The Daytona Method is a workflow developed to keep our projects as flexible as possible. It enables us to integrate online work into the edit long before it is locked and basically keep it flexible until delivery. Everybody working on a project will have to work with this method in one way or another, so please read this article carefully and if you have any questions ask one of the editors to help you out.
Whenever we have a shot that needs any type of online work (comping, clean-up etc) it gets prepped and even before the actual online work has been done, it is added back to the edit timeline. Then, once there is a new version of the shot, the file gets replaced and thus it updates in all timelines.
This means that we will have a folder containing all comp shots without a version number that are imported into the edit timelines. Next to it is a folder ‘_VERSIONS’ that contains all the shots with a version number. Then, when an artist is done with a shot, they can render it with a version number to the versions folder. From there they can copy it to the folder without the version number and strip the version number to replace the file that was imported in the edit. Working this way means that we only have to build back the shot once and ensures that whenever a shot is updated it is also updated in all relevant timelines.
It is best practise to prep all shots for an entire project at once because doing so will automatically filter out any duplicates that you might have. (It will take the longest clip and merge clips with overlapping handles) Sometimes however this is not possible and you will have to do some extra checks to make sure we are not prepping the same shot twice.
When you have a good insight of the shots that need online work you can copy them all over to a separate timeline, there is no need to take off any effects or add any handle frames. When all the shots are on the timeline (you can make multiple timelines if that is more convenient for you) you can export an XML.
Then open up Davinci Resolve and import the XML(s) that contain all your VFX shots. Make sure they are all selected and then in the menu bar go to File > Mediamanagement.
If you selected your timelines before opening up the Media Management window it will have the correct timelines already selected, which can be helpful in big projects. Select the ‘Timelines’ panel and set the following settings:
<aside> 💡 Settings Check ‘Used media and....’ and set 20 frame handles
Video Set to ProRes 4444XQ Render at source resolution Retain sub-black and super-white data
Audio Set channels to 0
Destination Set the destination folder to the correct project folder > Assets > Prerenders
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Click to enlarge
Video settings
Audio settings
When all clips are rendered it is the editors job to sort the clips, in finder the editor will mark clips for clean-up Blue and clips for comp work Purple. It is possible for clips to have both a blue and purple tag.
When the editor is done sorting the clips its time to rename them, this is either done by an editor or a mediamanager. The filename will always follow this format: SOURCENAME_VIDTYPE_PRERENDER_SHOTNUMBER
<aside> ☝ Davinci will automatically add _S000, S001, etc etc behind duplicate clips. Keep in mind that the first one does not get that number and has the original clip name. So when Davinci added _S000 it becomes S02 in our filename.
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Once finished it should look like this:
It is import to realise that the PRERENDER files are used as source for the VFX artists.
When all files have been renamed, they can be added to the VFX tracking list where the editor will also write a short briefing.
In order to make it work as the Daytona method we will now copy the prerenders to a different folder where we will rename them as the final shot name and import it back into Premiere from there.