help. If you can’t find answers in the knowledge base, email support@kinonation.com.
Forum
We’re starting a user forum, where filmmakers can help each other. This will help with tech questions, for sure, and we’re expecting it will also encourage filmmakers to assist & critique with the elements that drive the “watch or not” decision by the audience. i.e. film title, logline, poster art, synopsis, trailer.
New Software
We’re busy writing new software that will enable faster uploads, more automated QC, and streamlined metadata. Expect that in the second half of 2014. But don’t wait to submit your film.
We Want Your Film
Kinonation wants your film to distribute to video-on-demand outlets, with no cost, no risk and 100% integrity. Click to Get Started.
Next Up: Post # 48: (scheduled for Tues April 15th)
Roger Jackson is a producer and the co-founder of film distribution start-up KinoNation. He was Vice President, Content for digital film pioneer iFilm.com and has produced warzone documentaries in Darfur, Palestine, Bangladesh and Nepal…plus a reality series for VH1 and one rather bad movie for Fox’s FuelTV. You can reach him at support@kinonation.com.
