Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/501792
70 CINEMONTAGE / SPRING 2015 70 CINEMONTAGE / SPRING 2015 TECH TIPS notes and play back media from Kollaborate on a range of devices. There is also a downloadable Kollaborate plug-in pack, which works with Final Cut and Premiere, allowing for direct uploading to Kollaborate from within those applications. GETTING STARTED To begin using Kollaborate, you'll need to create an account on its website (see Figure 1). If you're a new user, you can sign up for a free, 15-day trial. After that, you can then sign up for ongoing service that varies in price depending on your needs. The lowest cost of entry is a Freelance account, which provides 12 GB of storage, five users per project, unlimited projects, a personal storage area and unlimited bandwidth. It costs $45 per month, or $15 dollars a month with an annual subscription. For a bit more money, larger organizations and enterprises can get additional storage and users per project; more details can be found on the company's website. After logging into Kollaborate, you'll want to create a new project on the Projects page and fill in some details about it, such as its name, a short description and, optionally, a client name. Since the whole point of Kollaborate is to share your work and receive feedback about it, you'll then invite the different users with whom you work, and enter their e-mail addresses. You can also enter optional details about them, such as in what department they work (Art, Graphics, Visual Effects, etc.). If users you are inviting do not have a Kollaborate account, they will automatically receive one and be e-mailed a password, which can be changed on their profile page when they log in. The amount of users you can invite to a project ranges from five in a Freelance account to over 250 in a Network Plus account. Once you create a project and invite some users, it's time to upload some videos to the project so you can begin to discuss them with your team. To do this, you'll need to go to the Files area of Kollaborate, click the Upload button and drag in a video file under 4GB in size. The video will become immediately available, but Kollaborate also automatically transcodes a version of the file to recommended settings in order to keep playback running smoothly. Note that the original file is always available to the team by clicking the Download button. That is a useful feature in case you (or a member of your team) is on the road and need a high- quality local copy of the file on which to work. Uploaded files are organized into a list with columns that indicate the file type, the status of a file (whether it needs approval, has been approved or was rejected), when it was uploaded and by whom, and what size it is. Note that any type of file can be stored, not just video. When a video has been uploaded, the users you invited to the Team page will be notified of the new upload and can begin the process of reviewing and providing feedback (see Figure 2). If you want to make the file viewable to those outside of the project, you can create a link to it. You can also set an expiration date and a password for the link, and Kollaborate will automatically remind users if they don't view a link within seven days. GIVING FEEDBACK Naturally, what makes Kollaborate so useful is the interaction between the members of the team and the valuable feedback they give during the review and approval process. Therefore, Kollaborate has robust commenting features (though you can choose to disable commenting if you like). To start commenting on a video, you click Right, Figure 1: You can try out Kollaborate on your next project easily by signing up for a 15-day free trial. Below, Figure 2: Kollaborate allows you to manage your team by creating tasks for them.