C&I embraces collaborative cloud workflows with Blackmagic ecosystem

The Blackmagic Cloud platform and Blackmagic Cloud Store Mini network storage device allowed C&I Studios to set up a remote workflow for post production of the short film From DC, I Love You with DaVinci Resolve Studio.

Produced by C&I Films, a subsidiary of C&I Studios, the anthology film series To the Cities that I Love is about relationships and how they end. Editing, colour grading and sound mixing for the latest installment, titled From DC, I Love You, took place in Los Angeles, while the footage was handled in New York.

C&I Studios relied on the Blackmagic Cloud platform to host the project library on the DaVinci Resolve project server, allowing each team to work simultaneously on the same timeline, as Joshua Miller, founder and CEO of C&I Studios, explains: “With DaVinci Resolve Studio 18, we all worked from the same timeline in Blackmagic Cloud. Blackmagic Cloud meant we didn’t have to send the DRPs (DaVinci Resolve project files) back and forth. All footage was loaded onto our server, and then with a Blackmagic Cloud Store Mini in each location syncing media, everyone in any studio could work on the project at once, magic! We just finished several projects where I had to make proxies of huge files. Because of the speed of the Blackmagic Proxy Generator and ability to process raw files, our projects moved flawlessly.”

By installing a Blackmagic Cloud Store Mini in Los Angeles and one in New York for each team, Miller and the C&I Studios team were able to synchronise and share footage during post-production: “This was everything for us. We were already using 10G speeds in our network, so to be able to transfer directly from our server to the Cloud Store Mini created one seamless process for our workflow. Our DRP was then in the cloud, and we could simultaneously collaborate on the project. Someone was working on color while someone else was editing, meaning the overall post process was faster and more efficient.”

A new paradigm

Miller also pointed out that, before Blackmagic Cloud existed, you had to constantly be sending the report to the next team member to continue the work: “It was difficult because you had to be careful about working on the latest version that was individually sent to you. With Blackmagic Cloud, we no longer have to work piece by piece or worry about version control. Blackmagic Cloud changed our entire workflow.”

Miller, in short, is completely satisfied with the new possibilities that Blackmagic’s remote workflows bring to his day-to-day operations: “Now anyone in the world can work on one project. As an international company, this is crucial to our success. What I like most about Blackmagic is that they are always innovating and coming up with what is next. C&I Studios is always evolving and moving, so it is great to be supported by another company that is looking toward the future and striving to provide the best product.”