Change Media Training Toolkit: 7 – File Management
Digital media projects collect lots of media, manage it well, so it easy to find and in the correct formats.
Change Media Training Toolkit: 7. File Management – Basics
How to set up your computer folder system to store and easily access your footage.
OVERVIEW:
This tutorial covers the basic steps you should follow to ensure you get the best interview possible.
Printables/ PDF worksheets
Coming soon!
Every project has loads of media and it’s important to get into the practice of managing it properly, otherwise you will cause a world of pain for yourself later on. Make sure you always check when you save something and give it a name and a place that is appropriate.
The main set of files you will have are known as your ‘Assets’, this is basically all of your media, the video that you have shot, any stills or images you are going to be using in your final film and any sounds, whether they be of a soundtrack, Foley or voice-over nature. All of these files come under the umbrella of ‘Assets’ and need to be managed safely and appropriately for your media operation to run smoothly.
We use a folder structure within each project that looks like this:
Photos go in Photos, Video goes in Video Rushes, and Audio goes in Music/SFX. So on and so forth.
Once you get into the habit of treating your files with the respect they deserve you’ll start to realise why. You’ll definitely realise why the first time you change the names of some files within your computers file structure and your editing software starts to panic because of course it can’t find the files it thought it knew where to look for. Everyone will do this at least once. And it is OK, partially, as long as you can back track and fix the problem. Basically, try to avoid making the file structure of your computer, where you have decided to keep and organize your assets, different to the file structure of your editing software. By default, when you import clips they will all stay neatly the way you need them to, but be warned, if you start changing names on the fly (without using the ‘change clip names to match file names’ function, you will be in for a nasty surprise.
Another important habit to get into is to label your sequences as you update their completion status and archiving old versions. For instance, let’s say you cut an assembly version of your sequence on 2012/03/14 then on 2012/03/15 you get it down to a rough cut (also and briefly, it’s good to start your filenames with some sort of dating prefix as this helps to not only organize them as they fill out folder after folder but also makes them searchable by date). To avoid confusion, duplicate the file and drop the old one, named 20120314 Sequence A/C (for assembly cut), into an archive folder within the sequences folder. Rename your duplicated file as 20120315 Sequence R/C (rough cut) and then open that file and continue to work from there. There are four tiers of completion when it comes to editing sequences; Assembly (A/C), Rough Cut (R/C), Fine Cut (F/C) and Final export (FINAL EXPORT). Keeping an updated sequence file will mean that any changes made will be able to be handled efficiently and you won’t spend hours trawling for that one piece of media that you just didn’t label properly.
Jen explains management workflow at Camp Coorong.
Change Media Training Toolkit: 7. File Management – Formats
How to determine the correct file formats for your project.
OVERVIEW:
This tutorial covers the basic steps you should follow to ensure you get the best interview possible.
Printables/ PDF worksheets
Coming soon!
Files come in a variety of types, even files of the same sub-group, like video files for instance, come in a huge array of shapes, colours and sizes. There is literally too many to mention here, however some of the most common that you will come across include .wmv, .avi or .mov. As I say, there are many, many more than this and you don’t really need to know the specific differences between them all but you need to be aware that certain file types may not play nice with certain other file types. It’s like writing a book and having some of the chapters in a different language; the reader (in computer terms, the software) is going to struggle trying to keep up with changes in ‘language’ even if they do speak German (or .mov). For all the information you will ever need on file formats visit the site fileinfo.com and trawl their bottomless archives.
Common Video Formats: .wmv .mov .avi
Common Audio Formats: .mp3 .aif .wav
Common Photo Formats: .jpg .bmp .gif
Basically, different file types can hold different information. For instance, the photo file type .psd is a Photoshop file that can hold distinct information about layers so you can open it back up and modify the individual components, whereas a .jpg file is more or less an exported version that merges all layers and denies the user layer modification once it has been created. Again, its impossible to go over every single file format difference, just be aware that they exist and keep it in mind when handling multiple source formats.
Two things will likely dictate what file formats you use; the first is what format you captured the media in, or your asset’s native format, and the second is what format you intend to use the media for, i.e. your export format. It makes sense to work backwards on this one, considering the final application of your media, whether it be for web or broadcast or DVD and then choosing gear and file formats that will best meet the specific needs of the project or production company.
As these will vary greatly from person to person, from production to production, Final Cut 7 has a large section of their manual dedicated to examining in much more detail than I ever could, the ins and outs of high definition (HD) vs. standard definition (SD) editing, the use of SD cards(just to confuse you, SD in this instance stands for Secure Digital) and file size restrictions, and the transcoding of raw video using proprietary Apple (or otherwise) formats. Check the page out here for more information: http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/Final_Cut_Pro_7_Professional_Formats_and_Workflows.pdf
For sound editing and audio file management, there are a couple of small things you’ll need to keep in mind. One is that sound files sampled at 44.1khz (as in those direct from a compact disc) will not export correctly for film. Files need to be sampled at 48khz to run properly (in FCP7) and although this may seem like much of a muchness you will get beeps and artifacts and all sorts of weird things happen if this is not correct. Likewise, if the frame rate of the audio is different to the frame rate of your film, complications will arise, the most likely of which will be that your video is slowed down to compensate, which obviously isn’t good. Using a free program such as Switch Audio Converter (http://www.nch.com.au/switch/index.html) can help you to easily convert audio files from 44.1khz to 48khz sampling rates.
Links:
Apple FCP info:
http://www.apple.com/au/support/finalcutpro7/
FCP formats page:
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/Final_Cut_Pro_7_Professional_Formats_and_Workflows.pdf
File Format Database:
Switch Audio Converter:
http://www.nch.com.au/switch/index.html
This Change Media initiative is proudly supported by the Australian Government, Indigenous Cultural Support, Office for the Arts Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet; and the Australia Council For The Arts Community Partnerships.