For post-production, the time difference between you and your partner can be the most useful thing about them. Files sent at the end of your day are worked on while you are offline, and are waiting when you start again. It works well, but only when a few things are in place.
How the handover runs
- You send files at the end of your day, with where they are going.
- The brief is checked against your written rules before work starts.
- The images are edited to those rules, then checked before anything leaves.
- The finished files are in your folder when your next day begins.
What makes it work
A written standard. When your team is asleep, no one can ask how tight the crop should be or which white is right. The answer has to be on paper already: crop, background, shadow, colour and file naming.
Continuity. A small team that already knows your account makes fewer guesses than whoever happens to be free that night.
What breaks it
- A brief that only lives in someone's head.
- Changes sent after the handover, with no note on what changed.
- A colour that has to be exact, with no sample or reference to match.
A question asked at the end of your day is answered while you sleep. A question that is never asked becomes a guess.