Project setup: how to fill it in before the shoot
The project setup is filled in once before the shoot: cameras and recorders, crew, shoot days, drives, folders, proxies and reports. After that the app works on its own: every card is recognised by its files and gets its camera's number, angle and comment, and the names reach the folders, the day report and the tracks in the editing app.
The setup opens from the project. On the left are the sections: “Cameras and recorders”, “Crew”, “Shoot days”, “Copying and folders”, “Footage”, “Proxies and dailies”, “Reports”, “Notifications”, “Project for the edit”. Below, in order, is what to fill in for each.
Cameras and recorders
Press “Add camera” or “Add recorder”. You do not have to add them in advance: devices appear by themselves with the first card. “Mark cameras”: with letters A, B, C (the default) or numbers 01, 02, 03.
- Angle: from the list (wide, medium, close-up, host close-up, detail, top, handheld, host lav, boom, ambience and more) or your own;
- Operator and Lens (a list from 14 mm to 100–400 mm, or your own);
- Camera LUT (.cube): it is copied to the project's _LUT folder on every drive and the report thumbnails are shown through it. It is not applied in the editing app; its name goes into the clip comment;
- Note for the editor;
- for a recorder: Sound mixer and Microphones.
This is filled in once: every next card from the device is recognised by its files and gets its number, angle and comment. The number and angle go into the folders, the day report and the track names in the editing app.
| Angle | Device | Who | |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | wide | Sony FX6 · 24–70 | Andrew, camera operator |
| B | close-up | Sony FX3 · 85 | Michael, camera operator |
| F | BTS | iPhone 15 Pro | Olga |
| S | sound | Sound Devices 888 | Igor, sound mixer |
| L | lavs | Tascam DR-10L · 2 pcs | Igor, sound mixer |
Director Anna1st AD PaulDIT SergeiShoot day 09:00–18:00
↓ names in the editing app
Crew
Who worked that day: director, DP, gaffer, sound mixer, DIT. Pick a role from the list or type your own. The crew goes into the day report; the DIT signs the checksum lists (MHL). This section is optional.
Shoot days
How many shoot days are planned in total, and the call and wrap times. The “The day ends at” line is for night shoots: until that time the footage counts as the same shooting day.
Where you see it later. In the “Shoot days” section, for every date: the call and wrap times, cameras and recorders, how many cards, the volume and “✓ copies verified” or “some not checked”. The day report also opens from there, and the “Project report” is made there.
Copying and folders
- Drives for the copies: where to copy and in what order;
- Checksum: xxHash64, xxh3, xxh128, MD5 or SHA-1; new installs default to xxh128 (more in the article on checksums);
- Cascading copy: card → first drive → from it to the others, so the card can come out sooner;
- If a file was not copied: “Try 3 times, then report” or “Report at once”;
- Card names: “In order: A001, A002…” or “As on the card”;
- Folders on the drives: built from blocks (project, day, shoot day, shooting date, copy date, camera, card name, your own text), each block is a folder inside the previous one;
- File names of the copies: “As on the card” or “Rename” by blocks. Only the copies on the drives change, never the files on the card. XDCAM, P2, AVCHD and RED cards are copied with their own names, otherwise editing apps will not open them.
Footage
“Footage check”: after the copy the app looks for black and frozen frames, stuck pixels, silence, clipping. “Camera sound”: “Check” (the sound recorded by the camera too) or “Recorders only”.
Proxies and dailies
“Make proxies” for camera clips: format and frame size. “Make dailies” for the director and the producer: burn-ins (timecode, camera, angle, operator, scene and take, file name) and a watermark. The cloud is set here too: what to send (reports, recorder sound, dailies, proxies or camera originals) and to which folder. The cloud does not count as a copy for formatting.
C0047_Proxy.mov · ProRes 422 Proxy · 1920×1080 · camera LUT ✓ done
C0047.mp4 · H.264 · 1080p · timecode, camera, scene and take, “DRAFT” ✓ done
Dailies link: in the day report and the mail to the producer
Reports
“Make the day report”: after every card is copied and when you wrap the day. In “What it holds” tick the sections: summary of the day, crew, issues, cameras and cards, clip thumbnails, sound, list of every file, notes of the day, call and wrap times. There are separate colorist and editor reports. In “Look”: the logo, the heading colour and a light or dark background. Reports sit on the drives in the “_reports” folder next to the day's footage. “Letter with the report”: when you wrap the day, a mail to the given addresses opens.
Notifications
A short sound when copying and checking are done; system notifications when the app window is not on screen; a page with the offload progress for a phone on the local network.
Project for the edit
“Add to sync”: after the copies are checked, the day opens on the “Sync” page.