Avid Media Composer Transcoding Preparation Instructions

These are instructions to prepare linked clips before transcode in Avid Media Composer for a professional network workflow. It’s been used for television programs on HBO, PBS, and other networks.

1. For cheaper cameras like the SONY AS7, CANON 5D series or often most cameras that shoot in the H.264 codec, you need to relabel the linked clips before you import them. This is just to ensure that each clip has a unique and individual name to help later on with the Onlining process. Add the Disk Label with an underscore to the very beginning of each clip. An example is as follows: Original Name: C001 changed to the Modified Name: AxS01_20180918_NEG01_1of1_C001.

2. In a new bin, right click. In the drop down menu choose Input > Source Browser.

3. In the pop-up window, navigate to the desired camera card. Click on the root of the camera card. Double check that the target bin at the bottom right of the window is the bin you want to populate with the clips in and press the link button.

4. Check to take out the data tracks and any blank audio tracks that come in with the clip. This is common extra data that is imported into Avid that are annoying to edit with from SONY cameras like the FS7 as well as other brands of cameras. Do your research and know your camera and what was recorded by talking to the camera operators or reading the camera reports.

1. Once the clips have populated in your bin, highlight all of the clips and right click. In the drop down menu select Modify > Unlink Media. (The clips need to be Offline/The AMA link broken in order to modify the clip)

2. Select all the clips again, right click and select Modify > Modify Clip. 

3. At the top of the new pop up window, click the drop down menu and Set Tracks. Uncheck the D (Data) Track at the bottom and deselect any blank audio tracks (TBD which are blank). 

4. Once you’ve disabled the Data track and blank audio tracks, click OK. 

5. Right click inside the bin and select Import > Source Browser again from the drop down menu. Navigate back to the card folder and click the link. The clips should appear online in the bin now, but without the Data track and any audio tracks you also disabled.

6. Once all of the linked clips are brought in with proper names and data tracks have been disabled, you can assign a Disk Label to each clip to assist in final online relinking. To do this copy the designated Disk Label and paste it clip by clip in the Disk Label column.

Justin Joseph Hall working on a FRONTLINE episode for PBS at Downtown Community Television Center

Footage Log Instructions

This spreadsheet template was used for a project that had 300 hours of originally shot footage and a team of interns and Assistants were to log them. So this was used to organize their work and create priorities and keep organized outside of our editing software. We were using Avid. I’m not sure this is always useful, as usually you can see in Avid, but when you can’t keep up with what’s shot and priorities change, it can be useful to have something like this to sort through in a big documentary project.

Footage Log Template

In order to use the Footage Log Template for yourself go to File -> Make a Copy and edit the copy on your own drive. To say thank you, please listen to our podcast Feature & a short! You can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

1. There are 5 Tabs

1. Avid Bin Progress

1. This tab is to make sure shoot footage is processed and synched.

2. Shoot Day Log

1. This contains a description of what was shot for each shoot day.

3. Scene List

1. This is a list of possible scenes that could be cut from the footage

4. Log Process

1. This is a list of sequences that have been logged

2. It also shows how much footage has been shot in the project.

5. Transcriptions

1. This is a list to show the process of Transcriptions and Translations.

For any questions about this or any blog, please write us at info@fourwindfilms.com

Backing Up Footage Instructions

This is a professional workflow for backing up footage. In general you want to have three backups of everything. Usually two by the time you leave set and an additional one once you get back to the office.

Hard drives are labeled (PROJECT TITLE)_RAW_#(Letter), i.e. PROLOGUE_RAW_2A

1. The “#” represents the number of the set of hard drives the footage is stored on. This number will increase as the number of hard drives increases. When there is approximately 500GB or less available on the drive, we should switch to backing up to the next set of numbered drives.

2. The (Letter) represents the set of the hard drive.  We store 3 sets of backups, so the first set will be labeled “A,” the second “B,” and the third set “C.”

1. Double check card labels and please rename if it does not match the structure identified below.

2. SHOOT DAY CARDS

1. All set audio & video cards should be in a folder called 1_RAW FOOTAGE

2. Any BTS photos or productions stills can be placed in the folder PHOTOS -> ON SET folder

3. All footage should be backed up 3 times to each set of drives (A, B and C).

3. CARD NAMES

1. YYYYMMDD -> (Recording Equipment) -> (Camera Card folder name)_(###)_(CameraOperatorInitials)

   1. YYYYMMDD

      1. The shoot day is always expressed with 4 digits for the year, and 2 digits for month and day.  So March, 3rd, 2016 is expressed as 20160303.

   2. (Recording Equipment)

   1. The name of the camera or audio recording device.

      1. SONY FX9, Alexa 35, etc.

   3. (CameraOperatorInitials)

   1. The initials of the camera operator.  Justin Joseph Hall is represented as JJH.

   1. ###

      1. Add 3 digits of #’s for your card if not already included in the card name

         1. i.e. 003, 017, 9

   2. Card sets are backed up three times on the hard drives: (PROJECT)_RAW_#A & (PROJECT)_RAW_#B & (PROJECT)_RAW_#C

When you’re done store the hard drive in three different physical locations. Preferably not in the same building, but even more so, preferably not in the same region where a natural distaster could occur and wipe out all your footage.

Setting Up a New Hard Drive Instructions

Always, always format a new hard drive out of the box. Many hard drives are sold to be read on a Macintosh, Windows, or other operating systems. It’s important to get the full capacity of a hard drive to format it before you begin to use it. This is how

Setting up New Hard Drive

1. Eject all other hard drives except the new hard drive

2. Open Disk Utility on a Mac (Apple) computer

3. Select the new hard drive

1. Click “Erase” in the middle on the top

2. Name the hard drive

1. “(NAME OF PROJECT)” if it’s the main hard drive

2. “(NAME OF PROJECT)_backup” if it is a backup hard drive

3. Sometimes we’ll use a system of letters and #’s to indicate the hard drive’s backup

   1. I.e. 1st hard drive is (NAME OF PROJECT)_1A, it’s backup is (NAME OF PROJECT)_1B, & 2nd backup is (NAME OF PROJECT)_1C.

      1. Once (NAME OF PROJECT)_1A is full, we’d start with (NAME OF PROJECT)_2A and created 2 backups of that (NAME OF PROJECT)_2B & (NAME OF PROJECT)_2C, for example

4. Set up folder structure for new project.

Camera Renaming Raw Footage Instructions

This is how we deal with footage received in Post-Production that are not opened as a full card (5D mark ii, GoPro, cellphones, etc.). Automator is a program used on Apple Operating systems that are installed with OSX. You could do something similar with another renaming software. We would not rename is a high end camera like a Red, Arri, or higher end Sony Cameras.

These are instructions written for an Assistant Editor that we’ve used for television shows, narratives, and documentaries.

1. Open Automator

2. Choose new Workflow

3. Go to Files & Folders

1. Select ‘Get Specified Finder Items’

2. Drag it to the right side of the window

1. Click ‘Add’ and select your desired footage to be renamed.

3. Select Rename Finder Items

4. Drag it to the right side of the window, below ‘Get Specified Movies’

1. In the first dropdown menu, change it to ‘Add Text’

2. Add text based off of Card details (Ex. _055_A_1of2)

4. Click run.

5. Repeat for additional cards, if any

If you have any questions, please email info@fourwindfilms.com