Topic - 4 Lecture- 24

Archiving and File

Formats
Unit-III
Mixing and Exporting

Subject: Video Editing

By: Sumantra Sarathi Das

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OBJECTIVE OF LECTURE

Students would be able to :

􏰀
-Understand how archiving is done and its
importance.
-To know about various file formats used for
archiving video data and projects.

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Suggested further readings:

1.Herbert Zettl, TV production Handbook,

Thomas Wardsworth Publishing
2. Video Production, Vasuki Belavadi, Oxford
Publication
3. Millerson, G., & Millerson, G. (1999). Television
Production. Oxford: Focal Press,13 edition.

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 Archiving

- Archiving means collecting, organising, describing,

preserving, and providing access to materials of
evidential, historical, cultural, or other value".

-Archiving is really important as you can be sure

that at some point either a customer will come back
and ask for some footage from an old project or you
will find you need to get a hold of some footage and
you don't know where it is! However, good archiving
of old material will help make this a far less painful
experience.

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 Archiving

- The process of storing project data so you can

get access to it later is called archiving.
When you're finished editing your videos, you'll
typically export the final file.

- If you upload it to Facebook, YouTube, or some

other site, that copy can be considered one of your
backups, which is good. You always want a
backup of your files. But if you're posting some
videos to YouTube and saving others to a private
Dropbox account, your video files are going to be
all over the place.
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Archiving in Premier Pro using Project Manager

You can do a lot with Adobe Premiere’s Project

Manager. You can easily collect and copy all of
your assets to pass off to a client or a fellow
editor, or consolidate one of your projects to save
space on a full hard drive. Whatever the situation,
the Project Manager is a helpful tool.

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Archiving in Premier Pro using Project Manager

Choose Your Sequence(s)

You can find the Project Manager at the bottom of
the File menu. First, at the top of the Project
Manager dialog box you’ll notice the Sequences
area, where you can specify individual sequences
you would like to include in your archive.

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Archiving in Premier Pro using Project Manager

Select How to Manage the Resulting Project

You have two options under the resulting project
section — you can Collect Files and Copy to a
New Location, or you can Consolidate and
Transcode. I want to hand off all of the assets in
their original format, so I’ll select the Collect Files
and Copy to a New Location option.

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Archiving in Premier Pro using Project Manager

-With Consolidate and Transcode, you can

choose to actually render out your original
content to a new format. You can transcode
Sequences or Individual Clips, and you have a
variety of different format and preset options
available to you when going this route. But again,
we’ll stick with the Collect Files and Copy to a
New Location option.

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Archiving in Premier Pro using Project Manager

Customize Your Options

- The Project Manager offers you a number of
options when archiving your projects.
- Exclude Unused Clips: Use this feature when
you only want to include the media
used in your selected sequences.
- Include Handles: When utilizing the Consolidate
and Transcode option, you can choose to include
frame handles on each clip which will provide
room to add transitions or re-time clips.

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 Archiving in Premier Pro using Project Manager

- Include Audio Conform Files: You can choose to

include audio conform files or just re-conform them
later on.
- Convert Image Sequences to Clips: A nice
feature, the Project Manager can instantly convert
image sequences to clips.
- Include Preview Files: You can choose to include
preview files, or re-render them from your archived
project.

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Archiving in Premier Pro using Project Manager

Destination Path and Disk Space

Our final step includes selecting a location for our
archived project. After you select a destination, the
Project Manager will show you the disk space
available. You can click on Calculate to find out the
estimated size of your archived project, as well as
the size of the original project.

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 Archiving File Formats

Due to the large file sizes and the use of

numerous codecs, archiving video is a complex
topic. The dependency on specific codecs creates
a potential for footage becoming inaccessible. And
project files carry an inherent risk of
obsolescence, as NLE software and the formats it
understands are constantly moving targets.

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 Archiving File Format

Most users choose to archive their original

camera media as well as digital master files of
their completed programs after editing. It is also a
good idea to store copies of the project file that
contains the instruction set on how the source
files were assembled.

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 Archiving File Format

- For client work, archive decisions often come

down to a matter of cost. Some clients are
willing to pay for archives while others are not.
- Additionally, many clients assume that the
production company has archived everything,
so be sure to clarify assumptions. The use of
long term media formats such as LTO tape and
optical media has made this process easier,
but it is still neither easy nor cheap.

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 Archiving File Format

Create a digital master of the finished

production
- When a project is done, you’ll often make several
digital files for delivery. Typically these files are
heavily compressed as they are intended for
playback on portable media devices or the
Internet. While you will probably want to archive
these files, you’ll also want to save a digital master
file with the least compression that is practical.

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 Archiving File Format

- A QuickTime movie using a low-compression

scheme is a good format choice for your digital
master file. Popular codec choices include the
Apple ProRes 422 (HQ), Avid DNXHD, Cineform,
or Animation codecs.

- These files may be very large, but they ensure a

high-quality digital file that can be used to make
additional digital derivatives.

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 Archiving File Format

Archiving a master to tape

- It’s very common for people who make or
commission video to render and archive a master
copy of the production to some form of tape. This is
frequently done even though there may be multiple
copies of the digital files on various hard drives or
other media. A finished master copy written to tape
provides a backup version that may not be subject
to the same codec uncertainties that other digital
copies have.

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 Archiving File Format

- If you don’t own a system capable of creating a

digital tape, you could send a master digital copy to
a production house and subcontract the process.
You could also write the file out to Blu-ray disc to
create a high-quality version that is not so
dependent on installed codecs.

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 Archiving File Format

Camera original files

In addition to the finished master version, it will
generally be advisable to archive the camera
original files. There are a few key considerations
when creating these archives.
- Maintaining file structure: It is a best practice to
maintain an exact copy of the file structure of the
original source media files when copying to a
backup device. The additional metadata and folder
structures are often needed to assist editing
software in properly importing and interpreting the
camera data, particularly for AVCHD.
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 Archiving File Format

- Redundancy: If you have only one copy, it is not

backed up. Be sure that the media exists in at least
two locations and uses at least two formats of
backup. While hard drives are cheap, they are not
a permanent solution. Many turn to optical media
such as Blu-ray discs or tape-based archives like
LTO, DLT, and AIT.

Advanced Intelligent
Linear Tape Open Digital Linear Tape
Tape (AIT) 21 of 27
(LTO) (DLT)
 Archiving File Format

- Use software: Many use software tools to ensure

a complete copy of the disk image. Tools like Final
Cut Pro X have a camera archive feature that
supports certain formats. Another popular choice is
ShotPut Pro which can automate copying of
tapeless media to up to three separate locations. It
also has a great set of tools for verifying copies
and, creating additional backups to optical formats.

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 Archiving File Format

Project files
- The project file created by your nonlinear editing
software truly is intellectual property. If you ever
need to make a change to the video after the
creation of the digital master, it will probably be
easiest to do so from the original project file. Of
course, this is only so if the project file can be
opened, and all the clip files can be easily
reattached. You will want to take great care to
ensure that the project file is archived to multiple
locations and multiple media types.

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 Archiving File Format

- At the end of a project, it is also a good idea to

export additional versions of a project file. Over
time, manufacturers often evolve their project file
formats. Some even drop support all together
(such as Apple did in its initial transition from Final
Cut Pro 7 to version X). Most editing tools can
export an EDL (edit decision list) and XML
(extensible Markup Language) file. Storing a copy
of each with the archived project is a good idea.

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 Archiving File Format
Removing unused media from the project file
- When you archive a completed project and the
associated media, you will almost certainly have a
bunch of stuff that was not used in the finished
product. This may include a lot of unused source
footage, and it may also include temporary render
files. In some cases, it will make sense to include all
of this with the archived project, and in some cases
you may want to remove some of the files to save
space.

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 Archiving File Format

- For a high-value project that only takes up a

couple hundred gigabytes, it probably makes
sense to archive everything. If the project has
limited audience and a ton of transcoded footage,
then it might make sense to trim off the unused
transcoded footage when you send the project to
archive.
- In the end, you’ll have to make the decision of
what to cut according to your own valuation of the
project in the context of the archiving costs.

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