Dailies - Viewing

Viewing

Dailies are usually viewed by members of the film crew either early in the morning before filming starts, during the lunch break, or in the evening after filming ends. It is common for several members of the film crew including the director, cinematographer, editor and others to view and discuss the dailies as a group, but some productions opt to distribute multiple copies of the dailies for individual viewing (e.g., on DVD).

Viewing dailies allows the film crew to see exactly what images and audio were captured the previous day, allowing them to make sure there are no technical problems such as dirty, scratched, or out of focus film. It also allows the director to ensure that they are happy with the performances of the actors and that they have captured a scene from all the necessary camera angles. If additional filming is desired it can often be done immediately rather than re-shooting later when sets may have been torn down and actors may no longer be available.

Dailies are also often viewed separately by producers or movie studio executives who are not directly involved in day-to-day production but seek assurance that the film being produced meets the expectations they had when they invested in the project. Commonly a dailies sequence is quite boring, as it often includes multiple takes of the same shot.

Film directors and film producers prefer to view film dailies rather than DVD dailies. However, because of the costs involved, some productions will start by viewing film dailies and later switch to DVD dailies. One reason why film dailies are preferred over DVD dailies is it is much easier to check for correct focus with film dailies than with video dailies. HD dailies can be as big as 2k resolution (2048 x 858, 2.39:1 aspect).

In the production of low-budget films with few crew and a short uninterrupted shooting period there is sometimes no time to view dailies.