Labeling P2 cards and clips

[Emre Tufekci s.o.a.]

Here is a good start:

ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/pub/Panasonic/Drivers/PBTS/papers/P2HDMetadata.pdf

Emre Tufekci
http://www.productionpit.com

[David Cosby]

Metadata is dependent on the amount of effort you are willing to put into it.
We have had great success using it to keep track of multiple cameras on shoots where someone is also keeping detailed continuity notes to keep the edit organized. We have also been most successful when it is done with a tech who is changing the info and downloading the cards when you make scene changes.
Simple single camera shoots with a small crew can be cumbersome if you are consistently having to stop to update the info. But the beauty of metadata is that it can still be changed later to organize your clips.
It takes a while to wrap your head around it but there are times that it can be very helpful.

[Helmut Kobler]

Yes, you can name your clips. P2 metadata includes a field called Custom Clip Name–that’s the field you’d use, and editors like Final Cut and Avid read and display that name for the clip (Dock1, 2, Garden1, 2, etc.).

You can set this up pretty easily before your shoot by using Panasonic’s P2 CMS app (free for download for Mac and Windows) to set up the metadata fields, save them to an SD card, install the SD card in the camera, and use your camera’s menus to choose the right metadata file from the SD card.

Or, you can shoot your footage first, and then get a program like P2 Flow (google it) to quickly add metadata to all the clips, including Custom Clip Names that increment ala 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. Panasonic’s P2 CMS also lets you edit the metadata of clips after they’re shot, but P2 Flow is more powerful and has lots of other useful features. But it costs $$.