The Producer Report: File-based production
the rate of change in this area is high with new products constantly emerging including the Xendata X1500 LTO archiving system, Intel Thunderbolt-enabled storage devices and the soon to be available SR-R1 SR Memory recorder from Sony. “Everyone is looking to a new range of recorders which come with screens so you can verify what you are recording,” says Wiggins. Another consideration is the post route.
Ninja and its sister product Samuari, record ProRes, ideal for a QuickTime-based Apple FCP route, while NanoFlash can record ProRes or MXF, an Avid friendly format, while Sound Devices PIX recorders deliver rushes in ProRes or Avid DNxHD. XDCAM rushes from An Idiot Abroad were recorded to Professional Disc and simultaneously copied at low-res proxy to USB memory sticks. “This revolutionised our workfl ow,” explains Riley. “Rather than hand master rushes to a random courier in China we could Fed-Ex the USBs back to London where logging and editing could begin before the director returned. “The biggest advantage was that it eliminated
DVD transfers. Instead of transferring everything to HDCAM tape over the course of the year-long shoot costing tens of thousands of pounds we used Sony’s software to turn the MXF proxies into QuickTimes, copied them onto more memory sticks for the broadcaster, three execs and talent (including Ricky Gervais) to view at minimal cost.” The proxy edit was relinked to the master
Professional Disc copies and the fi nal show mastered to LTO, leaving the discs themselves ready for reuse on the next series. The conform itself was enabled thanks to Riley’s effi cient metadata process in which each clip was pre- set with the camera name, location and day of fi lming – logical “because we were constructing a linear story,” she says.
Agreeing naming conventions is important
and will be project dependent, but metadata – the information tagged onto each shot in searchable fi elds – can be as basic or complex as you like. “Metadata entry fi elds need to be checked,
tested and agreed with production and editorial before the camera records the actual takes,” urges McGuinness. On Sight’s Shelley adds: “You can input
producer’s notes and reference presenter’s names which makes not only the current production searchable but also it’s useful for archive so you can quickly call up shots to use in another series. “Avid and Apple systems can read SxS fi elds
readily so it will show up when you begin to edit,” he reveals. “We stress that there shouldn’t be any
Don’t get stuck in the same workfl ows. What worked last time with a particular camera
format may not with the next show Graham McGuinness, root6
change to the original camera fi le names because if you do it can cause all sorts of issues with regard to conforming.” While working with digital cameras should
be straightforward, the fundamental of data management is: don’t assume anything. “Don’t get stuck in the same workfl ows,” urges McGuinness. “What worked last
time with a
particular camera format may not be applicable to the next show. Expect anything and everything to go wrong. Simply, be prepared.”
Summer 2011 theproducer
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