Media Management

AFTER THE SHOOT DAY: MEDIA MANAGEMENT

When shooting, always have some tape on hand to tag the mags as they are ejected from the camera.

The tape should wrap around the card over the electronic contacts so that it is clearly locked.

NEVER re-insert a shot card into a camera without downloading it first - even if you only took it out for a second!!

Remove tape tags when downloading. If you have a card with tape on it, make sure its been downloaded before formatting.

You’ll need:

• Laptop
• Card reader
• at least 2 hard drives
• (optional but preferred) ShotPut Pro, Davinci Resolve or Silverstack
• (option but helpful) USB3 hub

DOWNLOAD PROTOCOL

Follow this protocol correctly as you shoot and before the shuttle drives are shipped to the New York office:

Create a system to keep shot cards safe in the field. Keep shot cards in their cases if available. e.g., "left AC bag pocket corresponds to Camera A, right AC bag pocket corresponds to Camera B, etc."

Create a new folder for EACH CARD that you are going to copy. Name the folder according to conventions in this document.

If you’re using Shotput Pro, switch the checksum to “File Size Verification” in the prefs.

Copy the entire contents of a card, including ALL folders and files. ORIGINAL CAMERA FOLDER STRUCTURE MUST BE INTACT. The database files contain metadata that is vital to the post production process.

Spot-check file-based footage for Audio or Video Technical Issues. Relay any problems you notice to the shooters immediately. If you don’t have premiere, DaVinci Resolve is free for download and can read most file types. VLC works too.

Copy media to the Backup Drive, verify that it's entire contents have been transferred. Make sure that ALL CARDS that were shot each day are copied to the Backup Drive. Copy the media to the backup drive directly from the card, not from the folder on the master drive.

Make sure that ALL Folders on the Backup Drive are named correctly and given the correct date, corresponding to the date on which they were shot/recorded, including formatting (caps, underscores).

Once the card is copied to all drives and you have verified this, you can delete/reformat the card for reuse.

At the end of your shoot, have any crew traveling back to the office physically bring the drives with them. It is best to split up the drives amongst crew members. Should any bag get lost or damaged, another person will have another copy in a separate bag.

NOTE: Never format/clear/reuse a shot card until it has been successfully downloaded to at least two (2) backup drives or you risk the media being permanently deleted.

NAMING CONVENTIONS

Use this and only this naming convention on hard drives:

VERTICAL - VICE, DV, BRD,, etc. (Project ID Prefixes are acceptable e.g.: “MDB” instead of “MOTHERBOARD”).

EPISODE TITLE - Refer to past FTG UPLOAD emails if the project already has reels on the SAN. Do not deviate from the original project name, even if its name has officially changed.

LOCATION - One word maximum. (CHINA)

DATE - The date the footage was shot in MMDDYY format.

CAMERA TYPE - 5D, FS7, FS5, A7S, ALEXA, C300, etc.

CAMERA AND CARD NUMBER- A, B, C etc. Card numbers should start over at 01 for each day.