Cinamaker brings a professional-grade video network to its application with Zoom’s Meeting SDK

Creating a professional-grade live video production used to require tons of equipment and a team of dedicated professionals with a diverse set of skills, but with the Cinamaker app, users are empowered to create their very own professional video productions entirely within one Mac app. 

Founded in 2017, Cinamaker simplifies the complex and expensive process of live video production with its intuitive, dynamic, and affordable platform that provides all of the tools users need to create live video productions.  

With features that help presenters more effectively illustrate their ideas with multiple camera angles, incorporate media into their presentations, connect with remote guests, and create new experiences, Cinamaker empowers organizations and content creators to enhance the effectiveness of their online communications while creating a modern and professional content experience. 

Finding a reliable, proven video software developer kit solution

The ability to bring in remote participants is a critical aspect of live video production, and Cinamaker needed a solution that empowered their users to seamlessly connect with remote participants to create a dynamic experience for the audience and meet their needs.

“We needed a live video production tool that allowed us to bring in remote participants, and there was no really good solution for bringing someone in remotely,” said Benjamin Nowak, Chief Executive Officer at Cinamaker. “The bulk of the solutions in the market were web-RTC- based and we didn’t want to build that.”

The teams at Cinamaker wanted an intuitive and reliable video solution that could easily integrate into their application and support the needs of its users. However, the available providers couldn’t meet their needs for an enterprise-grade video solution. 

“We had a serious evaluation of a few providers, including Agora and Phenix who’ve been into providing real-time video for a while,” Nowak said. “They were both early into their development and they couldn’t show us enough use cases that met our needs.”

Building video functionality with Zoom’s proven performance

After evaluating a number of solutions, Cinamaker’s teams implemented Zoom’s Meeting SDK based on Zoom’s performance and support. 

“We chose Zoom based on the strength of the network. We know it’s a globally tested proven network,” Nowak said. “The ease of the Zoom client and everyone’s familiarity with the Zoom client was also a factor. This was a big investment of time to deploy this feature and so it was a big decision. Early on, we realized that there was a support network that was alive and there was a community we can work with, so that gave us confidence. Out of all competitors, Zoom is very aggressive in supporting developers.”

Creating a professional-grade experience with video-first technology

As the teams at Cinamaker started to build Zoom’s Meeting SDK into their application, they found they could do much more with the solution than just bringing in remote participants.

“We started to build this remote guest capability, and ultimately, we realized that there was an opportunity to build an end-to-end production tool for Zoom users by pulling remote attendees into the production and, using our tool, create a professional-grade audio-visual experience and facilitate interactive communication between the guests,” Nowak said. “While that’s just a core feature of the Zoom client, it’s really hard to do when you’re going to bring things through a live production system. What we’ve ended up with has amazing utility to enable our users to better connect with their audience.”

Cinamaker found that Zoom’s Meeting SDK empowered its users to further streamline the content creation process, saving them valuable time in the production process and providing new opportunities for content creation and distribution. 

“With an integration like Zoom within Cinamaker, I can bring in remote guests and still have multiple cameras recording while switching and live editing,” said Marc Angelo Coppola, a story teller  and founder of Superhero Academy. “The second that live conversation is done, I have a recorded product that I can actually directly publish on various social media platforms, or I can edit it down within the app for re-use and archiving.”

As Cinamaker continues to leverage Zoom’s Meeting SDK to enhance content creation and communication, the business is excited about the future experiences they can build with the solution. 

“I think there’s so much opportunity with video communication and custom industry vertical apps and custom use cases,” Nowak said. “Zoom is a platform that helps us facilitate really advanced, remote video communication, and we look at it as a building block on which we can layer not only media and creativity, but also interactivity and future applications that have yet to be built that represent the future of interactive communication.”