Frankie, the browser-based and interactive video review tool from Cospective, the maker of cineSync, is a key part of the review-and-approval process for the commercial campaigns of Drive Thru. Based in Minneapolis, Drive Thru is a production and postproduction company that uses Frankie during sales pitches and throughout its internal creative process, as well as for collaborative review-and-approval sessions with clients. With Frankie, companies can task one tool with streamlining the creation and approval process in the era of remote postproduction workflows.
Drive Thru uses Frankie for real-time video reviews, allowing everyone in the session to comment, make annotations and even sketch right on the screen, all in perfect sync. Although Drive Thru makes good use of real-time reviews, the company wanted its clients to be able to review and provide feedback on their own schedule and not be tied to someone else’s. Drive Thru suggested this to Cospective, which then modified Frankie to include the option to un-sync reviews. Now, Drive Thru can conduct its review process exactly as it wants to.
“By un-syncing video reviews, our clients can look at a work-in-progress at their convenience,” said Aaron Esterling, VFX assistant at Drive Thru. “We send them a link of revisions and they can review it wherever or whenever it works for them.”
“Frankie has changed the game of how we share material with clients and get their feedback,” said Bob George, owner and Flame/VFX artist at Drive Thru Editorial. “This ability to collaborate remotely either in sync or not is a feature we asked Cospective for because it’s integral to how we operate. It’s just one of the ways that we’re thinking differently than the traditional post shop.”
Before using Frankie, Drive Thru uploaded compressed video files to a server and sent clients a file to download, before they could begin a review. This was a time-consuming process, fraught with complications. Now, the company uploads an uncompressed video file to the cloud and sends a URL to all those invited to review the video. By clicking the URL, clients are taken to the review, complete with all the files.
“This kind of remote, collaborative review tool is totally new for our clients, but once they see the simplicity and power of Frankie, they love it,” said George. “They no longer have to save files to the hard drive and remember where they are. Also, they like being able to send the video on to their clients in turn.”
Because Drive Thru is often collaborating with out-of-state clients, streamlining the review process is essential to its mode of working. At the end of each review session, the company generates a PDF summary that includes all comments, notes and marked-up screenshots.
“One of the neatest things about Frankie is that the client can draw right on the screen,” said George. “It makes understanding their feedback so much easier, removing the ambiguity inherent in email exchanges. Even if you’re in the studio, clarity during reviews can be difficult to achieve – we may go up to the screen and point to what we want or they want to be different. How much easier it is to do this remotely with Frankie.”
“It’s amazing to consolidate everyone’s feedback into one document,” said Esterling. “Sifting through reams of email comments was confusing and frustrating for us. With Frankie’s PDF summaries, each frame has everybody’s comments and it’s a simple matter to review. We then pass the PDF around to individual artists who are working on the material.”
Drive Thru also uses Frankie in sales meetings. “Using Frankie during pitches lets us explain visually what we’re thinking of doing,” said George. “Frankie works great this way, filling the gaps for us between Wiredrive and Interdubs with offline and online approvals.”
