Section Editors: Chris Lennon & Clyde Smith

Welcome to the wonderful world of media workflows! Many take the process of getting audiovisual media from initial production all the way to distribution to the viewer largely for granted. In many cases, it just seems to happen as if by magic. Things have evolved a great deal from the early days of shooting a production on film, editing using human hands and razor blades, creating physical prints, and shipping those to theaters or later to television networks so that viewers could enjoy the finished product.

Today, as a result of over a century of evolution and continual improvement, we have amazingly capable (and complex!) systems and processes in place. The fact that these all work together in a way that seems like “magic” to those not involved in the day-to-day creation of audiovisual content is a testament to the hard work of many over the years to get where we are today.

Plenty of publications exist that can help you to dig deep on various technologies and approaches in use in the entire world of media workflow. This book makes no attempt to replicate or replace any of those.

This book is different. Its intent is to provide a very high-level overview of what’s involved in the process, start to finish, of producing audiovisual content.

Who should read this? If you’re new to the media business or a student, this should serve as a good place to start. If you’re in the business but have a limited view into a relatively small portion of the process, this book should also help you. If you’re an executive, not needing to know the details of exactly how things happen technically but need a solid grounding in the process as a whole, you should also find this book helpful.

As you progress through this book and find that you’d like to dig deeper into a specific area, we highly recommend you search for some of the excellent publications available that dig into the technical details you seek. In many cases, the section editors and authors of this book are terrific resources themselves and would be only too happy to point you in the right direction.

We hope you find this book a reliable high-level resource. Our aim is to provide you with a solid appreciation for all the various elements and processes that go into the media workflow ecosystem.