Project description
The making of fully automated film production lines
Video production has always been a costly and risky undertaking. However, automation technologies are finding a place in the film industry, reducing the risks and lowering production costs. The EU-funded Multi RoboDOP project will investigate how a fully automated system can be suited for live shows such as sports events or concerts. It has developed an easy-to-use platform that autonomously controls multiple cameras, tracks objects smoothly and makes smart decisions to perform all operational tasks of traditional crews with superior quality. The project is targeting a large segment of the market that cannot afford professional video productions while increasing the return on investment (ROI) for large-scale companies.
Objective
Inconsistent quality, high personnel costs and personnel admin overheads are the main bottlenecks faced by video production companies. Small-medium ones besides, must handle with very tight budgets, offering the bare minimum as result (limited camera angles and repetitive movements) and risking zero profits in case of production overruns. Automation (artificial intelligence and robotics that replace repetitive and routine tasks) has emerged as an innovative solution to execute production tasks more efficiently and allow companies to remove economic bottlenecks and devote more resources to creative activities. However state-of-the-art automation technologies are limited to assistive systems or partial automation based on pre-established scripts (cameras' movement, framing time and broadcast sequence), so they are not suitable for live shows such as sports events or concerts.
Seervision, the only player offering an affordable full automation solution, will revolutionize the video production industry through Multi RoboDoP: an easy-to-use platform that autonomously controls multiple cameras, tracks objects smoothly and takes smart decisions to perform all operational tasks of traditional crews at a superior quality. Multi RoboDoP will disrupt the cost structure of today’s video productions by halving their production costs. Moreover, we will unlock 50% of the market that cannot afford professional video productions (mid-sized video production companies and small studios) while we increase ROI for large-scale companies.
So far, we have invested more than €1M to reach TRL7 and we envisage €2.19M and 1.5 years to finish developing our proprietary multi-camera coordination software, prepare its scale-up and its market launch.
We have identified 12 priority target countries representing a SAM of >€700M. After launch to market in Q4 2021, we estimate 2.5 years to reach break-even, 4 years to get a 3-4% overall market share, €27.8M in revenues and a ROI of 6.67.
Fields of science
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesartificial intelligence
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencessoftware
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensorsoptical sensors
- social sciencessociologyindustrial relationsautomation
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringroboticsautonomous robots
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2Coordinator
8092 ZURICH ETH-ZENTRUM
Switzerland
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.