Dialogue Editing

36 A QUICK LOOK AT PICTURE EDITING
Figure 3-2 Syncing a shot in an Avid. Once the sync relationship is established
between sound and picture for each shot, an offset database facilitates creation of
video and audio EDLs and a negative cut list. The picture editor can forget about
the many timecodes, since the machine will remember this vital information.
telecine bay, the assistant picture editor will digitize sound along with picture.
Even though the audio timecode will match the video timecode (the two are
now on the same tape and in sync, after all), the FLEx or ALE fi le will enable
the Avid to generate an EDL 2 that refers to the original DAT or HD timecode
or to the metadata-equipped BWF soundfi le. Without this, you wouldn’t be
able to autoconform the dialogue from the original tapes. If the telecine videotape
doesn’t include audio, the assistant picture editor will load the sound
into the Avid, sync the claps for each take, and supply the missing audio data
for each take (sound roll number, scene and take, etc.). This is shown in
Figure 3-2.
2 An EDL (edit decision list) is an event-by-event description of a video-based program,
with all picture and sound edits detailed. We’ll discuss the EDL in great detail in Chap -
ter 5.