Eon Productions uses new encryption technology to protect film rushes

11-Jul-2006 • Casino Royale

Eon Productions, producer of the highly anticipated 2006 James Bond film Casino Royale, is the first company to use the Cinea S-VIEWTM encryption solution to securely distribute digital dailies during film production - reports Broadcast Buyer.

The European-based production crew is using Cinea technology to quickly encrypt and safely distribute digital daily footage to a team of production and studio executives based in Europe and the United States.

Sensitive to heightened interest surrounding the new James Bond actor, Daniel Craig, Casino Royale producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli were particularly judicious about choosing how they would securely deliver digital daily content to executives on several continents for review. With Cinea S-VIEW, the footage remained encrypted until it had passed into the ownership of those with appropriate clearance and the playback devices necessary to view the content.

"Our relationship with EON Productions underscores the tremendous versatility of Cinea's technological solution," said Laurence Roth, Vice President of Business Development and Marketing, Cinea. "This deployment further validates the utility of the S-VIEW platform for copy protection and piracy tracking within the entertainment industry. Even nearly invincible superstars like 007 can benefit from the secure sharing of dailies, rough cuts, and other works in progress on DVD."

"Given the speed and flexibility of electronic distribution, reviewing the rushes in a digital format offers enormous advantages but, also, significant security challenges," said David G. Wilson, Vice President of Global Business Strategy, EON Productions Ltd. "Cinea's technology helped us make sure that our material was protected from piracy and could only be viewed by the appropriate people."

With Cinea S-VIEW technology, footage is encrypted via special hardware that only allows playback on authorized player devices. In the case of Casino Royale, once the content had been encrypted, it was sent by network to the United States, where the content was then downloaded, copied to standard DVDs, and delivered to the appropriate staff for playback on their authorized Cinea players. After one week, the content expires and is no longer playable.

During last year's award season, Cinea worked with members of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to protect film studios' award screeners. No Cinea-protected movies were pirated.