General FAQs, security, backup, export, etc.

Every 24 hours a complete database backup is made (with each company having its own database) and is transferred, along with all of the files/attachments, to another server at a completely different facility. We can use this backup to recover data, or recover the whole site.

We take all reasonable precautions to keep your information safe and secure. Our servers are professionally managed by Slicehost, a recognized leader in high-end hosting. Each account’s MySQL database is backed up nightly and transferred offsite. All of your files and attachments are also backed up offsite. We are currently transitioning to Nirvanix’s distributed storage technology to store and serve uploaded files.

You can export your shots, tasks and notes in XML format. We also offer an API that allows you to access your data from other tools that you use or create.

We are in the process of creating an import utility for one-time imports. For ongoing data imports, updates and integration, we have an XML API. Until both of these facilities are complete, please contact us about importing your data.

ShotRunner is an online web application for collaborating on and tracking the production of VFX shots and other production assets. It enables collaboration across a distributed post-production team. It allows independent producers to breakdown and organize shows, communicate, assign and track work, and track assets.

While the big facilities have elaborate home-grown systems for managing their workflows, small/independent productions have been stuck with spreadsheets and other ad-hoc ways of staying organized. ShotRunner is for modest productions that can’t afford an IT staff.

The system is currently tracking 75-100 visual effects shots for an independent feature film. It is a massively distributed project with the director, producers, VFX supervisors and artists located all over the globe. The production management team has the task of coordinating 50+ people located in different time zones. We started off using spreadsheets, but quickly found that we could not keep up with all of the activity. A project like this really needs a collaborative system that everyone can update. Communication is the key thing.

Provide a very easy-to-use, low-cost, hosted web application that helps coordinate far- flung post-production teams: posting shot breakdowns, tracking shot assignments, reporting task progress, managing submission and review cycles, posting showboards for client approvals, watching the progress of the overall pipeline, and tracking transfers of assets and work outputs.