Developing Tank vs Spreadsheets
Most post-production tracking starts in a spreadsheet. Google Sheets costs nothing, your whole team already knows it, and a well-built template carries a low-complexity show without much pain. One VFX editor, a manageable shot count, and a spreadsheet gets you to delivery.
The math changes with the project. On a 10-episode series with 400 VFX shots and a moving cut, someone updates rows by hand every time the editor recuts. Shot counts change, clip names shift, and a marker deleted in an early version still belongs in the record because the vendor already got it. That is all typing, and every keystroke is another chance to paste a value into the wrong row.
Developing Tank handles the post-production data that spreadsheets handle badly. VFX shot detection reads the sequence file, so when the editor delivers a new cut, the tracker updates from the file instead of from someone scrolling the timeline and typing what they see. Change detection compares versions, flags what moved, grew, shrank, or disappeared, and keeps deleted shots in the record with their history intact.
Google Sheets sync ships with it, so the departments that want a live spreadsheet still get one, populated from the source sequence rather than maintained by hand.
Keep your spreadsheets for call sheets, shot notes, and anything that does not come out of an editorial file. For VFX tracking, scene management, and file generation, the manual overhead piles up fast, and the sync and output tools here absorb that work.
| Feature | Developing Tank | Spreadsheets |
|---|---|---|
| Auto-detect VFX shots | Yes | No |
| All data is manual entry | No | Yes, every cell typed |
| Generates AVB/EDL/ALE | Yes | No |
| Change detection | Yes | No |
| Syncs with Google Sheets | Yes | Yes |
| Error-prone | Structured validation | Yes, no validation and formula spaghetti |
| Learning curve | Light (purpose-built UI) | Can be steep to learn complex functions |
| Collaboration | Yes | Yes (Google Sheets) |
| Works offline | No | No |
| Infinitely flexible | Structured for post workflows | Yes, tracks anything |
| Carries between shows | Yes | Templates carry over, the rebuild is manual |
| Target user | Assistant Editor | Your data |
A real scenario: 340 VFX shots across a 10-episode drama
Take a scripted drama with 340 VFX shots spread across 10 episodes. Through assembly and fine cut, the editor delivers a new sequence every two to three days, which comes to roughly 20 sequences before the cut locks.
On a spreadsheet, each delivery sends someone through the new cut row by row against the previous version, looking for shots that changed frame count or clip name, shots that got deleted, and shots that are new. At 340 shots, a careful pass runs 45 minutes to an hour. Across 20 deliveries you have spent 15 to 20 hours typing and comparing, and the record is only as accurate as one tired person catching every change.
In Developing Tank, the AE uploads the new sequence file and change detection runs. Changed shots carry their old and new values. Deleted shots stay in the record under a status marker. New shots land in the tracker. That 45-minute comparison now costs an upload and a click on Process.
Where spreadsheets still win
Spreadsheets are the right tool for a good deal of post-production work:
- Call sheets and shoot schedules. Scheduling data never comes out of an editorial file, so a spreadsheet suits it.
- Quick vendor shot notes. A shared Google Sheet beats onboarding a vendor to a new system for a handful of annotations.
- Budget tracking. Financial data belongs in a spreadsheet, not a VFX database.
- Low-shot productions. A commercial with 12 VFX shots and a locked cut has nothing for change detection to do.
Spreadsheets fall down when they track data that changes every time the editor recuts, because a person then sits between the editorial file and the record, retyping under deadline pressure.
What the transition looks like
Switching tracking tools mid-show is a fair thing to worry about. Google Sheets sync is in Developing Tank to make the switch quiet: process a sequence, and the results publish to a live Google Sheet. The VFX producer, the post supervisor, and the online editor keep watching the spreadsheet they already watch. It fills itself from the sequence file now.
Run Developing Tank alongside your existing spreadsheet while you build confidence. Process a sequence, compare the output against what your manual pass produced, and drop the manual version once the two agree. One or two sequence uploads is usually enough.
Common objections answered
"Our spreadsheet template is already set up." Developing Tank outputs CSV, so your template feeds from the export instead of from your hands. You keep the template and lose the data entry.
"The VFX coordinator prefers a spreadsheet." Google Sheets sync gives them a live one that refreshes on every sequence you process, with nobody exporting or pasting.
"We have a custom formula structure." The CSV export carries every shot field your formulas read: clip name, timecode, frame count, scene number, VFX status, and change flag. Your formula logic keeps working.
The Verdict
Spreadsheets earn their place for quick lists and notes. For VFX tracking, scene management, and file generation, Developing Tank cuts out the manual steps and shortens turnaround. Structured outputs and validation catch the handoff errors before a vendor does.