As we continue our Workflow From Home series, we thought it might be nice to not just talk about remote video workflows in theory, but to actually explore some that are already in place and highly functional.
That’s why, throughout the series, we’re interviewing people from different sectors of the industry. We want to look under the hood of remote setups built by real post professionals, and have them talk us through why they use their particular configurations.
It’s probably no surprise that at least part of how they’re working involves either storing assets in, or getting feedback through, the cloud—and in many cases, through Frame.io. But some still require sharing files or bins via email and updating local drives—and that’s great. As long as it works, it’s a win.
Episode 3
In episode three, we’ve interviewed Lucas Harger, partner and editor of Bruton Stroube/Outpost in St. Louis, Missouri.
Their work ranges from fifteen-second spots to longer form documentaries and features.
Lucas was an early adopter of Frame.io (he’s also Ryan Connolly’s editor of choice) and tells us that the vast majority of the projects at Bruton Stroube come from clients who are not located in St. Louis.
It’s why they built a robust and flexible remote workflow in the first place, managing to accomplish full-service production with everything from shoots to offlines to color sessions with clients all over the country with ease. Lucas edits on Premiere Pro, and the Frame.io integration has made it possible to share assets and cuts with his team and collaborators for years.
It’s also why, as Bruton Stroube shifted from working in a brick-and-mortar office to working from home, they were able to do so with minimal downtime. Lucas estimates that they’re working at 85-90 percent of their normal efficiency.
How do they manage it? All of the five editors have an agreed-upon project structure and use the same naming conventions. By mirroring their project structure from their local server in Frame.io, everything remains familiar and organized.
The takeaway? An investment in a cloud-based workflow not only ensures you can keep working now, but also prepares you for whatever new normal we arrive at in the future.
Episode 4
In episode four, editor David Stevens gave us a look into his tried-and-true remote workflow.
As a primarily commercial and music video editor at London’s The Assembly Rooms, he’s another Frame.io user who’s equally comfortable in his Avid studio on the Irish coast, The Bothy, where he’s been concentrating on longer form content.
Using his hybrid cloud configuration, he’s currently editing a TV series with another editor and a production company located in Belfast.
Like Lucas, David helped the other team members get set up for working remotely. The disruption, he calculates, took only a day or two, and the team is sticking to their original schedule. His advice? It’s not difficult to set up a remote workflow if you think through the process.
His team works with external hard-drive clones of the media from their Avid Unity in Belfast, exchanging bins via email and sharing cuts and feedback via Frame.io.
We hope you’ll enjoy seeing how a brick-and-mortar production and post-production facility has shifted to a safe, stable, and productive remote workflow, and hope it inspires you to use some of these tips and tricks yourself.
As we’ve said from the outset of this series, everyone’s workflow is going to be slightly different. There’s no absolute right way to approach a workflow, because everyone has different needs and expectations.
But what we hope you’ll see is how you can put the building blocks together to tailor your workflow to your needs.
As always, we invite you to share feedback, questions, and suggestions for how we can give you more of what you need to keep working.
Watch the entire series and find other resources on our Remote Work resource page.
