How to Review and Share Film Dailies During Production

What Are Film Dailies?

Film dailies (also called "rushes" in the UK and Australia) are the raw, unedited footage shot during a single day of production. Every major production reviews dailies to assess technical quality, evaluate performances, and give editors a head start on assembly cuts while principal photography continues.

The term dates back to the physical film era, when exposed negatives were rushed to the lab overnight for developing and printed for screening the next morning. Directors, cinematographers, and producers would gather in a screening room to watch the previous day's work before call time. Today, the process is entirely digital, but the core purpose remains identical: catching problems early and making creative adjustments before it's too late to reshoot.

Dailies serve three distinct functions on a modern production:

• Technical Quality Control: Identifying issues like soft focus, sensor noise, rolling shutter artifacts, lens flares, boom mic shadows, or lighting inconsistencies before the set is struck. Catching these problems during production is orders of magnitude cheaper than fixing them in post.
• Creative Assessment: Evaluating whether performances are landing as the director intended. Watching playback reveals nuances that are invisible on a small on-set monitor, from subtle emotional beats to timing issues in comedy.
• Editorial Velocity: Giving the editing team immediate access to footage so they can begin assembling scenes in parallel with ongoing production. On a feature film, the editor might have a rough assembly ready within days of wrap.

For streaming series and studio features, dailies review is typically a contractual requirement. Producers, studio executives, and financiers often have approval rights over footage and need daily access to verify that production is on track.

The Modern Dailies Workflow in 5 Steps

A single day of shooting on a major production can generate between 2TB and 10TB of raw camera data. A four-camera episodic shoot running 10-12 hours might record 500+ clips totaling 4TB before lunch. Moving this volume of data efficiently requires a disciplined, repeatable workflow with redundancy at every stage.

Step 1: On-Set Ingest and Verification

The Digital Imaging Technician (DIT) offloads camera cards to redundant storage immediately after each camera roll. Best practice is a minimum of two verified copies on separate physical drives before the original card is formatted and returned to the camera department. Checksum verification (using tools like Silverstack, Hedge, or Pomfort) confirms that every bit copied correctly. A checksum mismatch means the copy failed silently, which can result in corrupted or missing frames that might not surface until editorial.

High-end productions often add a third offload destination: a portable RAID array that travels with the footage to the post facility or a cloud upload station. The goal is geographic redundancy. If the production van catches fire or a drive fails in transit, the footage still exists.

Step 2: Sync and Organization

External audio (recorded by the sound department on separate devices) must be synced to the corresponding video clips. Software like DaVinci Resolve, Tentacle Sync, or PluralEyes matches timecode or waveforms to align audio with picture. Without this step, editors receive silent footage and audio files they have to manually sync, which burns hours of time.

After syncing, clips are renamed according to a standardized naming convention, typically Scene-Shot-Take (e.g., 23A-1-3 for Scene 23A, Shot 1, Take 3). Metadata like camera roll, reel number, and take notes are embedded in the file or tracked in a database. Proper organization at this stage prevents chaos in editorial.

Step 3: One-Light Color Grade

Raw footage from cinema cameras (ARRI, RED, Sony Venice, Blackmagic) is recorded in a log color profile that looks extremely flat and desaturated to the untrained eye. This is intentional since log profiles preserve maximum dynamic range for color grading in post. But flat footage makes it difficult for non-technical stakeholders to evaluate the image.

The solution is a "one-light" grade: a single color correction applied across all clips to normalize exposure and apply a basic look. Most productions use a Look-Up Table (LUT) that transforms the log footage into a viewable color space (often Rec. 709 for SDR monitors). This gives reviewers a representative image without altering the original camera files.

Step 4: Transcoding to Proxy Format

Raw camera files are massive. A single ARRIRAW frame at 4.5K resolution is roughly 9MB, which means 24 frames per second consumes 216MB per second of recording, or about 12GB per minute. Streaming this over the internet is impractical, and most playback software cannot decode it in real-time without expensive hardware.

Proxies solve this problem. The original footage is transcoded into a lightweight format like ProRes Proxy, DNxHD 36, or H.264. These files are 10-50x smaller than the originals while retaining enough quality for review purposes. The originals stay untouched on archive storage, and the proxies become the working files for review and offline editing.

Step 5: Distribution to Stakeholders

Once proxies are ready, they need to reach everyone who has review rights: the director (who may be on set or traveling), the editor (who may be cutting in a different city), producers, studio executives, and sometimes financiers or completion bond representatives.

This is where traditional workflows break down. Uploading hundreds of gigabytes to a generic cloud drive takes hours and forces recipients to download everything before they can watch. The modern approach is HLS streaming, covered in the next section.

Common Challenges in Remote Dailies Review

Remote collaboration became standard after 2020, and most productions now have at least some stakeholders reviewing footage from outside the physical production office. This shift exposed serious limitations in tools that were designed for document sharing, not professional video.

Bandwidth and Transfer Time

Uploading 500GB of proxy files to a consumer cloud drive can take 8-12 hours on a typical production office internet connection. If the upload fails or times out partway through, some services force you to restart from zero. Even when uploads complete, recipients face the same problem in reverse: downloading hundreds of gigabytes to watch footage is slow, fills up laptop storage, and creates version control nightmares when multiple cuts exist in different download folders.

Playback Quality

Standard cloud storage services treat video as just another file type. When you "preview" a video in Google Drive or Dropbox, the platform uses progressive download: it starts buffering from the beginning and plays what it has loaded. This works fine for short clips, but long-form footage (15+ minutes per clip) becomes unwatchable. Scrubbing to a specific timecode requires waiting for the entire file to buffer, which defeats the purpose of quick review.

Security Exposure

Unreleased footage is high-value intellectual property. A leaked scene from a major franchise film can dominate news cycles and spoil marketing campaigns worth tens of millions of dollars. Sending hard drives via courier introduces physical security risks, and unencrypted file transfer links can be shared without any tracking. Productions have had footage leaked from compromised personal email accounts, shared Dropbox links, and courier theft.

Version Fragmentation

When dailies are distributed as downloadable files, every recipient ends up with their own local copy. If the colorist reprocesses a clip with a corrected LUT, or the DIT discovers that some clips were exported with wrong audio sync, updating everyone becomes a coordination nightmare. Teams end up reviewing different versions without realizing it, and feedback gets applied to the wrong cuts.

Access Management

People join and leave productions constantly. When a coordinator finishes their contract, their access to footage should end. But if dailies were shared via personal email links or downloaded to personal drives, that footage may persist indefinitely on devices the production no longer controls.

How HLS Streaming Solves the Dailies Problem

The most efficient method for distributing dailies is HTTP Live Streaming (HLS), the same adaptive bitrate technology that powers Netflix, YouTube, and every major streaming platform. Instead of transferring enormous files, the platform processes video in the cloud and streams it on-demand to any device.

Fast.io's media engine converts uploaded footage into HLS automatically. When a stakeholder clicks play, the video starts instantly. There is no download wait, no buffering delay, and no storage consumed on the viewer's device. The stream adapts to available bandwidth in real-time: a producer reviewing footage on airport Wi-Fi gets a lower bitrate stream that plays smoothly, while the same clip delivers full 1080p quality to someone on a fiber connection.

Instant Scrubbing and Frame-Level Navigation

Traditional progressive download forces sequential loading. If you want to jump to timecode 00:47:32, you have to wait for everything before that point to buffer. HLS works differently: the video is chunked into small segments, and the player can request any segment independently. Jumping to any point in a two-hour assembly takes seconds, not minutes.

For frame-accurate review, Fast.io provides timecode overlays and frame-by-frame stepping controls. Directors can pause on the exact frame where they want the editor to make a cut, and that specific frame number becomes part of their feedback.

No Downloads, No Local Storage

Reviewers never need to download files to watch them. This eliminates the storage problem entirely and keeps all footage under centralized control. When the production wraps, all dailies remain in the organization's workspace. Nothing lives on personal laptops or scattered across individual cloud accounts.

Organization-Owned Files

Unlike personal cloud storage where files belong to whoever uploaded them, Fast.io uses an organization-first model. Files belong to the production company, not individual crew members. When a coordinator or post-production assistant finishes their contract, their access ends, but the footage stays exactly where it is. No awkward transfer requests, no files disappearing when someone's account gets deleted.

Contextual Feedback

Rather than compiling notes in a separate document ("Scene 23, shot 4, around the 12-second mark, the focus seems soft"), reviewers can pin comments directly to specific frames. The editor opens the dailies, sees pins at exact timecodes, and knows precisely which moments need attention. This eliminates the back-and-forth of "which version are you looking at?" and "can you give me a more specific timecode?"

Security Protocols for Unreleased Footage

Studio productions operate under strict security requirements. Completion bonds, insurance policies, and distribution agreements often mandate specific controls around unreleased content. A single leak can trigger contractual penalties and derail carefully planned marketing campaigns.

Granular Permission Structures

Not everyone needs access to everything. Best practice is to structure permissions by role:

• Editing Department: Read and write access to original camera files, proxies, and working project files.
• Directors and Producers: View access to dailies folders and editorial cuts. No download permission unless specifically required.
• Studio Executives: Access limited to specific curated playlists (selects, key scenes) via a secure branded portal. No access to raw footage or working cuts.
• External Financiers: View-only access to specific deliverables with watermarking enabled and download disabled.

Fast.io supports folder-level and file-level permissions, so you can give the VFX supervisor access to the shots they need without exposing the entire project.

Forensic Watermarking

Visual watermarks burn identifying information (typically the viewer's email or a unique ID) into the video stream. If footage leaks, the watermark identifies exactly who the source was. This deters leaks proactively and provides accountability when incidents occur.

For maximum security, use dynamic watermarks that appear at unpredictable positions and intervals, making them harder to crop or obscure. Some productions combine visible watermarks with invisible forensic markers embedded in the video signal itself.

Comprehensive Audit Trails

You need to know who accessed what and when. Fast.io logs every view, download, and permission change with timestamps and user identification. If a leak occurs, the audit log can narrow down which users had access during the relevant window. Studios and insurance providers often require this level of accountability as a condition of coverage.

Link Controls and Expiration

Shared links should have expiration dates, password protection, and domain restrictions. A dailies link sent to a studio executive at their corporate email should not work when forwarded to a personal Gmail account. Setting links to expire after the review period ends prevents indefinite access to sensitive material.

Instant Revocation

When someone's involvement with the production ends, their access should end immediately. Fast.io allows one-click revocation that takes effect instantly across all shared links and folders. The footage remains in place; only the access changes.

Setting Up an Efficient Dailies Pipeline

Building a reliable dailies workflow requires planning before principal photography begins. The following checklist covers the technical and organizational decisions that need to happen in pre-production.

Define Your Delivery Cadence

Most productions aim to have processed dailies available within 6-12 hours of wrap. The exact timing depends on shooting schedule (a day shoot wrapping at 7pm has different logistics than a night shoot wrapping at 6am), post facility location, and upload bandwidth. Document the expected delivery time in the post-production schedule so all stakeholders know when to check for new footage.

Establish Naming Conventions

Agree on a file naming structure before Day 1. Common formats include:

• [ShowCode]_[EpisodeNumber]_[SceneNumber][Shot]_[Take]_[CameraID]
• Example: PROJ_E101_23A_1_T3_A (Project, Episode 101, Scene 23A, Shot 1, Take 3, A-Camera)

Document the convention in a shared technical specifications document that every department receives.

Configure Your Workspace Structure

Create a folder hierarchy that scales across the entire production. One proven structure:

/Production Name
  /Dailies
    /Day 001
    /Day 002
    /...
  /Editorial
    /Assembly Cuts
    /Rough Cuts
    /Selects
  /VFX Pulls
  /Audio

Set permissions at the folder level so new content inherits the correct access rules automatically.

Test Your Upload Pipeline

Before production starts, run a realistic test: upload 50-100GB of proxy footage from the actual production office using the actual internet connection. Measure throughput, test playback on different devices and connection speeds, and verify that permissions work as expected. Discovering bandwidth problems during prep is much better than discovering them on Day 1.

Document Emergency Procedures

What happens if the primary cloud service has an outage? What if the production office loses internet? Having a backup plan, whether that is a secondary upload location, physical drive couriers, or a mobile hotspot solution, prevents panic when problems occur.