Dumbest, DUMBEST question (I’m so embarassed)…

[Grinner Hester]

man, what a dumb question, pixel monkey.
you should be embarrassed.
and my answer is…

I don’t know.
😉

[Bill Stephan]

I don’t belive there is any provision inside Windows to save the custom colors in the pallette. Why not just stick to the 8 colors that Avid gives you, or do you need more colors?

Bill Stephan
Senior Editor/DVD Author
USA Studios
New York City

[Chris Bové]

[Bill Stephan] “or do you need more colors?”

Yeah, definitely need more than the standard eight. I was the geek in school with that thick orange click-pen that had four ink colors in it.

Project color coding of clips (copied from the KEY in my journal):
dark green – EXT interview: formal, seated
light green – EXT interview: casual/man-on-street
dark brown – INT interview: formal, seated
light brown – INT interview: casual/man-on-street
red – technical problem
orange – narration: formal
yellow – narration: scratch
dark blue – 24 bit audio
light blue – camera audio
white – overmodulated audio (find different take)
black – black filler
dark gray – only use clip if last resort
light gray – do not use clip
pink – blooper (never see one of these in final timeline!)
dark purple – graphic: finished
light purple – graphic: temporary

I also match all these colors to scene cards made from color construction paper cut-outs, taped on scene boards. On each card I write vital information about each clip. This way the producer can rearrange them as a living storyboard while not messing with the Avid’s timeline. I can also look at the footage in ways the Avid can’t provide.

Sound stupid and unnecessary? After a five-month edit it ended up saving about a week’s worth of time, just looking for stuff and matching b-roll to corresponding a-roll.

______
/-o-o-\
\`(=)`/…Pixel Monkey
`(___)

A picture says 1000 words. Editors give them meaning.

[Michael Hancock]

Wow.

Let me say it again….wow.

Stupid and unnecessary? Not at all. In fact, I admire your organization!! As far as saving all the custom colors–I have no idea. After hearing why you need it, though, I wish I could help! Please, keep us posted if you figure it out. I just might adopt some of your methods here. Although I’m not sure they’d apply as much to a :30 promo, but still… 🙂 Can’t hurt, learning good habits versus bad, right??

Michael.

[Bill Stephan]

It might be worth a look at one of those 1,000 page books about Windows (pick the book specific to your version of Windows — 2000 or XP) to see if there is some trick to saving custom colors in the Windows color pallette.

Bill Stephan
Senior Editor/DVD Author
USA Studios
New York City