How to Send Us Your Film's Assets
There are three options to send us your assets. Google Drive, Dropbox and Snail Mail. Both Google Drive and Dropbox are file transferring services that can bypass the limitations of web browsers and file size limitations. These systems are best explained as one hard drive shared between two or more users. If one person makes a change, the change will reflect on the other user's system. If you are sharing between more than two users who are independent, it's important to understand that the users are sharing the same drive space in their account. After the files have been transferred they will be deleted by the last user and will be deleted on your end. It's not possible to share the same folder with multiple vendors. If you need to share the same assets with multiple vendors, you must a share an identical (but separate) folder with each vendor.
Option 1 - Dropbox: (Quick but more expensive than Google Drive)
You can transfer all your movie assets through Dropbox. Web Browsers have a max 2GB restriction on uploading files and will tend to abort or freeze. You cannot upload more than 2GB size files in the free version. To bypass this restriction, you have to install the Dropbox Desktop Client and log in with your free account. There is no limitation to how big your file size is. We recommend using Dropbox if you have any files that exceed 10GB. Typically feature films or longer short films would benefit from Dropbox.
1. Send us an email to assets@indieflix.com and let us know the email that you will register at Dropbox.
2. We will send you an invitation to join.
3. Check your email for the invitation and follow the instructions to download and install the Dropbox application to your computer.
4. After installing, log into the application using either your newly created Dropbox account or log in using an existing account.
5. For total space that exceeds the 2GB free account, you must purchase the Dropbox 100GB account for $9.99, the 200GB account for $19.99, or the 500GB account for $49.99. (Make sure to cancel your reoccurring monthly subscription to Dropbox if you no longer wish to use this service.)
6. Email assets@indieflix.com with your Dropbox account's email address.
7. Wait for email confirmation to access your shared folder then confirm your account.
8. Accept the Shared Folder access either through the email confirmation or through the "Sharing" -> “Shared Folder” on www.dropbox.com. (You must be signed into the account online.)
9. A new folder will be created on your computer named as your movie title. For MAC: see photo screenshot HERE. For Windows: see photo screenshot HERE.
10. Copy and Paste (do not move) your movie assets (Download Asset Requirement Packet) into that folder.
11. Dropbox will automatically sync to the files in the folder. Please stay connected to the internet as the files are uploaded.
12. You will receive a notification on your Dropbox system icon that your files have been uploaded.
13. DO NOT DELETE THE FILES AFTER THEY SYNC. If you delete the files, they will be removed from Dropbox. Once the files have been synced to our Dropbox account, we will delete them on our end after we process them and they will be removed from your Dropbox folder on your computer automatically.
Please take into account that it takes one to two weeks to sync a feature length ProRes422 file to your Dropbox account. Please account for this upload time. We recommend hard wiring your computer directly into your router as opposed to wifi. Leave your computer turned on and disable sleep mode. This will allow your computer to sync faster.
Option 2 - Google Drive: (Quickest and cheapest method)
You can transfer all your movie assets through Google Drive. It works very similiarly to Google Docs. Web Browsers have a max 2GB restriction on uploading files and will tend to abort or freeze. You cannot upload more than 2GB size files through the web browser. To bypass this restriction, you have to install the Google Drive Desktop Client and log in with your Gmail account. There is a 10GB max file size limit on uploading through the Google Drive Desktop Client. We recommend using Google Drive if any of your assets do not exceed 10GB. Typically best for short films under 25 minutes.
1. If you do not have a Gmail (Google Email) account, sign up for free HERE.
2. After you sign into your Gmail account, you must sign up for Google Drive HERE.
3. Google Drive offers 5GB free for all Gmail subscribers after you sign up. If you’re movie assets exceed 5GB, you can purchase,an upgrade from $2.49 (25GB) to $4.99 (100GB) per month. You can purchase just a single month but you must cancel your service after you upgrade your Drive account. You can upgrade your Google Drive account HERE.
4. After signing up for Google Drive through either a free 5GB account or an upgraded account, you must install the Google Drive Desktop Client. You can download the software HERE.
5. After the installation is completed. Sign in with your Gmail account. You can access the Google Drive software on MAC through the menu bar at the top. See photo screenshot HERE. For Windows, you can access the Google Drive software through the Drive icon on the System Tray next to the clock on the bottom right hand corner. See photo screenshot HERE.
6. Copy and paste (do not move) your assets into the Google Drive folder (Download Asset Requirement Packet). Let the files sync to your account. Make sure to copy your files and not move them. The files that are dropped into this folder will be deleted automatically.
7. After your files sync and while your logged into your Gmail account, go to your Google Drive/Documents app. You can access it HERE. The assets, after being synced, will show up as documents.
8. The next step requires you to share the assets with our Gmail account. Click on each asset and share it with assets@indieflix.com. See photo screenshot HERE.
9. After you click "Share & save", the file will then show up in our Drive/Documents tab and we can then download and process them.
10. DO NOT DELETE THE FILES AFTER THEY SYNC. If you delete the files, they will be removed from the Google Drive folder. Once the files have been synced to our Drive account, we will delete them on our end after we process them.
If you have any issues with the steps above please notify us at assets@indieflix.com.
Option 3 - Snail Mail us an external hard drive or flash drive: (Slowest, most expensive method and a heightened chance of losing equipment)
1. Purchase an external hard drive or flash drive.
2. Ship the drive to: 4111 E. Madison St., Suite 310, Seattle, WA 98112.
3. Please include a paid return shipping label and we will ship the drive back to you.
We do not recommend this method as drives get lost or damaged in route. It also costs much more than the above.
If you have any issues with this process please email assets@indieflix.com for support.
