If you’re a DIT or video engineer, you know that digital cameras and file-based workflows have completely changed the production landscape in the last 12-24 months. An explosion of new cameras from the Epic and Alexa, to the F5/F55/F65, to C300/500 and Phantom to DSLRs like 5D, 7D and GoPro have created amazing choices for Directors and DPs, but have created a tremendous amount of complexity, because their workflows are all different. But that’s not all, because your deliverables have changed as well. Directors and producers want to leverage these new digital workflows to save time and money in every production.

 

The Advanced Dailies Revolution

Today’s dailies are more than just ingest, back up, throw on a LUT and render. In the new era of Advanced Dailies, the lines between what’s done on set, or on location, are blurred with what’s traditionally been done in a facility. So, what are Advanced Dailies? Today’s DITs and video engineers working on projects ranging from features, to episodic TV, commercials and spots are now required to:

 

 

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  • Manage the data from multiple cameras and camera types – (with some being added even in the last minute) and keep huge amounts of data organized
  • Sync audio – sometimes with the luxury of accurate timecode, and sometimes with no timecode at all
  • Set looks and manage LUTs. Sometimes, LUTs are given to you, sometimes you are the one that makes them
  • Advanced QC and color correction. Directors and DPs want more confidence than ever in their shots. Meanwhile, producers want to do as much on set as possible to save some of the money they spend of facilities. So, DITs and video engineers are being asked to color correct the dailies as you go, and even set a key on a green screen to ensure it has been lit properly. These are tasks well above and beyond the requirements of yesterday’s productions.