There are a lot of moving parts in video and animation production. There’s liaising with the client, brainstorming ideas for how to visually represent the concept, writing and re-writing scripts, storyboarding, shooting footage, storing footage, sharing assets such as logos, sharing edits across the team, selecting music, recording voice over, reviewing edits with the client, and sending the finished videos to the client.
Such complexity is common to many industries, and the move to remote working has certainly raised questions about how to work remotely, effectively.
Thankfully, there is a raft of technology that allows us to work remotely – and effectively – on complex projects. Although we’ve had the wonderful opportunity to travel the world for our work, it has come with the challenge of managing other projects from the opposite side of the globe.
In the spirit of sharing knowledge, here’s a case study.
Shooting in Denmark While Animating in Sydney
A few years ago we had a project that required shooting in Denmark. At the same time, we had an animation project that was due for completion while we were abroad. With rigorous planning, clear communication and backup plans, we managed these competing projects successfully. Here are four tips to help you work remotely, effectively. Hopefully these help you with your projects, as you move to a remote model of working.
1. Create a communication plan
Work with your team to create and agree upon a clear communication plan: how you will communicate and at what time. Set clear times on when you’ll be available, and if you are in different time zones, plan ahead as to when you can be available at an overlapping time, if possible. For example, we agreed on daily check-ins via an instant messaging service, during the evening in Europe, which was late morning in Australia. This daily update on progress helped ensure that the project was running on-track, and also helped highlight any issues that our animators were facing.
We also found that it was important to make ourselves available at all hours for our team, in case they did encounter any difficulty or have questions.
2. Agree on naming conventions and locations for data
In our field, as in many others, data is key. At the end of the day, the content we produce is made up of digital files. If those files are difficult to find or are named in an inconsistent way, this leads to inefficiencies and frustrations. We follow a particular file-naming convention for our working files and video exports, and we also have a system for folder structures and saving locations. Everyone in our team agrees to use the same systems, and we ensure that at the end of each working day, the latest working file – with a new file name – is saved on the cloud and also locally. This ensures that we can access the files from a remote location if needed, and also ensures that we have back-up files. By creating new file names each day, if there is an issue with the latest file, the most data we will lose is one day’s worth of work.
During our time in Denmark, we were able to access the latest files that our animators were working on, so that during our daily check-in we could discuss the details of the work and provide real-time feedback. This helped ensure that our team was clear on the work that needed to be completed in the day ahead.
3. Agree on project milestones
We work towards our clients’ project milestones by creating smaller project goals within our team: including time for internal review and feedback. We work with our team to ensure that these goals are achievable, and we factor in “wriggle room” in case of technical issues arising during production. This micro-planning has helped ensure that we meet our client’s project milestones.
When in Denmark, it was helpful to have these discrete goals as they kept us all on-track and accountable to the project. It was also important to make ourselves available to our team when they were encountering challenges. By listening and having a clear understanding of issues, we were able to trouble-shoot in real-time. We also agreed to make ourselves available at all hours as required – particularly as the project was nearing completion. We found that it was important that our team felt supported: knowing that we were committed to the project and were available for them as and when needed.
4. Pick up the phone and call
Instant messaging and emails are wonderful tools, but sometimes the tonality gets lost in translation. During our time completing these two projects on opposite sides of the world, we found that picking up the phone and calling was often the fastest way to gain clarity on any issues or questions faced. We encouraged our team to call as and when needed, and by always being aware of the time in Australia, we made sure that we had our phones nearby during Australia’s working hours: even if it did result in 2am phone calls from time-to-time.
We hope these tips help you work remotely, more effectively. There are so many wonderful tools that can help you and your team progress your projects and work together as a cohesive unit: even if the geographical distances are vast! Although there are many challenges that remote work faces, we firmly believe that the opportunities far outweigh the challenges.
