Hi, this is Jay P. Morgan. Today on The Slanted Lens we’re discussing file sharing. When I was asked to talk about Dropbox, I jumped at the chance, because I’ve been using and appreciating it for years.
I’ve been traveling tons this year. First Cuba, then Colombia and last week I was in Texas, visiting my daughter and new grandbaby. (He’s incredibly good looking and good-natured, just like his grandpa.) Now I’m at WPPI, but I still need work to run smoothly, so that my clients and staff aren’t inconvenienced just because I’m away.
The Need for Remote File Sharing
Here at The Slanted Lens we’ve got several editors, clients, and other personal that I need to be able to share files with quickly and easily. Most of these people work remotely and rarely, if ever, step foot inside the studio. From videos to photos to documents, it’s important that I have a central place for people to go to be able to view and download files. Luckily, file sharing has come a long way. Dropbox is my go-to. It’s easy to add files directly to the Dropbox folder on my computer, after which they are accessible online by anyone you share the link with.
Utilizing Dropbox
Let me give you a couple of examples for how we use Dropbox.
Scenario 1: Kate edits the latest content for The Slanted Lens in the office. She exports two copies- one to the LaCie 5big hard drive in the studio, the other to Dropbox. Judy is with us in the studio only part time, but she can go to the shared folder at Dropbox.com to remotely review the video online. She then lets Kate know of any changes that need to be made. Kate makes those changes and reexports the file, again to both the local drive and Dropbox. Judy looks it over again, and if it’s to her satisfaction will let me know it’s there. Once I sign off on the videos, Judy uploads them to YouTube and preps them for posting. Because she is in the studio only a few days a week, her time there is precious. Utilizing Dropbox remotely allows her to make the most of it.
Scenario 2: A client hires me for a video or photo shoot. After the shoot we download the images to the local hard drive. Someone in the office goes through the images, giving the keepers one star in Bridge. We then upload the starred files to a client specific folder. After the files are imported we generate a link and send it to the client through Dropbox, choosing whether or not to let the client view only or edit the files. Our clients can comment right on the images in order to provide us with feedback, and we’re notified by email and/or pop-up through the Dropbox portal on the desktop. It’s a great collaborative tool.
Storage
A 1TB of storage on Dropbox is only $99/year. It really is a fantastic deal for the storage and convenience Dropbox offers. They’ve got over half a billion users, so you know they’re doing something right.
Check them out on Facebook for tips on collaborating and to see how businesses use them everyday. They’re also on Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube!
Keep those cameras rollin’ and keep on clickin’!
-Jay P.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Dropbox. The opinions and text are all mine.
