What video collaboration software do post-production teams use?
Post-production teams usually combine several kinds of tool: review and approval for notes, shared or synced storage for footage, remote access to machines in a facility, and an editor that lets several people work on one project. The right mix depends on where the footage is allowed to live, how many editors cut at once, and who needs to give notes.
“Video collaboration software” is a broad label. In post-production it usually means a small stack of tools, each doing one job, and the work is in choosing them so they fit together.
The four kinds of tool
Review and approval. Producers, directors and clients watch a cut in a browser and leave notes on it. This is the most common kind, and the easiest to adopt, because reviewers need nothing installed.
Storage everyone can reach. Either shared storage in a building, or cloud storage that appears on each editor’s computer like a local drive. This solves “where is the footage” but not “who is cutting what”.
Remote access to the facility. The editor at home controls a machine in the building over the internet. Footage and software stay put, which suits strict security rules, at the cost of depending on the connection for every keystroke.
Editors built for more than one person. The edit itself is shared. Several editors work in one project at the same time, each on their own part, and reviewers see the current cut without an export.
Questions that decide the mix
- Where may the footage live? Some contracts allow only one building. Others allow editors to hold copies.
- How many people cut at once? One editor and a reviewer is a review tool. Four editors on one episode is a shared project.
- How fast does footage reach the editors? Dailies the same day changes how a show is scheduled.
- What happens at turnover? Sound and colour will want an AAF or an EDL, whatever the team used to cut.
- Who pays for whom? Check whether reviewers and clients need paid seats.
A typical setup, by team size
- One editor, one client. An editor plus a review link. Keep it simple.
- A small team on a series. A shared project so editors are never locked out, notes on the frame for producers, and a plan for getting the day’s footage to everyone.
- A facility with strict rules. Storage and machines stay in the building, with remote access for anyone at home.
How B/side handles it
B/side covers the editing and the notes in one place. A whole show lives in one project, and each editor cuts their own part on their own computer with no bin locks. Producers and clients write notes on the frame from a link, and people who only watch and give notes are never charged.
Footage from set can be in front of the editors the same day. Camera originals stay on your own drives unless you choose otherwise. When the cut is ready, it goes to sound and colour as an AAF or an EDL on the Editor seat and Production plans.
When something else is better
If every frame must stay in one building, remote access to machines there is the answer. You will cut on that building’s own edit software. If all you need is client sign-off on a finished film, a review tool on its own is enough.
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