A week ago we were introduced to a brand new collaborative video workflow platform called Frame.io that aims to "pick up where Vimeo left off." While Vimeo has some client review features, and there are a number of companies out there that offer similar services, Frame.io is attempting to be more seamless, faster, and eliminate headaches that are often associated with the process. There was a huge response to Frame.io, and many, many questions. Co-founder Emery Wells will be sending out a newsletter answering these questions, but they've given No Film School an early look at the text that will be going out later today.
If you missed it, here is the launch video:
And here is what will be in the newsletter:
What is Frame.io?
Frame.io is a collaboration platform for video. It allows you to upload all your source media, work in progress, and assets into private workspaces where you can invite your team and clients to collaborate. We replace the hodgepodge of Dropbox for file sharing, Vimeo for video review, and Email for communication.
What makes Frame.io special?
We're making video collaboration simple and seamless, as it should be. Until now, you've either been forced to use products that were never designed for your use, or products that were poorly designed for your use. We say enough of that.
What is Frame.io not?
We're not a distribution platform. We think platforms like YouTube and Vimeo are still the greatest ways to reach millions of people around the world. We want to help you get to the finished product faster, less expensively, and with a lot less pain.
Top 18 Questions Answered
- I signed up, now what? Sit tight. We're still working on getting to our 1.0 release. You'll get an email when it's ready.
- Is the product in the demo video an actual working app? Absolutely. It's being used by real humans on real projects right now.
- How do uploads work? Is it through the browser or FTP based? Browser. Our acceleration makes browser uploading as fast or faster than FTP.
- How are you accelerating uploads, that sounds like bullshit. True, but we really are. We've built technology that overcomes inherent limitations in the http protocol.
- Is there a max upload size? No. Upload anything (up to 5 terabytes per file).
- Where is the media physically stored? It is stored on our servers which are currently located in the United States. Your media may be physically stored in a location nearest you.
- Where is Frame.io physically stored? Our office is in New York City. Stop by and say hello.
- Can I only upload video? You can upload anything. On day 1 we'll have support for many video, audio, and still formats. If we don't have support for something you can still upload it and use Frame.io for file sharing, you just may not be able to preview it in Frame.io.
- When will it be ready? I'd tell you but then I'd have to kill you. In all serious, we're not sure. We're working as quickly as we can but we're not ready to announce a release date just yet.
- Will you restrict the use of copy written music like Vimeo? No. Frame.io's very purpose is for fostering the creative process and we know that often involves using temporary music before it is licensed or before final music is selected/composed.
- Do I ever have to worry about privacy or handing over copyrights? Absolutely not. You are and always will be the sole copyright owner.
- Does Frame.io have the ability to be hosted locally? No
- Can I invite clients/collaborators to view something without requiring them to login? Not yet. You're talking to someone who hates managing logins and passwords so I completely get why you want this. But really good collaboration requires identity. Imagine Facebook with no identity, doesn't work. We've made the invitation process as seamless and smooth as possible. We will be supporting Google Login which means after receiving an email invite, your collaborators could be in with 2 clicks. Link in email, first click. Login with Google, second click. Done. For those that don't want to use Google Login, there will be other options. Once you're in, there are no individual passwords that have to be remembered for projects. Rest assured we understand the importance of access without logins and we'll have more to announce about this at a later date.
- I heard something about cloud transcoding, can you explain that? Everything you upload is converted on our server into a high quality MP4 and WebM format. We understand how important quality is. Dropbox encoding is garbage, Vimeo and YouTube are pretty good. We'll be on par with 1080p Youtube encoding, but slightly better. That means you don't need to be compression expert. Just give us a high quality file and we'll make sure it looks great and plays back great. We're also going to try our darndest to manage gamma and color accurately. Give us time to untangle the Quicktime gamma management mess but we are committed to getting it right.
- What are you doing about security? The entire Frame.io site uses 256 bit SSL encryption. This is the same level of security banks use to handle your online transactions. Media URLs are authenticated and signed on request to ensure only the appropriate parties can access them. Resources are authenticated at the object level which means each project, file, and even comment needs to be authenticated by a user by ID. Our data centers use state of the art electronic surveillance and multi-factor access control systems. They are staffed 24x7 by trained security guards. We are also looking into MPAA certification.
- This sounds expensive, do you have the money to pull this off? Yes. Frame.io is privately financed.
- You've built up a lot of hype, can you deliver? First, we never intended to build up hype. We just shared our vision and the hype happened on its own. Second, we can definitely live up to what we've promised but we won't be perfect on day 1 and we'll stay open and honest with our development.
- How much will it cost? We're crunching the numbers on this as we speak. We want to make it accessible and we're still figuring out the best way to do that.
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There is still a long way to go for Frame.io to live up to many of these promises, but they've got a lot of great ideas about how to improve the process of client review and team collaboration. Cost is going to be a big factor for many who could benefit from the platform, so we'll have to wait and see how that plays out.
If you'd like to sign up and be notified when Frame.io launches, and if you'd like to receive newsletter updates like the one above, head on over to their website. There are some suggestions to other platforms like this in the comments section on the previous post, so be sure to check those out and see how they compare.
If you have more questions, feel free to ask them below and someone from Frame.io should be able to give you an answer.
Link: Frame.io
