Digital logs also allow you to pass information more easily between applications. For example, you can use your logs to build a script, or in most cases you can input your logs directly into a nonlinear editing system. There are many advantages to automating the logging process, among them: ¥ Reducing the chance of error during logging because you do not have to manually enter timecode and other numerical data ¥ Taking advantage of computer-based calculations for such things as time durations ¥ Better sharing of information with the editor because information can be imported directly into the nonlinear system ¥ Faster digitizing and better use of disk storage because you will make decisions about what to digitize while you log ¥ More efficient preparation of scripts and shoot plans, for example by automating the exchange of information between logs, transcripts, scripts, and shoot plans. Approaches to Logging Footage

Logging All or Selected Shots In the world of handwritten logs, you generally sit down at a tape deck, watch the footage, and take notes on each shot. You describe each shot, note whether it's a good or bad take, and so on. You log everything because the written log serves as a key tool in the edit, and it's easy enough just to keep writing. However, when you work with digital logs, you might be tempted to be more selective, and log only the shots you intend to use in your video

Option 1: Log each shot. Each shot is logged into a separate clip.

¥ Advantage: Log is the most accurate representation of the shoot. ¥ Advantage: Best method for sorting and sifting clips in bins, so you can later find shots. ¥ Disadvantage: Digitizing is slow because of separate tape preroll for each clip. ¥ Disadvantage: May input extra material because overlap may be logged for each clip.

Option 2: Log groups of shots.

¥ Advantage: Digitizing is faster because you reduce preroll and record overlap. ¥ Disadvantage: Log is not as detailed as Option 1.

Option 3: Log each shot and groups.

Log each shot, as in Option 1. When you discover a group of consecutive shots that you would like to input into the nonlinear editing system, create separate clips for this series of consecutive shots. Make a note in the log to digitize the group shot instead of each individual shot. ¥ Advantage: The group of shots will be digitized, but the individual clips are still available for sorting and sifting. ¥ Advantage: You conserve an accurate log, while reducing the digitizing time. ¥ Disadvantage: It takes longer to log.

Logging with LogExpress ¨ from Alba Editorial

For more infor-mation on LogExpress, visit albaedit.com In the previous chapter we described tools ideally suited for logging in the field (see ÒLogging in the FieldÓ on page 99). In the following sections we describe three more tools that provide excellent features for logging after the shoot, prior to entering the edit room. LogExpress from Alba Editorial focuses on logging your media as digitized clips referenced by a user-designated thumbnail. LogEx-press allows for seven different methods of logging, and also interacts with key areas of production and post-production, including digitizing of clips. With this application you can: ¥ Digitize media clips to QuickTime or AVI format ¥ Add user-definable key words and descriptions ¥ Conduct Boolean searches on database contents ¥ Reference clips with multiple thumbnails ¥ Perform unattended logging via Parallel and RS422 VTR control ports ¥ Capture timecode via LTC (with most sound cards) or via OCR (from burn in window) ¥ Import EDLs ¥ Import scripts in text format ¥ Associate lines of script with thumbnails

Logging with Avid MediaLog

For more infor-mation on Media-Log, visit Avid.com Avid MediaLog is a logging program that is essentially a subset of Avid Media Composer. MediaLog has the same functionality as Avid Media Composers Logging tool, and creates bins that are compatible with most Avid video-based editing systems. If you expect to edit on Avid systems, MediaLog is a good choice. This software, or another Avid-compatible logging program, should provide considerable cost savings in preparing and digitizing footage on an Avid system. Logging with MediaLog provides several features that save time and reduce error: ¥ You can create the logs on a separate computer, instead of monopolizing an expensive Media Composer system. ¥ In most cases the bins you create can be opened instantly in Media Composer (in some cases, compatibility requirements might involve a brief translation of the bins to a newer version; consult with your editor). ¥ Timecode reading is automated, reducing chance of error. For example, the timecode is marked directly when you click the IN (START) frame button. ¥ You can create the logs on a Macintosh, Windows 98, or Windows NT system, whether the computer is connected to a tape deck or you type in the timecode from paper logs. ¥ You can print reports and lists of shots that meet specific criteria.

Preparing to Log Material

To prepare to log your footage, you must: 1. Create a new project and new user, or select existing ones. The project folder contains the bins and clips, along with other information about your project. Plan to give the project folder the same name in MediaLog and Media Composer. Only one project can be open at a time. To open another project, close the one you are in. 2. Create a bin where you want to store your clips. You may create more than one bin if your project size or organization requires it. Bins should contain no more than 100 clips for efficient handling. 3. With that bin highlighted, choose Go To Logging Mode from the Bin menu or press Command-B (Macintosh) or Ctrl-B (Windows).  

Logging Procedure

Method 1: Logging Timecode Manually

1. Select the tracks you want to log.

2. Type the IN timecode and press Return.

3. Type the OUT timecode (or Duration) and press Return.

4. Click the Pencil icon in the large Logging button.

5. Rename the clip.

Method 2: Logging from a Source Tape You can use the Logging tool to log from a tape to a bin. This tool enables you to control a source deck, select shots (clips) from your source tapes, and record clip data directly into a bin. Marking the IN and OUT Points To log clips directly from a source tape to a bin:

1. Load your tape in the deck. A message in the Status Display indicates that the system is wait-ing for you to mark an IN point. The Logging button displays an IN mark.

2. Using the motion control buttons in the Logging tool, play or shuttle to the point where you want to mark an IN for the start of the clip.

3. Mark an IN by doing one of the following: ¥ Click the large Logging button that now reads IN. ¥ Click the IN mark to the right of the motion control panel. The timecode for the IN point is displayed, the icon in the Log-ging button changes to an OUT mark and a pencil, and the Log-ging Messages bar displays a message that the system is waiting for an OUT point to be established.

4. Mark an OUT by doing one of the following: ¥ Shuttle or play to the place where you want to mark the OUT point of the clip. Click the large Logging button that now has an OUT mark and the pencil icon. ¥ Click the small OUT mark button, then click the pencil icon in the Logging button. The clip is logged into the bin. The tape pauses for a few seconds, then continues to play. The clip name is the name you typed earlier or a default name (the bin name plus a number).

5. Use this pause to type in a name for the logged clip, if you have not done so already. To log a clip, you must enter two of the following three timecodes, in any order: IN point, OUT point, and Dura-tion. The system fills in the remaining timecode.

6. Repeat these steps until you have logged all your clips.

Project Template Workshop:

Logging and Transcribing By using the Advanced Project Templates to log and transcribe, you can begin to bridge the major gaps that exist in the video producerÕs workflow. The Advanced Project Templates take into account the specific ways in which the producer of a documentary, news-magazine segment, or A/V project works, as opposed to the developer of a feature film or drama. In some respects the workflow is reversed. For example, a dramatic script may be written and rewritten a hundred times before a single frame of footage is shot. The final documentary script is prepared as the last step before editing, after all of the source material has been captured and painstakingly evaluated.

Adding Voice-Overs

When you enter voice-over text in the Advanced Project Templates, you can automatically calculate the duration of the voice-over by entering a word-per-second rate. In most cases you should make a new record for all voice-over entries, rather than typing voice-overs into existing records containing transcript content from the field. This allows you to keep them separate in the final script. To add voice-overs to the script:

1. (Recommended) Create a new record.

2. Choose a word-per-second rate for the voice-over from the WPS rate pop-up list. The WPS rate entry is persistent: it will remain the same for all new records until you change it.

3. Enter voice-over text into the Voice-over text box.

Scheduling

How much time does it take to post on a nonlinear editing system compared to the linear model?

¥ Less time, if you plan well and don't expect to do much experimentation. The same set of instructions will take less time on a nonlinear editing system than on a linear system. If you have limited time and/or money and if you plan well, editing on the nonlinear system can take significantly less time than on a linear system.

¥ Same amount of time, but you can create a better program. In the time you used to assemble a sequential rough cut, you can experiment, revise, and refine.

¥ More time, if you do no planning, provide no guidance, demand an extreme level of refinement, or get lost in endless revisions. It's easy to become seduced by the power and flexibility of the non-linear editing system, so it's particularly crucial to plan the scope of your edit before it begins. As producer, avoid too little involvement in or too much micro-management of the edit. If you do a nonlinear offline, you should save a lot of time at the online, whether you use a linear or nonlinear online system. That's because you have made more decisions in the nonlinear offline than you would have on a linear offline system.

Planning for Effects

Deciding how to handle effects in post can be a chicken and egg prop-osition: do you shape your effects based on the capabilities of the edit suite, or do you determine effects needs based on the requirements of the script and then make sure you have the right equipment?

Planning with the Editor

Don't organize your project in a vaccuum. Your editor may

¥ Review your concept of the project

¥ Give the editor a copy of the marked-up script

¥ Review any significant events of the shoot

¥ Agree on a logging approach

¥ Determine clip and bin organization, and logging categories

¥ Determine effects and graphics requirements Discuss how much you will do before the edit. At the very least, you should pick your clips and have a story structure, even if only a rudimentary one, before the edit. You should have screened the tapes and made story decisions. The earlier decisions are made the less footage you will need to digitize. Discuss media storage requirements with the editor to determine compatibility requirements and to calculate the number of disk drives to use.

¥ Maximum amount of footage to be stored If you anticipate having more footage than storage space, ask yourself if you can edit the program sequence by sequence. If so, you can digitize the footage needed for one sequence, build that sequence, delete the unused media files from the disk, and repeat this procedure for the rest of the program.

¥ Image quality, dependent on the degree of compression the image undergoes during digitizing - the lower the compression ratio, the better the resolution, and the more disk space occupied.

¥ Number of audio channels being digitized

Producer's Checklist:

Preparing for Post During/After the Shoot ¥ Select a digital logging program.

¥ Select the logging method. Meet with the Editor to:

¥ Review the concept.

¥ Review the shoot.