Hi,

 When creating an EDL with Arri Alexa footage I came across the problem that unless you modify the clip to give it a reel name that matches the clip name it wont conform correctly (I was getting complaints from the TC guys!!), so if you have hundreds of clips you need to modify this can be very time consuming and tedious, and as we are having are schedules tightened constantly is there a way to batch modify clips? Or can anyone suggest a better workflow that means i dont have to modify the clips? Something on import?

Any help would be very much appreciated!!

 

Cheers

It sounds like you want to copy the contents of one column to another, yes? Simply select the column you want to copy (clip name) and hit Command-D for duplicate, a window will pop up. Select the column you want to copy to (reel name) and hit ok. 

How did you bring the Alexa clips in originally? I've done an Alexa project, brought the files in through AMA, and all these clips have a 'Source File' name that matches the full source file name. When I created an EDL, each clip had a source name like 'A001C001R1LU.mov'.

So what clip names are you seeing? What setting in EDL manager are you using (meaning: what do you tell EDL Manager to use as source tape name)?

Also, did you use the File16, Red16 or File32 EDL template? Those are the only templates that will allow for the full 16 characters of the source file to be used as a source name in the EDL Manager. Other templates will truncate the source to 8 or so characters.

Well in theory yes, but when i try your method it gives me the message "no modifiable entires in column reel'. That would have been brilliant if it woirked... any  more ideas?

I am not bringing them in via AMA, I am transcoding them to MXF because this works better for our workflow. You can see t orginal clip name as per your example. I am setting the EDL to Red16, I have tried other templates as well but still no success, the clips names are correct in the edl but it doesnt conform correctly unless the reel name matches the clip name.

The latter would be a problem for the conform side of things. Leave the clip name out, if that is what is causing trouble. Which machine are they conforming on? Did you double check to see that the full filename is in a specific column, and is that showing in the EDL correctly? That (plus timecode) should be all that is needed.

If they insist having clip names (which are not required in any EDL specification), decompose a COPY of your sequence, drag the resulting clips into a fresh bin, select the source file column (or whatever column contains the correct full file name), then CMD-D and thereby copy the entries from that column into the Clip Name column. Then EDL the decomposed sequence. You can't modify the reel names like that. You can modify the clip names.

They are looking for the 8 character REEL name that is in the QuickTime, but not supoorted by AMA. If you use MetaCheate, you can see it. Normally, the filename itself is good enough for an EDL, you will need to use the 32 character template as the Arri name is longer than 16. When generating the EDL, EDL Manager will not see values under TAPE and automatically use Source File.

 

Michael