Back to Workflows
Digital Media Production Company Consolidating NAS RAID and Google Drive
Company Situation
This company operates within the digital media production sector, producing a high volume of video content daily. Their team includes a content creator shooting both in-studio and on-location, supported by a remote editor based in a different continent. The scale involves handling both lightweight mobile footage and large, high-resolution camera files, requiring robust storage and collaboration workflows.
Existing Workflow
Currently, the company shoots content using multiple devices—primarily iPhones for daily studio shoots and a high-end Sony FX3 camera for travel and location shoots. The raw files range from small to very large sizes, with daily storage needs reaching hundreds of gigabytes. They store footage on a local NAS RAID system and use a combination of Google Drive and Frame.io for file sharing, review, and approvals. The remote editor accesses files via direct remote connection to the NAS but faces bandwidth and connectivity challenges due to limited internet quality at their location.
Issues with the Existing Workflow
Managing multiple storage systems and platforms leads to workflow fragmentation.
Large file sizes from high-end cameras create cumbersome upload and sync processes.
Bandwidth limitations on the editor’s remote location cause slow and unreliable access to footage.
Using separate tools for storage, collaboration, and review results in inefficiencies and increased complexity.
Lack of a centralized, streamlined system to synchronize work-in-progress content while maintaining archival footage on NAS.
How Shade Would Change Their Workflow
Shade would serve as a cloud-based work management layer sitting on top of the existing NAS archival storage. It would centralize the day-to-day production workflow, enabling seamless two-way sync between the company’s local NAS and the editor’s remote drive, even across challenging bandwidth conditions. Shade’s platform would replace the patchwork of Frame.io and Google Drive for review, approval, and collaboration, providing a single interface for content management. By integrating with S3-compatible storage (such as Backblaze B2 or Cloudflare R2), Shade would facilitate efficient, secure, and scalable storage of active projects while the NAS remains the long-term archive.
Benefits
- Streamlined content sharing and collaboration across geographies despite limited remote bandwidth.
- Centralized workflow management consolidating review, approval, and storage functions.
- Retention of existing NAS archival infrastructure while optimizing active project handling in the cloud.
- Reduced complexity and improved productivity by replacing multiple disjointed tools.
- Scalable cloud integration with support for various S3-compatible storage providers.
Technologies Used
Want to see how Shade can improve your workflow?
Book a Demo