Delirio Films Extends Workflow to Remote Work

Introduction

Delirio Films is known for its remarkable documentary feature films and series, such as Reggie and They Call Me Magic. Producing such impressive works requires a globally distributed team working collaboratively together under deadline pressure. 

And that’s where Resilio comes in. “We have a lot to do in a fixed amount of time,” says Kevin Otte, Delirio Films post-production supervisor. “Without Resilio in place, there would be expensive delays. We would have serious challenges supporting multiple remote editors.”

Resilio Platform enables remote contributors to seamlessly collaborate and create from anywhere, using their preferred software tools of choice. Instead of managing media files, editorial proxies, and shuttle drives—Resilio Platform automates data flows—allowing the editing team to focus on creative and produce more in a fixed amount of time.  

The post team gains peace of mind knowing they can deliver on time, from any location. Resilio provides highly reliable, secure data transfer and synchronization, using any network. This enables Otte to predict and meet production schedules. Under the covers, Resilio is keeping media assets current within seconds and accessible to contributors everywhere.

Challenges

Prior to Resilio, the Delirio Films team faced a number of workflow challenges when COVID struck. Editors and other staff needed to work remotely, and their Assistant Editors were forced to manually manage media assets and editorial proxies. They were also constrained by intrusive technology and manual processes. This proved challenging using conventional cloud-based collaboration tools.

“Initially to support remote work we used an enterprise Google Drive account to transfer Avid Material Exchange Format (MXF) folders between assistant editors and editors, and were often running physical shuttle drives between houses in the Los Angeles area in order to keep everyone updated with the latest media.”

“This is obviously slow,” says Otte, “and it became obtrusive—disrupting creativity. Google Drive and other tools did not perform well and required constant hands-on file management.”

“All of this extra housekeeping work forced our editors to have to stop working, interrupting their creative flow. We have numerous projects being pitched to streaming networks and financial investors. Budgets map to calendars. And we have bursty periods of production—for example, around festivals—where a lot needs to come together in a short amount of time.”Kevin Otte, Delirio Films post-production supervisor.

Moreover, their workflow utilizes a variety of platforms and tools; with project files sometimes being stored in a LucidLink remote volume. Editors use a variety of tools such as DaVinci Resolve, Avid Media Composer, and Adobe Premiere Pro. There’s also a variety of IT infrastructure. They have a Facilis Terrablock SAN and multiple external RAID systems such as OWC Thunderbay. 

Initially, Otte investigated using Google Drive in combination with existing storage. Yet, due to its hub-and-spoke architecture, each editorial change had to route through Google Drive and would take too long to synchronize. Another problem was a lack of administrative-level control over the data flow. Google Drive was a bottleneck.     

They also evaluated a cloud-based strategy. But hosting all the data in a cloud service like Azure, AWS, or LucidLink was out of the question, says Otte, due to high ongoing costs for the large amount of media we had.  

Another problem was the nature of remote work. Many remote contributors did not have the fastest Internet speeds. Thus, Otte says LucidLink and other cloud solutions would not work well for remote work because “there’d constantly be bottlenecks with streaming the files from the cloud.”

“We wanted a solution that allowed our editors and assistant editors to work together without needing to constantly manage the flow of incoming media files and editorial proxies,” adds Otte. “We produce archival-heavy documentaries where new media enters the project every single day,” says Otte. “So we also needed a way to share those files with a large team of editors, assistant editors, and story producers, quickly and efficiently.”

Solution

After extensive evaluation, Delirio Films selected Resilio Platform for its simplicity, ease of integration, predictable performance, and automation. The solution also gives the post-production team the flexibility to utilize the same software and hardware technology they already own.

Resilio Platform is a centrally managed, software-only, agent-based solution. Each remote editor runs a Resilio agent on their device. Agents run on popular platforms (virtual or physical) and are centrally controlled through a global management console. In the central office, Resilio Platform installs directly on servers and other endpoints. The Resilio Platform management console is used to create jobs, manage data flows, and visually monitor all remote data flows.

The solution is cross-platform and runs in any cloud or on-premise environment. Unlike conventional data transfer tools, Resilio is peer-to-peer (P2P) and WAN optimized, making it extremely fast, easy, and efficient to collaborate from remote locations—as well as synchronize files at high speed in any direction.  

Resilio Platform's intuitive interface and centralized admin-level control enabled the Delirio Films team to manage data flows and assignments effortlessly. The ability to remotely control user folder paths and manage jobs proved to be a game changer. 

“Resilio also makes it easy to scale operations and expand our user base,” says Otte. “The ability to set up different jobs and handle all the user folder paths remotely was a game changer. We even had an editor who worked from Prague in the Czech Republic. Despite the time difference, we could manage and monitor new media traveling to him effortlessly.” 

One of Otte’s favorite features is the “File and Folder Name Filter” for a particular job: “When editors are off-site working off external drives, Avid Media Composer will create a “1” folder where it puts new transcodes and renders. Each editor’s “1” folder is different so it’d be a nightmare to sync all of those and merge the contents with the database files breaking each other. Filtering out this folder name prevents any sync conflicts and even allows us to let through certain folders first that are higher priority,” says Otte.

“Now we no longer have to ask editors to stop working or “remote in” to their machines. With Resilio, it all just works!”Kevin Otte, Delirio Films post-production supervisor.

Notably, Resilio Platform provided Delirio Films with granular control over their syncing processes. The ability to pause and resume jobs, filter subfolders, and modify archiving processes according to specific project requirements streamlined the workflow and optimized efficiency.

Results

“Remote work would be cumbersome and cost prohibitive without Resilio,” says Otte. “By integrating Resilio Platform into our workflow, we’re able to meet demanding production schedules using top talent. Resilio gives us the flexibility to use our choice of tools, storage, and other investments we either already own or will need in the future.”

‍The solution results include:

• Predictable performance: Resilio Platform enables Delirio Films to work efficiently during time-sensitive periods, meeting deadlines and maintaining transparency across multiple projects. Resilio Platform's core P2P architecture combined with WAN optimization overcomes latency across multiple locations, optimizes available bandwidth, and ensures consistent and predictable performance for end-users across all locations. Multiple contributors can concurrently edit files to keep assets in sync within seconds, using any network connection (wired or wireless) at any speed.
  

• Simplicity and ease of use: Resilio Platform's automated replication system works unobtrusively behind the scenes. This empowers creative teams to do what they do best: create and iterate without interruption. Resilio removes technical complexities so the team can stay focused, working from home or in the office. Or on location. The Resilio management console gives Otte complete control over data flows and policies to reduce administrative tasks. He loves how it “just works” behind the scenes.
  

• Non-disruptive scalability: Resilio Platform facilitated the addition of new users, storage systems, and locations without disruptions. Capacity and performance scale as needed on-demand. The solution ensured the real-time replication of media across all sites, irrespective of their bandwidth or latency.
  

• Multi-vendor interoperability: Resilio Platform seamlessly integrated with Delirio Films' existing tools, encompassing both Mac and Windows desktops, various storage systems like Facilis Terrablock and OWC Thunderbay, and popular editing tools such as DaVinci Resolve, Avid Media Composer, and Adobe Premiere Pro.
  

Summary

As the company continues to produce remarkable documentaries and expand its portfolio, Resilio Platform enables the team to create from anywhere, under deadline pressure. That gives Delirio Films the ability to recruit and keep the best talent—located anywhere. 

While the editing team is focused on creating, Otte enjoys the freedom to turn the knobs of technology—automating tasks that were once manual. He also gains peace of mind knowing that the creative team is removed from technical hassles, allowing them to focus on their creative process without interruptions. This translates to fewer support calls—and having confidence that the Resilio solution just works.

“Without Resilio we’d be sending shuttle drives. Since deploying Resilio Platform, there’s no stress. It reduces our need to react or interact from a technical support perspective. We want our team to be free to create, to be in their flow state, and not deal with technical issues,” says Otte. “Resilio is a huge win for our workflow—where every single second counts.”Kevin Otte, Delirio Films post-production supervisor.