Looking For a "Standard Practices" Document, Workflow, Redundancy, etc.

[Chris Lawes]

Hi Everyone,

Would really appreciate some help on this matter. I am designing a production-wide unified workflow document so everyone is on the same page and important redundancy/safety/checklists/etc are being followed.

My first question is does there exist any "official" set of documents on procedures and best practices in the film industry?
Somekind of ISO 27001 or ASC published documents? I know some of these exist for physical safety like OSHA but what about things like when a memory card is offloaded, how many redundant locations it's copied to, how files are named according to camera/operator/production,logging format for field PAs and field notes, communication standards on walkie-talkie between crew, responsibility break-down for media management, field-to-post procedure, etc..

My second question is can anyone recommend a document, book, guide, etc. of written best practices for film production or share their own practices?


I know there may not be "one way" that's agreed upon but at some point you need to decide on a "one way" for a specific project at least.
I am looking for thought-out procedures and practices on both field production and post production workflows.

Thank you very much in advance for your shared experience and expertise!

- Chris Lawes

[Ian Dart]

hi chris,

a good resource for safety info for films is the amptp website

go to domesticproduction.com


cheers
ian

[Chris Lawes]

Thank you Ian!
Very much appreciate your help. This is a valuable resource. Do you know of any other resources that are not about safety? Like best practices for workflow?

Thinking about naming and offloading clips, logging format for field PAs and field notes, communication standards on walkie-talkie between crew, responsibility break-down for media management, field-to-post procedure, etc..

[Chris Medico]

I shoot for a number of different national level production companies. They follow the same script as far as data handling goes. The most important thing is to have your standards documented and make sure the field crew follows them.

Here is an example:

SHOOTERS CHECK LIST

Never record two days on the same card.
Confirm the Frame Rate, and whether you are to shoot Progressive or Interlaced with
all Cameras and Recording Devices.
Always be sure to set the internal clock of the camera to the proper date and time. This
ensures file creation dates will be accurate.
When shooting single camera only, use “REC RUN” TC.
When shooting Multicam (two or more cameras), use “FREE-RUN/ TIME-OF-DAY” TC.
Jam Sync all cameras if possible. See your Cameras User Manual for directions.
Slate All Cameras at the beginning and end of each shoot day. If you do not have
clapboard, use your hands, or shoot the visible timecode from the other cameras.
Make sure to always switch out the cards end of day.


HARD DRIVE FOLDER LAYOUT

When organizing the hard drive that will be sent back to post, it should always clearly contain the
following information:

SHOW
STORY#
DATE
TYPE OF MEDIA (XDCAM, AVCHD, GO PRO, DVCPRO HD, C300, Digital Audio)
CAMERA (A CAM, B CAM, C CAM)
LOAD (CARD 1, CARD 2, CARD 3)

2 copies of every card will be made on separate hard drives. One is kept local and the other is sent in to post. After the first drive has been received and verified good, the second drive will be sent.

• WHAT TO COPY

When copying from a card to the hard drive, always copy ALL the folders on that card.

• EXTERNAL AUDIO

In the presence of external audio, follow the same rules as the Camera Media.
Audio should be recorded as follows:
a. 48khz
b. 16 bit
c. Polyphonic Recording
d. WAV File Format
e. Drop Frame Timecode

[Ian Dart]

chris,
i am a gaffer by trade so my life is simple.....turn a switch and the light comes on.

i am not that familiar with the black arts of the camera department.............

but you could check out Filmmaking Tips for Camera Assistants | The Black and Blue

lots of articles on the camera dept and etc.

cheers

[Chris Lawes]

Great, both those last two posts are super-useful. We will of course make our own system but I want to base it off of systems devised by those more experienced than myself. Really appreciate the info guys, cheers.

The more the better, anyone else want to weigh in?

[Chris Lawes]

Something I have found useful that others may also:

For naming conventions I have based some of our workflow on a very good book called:
"The Avid Assistant Editor's Handbook" Giving Avid to the world… one assistant editor at a time.| Avid Assistant Editor's Handbook which has some good material on naming conventions and organization systems.

If anyone can recommend either a published whitepaper, independent book with suggested practices, or share their own I would really appreciate it.

Areas I am interested in:
- Naming Conventions
- Media Management Practices, eg. project folder layout, clip/bin organization, etc.
- Specialized personnel workflow, assistant/editor/writer/finishing editor workflow, etc.
- Somekind of flowchart for designating responsibilities in a team, or how people tackle that to avoid things falling through the cracks.
- Redundancy and loss prevention procedures, multiple copies, RAID, offsite, online/nearline/offline/archival workflow practices, etc.
- Any other standard operating procedures and guidelines for post production someone feels inclined to share or they feel are particularly effective.


Thanks very much for your time and help.
-Chris