Dialogue Editing

Metadata Demystifi ed 79
Figure 5-9 Once you’ve imported the metadata from the location mixer’s harddisk
recorder, you can set up a very powerful tool for fi nding, comparing, and
commenting on your soundfi les.
everyone on the sound team greatly increases effi ciency. And if you add comments,
it will point other editors to fruitful soundfi les and keep you—and
them—from repeatedly exploring blind alleys. Remember, though, you’re a
sound editor, not an IT manager. These lists and databases are here to help
you to edit more effi ciently. They’re a means rather than an end, so don’t be
overly obsessed with spectacular spreadsheets.
Each workstation has its own way of dealing with the vagaries of metadata,
24-bit sound, and multitrack soundfi les. To complicate matters, the brand of
hard-disk recorder used in production will infl uence the route you and the
assistant picture editor will take to manage the project. This needn’t be overwhelming;
you just have to discover early in the production, long before you
start editing, how the fi lm is being shot and recorded. Talk with the assistant
picture editor as soon as shooting begins; she’s after all the one who will be
syncing the dailies and organizing the paperwork, and who’ll catch the
potential pitfalls of the system. At the very least, learn the following:
Which hard-disk recorder was used? What’s the sample rate and bit
depth? What’s the fi le format (hopefully BWF)?