VIDEO: Tips for Better Dailies Notes

Here are 11 tips for taking better notes in dailies.

If you’re in Production, good note-taking practices are essential and it never stops. As a coordinator, you might take notes for dailies. As a Production Manager or Producer you might have Production reports, all of these tasks rely on good note-taking. 

A huge part of our role is data entry and management. Getting specific, let’s take a look at what you can do to take better notes in lighting/comp dailies.

Even if your artists are in dailies, still make sure your notes are as specific as possible, don’t leave it to them to take their own notes, let them have that time to answer their supervisor’s questions or to focus on the feedback. 

Let me be very clear: if you are in production and you are taking notes in dailies, it is your job to take accurate, efficient notes.

• Wherever possible, give the frame range. 
• Don’t just say ‘near the beginning of a shot’, say F8-12 if you can.

• If there are multiple characters in a scene, use their names, not just pronouns. 
• For example, if you say “boost his key light” but your shot is the one above, how can your artist be sure who you are referring to? Say Kristoff, Olaf, or Sven. 
• Your artists have a tight deadline, minimize guesswork
• If there are screen caps or annotations, write this in the note
• Specifically say Annotation attached and under Reference tab
• ex, "See drawover from Jane attached"
• Do not just attach the drawover/annotation, you need to spell it out in the shotgun note
• I would also strongly encourage you to not only add the drawover to the shot note, also attach it to the Reference tab of a shot with a description of “crash annotated - 2022-12-17 dailies”
• Also suggested - adjusted the Notes tab of a shot on Shotgun via ensuring the “Attachments” column is visible next to the note body column by default

• Acronyms should only be for technical terms. Common ones in dailies include:
• BG = background
• FG= foreground
• MG = mid ground
• DOF = depth of field
• FFR = full frame range
• FML = first, middle, last [frame of a shot]
• F/f = frame
• SL = screen left
• SR = screen right
• Example: there is a crash on the bg character f20-24, see SL leg vs. shirt

Above: @soyouwannabeprod has tons of helpful tips!

• Always use SL or SR, never a character’s right or left
• If a shot is approved, say so in the note.
• Shotgrid can be fickle. Always note if a version is approved, never just rely on flipping a version to approved. 
• If a director says “looks good” and you know they mean approved - don’t write that, write approved instead
• Include compliments from people evaluating the shot only
• Always a good morale booster!
• Compliments are secondary to any notes, make sure you get the notes first
• If there is a compliment from a Director about something specific, say so - this helps to reinforce for our artists what is working
• Do not add compliments of your own. You are Production and only there to take notes, leave it to the experts in the room
• Dailies notes should never just be “fix lighting” or “fix animation”
• If you are writing this, it means you missed the note (could be because you were distracted, could be that you weren’t paying attain)
• If you find yourself writing this down, apologize to your Director (or whoever is giving notes) and ask them to confirm the note
• It is okay to ask questions!
• Sometimes, shots can cause a whole conversation with a lot of back and forth. You don’t need to write this play-by-play, you do need to summarize it
• If you are unsure, you can ask something like, “so to confirm, we are sending it back to SFN for the crash, and comp needs to add the glow treatment?”
• It is also okay to say something like: “sorry folks, I got a bit lost in the tech speak there. Could someone please confirm what our action is for this shot?”
• For tough feedback, refer to supervisor or copy in previous notes
• Sometimes, shots are torn apart in dailies and artists aren’t present
• In this case, unless your studio says otherwise, you may simply put “please see Jane” (confirm with your supervisor in dailies if that is indeed the preferred course of action)
• If necessary, you may copy in your previous notes if the shot looks the exact same as previous submission (mind you, make sure your previous notes were specific and clear!)
• Remember, constructive feedback is best. Writing “This shot does not meet quality of show” will not help an artist and is not appropriate to put in Shotgrid for everyone to see.
• Notes should have specific actions, not conversational
• Ex, Shot looking great! Let’s push it even further 
• ...leaves way too much for interpretation on a tight deadline
• In this case, it is okay to ask the supervisor or person evaluating the shot for more details

Checklist before publishing notes and sending note summary:

• Statuses flipped?
• Do you know which shots, if any, you need to follow up on after dailies?
• Are all annotations/screen caps attached?
• Spell check!
• Include links to other notes, shots, reference pages, etc as needed
• Ex, refer to key lighting for sequence ABC here [shotgrid link]
• Remember to send the summary to yourself!

Further learning

So You Wanna Be Prod has an entire word bank of frequently used terms in VFX/animation

Why I will Always Use Notebooks at Work

Video: My Best Practices at Work

Video: Bad Habits to Break (at Work) Part 1

Video: Bad Habits to Break (at Work) Part 2