Sometimes you will receive a data file, such as an ALE, XML, Excel, EDL or FCP logging project along with your tapes. If you are lucky, the person who did the logging work for you followed some best practice steps so that your logging, digitizing and organizing tasks will be error-free. But don’t count on it. Check for the following:
- Tape reel IDs should make some kind of sense. If not, change them.
- Sort all of the clips by clip start time. Then, quickly compare the clip end time to the timecode of the next clip’s start time just to be sure that there hasn’t been a gap in the footage that was accidentally overlooked, and if so, check the tape to see why.
- Check each clip duration to see that it makes sense. Sometimes the logger will mark an out point after a timecode break giving a clip a crazy duration like 2 hours and 20 seconds when it should only be a 20 second clip. If it looks fishy, check the tape. If you need to adjust the log outpoint, be sure to give yourself 5+ seconds of post-roll past the outpoint. The problem could also be an in-point, but that is unusual.
- Check to be sure that the timecode format is consistent with what is actually on the tape. Sometimes the logging is done manually without the benefit of copying the timecode from the actual source. This can cause the log to have non-drop frame timecode, but the tapes are drop frame.
- For multi-camera shoots with sync-generated timecode, you should have identical timecode on all of your ISO tapes and line feed, if any. However, if you have only been given one log sheet for the selects, you will have to do a few summersaults with your clip to use the same numbers. See the demo.
Video Demo: Cloning clip data to other camera ISO recordings for batch capture
If you are logging from tapes for the first time, you have a few options. Some editors prefer to log each take or scene separately, others prefer to just capture whole timecode hours regardless of what scenes or takes are recorded in them. A lot depends on the kind of footage. Each way has its own arguments for and against it. If you log every scene or take, it’s a lot of work, but the end result is highly organized and quickly accessible. If you simply capture whole tapes, you will save logging time, but you will have to go through and make markers or sub-clips to navigate the material. Another reason for not doing huge clips is the greater possibility that some kind of data corruption can occur in the middle of a clip making the whole clip useless. If corruption occurs some time after the project has been ongoing, and many parts of the clip are scattered all over the sequence, you will have a lot of work to do to manually re-insert an alternately logged and captured version of that clip. I tend to front-load the logging labor unless I’m really in a time crunch.
Log clip names according to scenes/takes, or with reasonable name descriptors that anyone else could understand. Do not use slashes [\ or /], punctuation, or use anything but letters and numbers in the name because it could cause problems for the computer’s file directory and perhaps cause crashes.
Indicate “select” choices with either markers, color or bin column notations if you have time. This is especially useful if you are collaborating with other people. When you are working with clients or directors one-on-one, you will make a good impression on them by being prepared, so know where everything is and have as much reference information available to find things quickly. Your time together should be spent as efficiently as possible.
Remember that FCP will create a default “Unknown” filename on your media drive if you do not log the clip name before you digitize. If this occurs, you will have difficulty reconnecting the media file to the clip in your bin if you move your media to another location or change the media drive’s name.
If the workflow of your project will require that you perform a high resolution re-digitizing process for final completion (such as a film shoot with low quality dailies but full quality audio, then a separate color correction layoff later on), consider setting up your System Settings in FCP so that you can capture separate audio files from your video sources. This will give you a media folder of video only and another for audio only, which will serve its purpose when you delete your old low resolution video files to make way for your final color corrected footage. More on this later in the “Online Finishing” chapter.
For tapeless shoots, hopefully you will be given a firewire drive that has nothing but the footage you need for your edit. If this is the case, then simply drag and drop or import the folders of clips into your project. Unfortunately, however, you may be given clips with the default hexadecimal names given to each clip from the MXF extraction to process QuickTime. Check file creation dates to see if you can sort by shoot date. It will give you a broad starting point for sorting out the shoot.