Secret Weapon Studios introduces itself as “Unlike Any Other Tech Startup” and claims that “there has been no central hub designed to find, organize and communicate with all” of the moving parts related to film production “until now.” The company says that “Our technology, built in‑house, will revolutionize production” to explain why it has created hubs like ProductionHero, CastHero, PropHero or LocationHero.
One of those hubs is PostHero, which is a partnership with Hollywood’s go-to color-grading brand – DaVinci Resolve. The hub aims to connect entire post-production / editing teams with DaVinci Resolve’s software and hardware. According to Secret Weapon Studios DaVinci is currently the only editing / post software that allows entirely remote teams to all work together, in real time, seamlessly on the same project from edit to color to sound to delivery.
PostHero was recently implemented on an unscripted series for a major streaming provider. As early as pre production, the producers knew that the entire post team was going to be dispersed and began searching for a solution. Intrigued by PostHero’s remote, realtime capabilities, the producers asked the show’s two editors to demo it.
“Secret Weapon Studios’ main role with any client is to use our solutions to streamline the production and post processes and save money. Production is primarily problem solving, and we solve the problems so clients are free to spend more time on creative,” explained Greg Olliver, founder and CEO, Secret Weapon Studios. “PostHero is an all in one service that provides Blackmagic network storage hardware, DaVinci Resolve Studio software, Blackmagic Cloud, Resolve certified post management and 24/7 support.”
Here is the whole story, as shared by Blackmagic Design:
“One of the producers had previously worked with us and knew that we were launching PostHero,” he added. “We demoed the platform for the show’s two editors, who are seasoned editors more experienced in another editing application, and they were immediately excited by Blackmagic Cloud and Resolve’s collaboration tools which would allow them to work in real time with their remote team. The next thing you know, we were prepping their entire post team on DaVinci Resolve.”
With a fully remote post team of nine, the post supervisor was equipped with an 80TB Blackmagic Cloud Store, which hosted the raw media and proxies, with the other eight team members each equipped with a Blackmagic Cloud Store Mini hosting the proxies. The team was connected via Blackmagic Cloud, which hosted the project library and automatically created proxies from the raw footage, with those proxies synced to the team’s Blackmagic Cloud Store Minis via Dropbox.
“Everyone on the team had the same media on their desks thanks to the Cloud Store Minis, and the entire remote team was connected in real time via Blackmagic Cloud. If an assistant editor made an edit or added a clip, everyone else got it immediately. The editors set permissions and controlled what assistant editors worked on what bins,” said Olliver.
The post producers were delighted with their experience, noting, “The streamlined, realtime collaboration with everyone on the same timeline was amazing to see in action since our team was spread all over the place. And we never had to worry about someone having the wrong media or the wrong project file. Headaches, time and money were all saved with this process.”
“We had one editor in Puerto Rico, one editor in California, raw media in New York, story producers in New Jersey and California, assistant editors all over the place, and a delivery timeline with no room for errors,” Olliver continued. “The editors needed the assistant editors to have realtime access to the timelines, and the producers needed to see what was happening in the edit in real time, all without leaving home. There was no post house for the entire edit, just the team’s houses, and none of it was challenging thanks to Blackmagic Cloud, the Cloud Store and Cloud Store Minis and DaVinci Resolve.”
Olliver concluded, “There’s been an obvious need for complete, turnkey post in a world where editors are not all going back to the edit rooms, and it’s absurd to think that in 2023, we still need to ship drives with digital media on them, reconform a project because an incorrect shot was colored, or email project files back and forth. Blackmagic Design hardware and software and Blackmagic Cloud eliminate any need for that archaic way of working. DaVinci Resolve is clearly the next wave of editing software, so we wanted to make it an absolute no brainer for anyone to use it. It saves the producers money on their post line, and it saves the post team headaches every step of the way.”