How do you edit video remotely as a team?
There are two main ways. You can drive an edit machine in a facility from home over the internet, or each editor can cut on their own computer with the footage brought to them. Driving a remote machine keeps everything in one place but depends on the connection for every keystroke. Cutting locally feels like being in the room, as long as the team has a reliable way to share footage and projects.
Remote editing stopped being an experiment some years ago. Most teams now have at least one editor who is not in the building, and plenty of shows are cut by people who have never met. The question is not whether it works, but which way of working suits your team.
Driving a machine in the facility
In this setup the footage and the editing software stay on a computer in the facility. The editor at home sees that computer’s screen over the internet and controls it with their own keyboard.
What it gets right:
- Nothing moves. The media stays on the facility’s storage, which suits shows with strict rules about where footage may go.
- Everyone is on the same system. Shared bins and projects work exactly as they do in the building.
What to weigh up:
- Every keystroke makes a round trip. On a good connection that is hardly noticeable. On a busy home connection, scrubbing and trimming can feel sluggish. Editors notice that more than anyone.
- Sound and picture arrive over the network. Judging a cut by ear needs steady playback, which depends on the line between you and the facility.
- Someone has to keep the machines running. Each remote editor needs a computer in the building, switched on and looked after.
Cutting on your own computer
Here each editor works on their own machine with the footage on hand, and the team shares projects and cuts between them.
What it gets right:
- The edit responds instantly. Playback and trimming feel the same as they would in a suite.
- The editor can work anywhere, including on a train or in a hotel with poor internet.
What to weigh up:
- The footage has to reach every editor. That means shipping drives or ingesting it over the internet, and someone needs to own that job.
- Projects have to be shared safely. Two people opening the same project file and saving over each other is the classic way to lose a day’s work.
Questions to settle before you start
- Where does the footage live, and who is allowed to hold a copy?
- How does a new day of rushes reach each editor?
- Who owns each part of the show, so two people never cut the same scene by accident?
- How do producers see the cut and give notes?
How B/side handles it
B/side is built for cutting on your own computer, in Chrome on a Mac or a PC. A whole show lives in one project. Each editor cuts their own act on their own machine, and assistants can ingest dailies while you cut. There are no bin locks, and nobody touches your timeline. Every act and every earlier cut of it is kept in the project.
The free desktop helper ingests footage for the whole team. Camera originals stay on your own drives unless you choose otherwise. On the Studio plan you can invite anyone to cut with you, and producers can write notes on the frame from a link.
When something else is better
If your footage may never leave the facility, driving a machine in the building is the right answer. Use the edit software that is installed there. Cutting locally pays off when the team is spread out and the footage is allowed to travel.
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