Who formats the memory cards?

Jimmy Pierce

Jimmy Pierce

Well-known member
My background is in both cinematography and editing so I understand both sides.

On a production company or crew to crew basis, I'm curious about other's experiences on this subject. My understanding has always been that the DP/camera operator is responsible for not only making sure the memory cards are delivered to post, not necessarily doing it themselves, they are also responsible for formatting them after the cards been ingested by a DIT/data wranger or by the editor themselves. In my own personal experience, it seems that to some cinematographers, after they've shot the footage, they are no longer responsible for the footage and can walk away and focus on shooting. I've had a few experiences where I've never received the cards and I had to get them myself because breaking down the production was a priority.

It's also frustrating because sometimes footage that has been previously ingested doesn't get deleted and duplicate footage is being ingested along with new footage and taking up critical hard drive space.

It's a matter of meeting the camera department half way. Nobody would leave a reel of film in a magazine or a video tape in the camera because it would get damaged, lost, or reused.

Maybe it's just better that post production takes this responsibility and let the camera pirates have their way?

What do you think? What is your everyday workflow for cards when you're not the editor as well? I'm talking cinematographers that don't touch a computer.
 
Well, I've seen situations where once the card has been filled with the shots of the day, they ingest the footage, but then leave the cards as they are - as a kind of back up. Since cards are so cheap these days, it's cheap insurance, and you just break out a new card for the next day shooting. In the end you are left with a bunch of labeled cards that have all your footage. Smaller and cheaper than a hard drive, and possibly more durable.
 
Who was responsible back in the 'olden days' of film, for getting the shot film to the next stage (developing?) I'd have imagined some production assistant would be running around logging reels and recording where and when each had gone, and that the same would be true these digital days. Maybe a bad example though, as that whole film developing stage happened well before Editing received it, and of course there was no equivalent reformatting step...

OldCorpse makes a good point - I believe it's fairly common for cards to not be overwritten or re-used during a production and post-production, precisely so they can be an extra backup in case of a computer disaster during post. (The cards may later be reformatted for use in subsequent productions.) But a zero-budget production may indeed be constantly recycling the same few cards.

My suggestion, presuming recycling is required:
- Editing is responsible for reformatting any cards to be passed back to the camera operator, as their final step in the card data 'ingesting' process
- And the camera department is responsible for quickly checking that any cards (whether brand new or recycled) are formatted and empty before using them to record anything. (They therefore should always have at least a couple of empty cards available, in case there's a delay-causing problem with one.)
 
My suggestion…

The camera department gets a roll of red tape.
The DIT/Tech gets a roll of green tape.

All cards when they come out of the camera get write-protected and wrapped in RED tape. This means they need to be offloaded.
Once the card is offloaded, the DIT/Tech removes the red tape, flips the write-protection tab, and wraps the card in green tape. This means the card is ready to use again.
Then the camera department can format cards with confidence as needed.
 
I think formatting the card is better on camera than on PC..so this should be DP/cameram job, not DIT..

good strategy with red/green tape labeling..
 
Stephen Mick said:
Once the card is offloaded, the DIT/Tech removes the red tape, flips the write-protection tab, and wraps the card in green tape. This means the card is ready to use again.
Then the camera department can format cards with confidence as needed.
Click to expand...

god bless johnny cash & the write protect tab.

In run'n'gun settings, I verify that no clips need to be repaired before ejecting the card, write-protect the card before ejecting and hand it off. If someone tries to hand me a fresh card with the write-protect tab enabled, I won't accept it until they've physically checked the log and at least one hard drive. Occasionally I will have to format a card in camera, but only if the write-protect tab isn't enabled.

It's important to have one fail safe that everyone knows about, especially on multi-day shoots where you have to format cards at the end of the day before post can ingest footage.
 
AC does the formatting (or whoever s helping with the camera). The ACs job is to hand off the footage to the DIT then bring in offloaded cards for formatting.
It's healthy to number your cards so you start your day with 1, then go to 2 etc. This way there is never any confusion which card has been ingested so when a mishap happens you can tracks (and potentially save your butt) where the mistake happened.

Or if there is no DIT on the set keep shooting until you fill up the cards (shot in 1,2,3... order) and have the AC hand the cards to the producer at the end of the day. As DP, make sure to ask both AC and the producer that the transfer of footage did occur from one hand to another so that when bad stuff does happen (as it did once to me) you stay relatively blame free.
 
Any good AC will be so on top of this that all you need to do is double check that it's happening. When the card/mag/roll is low enough that we won't get through another take I ask the AC for a new one. He takes the full roll out of the camera, puts a piece of red gaff over the media (covering the contacts so that it can't mistakenly be placed into the camera) and writes the roll number on it, puts a ready roll into the camera (marked with green tape if it's been used already and is dumped/safe to format), formats it, and lets me know that we're good to go. He then hands the full card off to the DIT or stores it for later dumping if there is no DIT.

On a smaller shoot without a DIT or proper AC, just have a consistent system. I keep full cards upside-down in the case, and ready-to-shoot cards upright.
 
Yes, I agree that the footage would stay on the card as a back up and each shoot day one would use a new card like it's a roll of film or that card would be continuously used until it's full and/or the end of the shoot. That's been my experience. I've also had the gaff tape experience. These work well and allows the DIT to be responsible for offloading and the AC or DP is responsible for formatting the cards when they need to be reused.

I also placed labels on the cards with roll numbers beginning with A1 and depending on the card size, A cards are 64GB, B cards are 32GB, D cards are for our DSLR, G for GoPro, Z for Zoom (recorder). We have a white board that lists every roll # and a check box whether it's been offloaded or needs to be.

I also believe formatting the card in the camera is better since the camera has it's own formatting system which is not the same as the computer formatting system.
 
On a smaller shoot without a DIT or proper AC, just have a consistent system. I keep full cards upside-down in the case, and ready-to-shoot cards upright.
Click to expand...

Me too...and we also run a Black Card Box (fresh blank cards) & Red Card Box (rushes) system.

We also dual record simultaneously to SD card as well as Samurai with ssd's.
This makes Back up and end of day tasks... very simple to manage as well as providing that re-assuring "insurance"" factor.

Re format always in the appropriate camera - ACs job.
Downloads to local drives - editors job
Responsibilty for all - Production Department
 
First of all, cards nowadays are so cheap, there is no reason to erase anything on set. Period. Be it P2, CF(Fast), SxS, whatever. Second, cards should only be formatted in the camera they are to be used in as that is the only way to know they are are formatted correctly for use in that camera. (The only exception to this would be systems like the Ikegami system where cameras don't have the ability to format drives/cards as a safety precaution...the Ike system does allow for deleting clips though...weird!!!). After cards are used, they should be transferred to a RAID 1 or two drives (same thing) and then formatted in the camera they are to be used in. That is my system and if anything is to ever go wrong, all i can say is I did the best I could do which is better than the old days of shoot a tape and there was one copy and if it was lost or accidentally thrown in the the bag of wardrobe to be returned to the store.... (that is another story for another time...) If anyone has any better workflow, please let me know. I'm always willing to learn.
 
Stephen Mick said:
My suggestion…

The camera department gets a roll of red tape.
The DIT/Tech gets a roll of green tape.

All cards when they come out of the camera get write-protected and wrapped in RED tape. This means they need to be offloaded.
Once the card is offloaded, the DIT/Tech removes the red tape, flips the write-protection tab, and wraps the card in green tape. This means the card is ready to use again.
Then the camera department can format cards with confidence as needed.
Click to expand...

This is basically the system my ACs use on every shoot we do. It's simple and reliable.
 
gkantziper said:
First of all, cards nowadays are so cheap, there is no reason to erase anything on set. Period. Be it P2, CF(Fast), SxS, whatever. Second, cards should only be formatted in the camera they are to be used in as that is the only way to know they are are formatted correctly for use in that camera. (The only exception to this would be systems like the Ikegami system where cameras don't have the ability to format drives/cards as a safety precaution...the Ike system does allow for deleting clips though...weird!!!). After cards are used, they should be transferred to a RAID 1 or two drives (same thing) and then formatted in the camera they are to be used in. That is my system and if anything is to ever go wrong, all i can say is I did the best I could do which is better than the old days of shoot a tape and there was one copy and if it was lost or accidentally thrown in the the bag of wardrobe to be returned to the store.... (that is another story for another time...) If anyone has any better workflow, please let me know. I'm always willing to learn.
Click to expand...


I've had one experience where not formatting the cards on set actually caused an issue when reinserted into the camera & computer. Every day I received a card, I would (and still do) pull the "read only" tab before inserting the card for transfer. After a few days, several of the cards from multiple cameras became unreadable by both the camera and the computer and we had to use recovery software to retrieve the footage. Somehow the cards became corrupted.

Another reason to format, especially on a longer shoot, is to organize your footage the same way you would organize film reels. Each day a card is essentially a separate roll (A1, A2, A3, etc) and when you make a carbon copy of the card, file structure and all, it sits on the computer labeled with the date and content or roll #. Also, if you're working with a script supervisor, they can mark their log sheet with each roll # and you have accurate documentation to follow and match your stored footage.

Again, this is based on the traditional way footage has been organized from a shooting on film perspective and it works really well. If the cards aren't formatted, you can still make a carbon copy of the card on a daily basis that contains shoot day 1, then shoot day 1 & 2, then shoot day 1-3, etc. In the end the carbon copy of the card contains ALL of footage instead of separate shoot days.

So it's not a concern over whether you have enough card space, but how you organize it all in the end. Both work and it really depends on whether you're working with a large, small or one man crew.
 
gkantziper said:
First of all, cards nowadays are so cheap, there is no reason to erase anything on set. Period. Be it P2, CF(Fast), SxS, whatever..
Click to expand...

Well I'm going to disagree with this, as not everybody has an endless budget for media. We shot a series of national spots a couple of weeks ago using the F65. Ever price SR media cards?
 
Well yes I knew that would be the response.

I don't know how many times I have heard... Well if you can afford to own a Red, you should be able to afford X.

After working with the F65 on that shoot I fell in love with what that camera does. So now I am saving for a used package. Now just because I might be able to scrape together enough for a used camera kit, does not mean I have the coin on hand to purchase a case full of media cards at $5K each.
 
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