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preparing footage for an editor
been a while since i posted. hope you are all well.
i just wrapped a two day short narrative shoot. shot with two BMPCC’s. i am about to start sorting footage etc — of course I edit in FCPX which is why I am posting here.
but i am not yet sure what NLE my editor will be using (as i havent settled on one).
have two questions I think:
1) i’m curious what my best practice would be in terms of starting to sort through and organizing footage in advance (i realize he/she may just do this themselves, but still…i’d like to call some things out now.)
2) we didnt slate shots (i know, i know. but because of the particulars of this shoot, it was not possible). so i need a way to label things for the editor
3) often times we let the cameras run. sometimes one operator stopped and restarted recording when the other didnt. should i chop all footage into single takes so that everything matches up between cameras? and if so what’s the best way to do this?
THANKS!!!!
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4 Replies
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If you’re making enough on this to afford to toss $99 at the problem check out Intelligent Assistants “Producers Best Friend.” It till let you you use the X database to choose, sort and prep selects – then export the XML and convert the result into what are essentially excel spreadsheets that show all the EDL decisions you’ve made.
No guarantee that the downstream editor can convert that excel info into their system, since you don’t know that that system is going to be… but it’s at least one strategy.
Honestly, other than that or just making them a paper edit, there’s not much you can do if they’re going to start in one NLE and edit in another.
It’s just not a particularly efficient workflow, IMO.
Someone else might have a better solutions, but that’s all I’ve got.
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Fcp x is very strong in sorting labeling organizing clips. Decide what Nle you will use and go from there. That said David Lawrence posted a while back on just what your asking. Using x as an organizer.
The clips have a ton of metadata built in. You could just go through them and use this metadata to label the clips in the finder. But if someone else will be editing then I would choose the editor first and ask them what would help and what workflow to use.
Choose someone whose style you like not what nle they use.
Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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Depending on the budget and turnaround time, I would advise doing nothing. As an editor, I prefer to organize the material myself. The best thing is to make sure all the clips are properly organized into folders by shoot day and camera or by interview subject. Make sure all clips are in an edit-friendly codec, like ProRes, so you might have to transcode before you hand this off to the editor. You might also want to transcribe the interviews and make some judgements on paper as to which soundbites are strongest to you.
One thing you may need to do is rename the media files so they make sense. I’m not sure how the BM camera names its clips, but something like “clip 1”, “clip 2”, etc. is insufficient. I presume these are already QT ProRes files, so you can rename in the finder.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
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