Vivid Rental Deliver Cutting-Edge UHD Avid Workflows

Vivid Rental provide Avid workstations and storage to some of London's biggest productions, including Mission: Impossible 6, Avengers: Infinity War and Murder on the Orient Express. As their Avid hardware provider and second line support team, we're on hand for all their most challenging jobs, including supporting a NEXIS in rural Malawi.

Managing Director, Evren Arkali, said: "With every high-end film there's a different challenge. The clients set the trends, we just have to keep up – for example, the editor on Mission: Impossible 6 wanted to work in UHD, and so we've had to supply new DNxIQ boxes and 2160p OLED screens."

In order to help Vivid stay ahead of these sorts of requests, we provide them with up to the minute advice on industry trends and new releases, so they can predict demand and make canny purchases that allow them to meet clients' needs while managing expenditure.

A complete Avid workflow
As Avid system specialists, Evren and the Vivid team are used to providing Media Composer software, plug-ins, hardware and editing workstations to exacting specifications. But they're seeing increased interest in Avid shared storage. Since moving to the current NEXIS platform, Evren added: "Our more tech-savvy customers have noticed a massive speed difference."

Projects currently taking advantage of the NEXIS platform include Chiwetel Ejiofor's The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, for which Vivid have provided two Avid suites linked by dedicated shared storage.

"They wanted NEXIS storage to complement the two Avid suites they had out there, because being an Avid product, it has all the capabilities they needed, and it also doesn't make a lot of sound [in the room]," Evren explained.

"If you're going to be spending two months with very little internet access and a phone connection that's not great, you want something you feel comfortable with. You don't want to be learning about the product on the go. And because Avid has been so well known for so long, it's a lot easier to provide remote support for NEXIS than anything else, and people want what they feel safe with."

The value of support
Many of Vivid Rental's clients have no in-house technicians, so when it comes to support, Evren says, "it's all on us." Our team of Avid Certified Support Representatives acts as a second line in case the Vivid team need to escalate particularly complex issues, need emergency kit, or just need more people on the ground to handle something urgently.

"Big films don't mess around when it comes to time. They want things done rapidly at unsocial hours, so being able to provide support when it's needed is a high priority – in fact, it's the highest priority for our business, because as Avid products get cheaper and people start buying outright, support is the thing they'll still want from us."

For more on providing and supporting the latest Avid equipment, call Jigsaw24 on 03332 409 210, email [email protected] or visit Jigsaw24.com/broadcast.

This article also features in the January edition of Broadcast Film & Video.