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Batch .MXF import (easier way)
Hello everyone,
I’ve recently ventured into Media Composer and having a bit of a snag. The director of my project is very organized. his file system runs like this MOVIE MEDIA RAW -> Scene 1 -> Take 1 -> Clip0012.MXF
So currently i’m having to go into each single take, create a bin Scene 1 take 1, then import this into it. go into the next file that holds the next take MOVIE MEDIA RAW -> Scene 1 -> Take 2 -> Clip0016.MXF
LATHER, RINSE, REPEAT!
There has to be an easier way to do this, a faster way! I’m hesitant to rename his Clip0012.mxf files to Take 1, and put them all into Scene 1 file as his maps and his audio engineers’ maps and everyone else’s maps are queued to the previous set. SO if something turns out wrong, or if i have to follow the map to trouble shoot it. It’s not gonna work for me.
Any suggestions? is there another way around this?
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21 Replies
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[Jonathan Reed] ” The director of my project is very organized. his file system runs like this MOVIE MEDIA RAW -> Scene 1 -> Take 1 -> Clip0012.MXF”
No, the director is not. Your director is completely messing up things. He’s ripping apart the card structure by putting the raw into separate files. This not only makes it impossible for many NLE’s to import the media, but this also destroys a lot of the metadata sidecar information…contained in separate files in separate folders. THE FULL CARD STRUCTURE needs to be maintained. Archive the full card to a separate folder with date and project but DO NOT rearrange any of the files inside. Your director is messing everything up.
Tell him to stop this, now. It’s going to cause major problems in the post process from beginning to end. Especially when you go to online…this will be a MAJOR hassle and cost tons of money to fix.
[Jonathan Reed] “There has to be an easier way to do this, a faster way”
Yes. Maintain the full card structure. AMA link to that card. Transcode the media, do all the organizing and labeling INSIDE the edit system. If the director wants to do the organizing, then they can play Assistant Editor and get a copy of Media Composer and learn the proper way to do this, or hire an AE.
[Jonathan Reed] ” I’m hesitant to rename his Clip0012.mxf files to Take 1, and put them all into Scene 1 file as his maps and his audio engineers’ maps and everyone else’s maps are queued to the previous set.”
Yup, that would be very wrong too. NEVER EVER rename camera original files. This will cause even more problems down the line.
[Jonathan Reed] “Any suggestions? is there another way around this?”
Proper workflow…
1) Shoot.
2) Archive the camera card…to TWO locations (two drives)…as one drive might fail and if it does, you lose all your footage. Two locations…or a RAID 1 set of drives.
3) Link to the media and transcode to separate MEDIA drives.
4) Do all the labeling and organizing in your NLE
5) Edit
6) relink back to masters for online…or send AAF to Resolve or other online system, and camera masters.If you use something like Premiere and plan to cut native, or plan to cut native in Avid…then step 3 would be to copy the files over from your archive drives to the Media Drive and link and edit. But never ever mess up the camera original file structure.
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
My experience is in Premier and FCP7, this is my first project working with MC… as such you are using a lot of words and mentioning programs that I don’t know what they are.
Maintain full card structure : he brought in an external and moved files over to my computer. He gave me two.
Movie Media Raw (that he has organized as stated above) and MovieAllFiles that then goes into MovieAllFiles->01-rawfootage/02-RawAudio then its’ filed into scene number with scene2-> AVCHD, M4ROOT (File), SONY (FILE), XDROOT (FILE)I don’t know what AMA link is or how to do it, thought this isn’t the first time i’ve come across this word.
3) Link to the media and transcode to separate MEDIA drives. as of now, i’m only able to import MXF’s in each individual file. Even if it each Take was only organized to each File “Scene #) i’d still only be able to import those .MXF organized in those individual files.
4) Do all the labeling and organizing in your NLE
What is NLE?
Again, sorry, I have years of experience in FCP7 and Premier, first time with MC.
THanks again.
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[Jonathan Reed] “My experience is in Premier and FCP7, this is my first project working with MC…”
This would be the workflow for them too…expecially FCP 7. FULL card backups are needed in order to use LOG AND TRANSFER, without those…FCP 7 would be useless.
[Jonathan Reed] “as such you are using a lot of words and mentioning programs that I don’t know what they are. “
Oh…sorry…I’ll try to elaborate.
[Jonathan Reed] “Maintain full card structure : he brought in an external and moved files over to my computer. He gave me two.
Movie Media Raw (that he has organized as stated above) and MovieAllFiles that then goes into MovieAllFiles->01-rawfootage/02-RawAudio then its’ filed into scene number with scene2-> AVCHD, M4ROOT (File), SONY (FILE), XDROOT (FILE)”OK…so it SOUNDS like he has the raw files backed up in the card structure…GOOD. Whew. Still, he needs to know he should not do ANY organization of camera raw in the way he has. That is only trouble.
[Jonathan Reed] “I don’t know what AMA link is or how to do it, thought this isn’t the first time i’ve come across this word. “
Sorry, Avid keeps changing the way it does this, and that one stuck. Currently, it’s INPUT>SOURCE BROWSER… use that (very similar to how Adobe does it) to navigate to the root level of the card backups…not the “rawfootage” but the “scene2” folder…click that and choose LINK. Well, make a bin first, then do that. The bin should then populate with clips. From there, you transcode the media, and move them to other bins. BUT KEEP THIS BIN…name it the same name as the folder you imported from, and LINK…so “scene2_Link.” You’ll need this bin in order to relink later. It would be wise to modify all the clips from each link before you transcode…change the TAPEID or SOURCE to be the name of the folder…so “scene2.” This adds a level of metadata needed to relink, as AVCHD numbering and timecode starts over from scratch every new card. Annoying.
[Jonathan Reed] “What is NLE?”
Non Linear Editor…Avid, FCP, Adobe, these are all NLEs. Editing software.
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Again, thank you for all you help. I’m still having trouble so i’ve made this short video to give you an idea of what i’m doing wrong.
thank you again
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OMG! What did the director do? Yeah, he didn’t keep the same file structure AT ALL. He reorganized everything. Bad bad bad.
Well, you need to break it to him that with what he did, you can’t import properly into Avid. Can’t really properly import into Premiere Pro or other editing software. What if there are spanned clips? Takes that go across 2 or more clips? They won’t be joined when importing….the spans won’t be connected. Has this person edited before? What did they use, how did they do it? Because this is ALL wrong.
What I would do in your shoes…is A) Tell the director that the way they organized things makes it impossible for me to properly import into my editing software, and will mess up things down the line, meaning online and color grade. Tell them that they need to keep the card structure intact, always…never reorganize the camera originals.
Then B) Offer a solution to make NEW masters from this. Meaning, use conversion software to make high resolution files that will serve as news masters throughout the post process. Use Resolve or EditReady or other software to convert the files to ProRes HQ files. And yes, the files will be MUCH LARGER than the camera originals, but this is what needs to be done if the post process is to be smooth from start to finish. This is why you NEVER break up the camera masters…you could import them and convert them to proxy files and cut those then refer back to the masters for later online, but not after this was done.
They obviously used something to view the files, and then organize them…why on earth would they do this? What they did is just plain wrong, any Digital Intermediate Technician (DIT) will tell you, any assistant editor will tell you… Ugh, I feel for you…this is a mess.
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
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EGADS BRAIN, There’s no way for me to delete answers that are messed up or are useless….
In my texting correspondence with the director, he told me to go HERE in the file works
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CcMt4S3yC4&feature=youtu.be
Is this what you’re looking for? Or do I still need to transcode?
JR
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My MpegStreamClip won’t recognize the .mxf So, looking at Resolve and hopefully the free version allows for transcoding…
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