Limecraft - Semantic Integration Platform

The Value of Semantic Technology
in Media Production

Limecraft (Ghent) is a specialised supplier of
technology and services to the high-end
media sector.

Limecraft has been incorporated in May 2010
after more than 40 yrs of R&D in media.

Limecraft is rolling out an online integrated
media production platform for TaglichtMedia
(D) en Raindance (UK) by June 2012.

Digitisation in the domain of media production
has just started. Media Production is about
craftsmanship and to a large extent based on
informal processes.
There is huge potential to integrate media
production processes, for the purpose of re-use
and disclosure of audiovisual Content.

Potential
 New distribution channels (iPad, iPhone)
 New types of ‘customisable’ products
 Personalised advertisement

Issues to be solved
 Integrated or “paper-less” production
 Industry standards (EBU Core, NewsML)
 Semantic Technology

News Production
Journalist Archivist

PoP Server Newsroom Computer System

NewsWire
eXchange Media Asset Management System
Server

Media Search Application
Manager

In the context of News Production, software has replaced paper workflows to a large extent.
However, the application landscape is a chain of databases and information is manually
reproduced from one system to another through, which slows down the information flow.

Semantic technology enables automation of system integration, through wich breaking news
can be published faster.

Drama Production
Script Writing (Screenplay) Breakdown Logging (Continuity)

Flow of Informally
Structured Information

Digital Media Flow

In the context of drama production, while the media have been digitised (principal
photography, editing, sound engineering,...), the controlling workflow is still very document-oriented. Beyond
the original screenplay, an average production requires about 25 more documents using the same
information, including a production breakdown, shooting schedules,Post sheets, continuity reports, etc.
Principal Photography call -Production

Semantic technology is essential to understand the contents of the documents so that the information can be
stored in a database.

Archiving
archiefnummer : ALG 20010813 1

Opzoekscherm FILM Set: 16 Aantal: 1 fragmentnummer : 1

blz 1 van 3 reeks : 1000 ZONNEN EN GARNALEN

trefwoorden: ibm and vrt bandnummer : E03024404
formaat : DBCM

archiefnummer: - fragmenttitel : 1000 ZONNEN & GARNALEN

uitzendjaar: maand: dag: beeld : KL/PALPLUS

fragmentnummer: fragmentduur: fragmentduur : 18 20

reeks: tekst : 0'00" TOERISTISCH REPORTAGEMAGAZINE OVERZICHT

formaat: bandnummer: ONDERWERPEN GENERIEK TOERISTISCH REPORTAGEMAGAZINE,

aflevering: afleveringsnummer: OVERZICHT ONDERWERPEN

programma: uitzenddatum: 0'50" VANDAAG : KUNSTENAAR LUC HOFKENS ONTWIERP EEN OASE

fragmenttitel: OP ZIJN DAKTERRAS IN BORGERHOUT DIE DOET DENKEN AAN DE

tekst: GRAND CANYON INTERVIEW MET LUC EN ZIJN VROUW

kategorie: MARILOU BUITENBEELD DAK MET OMGEVING BUITENKANT

opnamedatum: opnamenummer: ARBEIDERSWONING, PANO OVER ROTSWANDEN, KRATEN MET WATER,

journalist: rechthebbende: BEPANTING, FOTOALBUM MET VERLOOP WERKEN
4'00" JUNIOR : KLAARTJE ALAERTS, 13 JAAR WIL ASTRONAUTEN
WORDEN ZE BEZOEKT HETEUROSPACE CENTER METRUIMTEVEREN,

SETS RAKETTEN SIMULATIE IN RUIMTEVEER, INTERVIEW, HEEFT EEN

The strings required for the operation are not defined UFO GEZIEN MAAKT ZELF KLEIN RAKETJE, SCHIET HET AF
7'50" DE SCHEURKALENDER : ARCHIEF RECLAMEFILM IBM
INTERVIEW MAURICE DE WILDE, EERSTE PERSOONLIJKECOMPUTER

F11 F12 F13 F14 F17 F18 F19 F20 Ent trefwoorden : BELGIE; BORGERHOUT; ARTIEST; OASE; KUNST; GRAND

Eindigen Sets Refset Toon Vorige Volg/Leeg Thesaurus Commando Opzoeken CANYON (NATUURGEBIED); DAK; TERRAS; INTERVIEW; EURO
SPACE CENTER; RUIMTEVAART; PC; BOOTTOCHT; RIJKDOM;
PASSAGIER; GASTRONOMIE; RESTAURANT; PERSONEEL;
VAKANTIE; BINNENBEELD; SCHIP; BECKERS LEEN; VRT;
LOTTO; RADIOOMROEPSTER; KLANKSTUDIO; UITVINDING;
BARBECUE; BETONMOLEN; IBM; RECLAMESPOT
rechthebbende : VRT

In order to preserve material, broadcasters and production facilities maintain archives. All
available information is collected and summarised by the archivist. The material is categorised and
formally tagged , so that researchers at a later stage are able to retrieve the material. Manual
“Annotation” is a slow and expensive process and the result has a moderate precision.
Semantic technology has the potential to accelerate this process and to improve the accuracy of
the result.

Key Issue
 Symptoms
 Re-use is expensive
 Content is hard to find
 “Search” in the player does not work

 Causes - Non-integrated Process
 Unstructured information
 ‘Document oriented’ workflow
 Lack of interoperability
 Loss of information

 Traditional remedies
 Manual ‘annotation’ (not scalable!)
 Database Duplication (inconsistencies)
 A complex and expensive architectures which are difficult to maintain

Business Case – Cost (!)
Conventional ICT infrastructure
 Can’t handle large volumes of items
COST

 Software components are not integrated
 Integration of Digital Isles by ‘Middleware’

Added Value

NUMBER OF ITEMS Using a Semantic Integration Platform as the core
of the Media Asset Management processes:
RETRIEVABILITY

Integration is efficient and protects earlier
investments
Information remains secured and
retrievable when growing to large numbers

NUMBER OF ITEMS

Why semantic technology?

-> Please have a look at the following three paintings.

Beyond “oil on canvas” and “five human beings”, these three paintings all illustrate the
allegory of senses.

Because audiovisual media are not self-descriptive, we need human interpretation to
understand the information beyond the image. From thereon, using semantic
technology, this information can be consistently communicated between machines.

From pre-production to archiving...
archiefnummer : ALG 20010813 1
fragmentnummer : 1
reeks : 1000 ZONNEN EN GARNALEN
bandnummer : E03024404
formaat : DBCM
fragmenttitel : 1000 ZONNEN & GARNALEN
beeld : KL/PALPLUS
fragmentduur : 18 20
tekst : 0'00" TOERISTISCH REPORTAGEMAGAZINE OVERZICHT
ONDERWERPEN GENERIEK TOERISTISCH REPORTAGEMAGAZINE,
OVERZICHT ONDERWERPEN
0'50" VANDAAG : KUNSTENAAR LUC HOFKENS ONTWIERP EEN OASE
OP ZIJN DAKTERRAS IN BORGERHOUT DIE DOET DENKEN AAN DE
GRAND CANYON INTERVIEW MET LUC EN ZIJN VROUW
MARILOU BUITENBEELD DAK MET OMGEVING BUITENKANT
ARBEIDERSWONING, PANO OVER ROTSWANDEN, KRATEN MET WATER,
BEPANTING, FOTOALBUM MET VERLOOP WERKEN
4'00" JUNIOR : KLAARTJE ALAERTS, 13 JAAR WIL ASTRONAUTEN
WORDEN ZE BEZOEKT HETEUROSPACE CENTER METRUIMTEVEREN,
RAKETTEN SIMULATIE IN RUIMTEVEER, INTERVIEW, HEEFT EEN
UFO GEZIEN MAAKT ZELF KLEIN RAKETJE, SCHIET HET AF
7'50" DE SCHEURKALENDER : ARCHIEF RECLAMEFILM IBM
INTERVIEW MAURICE DE WILDE, EERSTE PERSOONLIJKECOMPUTER
trefwoorden : BELGIE; BORGERHOUT; ARTIEST; OASE; KUNST; GRAND
CANYON (NATUURGEBIED); DAK; TERRAS; INTERVIEW; EURO
SPACE CENTER; RUIMTEVAART; PC; BOOTTOCHT; RIJKDOM;
PASSAGIER; GASTRONOMIE; RESTAURANT; PERSONEEL;
VAKANTIE; BINNENBEELD; SCHIP; BECKERS LEEN; VRT;

From pre-production to archiving, media producers need proper information, i.e. the
LOTTO; RADIOOMROEPSTER; KLANKSTUDIO; UITVINDING;
BARBECUE; BETONMOLEN; IBM; RECLAMESPOT

semantics contained by documents, to optimally schedule a production, to enable
rechthebbende : VRT

interactivity, to report about rights and to enable re-use of content. Therefor it is not good
enough to establish a document management system, the document-oriented methods
must be replaced by a more model-driven approach.

...a Model-driven Approach
Scene
I N T . J E E P – F A V O RING J O E C H A C O “Jeep”, INT
#1
J O E d r i v es r e c k lessly. A N D I s i t s n e x t t o h i m , Action
a n a t t r active g i r l i n h e r m i d -t w e n ties. #2 “ char. “Joe” drives recklessly.
char. “Andi” sits next to him, ...”
ANDI
( s h o uting) #3
H o w m u c h l o n g er? Dialogue Character
actionspan dialoguespan “Andi”
JOE “shouting” “How much longer?”
C o u p le o ’ h o u r s. Y o u o k a y ? #4
S h e s m i l es w e a r ily. #5 Dialogue Character
“Couple o’ hours. ...” “Joe”
ANDI
I ’ l l m a k e i t .#6 Action Dialogue
“She smiles wearily.” “I’ll make it.”
S u d d enly, t h e m o t o r S P U T TERS. T h e y l o o k a t
e a c h o t h e r, c o n c erned. #7
Action
#8 CUT TO: “Suddenly, the motor sound “sputters” .
They look at each other, concerned.”

Instruction
type: “transition”
“cut to”

Design Principles
A B C D E F G
B

A A B C
D
C
E
Media Asset
D E
...
Mgnt Limecraft Platform
Y
X
... X Y H J
I I

Limecraft - Semantic Integration Platform
 Available online (Software as a Service)
 Replace all paper documents by browser-based applications
 Interoperability through maximum support of industry standards
 Ensure compatibility with existing MAM systems
 Patent pending search technology ensures retrievability
 Real-time co-production

Search Experience

Goal
1. Retrieve all(!) relevant items
2. in a minimum of time
3. with respect for Intellectual Property

Key Features
 Integration of different sources
 Trace the relationships between items
 Scene recognition
 Computer Assisted Annotation
 (Face Recognition - WIP)
 (Speech recognition - WIP)

21

Media Production

 Saas - No installation, no maintenance,...
 End-to-end - script writing, production, post-
production, distribution and play-out
 Reliable – 100% uptime
 Integrated - Single set of numbers(!)
 On demand – scalability through capacity on
demand
 Ubiquitous access – anytime, anywhere on
any type of device
 Standardisation – industry standards enable
interoperability

22

 http://www.limecraft.com
 @limecraft
 info@limecraft.com

Limecraft - Semantic Integration Platform

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