Dialogue Editing

244 CONFORMATIONS
Click on any track within the group of your original session.
Locate to the time or footage indicated in the change list.
Make a cut across all tracks. This will undoubtedly result in some
track carnage, but you can sort that out later.
Reset the Nudge key to the time specifi ed in the change list.
In the “old material” edit group, select everything from the insertion
point to the end of the reel. Make sure you’re in Slip mode. Press the
Nudge key (“+”) once. Make sure you’re moving your markers as well
the sounds.
Changing the Order
Changing the sequence of shots or scenes is the least pleasant of all conformations
because you have to juggle a lot of material. For example, changing
the sequence of scenes from A, B, C to A, C, B involves these steps:
1. Prepare B. Before removing B, I like to add two silent, 1-frame regions
on its fi rst and last frames. These marks will travel with the scene and
serve as reference anchors. When you’ve moved section B to its new
home, these anchors should line up with the beginning and end of
the picture at the new location.
2. Remove B from the sequence. Select the two scene B anchors and
everything between them. Enter Shuffl e mode and cut all of scene B.
Scene C and everything after it will advance to B’s old start position.
3. Create a location to insert scene B. Locate to the end of C, where B is to
be inserted. Make an edit that will result in a cut across all of the
tracks of the old session.
4. Insert B after C. Still in Shuffl e mode, paste section B at its new
location. Return to Slip mode and assess the damage.
Adding New Material
If the new version contains material not in the old session, copy these extensions,
shots, or scenes from the new OMF. Wherever you insert new material,
place a marker to remind yourself that you have unedited material to deal
with. If the OMF audio is unacceptable (perhaps it was loaded into the Avid
via analogue or has the wrong bit rate), you must recreate this section from
the original tapes. This is where the EDLs come in handy.
Use your auto-assembly software or fi le-linking program to auto-conform the
new (missing) sections of the fi lm. Auto-assembly programs allow you to pick
the EDL range that you want to conform. If this proves frustrating, open the
new EDL in Word, delete all events except those you want to conform, and