The Scenario

Digital Cinema isn't the future, it’s the present. More films are being shot digitally every day and more theaters are moving to the DCI standard as well. At Local Hero, they offer online, telecine-style color correct and mastering to any tape or file format for commercials and music videos.

Local Hero needed a storage solution to share media for video editing systems, and chose Enhance Technology because it was recommended by CommandSoft, a software developer. “CommandSoft recommended us to use Enhance Technology’s UltraStor Fibre as the solution for our problem,” says Kevin Hearst, President of Local Hero.

Kevin then contacted Enhance Technology and was recommended UltraStor RS8 FS (fibre) because of its performance file sharing & reliability perfect for video editing and post-production. “We had such a good experience with the products and whatever the sales rep told us to do, we thought we should do that,” says Kevin.

The Solution

The first mission that Local Hero used RS8 FS was to share media between two (2) video editing systems. Kevin Hearst then started doing post production services, and needed the RS8 FS for reliability, performance and visual effects & color correction systems. Now, Local Hero uses the RS8 FS in a shared environment for a full post production facility, sharing between six (6) work stations using RS8 FS as their media server on their SAN connected to two (2) color correction systems and 4 visual effects systems.

Local Hero is able to continue using Enhance products although they bought further application and able to grow the products in terms of size and demand, “the funny part of the story is that many years ago we used Enhance Technology’s product with CommandSoft, and after six years, we are still using your product with CommandSoft again, a completely different application,” says Kevin.

“The UltraStor RS8 FS continues to perform well and every time we need to upgrade to bigger drives or bigger applications, it able to expand with us,” stated Kevin.

The implementation went very well, Kevin used Mac as the primary host systems and for the hard drives he used Seagate 500G SATA drives. “The RS8 FS has been very reliable, we had some of these units for a couple of years and it has some failures on the drives but we pull the drives, put in fresh drives and rebuilt it, it never stops, never slow down and it performs as we’ve expected.”

About Local Hero

Local Hero is a "Post 2.0" facility in Santa Monica, California. Specializing in making digitally captured images theatrically and in broadcast, Local Hero is helping push the digital revolution forward. Local Hero brings years of experience and a deep understanding of digital acquisition cameras, like RED, to the color correct; allowing them to deliver a unique level of quality in the color session and finish.

Local Hero work natively with the R3D files in the RAW state, allowing for the greatest nuance and flexibility when it comes to color correct. Also, Local Hero is partnered with ASSIMILATE, the makers of the leading RED workflow platform, SCRATCH and they enjoy an unparalleled level of support and R&D in the field of RED finishing.