What do you archive? at DVinfo.net

Peter Rush · November 11th, 2015, 02:29 AM

Currently I archive an ISO of their authored DVD or Blu-Ray (depends what they ordered) and a 1920x1080 copy of their edited wedding film (but not full ceremony/speeches/first dance) onto two drives. Does anyone keep a HD copy of the (edited) full day?

Pete

Steve Burkett · November 11th, 2015, 02:45 AM

My archive is currently ISO's of all Disks sent, plus HD versions of all videos and lately 4K versions of the Trailer and in some cases Marryoke. However some videos are only kept for a few years, then I pair it down to the smaller videos only.

Noa Put · November 11th, 2015, 02:47 AM

Whatever I give the client I keep a copy for myself, so the ISO's, the HD files and a jpg file from the dvd prints. That could be around 20GB per couple if there is only a dvd and double that if there is a blu-ray. I buy the cheapest and slowest large WD drives (4TB drives are around 160 euro) to store them and each time such a drive is full I buy a new one and store the old one, I use a usb 3.0 sharkoon sata quickport to connect the drives to my pc. I don't keep a second harddrive though as backup. It's in my contract it's the clients responsibility to have backups of their wedding, I don't make any promises to keep it for them. In the last 10 years I have had maybe 3 clienst asking for a copy of the dvd or the HD files because they lost theirs.

Steve Bleasdale · November 11th, 2015, 02:49 AM

Yes Pete, they get one SD copy or Blu-ray if ordered, i always burn a Blu-ray anyways also for me for future sell on or i can entice further payments. There full film copied also to two externals hard drives. If there are no problems after three months then i delete the film and footage and save the discs only. Steve

Chris Harding · November 11th, 2015, 04:57 AM

Hey Pete

I use 3TB drives and keep everything in a client folder for each wedding. MP4 raw footage for each camera, raw files for the still cameras, Sony Vegas project files, edited stills, edited video in MPEG2 for the DVD's, edited MP4 1920x1080 for the USB as well as the DVD cover and menu templates and then the DVD ISO's too. That way I have everything in one place! I get by on around 2 drives per season so it's an outlay of under $300 for peace of mind

Brides often come back to me months later for extra DVD's and extra Video e-books and I had an order for an extra DVD this week who got married 16th November 2014!!!

Peter Rush · November 11th, 2015, 08:37 AM

Chris you keep all your raw footage for each wedding indefinitely? at upwards of 200gb for each wedding and around 40/year that would be in the region of 8tb/season - I keep the raw footage for 3 months in case of any change requests but then it's binned.

Robert Benda · November 11th, 2015, 09:27 AM

For archiving I make a relatively lossless avi and save the DVD iso.

As for the all footage, my contract says the client has 14 days to tell me of a problem, but, space is cheap enough that generally I keep all the footage from a wedding season until the next one starts, so 6-12 months. That has saved my bacon once or twice. Now I call and ask them if they got the films and if they've watched them, just so I don't have surprises anymore.

Anthony McErlean · November 11th, 2015, 10:15 AM

The only thing I keep is a DVD of their wedding.
Once they have the DVD I get them to check it out and to contact me if there is a spelling mistake or something along those lines. (not to start into editing it again)
I tell them I will delete their wedding from my PC on a given day so contact me before then.
I would keep it for 4/5 weeks but don't tell them that.

I have no intention of keeping their wedding on my PC.
Job done! if they want extra copies, and they never never do now, I would use my DVD.
They are advised to make backup copies but that's up to them.

I think its up to them to look after their DVD, not me.

This works for me but might not for anyone else. :)

Roger Gunkel · November 11th, 2015, 12:25 PM

Similar to Anthony, I keep a copy of the DVD and an ISO file. Their contract states that original files will be kept for 4 weeks only to allow for spelling mistake corrections or any unnoticed errors I might have made.

Roger

Anthony McErlean · November 11th, 2015, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roger Gunkel

Similar to Anthony, I keep a copy of the DVD and an ISO file. Their contract states that original files will be kept for 4 weeks only to allow for spelling mistake corrections or any unnoticed errors I might have made.

Roger

Yes Roger, I used to keep ISO files as well until one day I discovered my WD black HDD went faulty, so, so much for that :) a DVD is all I keep now.

Steven Davis · November 11th, 2015, 05:13 PM

I've been keeping the final build files, so for my work flow, I do a master video file, then cut it up in to pieces. I keep the pieces.

Although after a couple of years, I purge. I have however kept the first wedding I ever shot more than a decade ago. It's hard to delete that one.

Chris Harding · November 11th, 2015, 05:30 PM

Hi Pete

Shucks.. how much footage do you shoot?? Each of my wedding folders are more likely to be around the 50GB mark not 200GB !! I usually have at best around 10 GB of B-Cam footage so that would be prep, arrivals, ceremony cutaways, speech cutaways and reception clips and then maybe a tad less on the A-Cam which is just main ceremony and all the speeches. Remember our speeches average about 4 or 5 on the night and rarely longer than 6 -8 minutes ...more often speeches (all of them) are over in 30 min at our weddings, a far cry from UK speeches that I have heard drone on a lot longer. I have never had raw footage and finished backup ever exceed 100GB!

Peter Rush · November 12th, 2015, 03:24 AM

I've just had a look at a recent wedding and the footage from my locked off cameras (2 CX730 cameras) is about 30GB footage from my GoPro is 30GB and the footage from my main camera (A7s) is 115gb - I shoot in XAVC-S which results in file sizes way bigger than AVCHD

In total with audio this wedding was 186gb

Pete

Steve Burkett · November 12th, 2015, 04:34 AM

I've had RAW footage touch close to 500gb's on some big Weddings - mostly its about 300gbs. Then again I shoot 4K on my 2 main cameras and a higher bitrate on my GH3. Only 1 GH2 shoots AVCHD and I can't wait to see the back of it. Smaller file sizes maybe, but I never took to AVCHD as a file format.

However no way would I keep RAW footage for too long. My office would become one massive hard drive. As it is I've got 8 on my desk plus 4 inside my PC.

Robert Benda · November 12th, 2015, 07:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Harding

Hi Pete

Shucks.. how much footage do you shoot?? Each of my wedding folders are more likely to be around the 50GB mark not 200GB !! I usually have at best around 10 GB of B-Cam footage so that would be prep, arrivals, ceremony cutaways, speech cutaways and reception clips and then maybe a tad less on the A-Cam which is just main ceremony and all the speeches.

I'm a 3 camera Canon shooter.
I checked and my prep and first look, shot solo, was about 25 GB, then a Catholic ceremony was just under 80 GB more. That prep covered around 5 hours of the day (prep, detail shots, first look, etc.)

With my soon to be former second shooter, its even worse. She way over shoots prep. 57 GB for the last wedding we were both present for B&G prep.

Total for this wedding is 262 GB with most of the videos done.

November 11th, 2015, 02:29 AM	#1
Peter Rush Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: UK/Yorkshire Posts: 2,069	What do you archive? Currently I archive an ISO of their authored DVD or Blu-Ray (depends what they ordered) and a 1920x1080 copy of their edited wedding film (but not full ceremony/speeches/first dance) onto two drives. Does anyone keep a HD copy of the (edited) full day? Pete

November 11th, 2015, 02:45 AM	#2
Steve Burkett Trustee Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Romsey, UK Posts: 1,261	Re: What do you archive? My archive is currently ISO's of all Disks sent, plus HD versions of all videos and lately 4K versions of the Trailer and in some cases Marryoke. However some videos are only kept for a few years, then I pair it down to the smaller videos only.

November 11th, 2015, 02:47 AM	#3
Noa Put Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Belgium Posts: 9,510	Re: What do you archive? Whatever I give the client I keep a copy for myself, so the ISO's, the HD files and a jpg file from the dvd prints. That could be around 20GB per couple if there is only a dvd and double that if there is a blu-ray. I buy the cheapest and slowest large WD drives (4TB drives are around 160 euro) to store them and each time such a drive is full I buy a new one and store the old one, I use a usb 3.0 sharkoon sata quickport to connect the drives to my pc. I don't keep a second harddrive though as backup. It's in my contract it's the clients responsibility to have backups of their wedding, I don't make any promises to keep it for them. In the last 10 years I have had maybe 3 clienst asking for a copy of the dvd or the HD files because they lost theirs.

November 11th, 2015, 02:49 AM	#4
Steve Bleasdale Trustee Join Date: May 2010 Location: England liverpool Posts: 1,343	Re: What do you archive? Yes Pete, they get one SD copy or Blu-ray if ordered, i always burn a Blu-ray anyways also for me for future sell on or i can entice further payments. There full film copied also to two externals hard drives. If there are no problems after three months then i delete the film and footage and save the discs only. Steve

November 11th, 2015, 04:57 AM	#5
Chris Harding Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 8,441	Re: What do you archive? Hey Pete I use 3TB drives and keep everything in a client folder for each wedding. MP4 raw footage for each camera, raw files for the still cameras, Sony Vegas project files, edited stills, edited video in MPEG2 for the DVD's, edited MP4 1920x1080 for the USB as well as the DVD cover and menu templates and then the DVD ISO's too. That way I have everything in one place! I get by on around 2 drives per season so it's an outlay of under $300 for peace of mind Brides often come back to me months later for extra DVD's and extra Video e-books and I had an order for an extra DVD this week who got married 16th November 2014!!!

November 11th, 2015, 08:37 AM	#6
Peter Rush Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: UK/Yorkshire Posts: 2,069	Re: What do you archive? Chris you keep all your raw footage for each wedding indefinitely? at upwards of 200gb for each wedding and around 40/year that would be in the region of 8tb/season - I keep the raw footage for 3 months in case of any change requests but then it's binned.

November 11th, 2015, 09:27 AM	#7
Robert Benda Trustee Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Crookston, MN Posts: 1,353	Re: What do you archive? For archiving I make a relatively lossless avi and save the DVD iso. As for the all footage, my contract says the client has 14 days to tell me of a problem, but, space is cheap enough that generally I keep all the footage from a wedding season until the next one starts, so 6-12 months. That has saved my bacon once or twice. Now I call and ask them if they got the films and if they've watched them, just so I don't have surprises anymore.

November 11th, 2015, 10:15 AM	#8
Anthony McErlean Trustee Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Northern Ireland Posts: 1,081	Re: What do you archive? The only thing I keep is a DVD of their wedding. Once they have the DVD I get them to check it out and to contact me if there is a spelling mistake or something along those lines. (not to start into editing it again) I tell them I will delete their wedding from my PC on a given day so contact me before then. I would keep it for 4/5 weeks but don't tell them that. I have no intention of keeping their wedding on my PC. Job done! if they want extra copies, and they never never do now, I would use my DVD. They are advised to make backup copies but that's up to them. I think its up to them to look after their DVD, not me. This works for me but might not for anyone else. :)

November 11th, 2015, 12:25 PM	#9
Roger Gunkel Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: LIncolnshire, UK Posts: 2,213	Re: What do you archive? Similar to Anthony, I keep a copy of the DVD and an ISO file. Their contract states that original files will be kept for 4 weeks only to allow for spelling mistake corrections or any unnoticed errors I might have made. Roger

November 11th, 2015, 05:13 PM	#11
Steven Davis Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Richmond, VA Posts: 3,065	Re: What do you archive? I've been keeping the final build files, so for my work flow, I do a master video file, then cut it up in to pieces. I keep the pieces. Although after a couple of years, I purge. I have however kept the first wedding I ever shot more than a decade ago. It's hard to delete that one. __________________ What happens if I push the 'Red' button?

November 11th, 2015, 05:30 PM	#12
Chris Harding Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 8,441	Re: What do you archive? Hi Pete Shucks.. how much footage do you shoot?? Each of my wedding folders are more likely to be around the 50GB mark not 200GB !! I usually have at best around 10 GB of B-Cam footage so that would be prep, arrivals, ceremony cutaways, speech cutaways and reception clips and then maybe a tad less on the A-Cam which is just main ceremony and all the speeches. Remember our speeches average about 4 or 5 on the night and rarely longer than 6 -8 minutes ...more often speeches (all of them) are over in 30 min at our weddings, a far cry from UK speeches that I have heard drone on a lot longer. I have never had raw footage and finished backup ever exceed 100GB!

November 12th, 2015, 03:24 AM	#13
Peter Rush Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: UK/Yorkshire Posts: 2,069	Re: What do you archive? I've just had a look at a recent wedding and the footage from my locked off cameras (2 CX730 cameras) is about 30GB footage from my GoPro is 30GB and the footage from my main camera (A7s) is 115gb - I shoot in XAVC-S which results in file sizes way bigger than AVCHD In total with audio this wedding was 186gb Pete

November 12th, 2015, 04:34 AM	#14
Steve Burkett Trustee Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Romsey, UK Posts: 1,261	Re: What do you archive? I've had RAW footage touch close to 500gb's on some big Weddings - mostly its about 300gbs. Then again I shoot 4K on my 2 main cameras and a higher bitrate on my GH3. Only 1 GH2 shoots AVCHD and I can't wait to see the back of it. Smaller file sizes maybe, but I never took to AVCHD as a file format. However no way would I keep RAW footage for too long. My office would become one massive hard drive. As it is I've got 8 on my desk plus 4 inside my PC.