DaVinci Resolve Media Management for Finishing

Streamline Your Blackmagic Cloud Workflow

As a finishing artist working on commercials in New York, one of the biggest challenges I face is managing massive media files when collaborating remotely. In today's post, I want to share a powerful workflow using Blackmagic Cloud Storage and DaVinci Resolve's Media Management tool. This technique allows you to shrink your transfer sizes dramatically, taking a 130 GB project down to just 5 or 6 GB, while retaining the exact pixel-perfect original quality for the frames you actually use on your timeline.

Whether you're handing off a timeline for color correction or visual effects, this "Proxy-Only" workflow with selectively syncing used original frames, will save you hours of upload and download time without sacrificing an ounce of quality.

Step 1: Setting Up a Proxy-Only Cloud Project

The core of this workflow revolves around setting up your DaVinci Resolve 21 project correctly from the start. We want our remote collaborators to edit using lightweight proxies, while we selectively sync the massive original files later.

1. Navigate to the Cloud Tab in DaVinci Resolve Studio 21 and start a new project (e.g., "Collab With Me").

2. Set a local project media location for generated files and downloads.

3. Enable multi-user sharing to allow real-time collaboration.

4. Under Blackmagic Cloud Storage settings, choose Sync Proxies Only. This is crucial, we are going to sync proxies for all footage but selectively sync originals only for the necessary frames later.

Pro Tip: Generate Proxies Automatically Open your Project Settings (the gear cog icon), navigate to Blackmagic Cloud, and check Generate proxies automatically. Any new media dragged into your project will instantly generate a proxy and upload it to the cloud in the background.

Step 2: The Remote Editing Experience

When the remote editor opens the cloud project for the first time, Resolve will ask where to store the downloaded files. They should also select Sync Proxies Only. Because proxy files are incredibly small (e.g., a few gigabytes for hours of footage), the download is almost instantaneous. For example, 144 MB of H.265 proxies can be synced before you even finish setting up your workspace. The editor can then complete the offline edit seamlessly.

Step 3: Media Management (Trimming the Fat)

Once the edit is complete, it's time to gather the high-quality originals—but only for the frames actually used in the timeline. We do this on the "Home" machine where the original 130 GB of footage resides.

1. Select the locked timeline in your Media Pool.

2. Go to File > Media Management.

3. Choose the Timelines tab and select Copy.

4. Check the box for Use media and trim. Set a handle length (I prefer 4 frame handles). This gives you enough extra footage for minor adjustments and covers any cross-dissolves.

5. Select Use project name and subfolders, then click Start.

Crucial Codec Warning The "Copy" trim method works perfectly for Intra-frame (I-Frame) codecs like Blackmagic RAW (BRAW) or Sony XAVC-S-I. However, if you are shooting with Long-GOP codecs (like standard H.264, H.265, XAVC-S, or XAVC-HS), copying trimmed media will often result in a broken workflow. If you have Long-GOP footage, you must choose Transcode instead of Copy. Select your source resolution and transcode to a high-quality intermediate format like ProRes 422 HQ or ProRes 4444 to maintain quality.

Step 4: Re-Conforming the Trimmed Media

Once the Media Management tool finishes creating the smaller, trimmed files (reducing our 130 GB to roughly 6 GB), we need to bring them back into our project.

1. Create a new bin in your Media Pool and call it "Finishing".

2. Import the newly trimmed footage files into this bin first. (I like to change the clip color of these files to orange so I know I'm looking at the trimmed versions.)

3. Next, locate the .drt timeline file that Media Management automatically generated on your desktop.

4. Drag this .drt file into the "Finishing" bin. Resolve will automatically conform the timeline to the trimmed clips sitting right next to it.

Step 5: Selectively Syncing Originals

The final step is pushing these lightweight original files to the cloud so the colorist or VFX artist can download them.

1. On the Home machine, select the newly imported, color-coded clips in the Media Pool.

2. Right-click and select Sync Original Media. This pushes the 6 GB of original pixel data up to Blackmagic Cloud.

3. On the Remote machine, navigate to the Finishing bin, select the clips, right-click, and also choose Sync Original Media to initiate the download.

Once the download completes, the purple proxy bar will disappear from the remote editor's timeline. In the viewer, simply switch to Prefer Camera Originals, and you are ready to grade 4K, pixel-perfect footage!