CHALLENGE: Toasty Video needed to expand its focus into post production & faced trouble managing and sharing large project files with freelance collaborators as it looked to grow beyond production. Prior to choosing Suite’s cloud storage, Toasty relied on a combination of Google Drive, Dropbox, and Frame.io for file storage & review, which proved cumbersome for the new post-focused workflow, especially for projects involving RAW footage.

WHY SUITE? Suite provides a centralized cloud-based solution for Toasty’s dispersed team of editors to access anything from RAW footage to final renders in real-time. Suite also scales, so when Toasty’s team brings in more work, the media remains accessible in one place. Lastly, the ability for Toasty’s remote post production specialists to export work directly into Suite also streamlines the feedback loop & helps the team hit deadlines faster than ever.

“Suite makes post production workflows & file management simple and efficient.”

— Victor Tan, Co-Founder & Owner, Toasty Video

Toasty Video, a growing media production & post house based in Chicago, is run by a young team with a keen sense for cutting-edge creativity. Maintaining a pulse on what’s trending is Toasty's bread-and-butter, like filming an advertisement in the style of Hulu’s zeitgeist horror-satire, The Menu, for a local restaurant. Staying on top of media trends ensures Toasty’s clients are hitting the right angles & audiences for every campaign.

Recently, though, Toasty's business needed a shake-up: While the in-house team had extensive experience in media production, its leadership sought new sources of revenue through post production. Hiring freelance contributors & diving head-first into offering post production services became the only way to succeed...

Victor Tan, Co-Founder & Owner of Toasty, was the first on his team to recognize that cumbersome workflows were a major factor inhibiting this new avenue of work. Initially, Tan & his team balanced a cumbersome mix of removable hard drives, Google Drive, Dropbox, and Frame.io storage solutions, using these tools to store/edit/share media. Simply put, it created too many moving parts. Tan sought a storage solution that brought everything together in one place, streamlining the creative process. Tan soon realized Suite's cloud-native filesystem could be the answer. “Everything is centralized,” Tan reflects. “It’s post production workflow and file management made simple.”

For someone in Tan’s position—operating as a post supervisor as well as a business leader at his studio—time spent dealing with workflows & files is often time spent on the wrong things. For folks like Tan who need to act fast to take on new work, tapping into remote collaborators can in a moment's notice can make (or break) a deal. “I have a pool of freelancers,” Tan explains, “Whenever they're available, I want to connect them to a project as quickly as possible.”

Utilizing Suite’s cloud storage enables Tan to connect with his team of remote editors with full oversight of media. Working with files centralized on the cloud, ready to edit in real-time, Tan can commit to a new project, receive media assets, upload them once to Suite, then ping any number of remote collaborators to get to work immediately.

Tan’s role as Admin also provides easy access to permissions settings & the ability to establish paths for each project. “Within Suite, I can create folders & folder structures, then provide access to freelancers, editors, and whoever else,” Tan explains. “Once the project starts, I just make sure everyone is doing what they need to do.”

The ability for individual, remote employees to work directly in the Suite drive also eliminates numerous steps in the feedback process & keeps Tan’s focus on the next round of edits. “Instead of [editors] exporting from Adobe Premiere, uploading to Frame.io, then sending me a link to review, those editors can just press ‘save’ in the Suite drive, and export a final copy into the Render folder I’ve created,” says Tan, touching on the workflow process that's possible with centralized cloud storage. “I can see updated files immediately—which is sweet. It really saves us time.”

Suite’s efficiency & ability to truly centralize data on the cloud were two major factors in Toasty choosing Suite’s cloud storage. As the brand continues to grow, Tan expects to maintain a finger on the pulse to ensure his team is working in the most effortless, collaborative manner... from anywhere. “We handle many different types of clients & content, and we enjoy [focusing on] different things, rather than find one niche.”

Utilizing Suite’s cloud storage, Toasty has been able able to easily evolve from a media production company into a full-service shop with post production capabilities. Looking ahead, Tan expects to keep his finger on the pulse by enabling easier connectivity to remote employees, centralizing media on the cloud for instant access, and providing Toasty’s team leaders the oversight they need to expand their business focus with clarity.

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To read more Case Studies about Suite's cloud storage, click here.

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