The Dailies Workflow: Department Breakdown & Who’s Involved

Where dailies sit in the post process A slim pipeline strip showing the four phases – pre-production, production, post, finishing – with a pushpin marking the dailies stage at the production-to-post handoff. THE POST PROCESS explore the full Breakdown → PRE-PRODUCTION PRODUCTION POST FINISHING YOU ARE HERE · DAILIES

Before any film or TV show can start a single day of shooting, the dailies workflow must be solidified across multiple production and post departments. The workflow design and implementation are the responsibilities of post. As soon as the footage leaves the camera, the workflow takes over and post becomes the keeper of the media. It’s their responsibility all the way through delivery.

This article is your map to that process. Below lists every department involved in the dailies process and the role each one plays. Each section links to a full department breakdown where we dive deep into the people, media, the paperwork, the gear, and the real-world protocols that keep a show’s footage safe at the end of each shoot day.

With so many parties involved and the clock ticking, the pipeline can be described as one thing: a relay race. While the crew sleeps, yesterday’s footage is verified, synced, colored, and converted, so that by the time editorial sits down with their coffee, the previous day’s work is waiting in the cutting room. Every department below is a runner in that relay.

1. The Camera Department

Where everything originates. Takes are shot onto camera cards (think very fast, very large SD cards) and once a card is full, it’s handed off for backup and transfer to the dailies facility for processing.

Yes, digital film still needs “processing.” And if the show is shooting true film, those rolls are boxed, logged, and sent to a film lab.

IN DEPTH · The Camera Department

2. The DIT & Loader

Technically part of the camera department, they run the on-set half of the dailies operation. The DIT brings color science and look-dev, working with the DP on the dailies look that travels with the footage. The Loader backs up every card and verifies copies, holding custody of the media until post confirms it’s safe for camera cards to go back into rotation.

IN DEPTH · The DIT & Loader, Software, and Data Management

3. Production Sound

Sound is recorded completely separately from picture. The Production Sound Mixer captures every mic onto a dedicated recorder using its own cards, own rolls, and outputting its own reports. That media then rides the same relay as the camera cards. Picture and sound don’t meet until the facility marries them overnight.

IN DEPTH · COMING SOON — Production Sound & On-set Audio Recording

4. Transportation

The unsung leg of the relay: Transpo physically moves the media and drives from set to the DIT / Loader, and then Loader to facility, typically twice a day, and returns yesterday’s drives to set for re-use. Transpo is key, as efficient and communicative transportation saves time and money.

Transpo’s involvement can be found throughout the other In Depth articles.

5. The Script Supervisor

While everyone else handles the footage, the Script Supervisor creates the paper trail that makes it usable: which takes cover which lines, which cameras rolled, which takes the director circled, and the continuity notes for the Editor. Script Supervisor paperwork is the roadmap for editorial to navigate all the footage and audio to build the edit.

IN DEPTH · COMING SOON — The Script Supervisor

6. The Production Office

The central hub of the entire production. They ensure everyone on the production side of dailies is where they need to be and when. Reports and logs flow through the office to everyone who needs them, and requests between set, producers, and post usually route through the production staff. A good relationship between post and production is paramount.

IN DEPTH · COMING SOON — The Production Office’s Role in Post

The Dailies Relay – a typical daytime shoot Timeline from 6pm camera wrap through the overnight facility window to editorial starting at 9am. Cards reach the loader at 6:30pm, drives leave set at 9pm and arrive at the facility at 10pm; ingest and checksum at midnight, sync and dailies color at 2am, proxy transcode at 5am, delivery and uploads at 7am. THE DAILIES WORKFLOW The Overnight Relay typical daytime shoot Camera wrap 6:00 PM 6:30 PM Cards to loader Drives leave set 9:00 PM 10:00 PM Arrive at facility Ingest + checksum 12:00 AM 2:00 AM Sync + dailies color Proxies transcode 5:00 AM 7:00 AM Delivery + uploads Editorial starts 9:00 AM ON SET TRANSPO FACILITY · THE OVERNIGHT WINDOW EDITORIAL post-notes.com

7. The Dailies Facility

Overnight, the facility verifies the media, syncs sound to picture, applies the dailies color, and converts the massive camera masters into proxy files for editorial, and viewing files for the creatives, studio, and network. Both physical and remote processing options are now offered at many facilities.

IN DEPTH · COMING SOON — Inside Dailies Processing — Facility & Remote Models

8. Editorial & Post

The handoff. Once dailies are processed and paperwork distributed, the proxy files land with editorial so the Editors can start cutting, and the post team releases viewing dailies through a secure platform to everyone who needs them. The relay’s finish line, which is also the starting line of the edit and post-production pipeline.

IN DEPTH · COMING SOON — The Editorial Handoff & Viewing Platforms

9. The Archive

After the footage and sound has been processed and proxies delivered, the camera and sound masters are put to sleep. They are backed up to archival tape, duplicated, and stored in separate locations so that no single disaster can take a show’s footage with it. Archival and redundancy isn’t exciting, but it’ll save the show should anything ever go wrong.

IN DEPTH · COMING SOON — The LTO Archive

As you can see, there are many moving parts at every step of the dailies process, and it takes a significant amount of preparation and coordination to ensure all departments are working together efficiently every single day. Start with whichever department you’re interested in, or read them in order and follow the footage from the camera card to the vault.

A Day in the Life of a Post PA

Key Takeaways
  • A Post PA's day changes significantly depending on the phase of the project
  • Dailies always take priority over other tasks
  • In TV, dailies and cuts overlap as multiple episodes are in progress simultaneously
  • Flexibility and organization are the most important traits of a good Post PA

One of the exciting elements of post-production is that your typical day will change as the production moves through different stages. Below are examples of typical days during major phases of the project.

During Dailies

Morning

A typical day might start with organizing the digital dailies paperwork that comes in from the production office. This paperwork will need to be checked against the processed dailies footage that the dailies facility has sent to editorial. Verifying takes against the paperwork is a key element of ensuring all the material shot during the previous day is accounted for.

Midday

After paperwork has been checked and takes have been verified, the Post PA, along with other post team members, may do a QC pass of that day’s dailies. This involves watching the dailies on whatever file sharing program the show is using (PIX, Frame.io, etc.) and ensuring everything plays properly.

Once everything has been checked, the dailies will be released to the pre-determined distributions and recipients.

Afternoon

After dailies have been released, the Post PA may be searching for stock footage, getting lunch, shuttling hard drives, filing paperwork, and assisting the post or editorial teams with anything that might come up.

During Cuts

As the Editors begin assembling their cuts for distribution, requests for music, stock, graphics, and other creative items ramp up. The Post PA will assist post and editorial in sourcing anything the team needs. Dailies may or may not still be coming in. Dailies always need to go out first.

Industry Note

In TV, dailies and cuts overlap as you are working on multiple episodes at the same time. While production shoots the next episode, editors are working on cuts of the previous episodes.

Daytime

The Editors will work on their cut during the day. After their work is done, they’ll turn the cut over to the Assistant Editor, and then hand it over to post for distribution. The Post PA will be on hand to aid in any way.

Evening

During the cuts phase, the workday can be longer to accommodate evening and late night cut distribution. Cuts are QC’d by the post team and then distributed.

During Finishing

Daily tasks during finishing may vary between TV and Features. In TV, production might be shooting later episodes while post delivers the earlier episodes. Feature dailies will have stopped by this point, unless the project is doing reshoots or pickups. Tasks will be split based on priority.

Throughout the Day

At this phase, the post team could be spread out at different facilities. Editors working in editorial, the Post Producer on the mix stage, the Post Supervisor and Post Coordinator doing VFX drop-ins at the finishing facility, etc. The PA will be where they are needed most, whether with the creatives or other editorial or post team members. And often moving from place to place. The days get busier as the project gets closer to delivery.

As you can see from any of the example days above, flexibility and organization are key characteristics of a good Post PA. What makes the job complicated also makes it exciting!