TopLine Film

Unwieldy physical storage for large files

TopLine Film used Dropbox from the very beginning. “As a three person agency, we had lots on our plates,” said Jamie Field, Managing Director at TopLine Film. “Dropbox made it easy.”

With the launch of the video department in 2012, the company’s storage became more complicated. At the time, cloud storage was relatively limited. Video files are massive and TopLine used hard drives to back up everything. This worked when they managed a few terabytes, but the process became unwieldy as they grew. TopLine approached Dropbox about obtaining an enterprise license, and Dropbox offered assurances that they’d never have to worry about space again.

The simplest tool is often the best

After their acquisition, TopLine Film noticed Definition Group’s other brands used solutions like SharePoint and WeTransfer. Field’s team tried these platforms, but always returned to Dropbox. They liked the simplicity of its interface coupled with its robust functionality. The TopLine team was so enthusiastic that they convinced the rest of Definition Group’s brands to migrate to Dropbox with the help of Kaizen IT. Together, they’ve created an integrated experience that allows other Definition Group divisions to use Dropbox for archiving and as a file server.

Many of TopLine’s project files come from Adobe software such as Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Photoshop. Those files are fairly small and remain in their Dropbox directory. Every time someone clicks “save” or the file auto saves, it’s instantaneously uploaded to the cloud—effectively acting as a live media server.

Dropbox simplifies the workflow between TopLine and their freelancers, too. Nearly all freelance camera operators use Dropbox, and now when they send footage via a Dropbox link, that video instantaneously appears on TopLine’s media server. TopLine also does a lot of work with Vimeo, and the Dropbox Vimeo integration means TopLine can immediately add footage from their media server into Vimeo without having to upload it separately. “I like the fact that with video files, even kind of fairly niche video formats, you can still play it through Dropbox, which I think is quite unique,” Field said.

Dropbox has also helped TopLine bolster their security as they’ve scaled. The platform’s permissions features give Field control over which people can see and access particular files. It happens in the background, but he remains confident that their assets are protected.

The easiest, most cost-effective way to share large media files

Dropbox has made it much easier for Field and his team to share and receive large video files. TopLine has a hundred people spread across three offices in the UK. With an additional team of freelancers and so many people working from home, it’s important that everybody has sustainable, functional cloud storage. Many companies still use physical servers because they imagine moving to the cloud will be complicated. But Field has found Dropbox to be more cost-effective than dealing with physical servers and service contracts, and he’s always experienced stellar support from the Dropbox team.

Clients used to be surprised that a professional video production company used Dropbox, but the platform has become the norm for primary file storage. The more people adopt it, the more everyone realizes the benefits.