Light Iron, the post production creative services division of the Panavision group, has selected Nara for its New York and Los Angeles facilities – streamlining its workflow solution and accessibility across sites from dailies through to finishing.
The new solution has saved time for producers, increased accuracy, reduced errors and will provide huge workflow advantages for Light Iron’s increasing number of bi-coastal projects.
Home to a renowned creative team, including colourists, online editors, visual-effects artists and software engineers, Light Iron has a passion for empowering filmmakers through technical innovation and artistic collaboration. To do this, the company’s producers require view-only access to its SAN volumes to efficiently create work orders and distribute files. Before implementing Nara, Light Iron relied on two separate programs—one for navigating file structures and another for securely viewing playable content.
With Nara, Light Iron’s producers now have a single solution that combines file navigation, secure content viewing, and information sharing through one interface.
“Nara enables us to safely access file paths, distribution information, and media content across departments without compromising security,” comments Andy Kaplan, SVP of Operations at Light Iron. “This platform has become essential for our teams, providing accurate, up-to-date information that enables seamless collaboration between departments while maintaining the strict security protocols we need.”
For Light Iron, one of Nara’s standout features is the ability to play back files stored on their SANs in real-time. This functionality provides producers with peace of mind, enabling them to review files before client distribution. Nara also ensures accurate colour representation, relevant burn-ins, and detailed metadata for thorough content verification.
“Another key feature is the ability for users to create custom bookmarks to specific locations in our SANs,” adds Amy Redfern, Head of Production for Light Iron . “This time-saving function allows each producer to quickly navigate to the most relevant files for their projects, improving efficiency even further.”
Nara has also optimised Light Iron’s processes when restoring media for conform or VFX, allowing them to easily locate the correct storage volumes and verify that each clip and its resolution matches the project’s requirements. Nara also provides the team with the ability to view materials remotely without the need to gain direct access to the files or a suite in the facility.
“If a client or studio sends us a QC note about a file we have delivered, I am able to load that file remotely from my desktop and review it without having to engage other departments,” comments Andrew Dale, Senior DI Producer at Light Iron. “This lets them focus on using their resources for more important tasks. The fact that I can put eyes on a file immediately allows me to better understand any issues that have been noted, which enables me to be more efficient in my communication with my team members. Additionally, since I do not have direct access to the file in question, there are no security concerns like there would be if I had to physically transfer a file offsite to review.”
“Nara offers a number of benefits,” concludes Redfern. “It significantly saves time for producers by streamlining workflows and reducing the time spent searching for and accessing media. It also reduces errors and increases accuracy by allowing users to verify the correct media before sending it out, ensuring that what we’re sending is correct.”
“It’s been great working with the Light Iron team,” comments Peter Postma, Managing Director at FilmLight, Americas. “Nara is a young and evolving product and we’ve enjoyed incorporating their valuable feedback into new features – allowing producers and coordinators to respond to their customers more efficiently. We look forward to continuing this collaboration and further developing Nara so that it meets our customers’ requirements going forward.”
