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How to do remote video editing

Hey,

As the title says, for my next project I'll need to edit a video "remotely", meaning I won't be anywhere near where the shooting takes place during the whole duration of the project. I'm looking for a way to get access to the footage easily and quickly, that is : not having to download huge files or getting a hard drive sent to me by mail.

So far I've come up with two potential solutions :

1. Do the editing on a remote computer with all the source footage on it, using a service like gotomypc.com. From what I've read this isn't ideal because of latency issues.

2. Download a compressed version of the footage on my computer, do the editing using the downloaded footage, then send back the "editing info" (ie. a text file containing all the informations about the editing, like cuts timings) to someone with acess to the source material, who will then use this information to do the final rendering in high quality. I know Final Cut can export projects to .xml for instance, but I have no idea if that feature can be used in this way though and haven't found anything on the subject so far.

So yeah, that's my issue, if what I'm trying to do is unclear then please tell me and I'll try to re-word it. I'm most familiar with Final Cut, but I'm open to other editing softwares if you think they're more suited for this kind of job. I'm looking forward to your feedback, thanks in advance for your ideas ! :)
 
You could certainly be sent small proxy files to edit with, and send back either an XML or EDL. That will work fine if you're just doing what would traditionally be an offline edit, and then you'll send back the EDL/XML for them to do the online with the full quality clips.

I wouldn't work on a 'remote' PC via Desktop Sharing or VNC, as it will end up being essentially unworkable.
 
You could certainly be sent small proxy files to edit with, and send back either an XML or EDL. That will work fine if you're just doing what would traditionally be an offline edit, and then you'll send back the EDL/XML for them to do the online with the full quality clips.

I wouldn't work on a 'remote' PC via Desktop Sharing or VNC, as it will end up being essentially unworkable.

I 2nd this. I personally prefer to just get a HD in the mail, but I obviously don't know your particular circumstances and you've stated that you don't want to do that. That being the case, I'd follow Jax's advice.
 
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