Approval/Review process for Broadcast 5.1

Question

Hey all -

Quick question for those working with 5.1 content for broadcast, long- or short- formats.

What exactly is your client's approval process or processes?

We're quickly approaching a couple of holiday seasons which mean a LOT of spots for various clients, as well as a 5.1 doc for a large cable network. I can certainly get approval from my client(s) in the room with me or in our theater experiencing the 5.1 mix. But what of the other various levels of approval that our client's clients must be a part of?

How do you all handle this? Are your client's clients approving LtRt mixes offsite? Are they coming into the studio/theater to approve? Do you find that your client's clients have 5.1 monitoring offsite?

Best - kp

Answer 1

To echo @Shaun, I'm typically approving in the suite as well, regardless of if it's 5.1 or stereo.

In my case, when doing broadcast work, my client is the Post Supervisor and the Producer. Unless it's a huge show for the network, the EPs rarely come in to review. So I'm already reviewing with the end of the chain.

If my client does have a client and they want the experience of being in the studio, they'll attend the screening along with my client. There are rare occasions where we stream through Quicktime Broadcaster or Slingbox when a client's client can't attend a review, but would like to take part in the process. We provide our client a link to a private website which they forward to their client(s), who can then log in from their office/home/etc. While we review in 5.1 in the suite, we stream video and a stereo mix. Skype, iChat, AIM or a muted speakerphone helps in that situation, so they can discuss issues immediately. Otherwise we'll send our client out the door with DVD screeners with 5.1 + 2, or a stereo quicktime privately uploaded to mediasilo/youtube/vimeo to provide their client an approval copy.

As for what systems they approve on, I almost never know for certain. I've heard tales of some producers who approve promos on their iPhone, without headphones. So what their client might listen on is a mystery to me.

Answer 2

Personally, I haven't had any surround approvals take place anywhere other than my studio. I think I've been lucky with that so far. We have Dolby Digital and Dolby-E encoding abilities, so I would probably build a DVD with a Dolby Digital stream and an LtRt if I had to send something off-site.