What is the best way to work with two editors on two computers?

[Michael Cheung]

I’ve found that on big features which deploy remote cutting rooms in different countries the best way of doing it is to replicate exactly the media from one system – including drives and folders in Avid Media Files (although that shouldn’t matter) to the other to minimise the problems. Things which don’t tend to play nice unless done properly are things like titles (Maybe have a bin of all titles that each system creates and send each time with a new seq. Again, don’t think you should need to but good to keep both systems in sync.

As long as both systems have all the media it should link up.

We’ve always had systems on the same Avid version too. With sequences with simple edits only and not too many Avid FX / BCC etc… it shouldn’t cause too many problems being on different versions. Remember to send renders aswell when sending sequences back and forth.

Dated folders in each of your drive partitions for the Avid Media Files will help you keep track.

I hate remote cutting rooms – as it requires everyone to play nice!

Michael Cheung
https://filmcutter.blogspot.com

[John Molloy]

Thank you Michael.

Do the Avid MediaFiles-folders need to be identical on both editors’ drives? If I add some footage on my end that the other editor does not need, will this mess up his ability to relink footage simply because the folder content is different?
He is having trouble relinking a couple of files even though the right media files are in his Avid MediaFiles-folder. Does the way AVID indexes the drive have something to do with this? That AVID just somehow does not see the files because it hasn’t indexed those clips? Is there a manual way to help AVID find those correct mxf files that need to link up to the sequence? In Final Cut, you can manually point to the file on the drive and relink it if FCP can’t find it on it’s own.

Great tip about renaming the MXF folders as you add footage.

Thanks again!

John

[Michael Cheung]

No, the folders don’t need to be identical, but it helps with organising I think. I would always send a bin with all new master clips in when I send media. This way you aren’t relying on the sequence just popping online. I’d say as much as possible create a solid process where you get into habit of sending the same things which you know work. Good luck!

Michael Cheung
https://filmcutter.blogspot.com

[Pat Horridge]

You may have issues going back to the v6.5 system from the v8.

V8 has a lot of changes over v6.5 and that may complicate things. I’d work wirh matching versions.

Pat Horridge
Technical Director, Trainer, Avid Certified Instructor
Free online Tutorials at VET digital media academy online https://vimeo.com/channels/752951
VET
Production Editing Digital Media Design DVD
T +44 (0)20 7505 4701 | F +44 (0)20 7505 4800 | E pat@vet.co.uk |
http://www.vet.co.uk | Lux Building 2-4 Hoxton Square London N1 6US

[Brian Berdan]

I’ll chime in here- Obviously, the best way to work with multiple editors is shared storage a la Avid Unity. But I’ve also done a few small features without it, where my assistant and I have duplicate drives. We found the best thing was to have a partition on each person’s drive that was dedicated to media creation by that person (renders, imports, etc.). Then there is a partition for the dailies. Assuming both machines are networked (we did it both locally and over the internet), we ran a file-synching program multiple times a day as we passed edits back and forth. And, yes, I agree that it’s important to both be on the same software version of Avid. At least the same base release number.
Kind of a pain in the neck, especially after using Unity, but it’s workable.

Brian Berdan
migrant filmworker

[Pat Horridge]

Don’t forget new media is generated into the 1 folder so you can keep that free to manage local media creation.

Pat Horridge
Technical Director, Trainer, Avid Certified Instructor
Free online Tutorials at VET digital media academy online https://vimeo.com/channels/752951
VET
Production Editing Digital Media Design DVD
T +44 (0)20 7505 4701 | F +44 (0)20 7505 4800 | E pat@vet.co.uk |
http://www.vet.co.uk | Lux Building 2-4 Hoxton Square London N1 6US

[John Molloy]

Thanks guys all of this is very helpful. I still haven’t figured out how to relink “media offline” files if the mxf files are clearly on the drive but the project can’t read them. What could be the problem? Solution?

Thanks!

John

[Michael Cheung]

What happens if you trash the database files in the folder with the mxf and then drag the newly created mdb file into a bin. Can you see the media then?

Michael Cheung
https://filmcutter.blogspot.com

[John Molloy]

Ah! Thank you Michael, this worked! Thanks everyone for your tips!