Autodesk Media & Entertainment
In the latest episode of On Production – Wrapbook’s flagship podcast hosted by Cameron Woodward – Hugh Calveley, founder of Flow Capture (formerly Moxion), shares his journey from camera assistant on remote New Zealand film sets to building a cloud-based collaboration platform now trusted by top-tier studios like Amazon. Known for its behind-the-scenes insights, On Production explores how great projects get made, from first creative spark to final cut.
Listen to the full episode of On Production with Hugh Calveley
The origin story
Hugh’s inspiration came from a moment of chaos – pulled over by police while rushing to deliver camera sheets. That near-miss sparked a realization: the metadata that drives post-production workflows was siloed and often misplaced. What if it could be captured and shared instantly?
That question led to the creation of a “camera-to-cloud” workflow. With co-founder Michael Lonsdale, Hugh developed a solution to transmit footage and metadata directly from set to the cloud, enabling editors in post to make real-time decisions that could save entire shoot days.
Engineering for speed and security
Flow Capture’s architecture is built on microservices, allowing massive parallel processing. That means:
- Footage is processed in real time into multiple formats
- Personalized watermarking and digital rights management (DRM) protections are applied instantly
- Editors and producers can view and act on footage within minutes of capture
Hugh emphasized that “nothing kills creativity like having to wait,” and Flow Capture has been engineered to eliminate that friction.
Security is also paramount to Flow Capture – a topic that often sparks hesitation in traditional production environments. Hugh challenges the persistent myth that cloud workflows are less secure. In fact, he argues the opposite: that storing assets in the cloud, when done right, is far safer than scattering them across multiple local drives. With Flow Capture, media is protected with enterprise-grade encryption, watermarking, and DRM that prevents unauthorized downloads or screenshots – all applied dynamically as the footage is viewed. Hugh sees security as a non-negotiable part of respecting the filmmaking process: “All that time, sweat, and tears are wasted if it’s not secure,” he says.
Designing to delight
From the beginning, Flow Capture was designed to “delight” its users. Hugh and Michael knew their audience: creatives who needed tools that were powerful but intuitive, professional but not over-engineered. As Hugh put it, building for filmmakers meant walking a “tightrope between what people ask for and what they don’t yet know they want.” Their guiding principle? “It must delight them.” That thoughtful approach to design helped Flow Capture gain traction in an industry often skeptical of new tools.
The Future: AI is the next seismic shift
Looking ahead, Hugh sees AI as the next seismic shift in production. He envisions:
- AI-assisted script breakdowns that identify reusable assets from studio archives
- Real-time editing feedback loops that help directors make smarter decisions on set
- Producers evolving into data analysts, using historical production data to optimize team performance and budget outcomes
One of the most compelling ideas? Studios using AI to mine their vast archives for reusable footage – like muzzle flashes or skyline shots – saving time, money, and resources.
Why he does it
When asked what drives him, Hugh shared a story: a VFX supervisor once hugged him in a studio hallway, thanking him for building a tool that let him finish his work early and go home to see his kids. That, Hugh says, is the real reward.
Listen to the full episode of On Production with Hugh Calveley
Click here to learn more about Flow Capture.