David Cavallo
Member
I'm starting work on a TV show early next week, and the Post supervisor would like to find a way to add a prefix to the actual MXF files as they come out of the camera. (We'll be shooting with minimum two cameras, sometimes three, and sometimes there will be no slates; thus we want both the date, and an "A" "B" and "C" camera designation.)
Is there a way to make the cameras generate something like this:
1005A0001QF.MXF
1006B0001YQ.MXF
where the first four numbers are a day/date combination and the first letter (A, B or C) of the MXF file corresponds to the camera? (Along with all the related audio files, of course!)
We're using FCP 5 all down the line in Post, and I understand that the files can all be renamed in the bins once they are in the project, but the workflow is a bit complex [see below] and makes that unwieldy.
--worklflow--
1. On set we'll be shooting with 2 or 3 HVX w/P2s.
2. Dump full P2s to HDD & redundant backup via PCI slot, organized into one folder per camera, per day.
3. Import the MXF files from folders into a new FCP project each day.
4. At the end of the day the full drive goes to the Assistant Editor along with a copy of the day's FCP project file.
5. Editorial outputs a single day's dailies for the producers from the day's FCP project.
6. Once they dailies are screened, the individual MXF clips migrate to individual NEW projects setup for editing individual sketches. (Thus any naming done in bins is lost, and we're still back to the old MXF names, which, if removed from their folders that indicate camera and day, are difficult to identify without searching for a slate!)
Thus, it will be helpful to have as much data in the actual MXF file name as possible, because the clips will continually move from one project to the next, and renaming them repeatedly in bins to retain date/camera info will be quite confusing.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I've combed through the posts on all the import utilities, and using Metadata, but I'm still trying to figure out how any of those workarounds could help this workflow with multiple FCP projects.
Many thanks,
David
Is there a way to make the cameras generate something like this:
1005A0001QF.MXF
1006B0001YQ.MXF
where the first four numbers are a day/date combination and the first letter (A, B or C) of the MXF file corresponds to the camera? (Along with all the related audio files, of course!)
We're using FCP 5 all down the line in Post, and I understand that the files can all be renamed in the bins once they are in the project, but the workflow is a bit complex [see below] and makes that unwieldy.
--worklflow--
1. On set we'll be shooting with 2 or 3 HVX w/P2s.
2. Dump full P2s to HDD & redundant backup via PCI slot, organized into one folder per camera, per day.
3. Import the MXF files from folders into a new FCP project each day.
4. At the end of the day the full drive goes to the Assistant Editor along with a copy of the day's FCP project file.
5. Editorial outputs a single day's dailies for the producers from the day's FCP project.
6. Once they dailies are screened, the individual MXF clips migrate to individual NEW projects setup for editing individual sketches. (Thus any naming done in bins is lost, and we're still back to the old MXF names, which, if removed from their folders that indicate camera and day, are difficult to identify without searching for a slate!)
Thus, it will be helpful to have as much data in the actual MXF file name as possible, because the clips will continually move from one project to the next, and renaming them repeatedly in bins to retain date/camera info will be quite confusing.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I've combed through the posts on all the import utilities, and using Metadata, but I'm still trying to figure out how any of those workarounds could help this workflow with multiple FCP projects.
Many thanks,
David
