How has technology changed the film industry? From the earliest days of sequential photography to the introduction of sound to the birth of CGI, the intersection of technology and film has propelled the moving picture from literally non-existent to positively ubiquitous in less than 200 years.
And why stop now?
This post will highlight new technologies that are disrupting the filmmaking industry. From pre-production through post, we’ll talk about how tech is transforming every phase of moviemaking. We’ll even dig into the procedural nitty gritty with a sneak peek at how Wrapbook is changing the notoriously difficult world of production administration and payroll.
Together, we’ll explore the near future of filmmaking, as we break down three new technologies disrupting the filmmaking industry.
Let’s dive in.
1. Mobile apps for crew
The combined power and flexibility of mobile technology makes it a natural fit for the filmmaker’s toolbox. However, while digital viewfinders and sun-tracking apps have been common for years, mobile production solutions are only now beginning to impact the day-to-day labor of life on set.
Until recently, the administrative work of professional filmmaking has remained stubbornly and shockingly analog. Production teams still chase down crew members for physical paperwork, still process timecards by hand, and still drag around mountains of critical documents from set to set in folders or boxes. The end result is a production process that’s slow, inefficient, and risky.
Mobile solutions have the power to change all that. Combined with the right digital tools, productions can use mobile technology to optimize organization, streamline communication and payment, increase safety, and craft a better quality of life for the entire crew.
And when life on set is easier for the crew, it’s easier for those in charge.
Let’s take the Wrapbook App as an example. The app creates transparency between production teams and crew members by allowing both parties to track the status of important documents, requests, and payments.
It eliminates the unnecessary headaches of production payroll by providing a fast, transparent, and secure portal for crew to complete startwork documents, submit timecards, and track pay.
The Wrapbook App empowers production teams to manage onboarding, collect timecards and much more from a single dashboard on any iOS device.
All personal data is fully encrypted, and crew members access their accounts using biometric authentication methods (like Face ID and Touch ID) to ensure maximum personal security.
Film producers, commercial producers, photographers—anyone paying anyone in the entertainment world—can benefit. See how this production company takes advantage of the app on and off set.
2. Real-time production payroll
With so many new technologies emerging in the film industry, the backend of production has yet to keep pace. Admin work like production payroll, has remained largely untouched, painful, and tedious as ever before.
Production payroll solutions like Wrapbook were built to tackle this.
Wrapbook enables a level of end-to-end transparency not seen with traditional, analog providers. Because production teams can manage the entire payroll process from a single interface, it allows them to shepherd payroll each step of the way, with every payment visible to producers, accountants, and individual crew as soon as it’s made.
The typical challenges of crew onboarding, timecard approval, and payment are all optimized for efficiency within Wrabook’s all-in-one system. When timecard approval and submission tasks are directly connected to crew onboarding forms, it makes it easier to pay crew fast and accurately.
Additionally, Wrapbook’s all-in-onte approach gives production teams more control. Communication is clear and work flows fast. As an example, those running payroll on Wrapbook can push payments through right away—selecting individual timecards or selecting in batches.
With smart payroll, don’t hold up the batch — select the timecards that are ready to run with the check of a box.
Wrapbook’s agility is further supported by comprehensive tracking and reporting features that keep stakeholders in the loop at all times.
Get more insights and learn more about real-time production payroll here.
Or, navigate here to see Wrapbook in action.
3. Digital crew onboarding
The traditional onboarding process is a paperwork nightmare. Forms are gathered by hand into a confusing clutter. Documents are damaged or lost. Even when things are going well, production teams waste tons of time repeating the same tedious tasks over and over, often with the same crew.
Digital onboarding, by contrast, can eliminate those problems. By using technology to digitize onboarding, productions remove the most flawed parts of the process, leaving repeat work and disorganization in the dust.
Wrapbook’s digital startwork features automatically collect critical onboarding documents and associate them directly with individual crew member profiles. Forms and documents are then securely archived in a searchable database, ensuring that no document ever goes missing.
Critical documents can be submitted a single time and repeat forms can be kept to an absolute minimum. This also makes it easier to rehire crew.
With just a few clicks, rehire your favorite AD.
When it comes to digital onboarding, one smart piece of technology at the very beginning can lead producers and their crew to a better experience throughout the entire production process.
Connect with a payroll expert to learn how Wrapbook simplifies crew onboarding before your next production.
Wrapping Up
The future of technology in the film industry is today brighter and more expansive than ever before. This list contains only a few examples of the technological innovations popping up in every corner of the visual entertainment industry.
Wrapbook is a one-stop payroll and production insurance solution that’s disrupting the foundation of production itself. By leveraging technology to put as much power as possible directly into filmmakers’ hands, Wrapbook is changing the way projects are managed from the ground up.
Have a film, music video, commercial, live event, or photoshoot coming up?
Find out how Wrapbook can help.
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