All the Mistakes We Made: Creating an Edit Decision List

After our shoot for 'A Good One' and going through our production log, we - sadly - encountered a couple of issues that we need to resolve in order for Lynley to properly start editing:

1) Since we had not used a numbered storyboard from the get-go and Has wanted a couple of improvised shots right from the beginning, Hannah was not always able to correctly log the shot number I filmed, which she tried to compensate with a short description of the character present and the shot size used.

And even though that was initially a good idea, it did not really help in the end, regarding the fact that we had - at least according to description - many shots that seemed to be exactly the same. So we had to return to the footage taken in the edit suite and review (as well as evaluate) it one by one. Lynley luckily took care of it as it also served to give her an overview of the entire footage, so time was not wasted entirely.

But in order to avoid that entire seesaw in future productions, we will need to remember numbering the storyboard and bringing it along to the set as well as being more transparent in what we have captured so far to the camera operator or runner who takes notes on the production log.

2) As we progressed quickly throughout the shoot (according to Has, we had approx. 120 shoots to take in three days), Hannah was sometimes not able to ask for the correct shot number or our rating of the shot in time before we moved on. That led to inconsistencies and lacunae in the production log, which we then had to double check and fill out from reviews in the edit suite again.

Looking back at it, I should have been more considerate of her and ensure that I include Hannah more and in closer detail in regard to logging and keeping her on the same page. Since the schedule was pressing and I had to constantly switch hats between camera operator and lighting person, I realise now that this vital task had been drowned in the stress and heat of production. I will need to remember in the future to be a more considerate communicator and to ensure that this does not happen again, even though it might feel a bit displaced and even dictating to constantly check whether the log was coming together okay.

3) In the future, with a two camera production, we will definitely need to be more careful in keeping the SD-cards and cameras - as well as their respective production logs - separate at all times, even if it might mean taking a bit more time rigging and de-rigging the equipment in between the shots.

For, since we had many shots to cover and only so much time to take care of them, we wanted to be as efficient as possible and thus sometimes swapped around cameras in between us two camera operators when the setups got more ambitious. While that initially was a nice idea to save time and let Hannah prepare the footage, it became clear in the edit suite on why that did not work out as we thought it would: It was not clear who had filmed which take, and thusly, who could elaborate on it if needed.

Which sounds like an issue that would only pertain to grading the outcome, but it also meant, that - in case our editor had specific questions about the precise settings or the situation at hand - we had to constantly go through the footage and ask who was responsible for what. All this was additionally worsened by the fact that we had shot more than 200 clips (31,1 GB) of material which had to be logged and sorted through to devise the EDL and thus create the best version of our rough cut possible. So in the future, we will avoid swapping around any equipment that is tied to a role or linked to a person, as it only creates more confusion on top of everything else.

Furthermore, looking onto the matter of improvised shots and cutaways on set, in the future we will need to devise a key system by giving them a number that can easily be traced back and not be confused with the shots that were actually planned.

But since we cannot turn back time, our solution for now will be to create a new production log and derive an edit decision list from that. Since Lynley had to go through the footage and familiarise herself with it anyways, she created a production log that compiled all the necessary information, being tailored to her needs as an editor. The log looked like this and contained information like:

She then reviewed and rated all the available footage in a four star system, and explained in much more detail how that rating came about. Our director Has then went through the log and confirmed or changed her rating and added comments where necessary. After she was finished with logging all the footage, she created an EDL based on denser and more concrete information:

But since time was of the essence even though we had an early start thanks to Chloe's organisational talent, Lynley, Has, and I decided to split the tasks up between us and thus each of us compiled a third of the EDL, based on the rating both Lynley and Has did of the existent footage.

After that task, which took us a combined amount of 17 hours to do, the EDL was almost finished, apart from a couple of shots that were not yet linked to the storyboard or needed a second run by Has who will have to decide upon it.

So, yeah, who would have thought that such seemingly small mistakes may end up costing so much time undoing afterwards?