Streamline Your Production Post Strike: 1) Get Crew & Creatives Aligned Early

Olivia Broadley

Nov 16, 2023

5 min read

In this blog series, Sohonet explores 5 strategies to cut costs and save time as productions recover post-strike. Our first focus is on aligning your crew and creatives from the start, and we'll delve into the essential remote video collaboration tools that can make this possible.

As the industry works to rebound from recent strikes and navigate the ensuing challenges, finding effective ways to streamline production timelines and budgets has become more critical than ever. Whether due to logistical hurdles, talent constraints, or unforeseen circumstances, the unwelcome spectre of production delays and overruns looms large. Prolonged presence on set, extended equipment and edit suite rentals, and the need for additional sustenance and overtime payments are just a few of the costly implications even a slight time extension can entail.

However, beyond the financial strain, prolonged delays can also lead to fragmented workflows, sapping energy and focus from the crew, elongating creative discussions, and impeding the decision-making process. This sluggishness can result in costly mistakes, further exacerbating the already stretched timelines.

‍‍‍First up, we're tackling how to get your crew and creatives on the same page from the get-go, and the best remote collaboration tools that can make it happen.

Getting Crew & Creatives Aligned Early: Leveraging Previs for Success

april mullen credits — “You know you only have [say] four shots that you can afford VFX for. You pick your four shots, you get those four shots on set, and you move forward. You’re not going to have time to change things, and add four or five other shots to the list; you just don’t have that luxury.” **April Mullen, Director**

The Challenge:

Meeting the demands of complex content creation calls for early alignment among creative and technical partners. Previs plays an increasingly vital role, especially with the rise of VFX-intensive projects. Establishing a creative consensus among the director, cinematographer, VFX Supervisor, colourist, editor, post house, and studio before production commences is paramount. This enables early experimentation, issue identification, idea revisions, and potential changes in artistic direction, ultimately preventing unnecessary expenditures.

The Fix:

Implementing the right previs technology facilitates cohesive collaboration, even when teams are scattered across different locations and time zones. With remote collaboration tools, stakeholders can receive real-time feedback, ensuring a smoother pre-production workflow. From storyboarding to lighting, VFX, and colour science, these tools enable immediate adjustments, accelerating the creative process and reducing both time and costs. Utilising these resources from project initiation to completion helps maintain consistency throughout production, VFX, editorial, and finishing, ultimately minimising the need for reshoots.

‍Tech Tip

ClearView Flex enables up to 40 stakeholders to review previs content together - from wherever they are, in real-time and on any device, with minimal bandwidth. This cuts down on expensive travel and diary disruption for execs.

And, after a real-time discussion, updated content can be uploaded to ClearView Rush - giving all parties an easy-to-use platform to check their feedback has been addressed - in their own time. Plus anyone who can’t make the real-time discussion can provide feedback at a time that suits.