Developing Tank vs Spreadsheets

Spreadsheets are where most post-production tracking starts, and for good reason. Google Sheets requires no license, everyone already knows how to use it, and a well-built template can handle a low-complexity show without too much pain. For small productions with a single VFX editor and a manageable shot count, a spreadsheet can get the job done.

The problem scales with the project. A 10-episode series with 400 VFX shots and a moving cut means someone is manually updating rows every time the editor recuts. Shot counts change, clip names shift, and a marker that got deleted in an early version still needs to be in the record because it was already sent to the vendor. None of that is automatic in a spreadsheet - it's just more data entry with more opportunity for copy-paste error.

Developing Tank is built specifically for the post-production data that spreadsheets handle badly. VFX shot detection runs from the sequence file directly, so when the editor delivers a new cut, the tracker updates from the file instead of from someone reading through the sequence and typing what they see. Change detection compares versions and flags what moved, what grew, what shrunk, and what disappeared - and keeps deleted shots in the record with their history intact.

Google Sheets sync is included, so departments that want a live spreadsheet still get one. The difference is it's populated from the source sequence rather than maintained by hand.

Spreadsheets remain useful for call sheets, shot notes, and anything that doesn't need to be derived from editorial files. For VFX tracking, scene management, and file generation, the manual overhead adds up fast - and the sync and output tools in Developing Tank are designed to absorb exactly that work.