For operational reasons we will be bringing forward our scheduled maintenance to Saturday 3 October 2009.
We do not anticipate downtime any longer than 30 minutes – and probably significantly less – while we bring a new database server online.
Many thanks for your patience during this upgrade which is essential to keep pace with the growth in usage of our systems.
If you have any questions, please email david.sim@openbrolly.com.
MovieSite Version 2 (2.1 to be precise!) will move out of beta and be fully supported for all clients next month. Customers can continue to use Version 1 of the system. Clients who joined MovieSite recently are already using Version 2.
Considerable work has gone into making Versions 1 and 2 as compatible as possible, minimising the changeover process. The biggest underlying change has been to links – now any record can be linked to any other. This means that version 1 links will be converted to version 2 format without any loss of information.
In the last few weeks there have been some major improvements made to the underlying code to improve performance. We have also added some great new features, in addition to the changes in forms, including:
- Image information extract: Some cameras store the location a photograph was taken, together with the time and date. This information will now automatically be pulled into MovieSite without any manual rekeying.
- Image upload is now faster and easier: select up to a hundred images at a time to upload with no timeouts.
- Faster access to information: adding records to lists, viewing image information and editing spendsheets is now faster as the system does not switch to a new page.
- Advanced Custom forms: for larger agencies, it is now possible to have different forms for different users, or for different types of record. This could, perhaps, hide confidential information from a group of internal users who do not require to see it. Alternatively, incoming projects might have a different tracking form to local projects. (Advanced customisation is an additional service offered by Open Brolly).
We will be offering free webcasts to all MovieSite users to introduce the new system, and to cover specific areas of functionality. Watch this space for dates and times.
4TM will be running a practical workshop for film makers in Forres, discussing how social media like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube can be used to connect with the audience and with other creative talent.
The workshops will be run on 29 May 2009 as part of the new Moray Film Festival. To provisionally book one of a limited number of free places on the course, find out more, or to discuss running a similar workshop in your area, please contact 4TM or email david@4tm-services.com.
Google has officially launched Street View in the UK. The service currently covers major cities such as Birmingham, Edinburgh and London, although the Google camera van has been seen in small towns and villages across the country (and here in Forres!) which will greatly extend its reach in populated areas.
Google Street View provides 360° horizontal and 290° vertical panoramic street level views and can be accessed by via Google Maps and Google Earth. As the services are rolled out, it will provide an important additional resource for urban Screen Agencies and film makers – offering high resolution photography of frontages and streets from almost every town in the UK. Streetview can also be integrated, where available, with web brochures produced by the MovieSite system.