What Are Dailies in Film Production?

Dailies (also called "rushes" in the UK) are the raw, unedited footage shot during each day of production. They're transferred from set to post-production so directors, editors, and producers can review what was captured.

Why Dailies Matter

Dailies serve several critical functions in production:

• Quality check: Directors and cinematographers review dailies to verify technical quality, performance, and coverage before moving on to the next scene.
• Editorial preparation: Editors begin assembling scenes while production continues, accelerating the post-production timeline.
• Stakeholder review: Producers, studios, and other stakeholders can monitor progress without being on set.

The Dailies Workflow

A typical dailies workflow involves:

1. Capture: Camera footage is recorded to cards or drives throughout the shooting day.
2. Offload: The DIT backs up and verifies the media, often creating checksums.
3. Transfer: Files are transferred to editorial — either physically (shipping drives) or electronically.
4. Processing: A dailies lab or colorist may apply a basic LUT for viewing.
5. Distribution: Dailies are made available to stakeholders, often through a secure review platform.

Dailies File Sizes

Dailies can be massive. A single day of shooting on a modern digital cinema camera can generate:

• ARRI ALEXA 35: 6-12TB per day (ARRIRAW)
• RED V-RAPTOR: 3-8TB per day (R3D)
• Sony VENICE 2: 4-10TB per day (X-OCN)

Transferring this volume daily is one of the biggest logistical challenges in modern production.

Transferring Dailies with Handrive

Traditional dailies transfer relies on either shipping physical drives (slow, expensive, risky) or pay-per-GB services (per-GB fees add up quickly at these volumes).

Handrive offers a free alternative:

• Direct P2P transfer: Send dailies directly from set to the edit suite without cloud upload.
• No per-GB fees: Transfer 10TB of dailies without paying $2,500+ in per-GB fees.
• Satellite-grade protocol: Latency-independent transfer handles challenging network conditions.
• Headless mode: Run Handrive on a studio NAS for 24/7 availability — DITs upload when wrapped, editors download when ready.