Once a show has been edited and locked, I am handed a Bin with the offline sequence to reconform for online. In my online reconform/digitizing/ACSR Media Composer world, every frame has to make the online edit; from relinking the pulled selects of source tapes using the Key Number Start, over timecode values that graphic artist assigned, to B-Roll and stock footage edited with different timecode values.
Digitizing Tape
A normal 42 minutes Scripted Show has around 600 to 700 edits, a 42 minutes Reality Show with 800 to 1200 edits (Average edit 2 seconds 2 frames). If I was digitizing tape for the online reconform, I could have a tape cart filled front and back with tapes. If it was a two hour special I could have 2 tape carts filled front and back with tapes to digitize. For Tape, I could digitize an average of 100 clips per hour. Plus, there is time lapse footage. And depending on the tape deck I might have to fix 2 to 6 frame offsets per edit event. Before Media Composer v6.5, it could take me 40 hours of metadata management alone just to prepare for the tapeless online reconform.
Tapeless Workflow
Now some of my shows are 99 percent tapeless. Since Media Composer v6.5, within seconds I can do the metadata management for the tapeless online reconform. I have spent many hours testing and retesting columns of metadata for relinking, and I figured out an almost unbreakable Media Composer tapeless reconform. This method has been used on shows, watched by millions weekly. Here’s how this Avid tapeless workflow works in Media Composer v8.4. Feel free to try it on your own projects.
This workflow supplies both relinking to tapeless footage, and having metadata track back to the original source file at any time. If your typical offline-to-online scenario is to edit in a multicam standard definition resolution and then relink to the original tapeless camera masters for online at the desired resolution, then this workflow supports it all! It’s a true resolution independence reconform in Avid Media Composer; there’s no need to overcut or eye match, automatic reconforms are now a reality of tapeless footage. Spend less time on media management, and free up more time for the artist to create the art. I hope this is helpful!
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