Re: Markers or Metadata - The Debate!

[David Lawrence] " he discusses his logging method and why tags and metadata do not work for him"

He said he doesn't like metadata tagging because other people might not tag the right shots. That means he can't use CatDV or any other MAM, just markers that he himself applies. That might work on 6 Below which was mainly a one-camera shoot with an approx 66:1 shooting ratio. I'm not sure how scalable that is to the 200:1 ratio used on some films or the 400:1 ratio used in reality TV.

But he actually IS using metadata, as shown at 15:00-16:00 into the video. Using a dry-erase marker board and 3x5 cards, he essentially constructed a paper version of FCPX's Event Browser, with tags hand-written on each card. Instead of rejecting the clip via software, he wrote a red X on the white board.

OTOH if a film of this complexity can be done without software-assisted tags and metadata, maybe that means it's less important than often depicted. He obviously got the job done, and effectively.

However this was a scripted narrative. The script forms a pre-defined organizational backbone and he used timeline markers to quickly find scenes and takes. For observational documentary there is no tightly defined script, the shooting ratio is higher and the storyline is often discovered during the editorial process. In that case I'm not sure his method would work as well.