For German broadcaster RTL2’s new streaming format, La Familia – House of Reality, Munich-based production company SUPERAMA took on all aspects of post production for the first season, delivering 90 episodes in 90 days.
The unscripted format sees five influencers and TV personalities document their everyday lives while living together in a shared house. The RTL2 production, conceived by creative producer Gerhard Putz and producer Felix Fischer of GoodthingsIng, relies on user generated footage shot using iPhones, which had to be turned around quickly into polished episodes.
The goal: to deliver a 25-minute episode to release on RTL+ every single day. To meet this challenge, the team relied on DaVinci Resolve and a cloud-based workflow using Blackmagic Cloud. Holger Frick, co-managing partner at SUPERAMA, explains how this approach made the ambitious production feasible: “Our task was to edit, mix and deliver an episode daily. The challenge was not only the fast production pace but also the fact that the protagonists had to film themselves – often without any form of professional camera or technical experience.”
Cloud-based workflow as a solution
To streamline production, SUPERAMA developed a cloud-based approach around DaVinci Resolve Studio. “As soon as the protagonists hit the record button on their iPhones and stopped filming, all files automatically upload into a Dropbox folder and could be remotely edited and imported into the DaVinci Resolve cloud project from anywhere,” says Frick. “The advantage: all team members – five editors and three producers – had immediate access to the material, regardless of their location.”
“The entire post process could take place remotely from home or anywhere with a stable internet connection,” he adds. “This enabled parallel work throughout post and was the only reason we were able to successfully tackle such an ambitious production schedule.”
The 4K iPhone footage shot in cinema mode was recorded as h.265 clips. “We edited the material natively in h.265,” explained Frick. In the end, they delivered a TV standard XDCAM HD422 format with R128-compliant audio mixing.
Another advantage in using DaVinci Resolve was the automatic sorting of raw material using the AI facial recognition as it was ingested. “Resolve’s Neural Engine allowed us to automatically create bins for each protagonist and sort all clips accordingly. This was extremely helpful as it saved us considerable time and money,” says Frick. “Starting with around 30 minutes of raw footage, we’d edit down and mixed a completed 20-minute episode, including audio, in just two days.
Game-changer in fast-paced production workflows
The decision to use a cloud-based workflow was key for SUPERAMA in meeting the project’s deadline. “Without Blackmagic Cloud, we wouldn’t have been able to manage the fast pace and volume of material,” Frick states. “The cloud solution ensured maximum flexibility and efficiency.”
SUPERAMA has since completed the production, but the project demonstrates that this type of fast, cost-effective production will likely be used more frequently in the future. “We have established the workflow and now the production continues independently in its second season,” he concludes.
With the combination of Blackmagic Cloud, DaVinci Resolve, and a decentralised editing team, SUPERAMA delivered an impressive achievement in just three months. This example highlights that cloud-based workflows are the future of production and post production, especially for formats that demand quick results and high production frequency.
