Cloud Editorial

The Edit Suite in the Cloud

Traditionally, film editing was a centralized process requiring the entire editorial team—editors, assistant editors, and producers—to work in the same physical building, connected to a high-speed local storage network (a SAN). Cloud editorial completely decentralizes this workflow. The core media files (often low-resolution ‘proxy’ files) and the editing project files are stored on secure, high-availability cloud platforms like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, or Microsoft Azure. This allows an editor in Los Angeles, an assistant in London, and a director in New York to all access and work on the same project simultaneously, from anywhere in the world with a robust internet connection.

How It Works

This workflow relies on a combination of cloud storage and sophisticated software. Editors can stream the media directly from the cloud or, more commonly, download the lightweight proxy files to their local machine for smooth, responsive editing. The editing project file, which contains all the metadata about the cuts and timeline, is constantly synced back to the cloud. Professional editing software like Avid Media Composer (with its Edit On Demand service) and Adobe Premiere Pro have built-in tools for ‘bin locking,’ a crucial feature that prevents two users from accidentally working on the same sequence at the same time and overwriting each other’s work.

Accelerated by the necessity of remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic, cloud editorial has rapidly become a standard workflow in the industry, offering unprecedented flexibility and the ability to assemble the best creative team for a project regardless of geographical location.