Hello all,
I'm on a team for 48 Hour Film Project!!  I am so excited - We're shooting this weekend.  I'll be meeting everyone for the first time tomorrow afternoon before the kickoff.

My role is "Associate Producer/Assistant Editor/Script Supervisor."  I wanted to be involved in editing but the producer had the editors already so I'm assistant editing and helping out in whatever way possible.  But I have some questions.

In an email he sent today, he mentioned that we'll have two cameras, both HVX200s with P2 cards (I'm not familiar with these).  Then he wrote: "once they are full or a scene wraps the cards will go to ____ to import into the Mac Powerbook onto one of the portable drives and then copied onto the MacBook Pro with FCP for logging, marking good takes and rough editing.  Editing all along will help us get a better idea of what we have as we are shooting it"

Then later he wrote specifically that he wanted me to be "Script Supervisor and responsible for getting the P2 cards to the editor and working with him on the Edit."

Now, see I'm an Avid girl, and have never used FCP (which I told him) so I'm wondering how much I'll be able to help (technically) in assisting the editor, beyond my creative instincts.  But regarding script supervising, which I also think is really cool, I was intending to bring Logging Forms, watch for continuity, make notes, etc. on the shoot.  Now it sounds like I'm going to be running back and forth between the shoot and the person downloading, who will log in the software.  I've always found logging on paper extremely helpful, as I have notes to refer to when logging clips in Avid.  But then again, I've never used these P2 cards, (just mini-DV) and I edit my stuff at home on the PC, not a laptop.  So...

What would a Script Supervisor do in this scenario?  How will I be able to monitor continuity if I'm constantly running back and forth with these cards?  Also, will FCP be easy for this Avid editor to pick up?  I don't know what version we'll be using.  The producer has already suggested bringing me on board for an indie project of his later this summer, so I want to make sure I do a good job.

If anyone can answer before noon on Friday (EST), I'd appreciate it!  We're meeting at 2 and I want to be prepared.  Or should I just relax and stop worrying?

Thanks,
D

Hey D 

first of all, congrats on being part of the 48HFP.  I did this the last 2 years and had a great time doing it...in fact our last project for the 48 Hour folks, the Panasonic Fall 48 Hour HD Shootout, was just screened at Cannes and went over very well.  Its great fun and exhausting.

As an editor, I find a script supervisor to be very important.  Detailed notes from the shoot, circle takes, directors comments, timings (very important on the 48HFP).  Continuity is also very important as well.  Any bits of info from the set will be important to bring back to the edit suite.  With the tight deadline, the edit team will appreciate as much detail as possible.  Also, strongly suggest the production team use slates for each scene and (if possible) take.  This will save hours of searching in the edit process.

I would certainly make the producer aware of your limited experience with P2 and FCP.  Like you are doing, we shuttled P2 cards back and forth, and my editorial team mate was very adept at FCP and the P2 import.  He checked and double checked that all the footage was transferred before he let those cards go back.  It is a mission-critical task, so if you have any questions on how to handle it, get them out today in the meeting.  I would also let them know that FCP is not your area of expertise.  Time is critical (we had 6 teams in our region miss the deadline...our first project made it in with only 6 minutes to spare!).

Have fun...it really is a blast!

Scott, thanks for your reply.  I guess my confusion surrounds the logistics of balancing being on-set, watching each set-up and take, and making all those detailed notes WITH running back and forth to give cards to the editor.  I see the benefit to downloading footage while still shooting, to get a jump on editing, but - does everything on the set stop until I come back with the cards?  Because if it doesn't how would I be able to be there for the director and everything  for the next takes?  If they have extra cards, wouldn't they just want to keep going?  I would assume the editor would be downloading nearby, but I just don't know.

I guess I'm just nervous as well as excited.  BTW, I was going to bring my own slate to the set (wherever that will be!).  Okay, thanks...

Diane

I would say as script supervisor, you need to be on set all the time, with a PA running the cards.  We had 4 cards.  When two would get filled, we would shuttle them back to us in the suite while they shot with the others.  That way everything could keep moving.  We would edit each scene as they came in on the cards, so we had something to show the director when the day of shooting was done.

Funny thing was on our second short (I think it was the regional or national finals) we realized after the first day of shooting, the story was not working as scripted.  At 1am on Sunday morning, we brought the writers back in and literally re-structured the story to better fit was was coming back on the cards.  While the director slept a couple hours on the couch, we re-edited the film to a newly constructed script and then he went out and shot a couple more scenes to fill in what we needed, brought talent in for VO and adjusted some of the visual effects shots.  We learned on that one that a simpler story is far better for a five minute film!

Best of luck.  It is a lot of fun.

Scott, thanks - I have a break now until the kickoff and thought I'd check in.  I voiced my concerns at our meeting about how it would all work, and fortunately I didn't sound like an idiot (which is what I was afraid of).  I think  it was obvious that I'm concerned with details and want to do my best (and he seemed impressed that I showed up with my own clapper - LOL).  He's going to designate someone to yell out TC's to me.  Turns out we'll only have the one main HVX200 camera (the person with the second fell through), and a PD150 to fall back on if needed but he apparently only wants to use that for exteriors or B-Roll.  Anyway, we will strive to keep things simple, will probably not have complex location issues, and the editor will likely be close by.  He said that I could give the cards to the "most reliable" PA's.  Whew!  I'm going back to meet with them at the writing session after the kickoff.  We're all chomping at the bit wondering what our genre/prop/line of dialogue will be.  Let the games begin!

Good luck!

This is an interesting scenario where ScriptSync would come in handy since it aligns the takes to the script phonetically at 30x faster than real time. On my last feature, we had no scene/take or clapper on set but I asked that they call out page number. Later in Media Composer I dropped the takes on the page and used ScriptSync - minutes later I had an electronic version of the lined script... combine that with native P2 editing it would really be streamlined.. 

Get the case of Red Bull ready. 

Michael

Michael  - 

Where can I get a good look/overview of Sciptsync as used in real-world scenarios (read: not the marketing stuff on the web site!)?  I am not familiar with the feature and it sounds very interesting.  Thanks in advance!

sw

 Have you actually seen the video tutorials on the website? In addition to those, there are links to articles and inteviews from editors using ScriptSync in their workflow.

In addition, a quick search in scriptsync in google will point to blogs and other articles:

http://www.scottsimmons.tv/blog/2007/04/02/hands-on-with-avids-scriptsync/

http://www.editorsguild.com/v2/magazine/archives/0707/techtips_article02.htm

http://www.avid.com/showcase/Just-Jordan-Multicam-HD-Workflow.asp

http://www.studiodaily.com/studiomonthly/searchlist/8856.html

You might want to check out these forums as well. I won't take offense to the marketing stuff...  ;) even though I hekp write a lot of that stuff!

Michael

Micahael - no offense intended (althought I guess you have missed my posts on Avid marketing!  :-)  )

DreamerD - How did the film go?

 None taken... just giving you a little s----   ;

Michael

 Diane:

Sorry for jumping into this one somewhat late, but here is an Avid to FCP guide that you may find useful.

48 Hour Film Project? Opinions? Why yes, I am a six time competitor, three times regional finalist, and just in the last few weeks won the our local region. Technically it's not the 48 Hour Film Project, it's 48HOURS (the NZ version, it's better).

In my humble opionion, your team leader is over-thinking it a bit. In my experience that sort of rigid planning and structure tends to fail under pressure. Above all else the thing should be fun, because the prizes hardly make it worth doing for any other reason (at least the 48HFP anyway).

We've always avoided any editing on location, we've felt it's too likely to make us spend longer shooting things that aren't really necessary and second guessing ourselves. Instead we often start our editing on the Saturda afternoon, but at a completely different location and simply run footage back as necessary.

With P2, you will probably need to be dumping to an external drive or similar, and then using that drive as your master source. I advise making two copies on different drives, just in case the worst happens.

Personally I've found Avid to have a much better P2 workflow than FCP, but I suspect that'd be a loosing battle for you. As Assistant Editor your role is probably more about sorting and organising clips than any major editing stuff, so the stuff you'll need to know about FCP should be fairly minimal. One major thing though is - don't rename any of the clips - this is especially important if you're going to be editing on two different computers.

switthaus:

DreamerD - How did the film go?

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I haven't been here for a while.  The 48hfp was a great (and exhausting) experience.  We had over 20 people on our team, and only 3 or 4 of them knew each other beforehand.  We had lots of fun and came together in an amazing cooperative effort.  There were other teams that fought terribly and one group even engaged in fisticuffs at the drop-off because they missed the deadline! We got there about 5 minutes before deadline (we were burning our DVD in the cab).

I actually wound up not editing at all, because he had two guys who were experienced with FCP and Macs, so why spend time getting me up to speed when time is limited?  I'm in the credits as Assoc. Producer and Script Super.  I also helped with writing and casting (I brought in 2 actors).

The workflow with the P2 totally sucked.  We couldn't get as many cards, or as large capacity, as had been planned.  We only had two and had to freakin' change them so often!  I think it was every ten or fiteen minutes (what a pain).  Plus there were problems with the files being recognized on his laptop so there were many delays.  First day, we were indoors at one of our actors' apartment and just had our editor out in the hall, but then the building kicked us out (it's a co-op and we didn't get permission beforehand).  So we had to re-write the script and shot the rest in a small park the next day.  Of course it rained (I also served as umbrella wrangler).  Our AC had to run down the block with the P2 card to the prod/dir/editor who was in an apartment nearby.  We were still shooting just a couple of hours before deadline.

We had so many delays I think because of this stupid P2 camera.  If I ever do 48hfp myself, I'd use mini-DV - it would have been a hell of a lot easier!  Plus, at least seeing it online, I don't really think the quality of the picture is better.  AND because we were so pressed for time, some elements got tossed out in editing.  He chose to output it to a "data" DVD, and there were playback problem at the screening -- it stopped playng way before the end. We didn't win any prizes.  There will be a better version on the web somewhere, and I'll post a link.

All in all, the experience was fun, exciting, tiring, frustrating, and incredibly creative.

Dreamer D