Anything Goes : Using Technology to your Advantage by Eyal Fill Filkovsky

Let's face it, in order to have a smooth film/video production, you need to have great communication and organizational skills. Today's technology plays a pivotal role in mass communication. From Google Drive, to Dropbox and beyond. The question is, how can a Video Producer use these tools to their advantage? Let's break it down a little. Google Drive: How great would it be if the Producer(s), Production Manager and other Above The Line crew had a spreadsheet that they could all edit and update live? That's exactly what Google Drive allows you to do. It's a means of open communication and planning between several departments of a video production. We at EFillF Productions, LLC count on Google Drive quite a bit. From creating call sheets to prop lists, script breakdowns to location management. How can you go wrong with such a great tool? Have you ever tried to herd cats? Well any Producer or Event Coordinator out there will agree that getting a bunch of people together at the same time and place can be very challenging. E-mails and phone calls, updates to spreadsheets and a whole lot of hair pulling. But hold on! There is hope yet! With Google Drive you can create a form for your cast and crew to fill out with their availability and all you have to send them is a link (provided by Google Drive, there is also an embed feature for websites)! All of this information gets automatically transcribed into an easy to read/organize spreadsheet. The work is done for you! Most recently we were working on a music video for a Denver band, 'Your Own Medicine". With the help of Google Drive, the Editor, Special Effects Supervisor, Director and Producer were all able to view, edit and make notes on clips by name. We had a list of clips in one column and notes in the next. We used color coding (Red = needs attention, Amber = Rendered and in Dropbox, Green = Good to go). We would even grab snapshots of clips that need attention and insert them onto the Google Drive spreadsheet. This allowed everyone on the post production team to be on the same page. Dropbox: Sharing documents, contracts, lists, audio and video clips via the internet has never been easier. Dropbox allows users to share anything they need and we at EFillF use this tool all the time. The service is free (up to 2Gigs) but you can upgrade your account for a very reasonable price (like we did). We've been able to work with other filmmakers, composers, graphic designers and more from all over the world and Dropbox has always played a big role in the process. The key is file management and organization. What's the difference between Google Drive and Dropbox? The answer is everything! Google Drive is web based. Even though you have the ability to upload documents, the translation into a web based format isn't always the best. However, with Dropbox you actually share the files! You have the ability to create folders and organize your files. The entire production team can have read, or read/write permissions to your project folder. You can share sketches, design notes, casting sides, video clips, audio clips and a whole lot more. The best thing is that you can install the desktop application and view your dropbox folder just as you would view any other folder on your computer. Facebook Groups: According to Cnet.com, there are over one billion (that's 1,000,000,000) facebook users worldwide as of 2012 and chances are all of your cast and crew have an account. What better tool to use as an open forum than a secret facebook group? You can share ideas, concerns, scheduling, planning and everything in between with everyone on your team. EFillF uses this tool for almost every production, the bigger the production, the more necessary it seems. This is also a great way for your cast and crew to begin getting to know each other. Start building a team early, because after all, a good production is put together by a team, not a group of people. Using the combination of Google Drive, Dropbox and Facebook Groups gives you an advantage over other productions because you defeated the most difficult task, keeping everyone in the loop. But let's take a moment to reflect and show our respect to past filmmakers, some of the greats (whoever that is to you), who didn't have these tools in the past and were still able to create amazing films. Today's filmmakers have it good, the tools are out there, you just need to start using them. By: Eyal Fill Filkovsky