As part of the 2030 Vision, MovieLabs recognized the need for the systems within a workflow to be able to communicate to each other in a consistent manner. We highlighted the need for common vocabulary and definitions of relationships for use by human-to-human, human-to-machine and machine-to-machine communication. That need drove us to develop the Ontology for Media Creation (OMC) to provide consistent naming and definitions of terms, as well as ways to express how various concepts and components relate to one another in production workflows.1. We initially released version 1.0 of the OMC in the Autumn of 2021 and now it’s time for a major expansion and update, so today we’re pleased to announce Version 2.0 of the OMC.
We have made many revisions and additions based on feedback from several organizations that are implementing OMC in their products and services using a variety of database technologies as well as from our own implementations. As the OMC was always designed to be extensible, we’ve also added new areas of coverage (including Versioning) and will continue to expand later this year and into 2024. The changes to some core terms also makes this a Version 2.0 release as parts of it are not completely compatible with previous versions. It is therefore a recommended upgrade for all OMC implementors. This version of OMC serves as the basis for future extensions, and some of the changes are to improve compatibility in future releases.
What’s New
The major changes in this version are:
- Added many new Narrative and Production Elements in Context (e.g., Greenery, Prosthetics, anchors for upcoming Audio and CG work, etc.)
- Added concepts for script breakdown to use for various kinds of specialized activities (effects, stunts, Mo-Cap, etc.)
- Added new section (Part 3B) for managing versions, revisions, variants etc.
- Updated Camera Metadata to conform with SMPTE RIS OSVP Camera and Lens Metadata.
- Simplified and clarified Shot and Sequence. The functionality is the same, but it is easier to use now.
- Clarified “Role” in Participants and added the new concept of “Work Unit” to encapsulate the combination of a Participant and a Task.
- We made relationship naming more consistent and improved uniformity of presentation for relationships that can be in Contexts
- Numerous clarifications and bug fixes based on developer feedback.
Version 2.0 Available Now
Version 2.0 (and prior versions) of the Ontology for Media Creation are available now on the MovieLabs Media Creation Documentation Site at:
What’s Next
We continue to expand the scope of coverage of OMC and currently are working to expand into CG Assets, Audio Assets, and On-set Data.
An RDF version of OMC 2.0 will be available for download shortly. This Fall we’ll also be releasing a JSON version of the Ontology for Media Creation that will be published in a GitHub repo (if you want preview access before it becomes public, please email us at ontology@movielabs.com). Also, reach out to us with your thoughts on the Ontology, how you are implementing it and the sorts of use cases you are supporting – we’d love to hear how it’s working for you!
