Is Adobe’s New Collab Tool 'Productions' Right for You?

In January Adobe teased a new toolset for multi-user collaboration called Productions for Premiere Pro. You might be thinking what about Team Projects? Well, the latter is used in conjunction with Creative Cloud, which is ideal for those in different locations, while Productions is intended for collaborators working on local storage.  

Key Features 

• Improve performance with smaller project sizes
• Organize and cross-reference assets
• Collaborate with multiple editors
• Securely control media

Premiere Pro has always been based on single project files. With Productions, multiple projects can now be opened at the same time and users can work seamlessly with them. The new feature allows for instant scalability and cross project references. 

The foundation of any good collaboration is when multiple editors can work on a project at the same time and that work doesn't get overwritten. Productions can be segmented into smaller file structures based on existing Premiere Pro project formats. For example, television shows can be broken up into episodes and acts, while films can be separated into reels and scenes. It can be organized to how you see fit. 

To manage everything Adobe has introduced a new Productions panel in Premiere Pro. Any media or project added to the Productions panel becomes part of the production, and any changes made on the local storage will be reflected in Premiere Pro to keep everything in sync.

What's also noteworthy about the nice Productions panel is that any user can organize the media. So let's say you need to start cutting a scene right away and you just dump the footage into a temporary folder. While you're cutting, an assistant editor can then come in and start organizing the folders into the appropriate structure. Then everything syncs on its own. 

Project Locking 

To make sure no work is overwritten, there is a Project Locking tool, but it still provides users access to the project where they can copy content. The only thing other users can't do is save changes to the edit until the project has been unlocked.

Additionally, all projects in Productions share the same global settings and scratch disks, so preview files rendered by one editor can be available for all editors. This is a great hack for those with slower machines. The editor with the faster computer can complete the CPU and graphics card hungry aspects of the edit, while other editors can cut scenes and lay in temp audio.   

To keep file sizes to a minimum, Adobe overhauled the data structure. Previously when you physically moved a sequence from one project to another, it would duplicate all the master clips. With cross project referencing, sequences and clips maintain their relationship and will remember their relationship throughout an entire production. 

Now all you have to do is move the sequence and Premiere Pro will reference the clips without making a copy. When you want to "right-click" to reveal the media in the project, Premiere Pro will correctly reference the media no matter what project it was created under. 

Productions also allows you to add any project to the panel if an editor happens to be working remotely. Let's say you're on set cutting the footage for that day. Once you're done, you can still add that project to the Productions panel which will then be shared with everyone. 

No Cloud Needed

Since Productions uses local storage there is no need to transfer files into the cloud. How fast you can access the media will depend on the speed of the storage device. The only data that is sent to the cloud is the data you choose to upload.

If you're in need of Adobe cloud collaborations, Team Projects is the route to take. As of now, Productions and Team Projects cannot be combined in any way. Team Projects is part of Team and Enterprise licenses for Premiere Pro and After Effects, while Productions is included for free with all Premiere Pro licenses. 

Team Projects available for free

With that said, Adobe is making Team Projects available for free to all Creative Cloud users from April 14 to August 17, 2020. If you do plan on taking advantage of the offer be sure to finish the edit prior to August 17, 2020 and save all the work locally in case you need to access it at a later date. 

Adobe is also launching a livestream series in the wake of NAB being canceled. Hosted by Jason Levine, the series will run from April 14 to 17. 

Tuesday, April 14

• 9:30 AM PT: Organized & Efficient, So You Can Get to Great Faster
• 10:30 AM PT: Bob Lindeman, Just the FAQs (USA Today): Remote Workflows & Fast Turnaround

Wednesday, April 15

• 9:30 AM PT: Access Everything Easily: Creative Tools in Premiere Pro
• 10:30 AM PT: Eric Demeusy: My Budget Indie Feature Film has 400 VFX Shots

Thursday, April 16

• 9:30 AM PT Smarter Tools for Faster Workflows in Premiere Pro
• 10:30 AM PT Alyssa Salter, Fine Brothers Entertainment: How Adobe Changed our Workflow

Friday, April 17

• 9:30 AM PT: New Public Beta Program for Creative Cloud Video and Audio Apps with David Simons 
• 10:30 AM PT: Penelope Nederlander & Amanda Gotera, Shine: Title Sequence for Birds of Prey 

You can view the Adobe livestreams here.