Effective remote working

cineSync + iChat video conferencing

Working remotely is becoming ever more increasing within our industry. Having a fast internet connection now allows crew members to literally work together from all corners of the globe. 2 application which allows this process to be easier are cinesync and Apple's iChat.

cineSync was developed to address the issue of remote reviews and approvals, allowing directors, producers and supervisors to perform live run-throughs of work being carried out in another country, another city, or even the building next door, without needing to leave their office. It’s a simple, effective and inexpensive tool for assisting the management of distributed post production projects with a minimum of fuss.

Based on Apple ® QuickTime technology cineSync allows you to annotate directly onto the frame – you can point or circle objects in the frame, draw new elements into the frame and write text notes – all synchronised in real-time with everyone else in your review. You can transfer media for review quickly and easily from within the cineSync interface and export all your saved session information to your project management system, so you can easily keep records of every review.

iChat allows for conference video chats of up to 4 members. What has happened in the past is that video chatting has only been 2 way. Yesterday we screened some scenes of a film whilst running cinesync and iChat simultaneously on the same computer at all ends. 3 users were connected, and we suffered zero drop outs for the entirety of the screening of about 2 hours. Another user was on Skype, and they had about 3 dropouts during the screening. The bandwidth for iChat is more than Skype, however the quality and stability are worth it.

If you are using iChat and having problems connecting using video, make sure that you have the appropriate ports opened through your firewall. My previous iChat post lists the ports.