TCL (T3:4-1) Organize your Media Assets

Organize your Media Assets

Before you begin the editing process, it helps to organize your footage. Taking time to preview and label everything will make it easier to find and identify the shots you will want to use in your project.  The following are some helpful tips on managing your footage.

 Logging the footage:  For larger projects with many scenes, or scenes that have many camera setups or locations, it is helpful to have a written log of the footage.  This would include notes about script or dialogue sections, camera angles, good and bad takes, and other notes that can help you make quick decisions about clips without having to watch them over and over again. 

Some video editors prefer to create a version of the script that numbers each shot to be used in the script.  Others prefer to create a storyboard that lists the shots to be used following the script order.  Either method will help when a scene includes many camera angles or setups.

Editors often make notes of the time code for the start and stop points of the video footage.  The time code refers to the hours, minutes, seconds, and frames (hh:mm:ss:ff) of the video clip.  These numbers are unique to each frame of video in your project.  The time code showing a start point of 01:09:24:10 refers to the frame of video that can be found at 1 hour, 9 minutes, 24 seconds, and 10 frames. 

Marking usable shots:  Once the media files are on the computer, the editor begins by watching each of the video files.  The purpose is to make choices about which part of the video clips will be used during the editing of a video sequence.  The editor can choose all of the clip or perhaps only one small part of the clip. 

Marking the shots involves selecting an in point and an out point for each clip you might use.  These in and out points refer to the time code of each frame of video.  Having these numbers on a log, script, or storyboard will help the editor find the specific clip needed for the sequence being edited.

Once you have previewed, selected and marked the footage you want, you should be ready to jump into creating sequences for your video.