Drop that BOX!!!

Once a production moves out of the Garden level, things get complicated.  Pre-Production, preparing before the camera is turned on, becomes key.  Communication is at the heart of preproduction.  One of the best tools I have found to keep the production humming along is Dropbox.

Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring your photos, docs, and videos anywhere and share them easily. Most people use it for saving work files to be used at a different location (doing work at home).  But for film production, it is gold!  It is simple to use, works just like a folder in your library.  But the best part is you can invite anyone to the folder.  

In other words, lets say you have an art director who takes a pic of a dress for the lead and want to find out if it matches.  Put in a folder named art direction and the director can look at her convenience and approve it.  Making separate folders for separate departments keeps the chain of command focused, which helps immensely when you get to principal photography.  

Even if you havn't worked in film, you have probably heard of the term"we'll fix it in post". In other words, a shot for the film didn't work and somehow it will be fixed while editing the film together. Well, when a problem arises in preproduction, I say, "lets make a dropbox folder". And a happy producer I am!