Every video project is like a delicate game of Jenga with each shot, sound, animation, file, and edit being the building blocks stacking on top of one another. Each slight change that you make can shake the stack, and one wrong move your whole tower of work comes crashing down. In Jenga, the more blocks that you have the more vulnerable the tower becomes. Also, the more hands you have moving the blocks the more risk you incur. This is also true for video production.
The larger the project is the more assets you have, each being just as important as the other, and having a large team spread across the world means you put a lot of trust into others.
So, how do you navigate the process of building your complete tower without toppling over?
The simple answer is… with effective data organization and asset management. Having all of your assets organized in a clear, consistent way will limit your margin of error, save you time, and prevent unnecessary headaches throughout production.
The way assets are stored and shared has changed so much in the 21st century. What used to be a team of marketers and creatives in one studio, having in-person collaboration on projects is now produced in a remote first world.
The biggest challenge with this is storing assets in a way that anyone from your team across the globe can access and collaborate. It is no longer effective or even practical to manually pass one part of a project to the next team member so they can work. Marketers must have immediate access to these assets to effectively meet deadlines and preserve budget.
The good news is there are many resources to help achieve this. While there are numerous data management platforms in the software space, these tools are only as effective as the users who upload all of the assets into them. Getting this data uploaded, organized, and able to use can be very complex and time consuming. Below, Founder and Creative Director of Mile 80, Ryan Sheffer lays out these 3 keys tips to effective asset management for a team collaborating from one corner of the world to the other and ways to get the most of your data management system.
1. Always be sure to save all local files to the cloud.
You want to build a system which anyone can access the files they need any time anywhere. You should function as if your computer could crash any second and not put any delays in your work.
2. Create a standardized way of organization.
With dozens of projects going on at once and thousands of files being generated week after week there needs to be a formula to find the information you need when you need it. Make sure to number all of your projects and give them the same naming conventions. There must be a source of truth when locating projects and their data.
3. Create a “how to” playbook to share with your current team and new hires.
Without proper training you will set up your team for failure. You must set the expectations and make sure everyone clearly understands the source of truth. This can take time, but it is much easier to give your team the tools to organize assets the correct way rather than picking up the pieces once the tower tips over.
Putting together a large scale project with thousands of assets can feel like you are constantly walking on eggshells. One false move and a tornado of problems comes your way. Let Mile 80 be your lifeline and take the weight off your shoulders.
Our clients love us because we assemble the assets in a way that they can be pulled over and over and plugged from project to project without any worry.
Contact us today to learn more about our process and how we can save you money and time by harmonizing all your assets to tackle any project you need.
