Disc Producers' Work Grows with Blu-ray

Despite the slowdown in DVD, disc producers are hardly sitting on their hands. Thanks to the increase in number of BD releases, in number of studios and in the man-hours required with Blu-ray authoring, disc producers are working harder than ever, as confirmed by participants at the recent Entertainment Supply Chain Academy conference.

“The workload is unbelievable,” said Paulette Pantoja, CEO and founder of BluFocus, a Blu-ray production and quality control company. “The ramp-up is especially huge this summer because it's not just the top tier-titles any more.” She added that last year, the customers were mainly major studios, but this year, smaller content owners are also “jumping on the Blu-ray wagon”.

However, independent producers Van Ling and Michael Pellerin also remarked that some content owners expect Blu-ray productions to be done on the same timeline and for the same price as DVD, when actually, "by its nature, Blu-ray needs more capital investment", said Pellerin.

For example, performing quality control on a DVD takes only a few hours, but on Blu-ray can take more than 100. This trend is expected to increase as more and more BD-Live features are introduced. “As with any new format, new technology requires more intense testing to ensure that everything is working properly. Blu-ray has the capability of using BD Java and this in turn allows for more innovative ideas to come to life,” Pantoja said.

Pellerin also warned of the need to go beyond DVD generic content with Blu-ray. “Blu-ray isn't cut-and-paste, rubberstamped product.” Ling concurred, warning that new ideas for Blu-ray bonuses, especially for BD-Live, may be stifled if studios worry too much about sheer productivity.

Producers now have the advantage that the coding for Blu-ray bonuses has become established. Matt Kennedy, CEO and founder of 1K Studios, explained that last year, “if you wanted to do a trivia on a disc, you had to do it from scratch. Now that code is out there. The investment has already been made.”

However, producers agreed that the best bonuses for Blu-ray haven't been discovered yet. “We've only scratched the surface with what Blu-ray can do, but it has to be in the right hands,” Pantoja said. “From a creative standpoint, we're still in a DVD mindset. It's not thinking outside the box; it's creating a whole new box.”