Multi-project Calendar, Production Scheduling, Centralized Workspace, Episodic Production, Feature Film With involvement in several successful projects, including work on the Resident Evil franchise, prominent German production house Constantin Film recounts the types of workflows involved and the challenges faced by modern film productions

With the theatrical release of German local comedy hit Guglhupfgeschwader and rom-com Liebesdings, we asked Constantin Film what challenges film productions face today, what workflows are involved - and how the first year with Yamdu went We were joined by Nicholas Goodwin (Head of Post-Production), Verena Vogl (Junior Production Manager), Salomé Tomasek (Assistant Production Manager) and Florian Schneider (Producer and Managing Director at PSSST! Film, a subsidiary of Constantin Film)

"Previously, you had to think first: Was it in Dropbox or on my desktop in an Excel file, or was it in an email? Today I open Yamdu in the morning and find everything bundled in one place, project by project Very simple " Verena Vogl Junior Production Manager at Constantin Film

What was your first point of contact with Yamdu?

Nicholas Goodwin (NG): We've been looking for something to work with in a collaborative way for a very long time Especially for post-production, but beyond that as well We have too many islands in our day-to-day professional lives From story development to the finished product and distribution That's traditionally the case in film, even at Constantin Film *Web app combining tools for all departments and stages of film, tv and video productions and other creative media projects.

We've learned to work with stand-alone products, like email, Notes, Excel, Word, ftrack, calendar, Whatsapp - really different ways of interacting with each other and some of them, in their own way, are very local I too have re-colored many fields and bars in Excel One person does it this way, the other does it differently There's just never been a form of unified communication and collaboration when it comes to software I heard about Yamdu early on and I've always liked the idea that Yamdu is a tool that captures a lot of what we see here in terms of problems and what comes up in a production That's the collaborative goal we want to achieve together

Verena Vogl (VV): For me, the first point of contact was with Liebesdings in early 2021 At first, I was skeptical It was not very comprehensible for me How could a platform map what we move from A to B every day? Can software solve our problems at all?

What specific problems could you face in your day-to-day work in (of managing and in coordinating projects?) production management and coordinating projects?

VV: In our daily lives, for example, it's about contacts that you need quickly Appointments that you want to double-check In general, it's all about looking for things to coordinate with others across many projects And that brings me to the point where Yamdu surprised me It's super easy to switch back and forth between projects at the push of a button One minute you are in the calendar in the project Liebesdings, the next minute you need a contact from KaDeWe and then a cast list for Rumspringa Previously, you had to think first: Was it in Dropbox or on my desktop in an Excel file, or was it in an email? Today I open Yamdu in the morning and find everything bundled in one place, project by project Very simple

We’re glad to hear that. Now you don't want to run Yamdu alone, but you want to add team members. What was your experience with this?

VV: Inviting or adding team members is quite simple However, I have saved various text modules in Word so that I can quickly have the necessary module ready for the invitation text and insert it into the Yamdu invitation At the beginning, I didn't pay that much attention to it, but it's super important to get everyone settled in right from the start Writing to them: Hi, this is Yamdu and this is the reason we're asking you to use Yamdu With a semi-personal message, acceptance goes up immediately

Florian Schneider (FS): It was similar for us with Servus, Baby On average, we can say that the team members who had already had contact with Yamdu continued to use it For those who were new to it, we had to break down reservations here and there and give them a moment to get to know the tool On the whole, however, it was well received It certainly helped that someone was answering in the support bubble; there were people behind it who were happy to help and who understood our industry

"With Yamdu, we give the team a common tool and free ourselves from individual solutions, different storage locations or individual hardware " Florian Schneider Producer and Managing Director at PSSST! Film

So the crew registrations ran smoothly for the most part?

VV: Yes What was more of a hurdle for me at the beginning was the question, have I given the team members the correct access rights? Does the person see what he or she is supposed to see - and what he or she is not supposed to see? I had a hard time with that in the beginning Yamdu offers new possibilities in terms of transparency, which is good per se–With many presets, it's much better than Dropbox and tailored to our industry But you can also decide for yourself what you really want to share; and that on a very granular level That was still very unusual with Liebesdings as my first project It took two or three projects to get to know Yamdu and to trust Yamdu Today I can proudly say: Yes, I want Yamdu! And I trust Yamdu

Salomé Tomasek (ST): At the time of my first contact with Yamdu, for KaDeWe, I was on the other side I was added to the project I thought that was very good; it made me curious to have such a shared workspace I also understood right away that I could find everything about the project here Of course I remember that I was worried, just like Verena, if the access rights would really work out It takes time when dealing with such systems I think the more Yamdu can show in the future who is on the mailing list or something similar, the more secure you feel This is essential for sharing production data I found and still find the idea of Yamdu superb, no question

What advantages does Yamdu bring, to you personally, for your work as a coordinator or in production on a day-to-day basis?

ST: The automatic generation of watermarks, for example, is a huge relief When you send documents like screenplays, Yamdu automatically adds personalized watermarks - in a way that makes them impossible to remove What used to take hours can now be done with one click - including tracking We've even had problems with Adobe & Co in this regard But you can also see the challenges It would also be possible in Yamdu to store the script, and Yamdu would point it out to the team, and the team could virtually use it themselves - including individual watermarks But that doesn't work on a broad scale yet People just expect to be sent files like the script, but at least out of Yamdu I'm sure we could save more time with Yamdu in the future if the crew gets used to it

FS: From a production point of view, we work under tremendous time pressure Not only with the series New technical tools are making everything more flexible: lighter cameras, lighter lighting equipment, right down to the software And that is the reason why we chose Yamdu Yamdu gives us more agility and flexibility in production

Can you think of a concrete example?

FS: With Yamdu, we have a common hub for all important information that everyone can always access From staff and cast lists, which we can "dial" directly via the platform but also the mobile app All the essential information from scripts to shooting schedules, call sheets, and calendars This information can be accessed on set or in the office and is always available in the latest version

Especially in the current shooting situation, which was influenced by Corona, it meant that we were independent of where we were actually working Regardless of whether it was on set, in the office, or even in home-office, there was no problem for the team member to continue working with Yamdu in the usual manner If crew members were completely absent due to Corona, for example, we were able to quickly integrate the replacement into the ongoing production using Yamdu After all, all you have to do at Yamdu is assign the position or change the access rights accordingly with a few clicks This meant that the work could continue without any loss of information

So, was that more difficult before Yamdu?

FS: Before Yamdu, we didn’t know of any collaboration tool that would allow us to keep the core information of complex production processes together in one place so that we could work on it together and thus transfer it to other production stages without any losses In the past, everyone tried to keep their information together individually Information and documents were in emails or resided on individual laptops, shared files in different dropboxes

But you were always dependent on individual order and individual team members, which is fatal Teams thrown together means tools thrown together So there are always gaps in information - from development to pre-production, to the shooting team, the final delivery, and the broadcaster And then important "informants," such as assistant directors or coordinators drop out after the shoot But you remain dependent on their knowledge, lists, files and calendars

With Yamdu, it's easy to seamlessly plug in, pass information to the next production stages, because everyone works in the same software with different, but flexible, access rights to protect sensitive data All data and information in one place from pre-production to shooting, post-production and delivery A game changer if you work almost exclusively with freelancers, as we do in film With Yamdu, we give the team a common tool and free ourselves from individual solutions, different storage locations or individual hardware

ST: As far as I know, we also no longer run crew lists in parallel, just in Yamdu The advantage is simply that everything always looks uniform–that's what Yamdu has brought, including reusability Yamdu was also used for Guglhupfgeschwader And now, when I prepare the new (film) installments to the Eberhofer franchise, I naturally use the old project and the old staff list as a template Even if I don't add all the team members right away In my Yamdu projects, I want to be alone at first and prepare everything properly Then I add the people The ones we've already shot with are in the database anyway

VV: True That's important for acceptance from the team We don't invite the crew until we have something to offer The script is in there, there are already the first dates, there's a shooting schedule, etc Yamdu's power can unfold when people can work together in real time And for that, it has to be filled with life And if it's done well, you'll notice how artificial hurdles and spatial distances between departments disappear

Does that also apply to post-production?

NG: We discovered for ourselves how to create templates for the plans and make them usable again in Yamdu After all, we have to see Yamdu as a platform that can map the different project types at Constantin Film and Constantin Television: Feature films for cinema, feature films for TV, series productions - with different numbers of episodes This is a Netflix-owned title, while this is a Netflix-licensed title, and so on And here we want to offer templates that our colleagues can just quickly get started with

Is the influence of post-production greater nowadays than it used to be?

NG: At the very least, it can be said that the post defines where it will go And it's only consequential to think from the onset about what will have to be delivered to whom at some point Of course, this also affects the choice of cameras, formats and other technological issues But it's also very much related to planning In our everyday lives, things change all the time And with Yamdu, everyone can see changes immediately You don't have to read emails It's just there You automatically create facts Of course, to do that, people have to be willing to accept opening Yamdu in the morning and saying, this is my single source of truth That's a process

ST: Yes, it will eventually, but it will take time for crews to adjust Because of the insane amount of information we distribute Even if you're asked the same question three times a day Actually, in the future, we want to say, "Have you looked at Yamdu yet?" For some people, it's not easy to get used to something like that