We've written about editing your home movies online, but professional video producers also have uses for web-based post production. Relief agency Save the Children recently sent a consultant to Sierra Leone to investigate access to health care there and to create a video diary of her findings. Save the Children logged the video footage online using a product called FORscene, available from British company Forbidden Technologies, and then invited broadcasters to review the video footage over the Web and select the shots they wanted - without having to send out tapes. Result: Five major TV news shows covered the story, much sooner than they otherwise could have.

In another project, Granada Media shot 380 hours of footage in Crete for a reality TV show called 'Trust Me I'm a Holiday Rep.' Using the same FORscene software, 12 loggers were able to work collaboratively to get all the footage compiled in two weeks and make preliminary shot selections - a process that would have taken far longer without a Web-based system.