Dialogue Editing

The Edit Decision List 63
very old means of expressing video edit decisions. Its ancestors were controllers
for VTRs with only two channels. In the glory days of linear videotape
editing, there were many fl avors of EDL, any of which could have made for
a better way of expressing multichannel edit data. As is often the case with
standards, however, the weakest of possibilities became the norm. AAF and
especially the AES31 audio decision list (ADL) will solve all of these problems,
as they are designed to handle real-world data transfer issues and are
delightfully sample-accurate.
Finding the End of a Shot
Ask a fi lm editor to identify the last frame of a shot and you’ll be shown the
last image connected to the shot in question. The sync block counter will read
that shot’s ending footage. This is clear, and it refl ects the way we relate to
physical objects. Consider that the last step in France before entering Belgium
is on the French side of the border; the last word on a page in a book is, in
fact, the last word before you turn to the next page. So, if the last frame of a
shot is 231 feet, 12 frames, the next shot will begin at 231 feet, 13 frames.
Seems pretty obvious.
But video, being a constantly evolving, ever scanning illusion, doesn’t work
this way. By design and necessity, the last frame of a shot in video isn’t the
last frame we see but rather the beginning of the next frame. Look at this
EDL excerpt.
003 DVD09 AA D 13:38:11:02 13:38:12:23 02:00:24:06 02:00:26:02
004 DVD09 AA C 13:29:30:08 13:29:33:14 02:00:26:02 02:00:29:08
Here line 003 ends at 2:00:26:02. The next event, 004, begins at 2:00:26:02,
and not a frame later, as you would expect from the commonsense fi lm
model. (See Figure 5-3.)
Printing the EDL
To conveniently fi nd alternate takes when you edit, you’ll need to print the
EDLs. To easily troubleshoot conform problems, you’ll need to print the EDLs.
Recycle paper and you won’t feel so bad about the amount of paper you’re
using, but to make for a manageable editing experience, you have to print the
EDLs.
To make your life easier, put a header on each EDL page. Include the project
name, page number, reel number, and the set of tracks represented in the list