Adobe Story public preview released

Adobe Systems has announced the public preview of Adobe Story, the company's new collaborative script development software, at the 2009 IBC (International Broadcasting Convention) trade show in Amsterdam. Adobe Story, which debuted in April at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show, automatically turns script content into metadata that can be used throughout the digital video workflow. "Video creators understand that the key to workflow optimization is metadata," said Jennifer Taylor, Adobe's Director of Flash Content Creation and Distribution. "It's best to capture metadata as early in the process as possible."

The preview version of Adobe Story is available for free at Adobe Labs.

Adobe Story is designed to be part of the planning and pre-production phase of the video workflow and will be integrated with other Adobe products, including future versions of the Creative Suite family, Adobe says. Adobe Story is designed to help simplify production, reduce costs, and streamline operations for camera operators, editors, directors, and others involved in video project development. Once information, such as script location and character biographies are captured or entered into Adobe Story, the metadata will automatically flow into other products in the Creative Suite Production Premium toolkit, improving the efficiency of capturing clips and editing footage.

“Today, broadcast and media companies are looking for next-generation video workflows that transform how content is created and consumed,” said Jim Guerard, vice president and general manager of Dynamic Media at Adobe. “By capturing valuable script information in the pre-production phase, Adobe Story provides these companies with a groundbreaking new tool that can radically streamline production workflows, reduce overall costs, and make entertainment more interactive and engaging.”

Scriptwriting generally includes several phases: outline, several drafts, final draft, shooting script, and creation of a production shot list to accompany the final script. Adobe Story is designed to help simplify and accelerate this process. With Adobe Story, project participants also get a visually rich environment to share ideas at will. Users can employ the software’s industry standard formatting to create a script from scratch or import scripts into Adobe Story from applications such as Microsoft Word and Final Draft, or export into Adobe PDF, text, XML, Movie Magic, and CSV.

Participants can use Adobe Story to work online and offline and automatically synchronize input and comments once they connect to the Internet. During this phase, the software automatically captures metadata such as scene locations and other pertinent information to create a more efficient workflow.

When the video production is ready for online distribution, the metadata can also help viewers discover and search through content to find favorite characters, episodes, or scenes, making the viewing experience more interactive.

Adobe is demonstrating Story at IBC from September 11 through 15.