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.
It’s an administrative approach that minimises constantly rebuilding new shots in edit / grade once they are updated. Instead it works with a master shot that is replaced at finder level which will update ‘itself’ in the edit, grade, after effects… or wherever else used.
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 first ask Wilbur or Daniel to help you out, if they are not available ask one of the Media Managers.
The Daytona Method is applicable for all Media Management, Edit, VFX, CGI, Grade and Motion Design departments.
A brief example of how all teams will use it and the teams responsibilities.
Editors & Media Managers will act as the gatekeeper and keep track of all CGI, VFX, Supers & Grade inside the edit and make sure everything plays as it should once replaced.
Media Managers will download any EXT or Comp shots from India, quality check and replace at finder level, again checking in the edit or letting the editor know they have updated files.
Motion Designers and CGI artists will update their Supers, CGI & VFX shots at finder level, ensuring they render to versions and replace the master clip with the latest version. They will then inform the Editor of any updates they have made at finder level so this can be checked in the edit.
Graders will render to the correct folders where the Editor will usually update the grade at finder level and check everything is correct in premiere.
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 master comp shots / ext / mattes / graded files 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 master folder without the version number and replace the file that is used in the edit.
Working this way means that we only have to build back the shot once and ensure that whenever a shot is updated it is also updated in all relevant timelines, Premiere / AE / Davinci Resolve.
Here is an example of a Master folder
