Remote logging

Having the ability to log rushes whilst a production is still taking place means you can easily re-take that missing shot, or be sure you capture specific scenes from every camera angle. You’ll never have to worry about paying for additional days on location and can ensure that the production runs to budget. What’s also useful is that media can be logged (and edited) as live feeds are ingested directly from the camera into the cloud, which cuts down production time further. Winning!

Remote collaboration

Being able to work remotely with editors, directors and producers can be really valuable to your production, as you don’t need to hire out expensive edit suites for hours (or sometimes days) on end. With Forscene, remote collaboration is possible, as you can assign tasks to other users for review and approval of shots. Any member of the production crew can access an account, from anywhere in the world, so long as they have an Internet connection. But don’t panic that a logger can come into the project and start messing around with edits – the account manager assigns roles and access level. Ingenious!

Forscene on the go

They’ll be more about the updated Forscene iPad and Android tablet app in blog posts in the coming weeks, but I just wanted to touch upon how easy it is to log rushes and make rough cut edits with this tool. The app is an offline tool, so you can work in Forscene from literally any location, and as soon as you have Internet access it will sync with your account. It’s a free app to download and use so long as you have a Forscene license.

Lose the hardware. Go boxless.

That’s right; it’s now possible to go completely remote with our cloud-to-cloud workflow without the need for any of our hardware. Forscene integrates with deltatre and the Microsoft Azure cloud to provide a fully virtualised solution that is ideal for fast-paced productions like live sport broadcasts. And just in case you weren’t aware, we’ll be demoing this with our on-stand racing simulator at IBC this September. Follow this link to book your place and get a fast pass on to our stand!

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The post Forscene goes beyond remote logging appeared first on Blackbird.

I want to shout SPLURGE from the rooftop! Remember when you first fell in love you wanted to let everyone know about your new relationship? That is how I now feel about Splurge. This technology is heaven sent for loggers, editors and just about everyone. Splurge represents every frame of a shot. Zoomed in, it is an interesting representation of all frames, however, zoomed out, splurge is spectacular. The user experience of splurge allows you to view the content of an entire shot before you even press the play button. This is equivalent viewing time or a complete shot from 10000 feet in the air. A bizarre concept but effectively viewing all the frames splurged together as a complete thought.

All At Once, Not One by One

Traditionally a camera card or camera reel (my era again) can contain any number of shots based time-code that is ascending. This can present itself with many clips depending on your camera’s time-code record or free run settings. Also included can be flagged start/stop data. That being all well and good puts Forscene cloud logging in the unique position of embracing a folder full of clips. It is just logical not to repeat the mainstream focus of logging one clip at a time considering that consecutive clips are usually related in some way. Forscene can handle folders full of media, incredibly efficiently with sort options galore. Viewing media in shot context simply produces a better quality logging experience comparable to an edit defining the media that is relevant at that moment.

I Can Type While The Media Keeps Playing

Much to the amazement of many folks, I can chew gum and walk at the same time. The experience in Forscene is much more dynamic than that because the player does not stop while working in other sections of the software. It is clear the most popular downloadable editor for “professional use” has never had this functionality available. I have always found stopping the player counter-productive from logging and tagging. Halting all playback destroys your thought process while trying to type descriptions based on what you see and hear. With Forscene, stopping the player becomes your choice, not the software’s forced behaviour. Continuous logging is where it’s at. Now, I can log “intra-clip” with as great detail as the content, as it represents moment-by-moment detail. This equates to sub clipping without stopping and it becomes all about speed, and granular relevant descriptions. It just makes sense: the more detail, the more accurate the search results. To add, logging from anywhere in the world with Forscene is the de facto standard to which all logging and tagging can be measured.

Look Mom, No Qwerty!

Keyboard shortcuts and re-populating a column with a word or two is one thing, almost all applications have this feature. But, Forscene’s, keyboard expansions work on another level. Complete, user, account and cloud control of assigning a word, phrase, sentence or paragraph, to a combination of keyboard characters or F Keys is simply genius. This is huge for production efficiency and control of the post process as well as relevant descriptions to really help through the edit process. Not to boast about single digit operation, but P.I Engineering has a compatible product called X Keys where you can assign your entire library of data to colourful keyboard surface. I must get myself one of those.

Publish and Compatibility

So, once your log is complete, Forscene was able to generate your log from Forscene to pretty much any other editor since metadata is intact throughout the process. I can publish lists via AAF and XML and even Avid Log Exchange. These formats are all different beasts and the data that is passed along can be richer in some of the binary formats like AAF. Either way, your log will work. Beyond everything you read, do not lose sight of the efficiency and speed of cloud post-production running in SaaS. Yes, all of this is available in Forscene, which is incredible, and the fact that I can do all of this anywhere, on any platform, makes your user experience brilliant.

As I said, I am just like you. I expect efficiency, new inventions that adapt what I already understand as the gold standard of workflows and make them even better. My goal is always to do the work once and deploy wealth of results for use in other areas. That is what cloud computing allows for, while continually respecting the standards that have been put in place.

Jeff

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The post Logging media in the cloud – part 2 appeared first on Blackbird.

As it has always been, the process of logging media is still considered a necessary practice to which all media creation begins no matter how the media was generated. Logging has always been about giving the editor as much information about shots and/or scenes. Beyond the other roles of an assistant editor (terminology from my era) or logger (terminology from your era), keeping the edit process organised through high quality and granular logging of your content is the single most sought after skill-set. Closely followed by the skill of playing therapist to your editor.

HoHum Logging

For years, logging technology has not been so incredibly innovative; to that point it has actually been rather boring. Launch your logging software, load up your clips and depending on the genre of media, you will label your clips according to specific standards that are set and add additional important information into various columns. Optionally, you can import other data from an existing database and merge that with known sources. Additional processes can be included depending on the production. It is safe to say that this process has mostly been done independently on a single computer island, or if you have the money, a local shared storage network.

The Local Logger and “Ail”

The real issue for most productions is how fast can you get the media back to home base for the logging and tagging to occur? It is never fast enough. For many productions, the same day is not an option and by day 2, you are already a day behind. For multi-city, state and continent productions, this proves to be a huge scheduling nightmare. Every hour/day/week that the logger cannot get at the media is a real serious problem for the entire production.

The Cloud Logger

The Forscene SaaS (See my first post) solves this by simply (and yes I mean it is easy) and immediately (and yes, I mean mostly immediate or it could be a couple of hours later) uploading proxies of the camera original media to Forscene’s secure cloud. To the point you are in field production basking in a much warmer climate than Toronto, Canada, and I can still access the media that you uploaded less than a minute after you started the ingest process. I can see, hear and play the media and the all-important time-code and reel data is intact from the other side of the world, immediately.

It’s Alive!

I have to mention, watching media arrive in your Forscene bin browser from 10,000 miles (or 16093.4 kilometres!) away is pretty darn impressive. It really does happen quickly. You actually do not have to wait for entire clips to be uploaded. It grows over time. You get the first 5 minutes, and by the time you reach that point of playback, the rest of the clip has arrived, alive!

Watch the tutorial on how to log media in Forscene:

https://youtu.be/YX95G3a-uZA

Check back next Friday for part 2 of this blog, where I’ll be discussing new innovations in log software.

Jeff

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The post Logging media in the cloud – Part 1 appeared first on Blackbird.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0dBuiqnmRE

Transcription of the video

Keyboard expansions are a great tool for speeding up your logging in Forscene. Keyboard expansions can be found by left clicking the shortcuts button on the left hand panel.

Keyboard expansions are used to program function keys – F1 through to F12 – to type text and to programme abbreviations to automatically expand to words.

So, if you know that your logging is going to involve typing certain words repeatedly you could either programme one of the function keys to automatically type the word, or, you could programme an abbreviation to automatically expand to the word.

Let’s try these out. If I click in the shot column, play my clip and hit F1, and then type “r”, you can see the logging entry reads “BMX” and “rider”.

Expansions are triggered by typing a non-alphanumeric character after the abbreviation. So I can type “rifle” without triggering an expansion, but if I type “r” and then spacebar, it expands to “rider”. If you want to revert to the original abbreviation just hit backspace.

This reduces the amount of typing you need to do while logging and also guarantees accurate spelling, which helps with search later.

You can also save different keyboard expansions for use in different projects. At the top of the keyboard expansions window you will notice it has a name and next to this there is a menu icon.

Click this icon to see other keyboard expansions for this account. Choose one for use in your project.

The post Keyboard expansions – speed up logging in Forscene appeared first on Blackbird.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YX95G3a-uZA

Transcription of the video

The preparing to log video has shown you how to load your rushes, open and setup your logging window and programme keyboard expansions, so now we’re ready to demonstrate the actual process of logging media.

First click at the bottom of the column that you want to add logging information to, so that your cursor is ready for you to start typing. Then start playback with the insert or 0 button.

As soon as you start typing your logging entry, the in point of that logging entry will be set to three seconds before you started typing, or to the beginning of the clip if you started typing less than three seconds from the clip’s start.

This allows for the time it takes to start typing when you see something you want to log. The out point will start running automatically and will be marked when you press enter to end your logging entry and move onto the next one.

When you follow this process, your in point is determined by the time code when you started typing your logging entry, so footage in between the first logging entry’s outpoint and the second logging entry’s in point is potentially not included in the logging information. This allows you to leave irrelevant material out of your logs.

If you want to include every frame of your footage in your logs, hold down shift when you press enter at the end of each logging entry. This sets your next logging entry’s in point to match the previous logging entry’s outpoint, so no media will be excluded from your logs.

Often a short shot requires more logging information than you can type while the shot is playing. Press insert at any time during playback to pause without ending your logging entry, so you can catch up on your typing. Press insert again to resume playback and carry on logging.

If the video reaches the end of a clip while you are typing, it will stop playing automatically to give you time to catch up. Playback will start again on the next clip when you press enter to complete your logging entry.

To start a new line within your logging entry without setting new in and out points hold down control and press enter while logging. Logging in Forscene is entirely keyboard based, you won’t need your mouse at all.

Preset keyboard shortcuts include: control L for playback, control K to pause and control J for reverse playback. Right click the shortcuts button to see other keyboard shortcuts.

Set you own keyboard shortcuts by clicking in the grey bar pressing the key you’d like to use for the keyboard shortcut and selecting the action you want.

Your logging information can be edited at any time; click in the column to add or change information. Deleting all the text will delete the logging entry.

Words that appear to be misspelled will be underlined in red, so you can either correct them or right click to add them to your dictionary.

In and out time codes can be edited in the same way as your logging information – just click and type.
You can also drag a time code from your play window into your logging window to revise the codes for a log or, drag a time code from your logging window to the play window to view or save it. Double clicking a time code is a quick way to jump to that frame.

If you prefer to log in a less linear way, or don’t want to play or scroll through your media, you can simply mark your in and out points in the play window. These time code ranges will be logged when you type the logging information in the logging window.

To log an entire clip or folder with the same logging information, type in the logging window without starting playback. A message will warn you that the entire clip will be logged with the same information.

You may notice that there’s no save button on the logging window – that’s because your logs are saved every time you hit enter.

If your Internet connection is unusually slow or breaks, Forscene will queue up logging entries and let you know how many unsaved logging entries there are. If this persists for more than a second or two, you may have lost your Internet connection, and you should resolve this before continuing. Once your Internet is working again your logs will save automatically.

The post Media logging – How to log media with Forscene appeared first on Blackbird.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WKapnQm-38

Transcription of the video

As we demonstrated in the preparing to log and logging tutorial videos, it’s simple to add and edit metadata or logging information to your clips using Forscene. Let’s explore what you can then do with existing logs – starting with simple viewing.

Load a logged rush or folder into the play window and select the logging view to see all the logging entries associated with that media. Logging entries for the frame being viewed in the play window will have a darker tint to their background.

To navigate in the play window to either the in or out point of a specific logging entry, double click that time code in the logging view window. You can also drag the logging entry – for example, dragging the time code onto the background opens a new play window containing only that logging entry’s media, parked at the time code you selected.

Right click on this button to select which play window’s logging information you want to display in the logging view. Alternatively, use these numbered tabs to navigate between each play window’s logging view.

If you’re using Forscene only to log and view rushes then you may want to print or export your logging information. Clicking the export button opens an online preview of your log and gives you the option to print a hard copy. This preview mirrors the visible columns and sort order of your logging window.

Right clicking the export button opens a CSV file of your log as a pop up in your browser. This is transferable to other systems. But if you do a rough cut or sync pull in Forscene you can search your logging entries to identify clips quickly, create sequences and save time in your edit.

To search for media associated with specific logging metadata simply load the folder containing your source footage into the play window, select the blue logging view (if it isn’t already displaying) and type into the search box. This incremental search highlights all matches in the logging window as you type.

Click the options button to choose whether to show unmatched line items in the logging window or to only display lines containing matches. Right clicking the options button allows you to organise your logging entries according to the metadata in chosen logging window columns.

Creating a sequence from these logging entries is as simple as dragging and dropping them. Add them one at a time, hold down shift to add consecutive clips, or hold down control to select separate clips and drag them into your record window. Select timeline view and there’s your sync pull!

You can then drag the clips and drop them into a different order and refine your edit. Watch our editing tutorial videos for editing demonstrations.

Name your sequence and save it by dragging from the record window into the file window. Auto-save uses this file name to identify unsaved files.

You publish or export from Forscene by dropping your sequence onto the publishing format button of your choice. For example, to export an EDL of this sequence – so that you can finish in another edit application – drag it onto the EDL export button.

Click the EDL button to access the EDL status window and double click your published EDL to open up a list of export options in a pop-up web browser window (you will need pop-ups for this site enabled).

The post How to work with logged media appeared first on Blackbird.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlDUEQ1FssQ

Transcription of the video:

You should be familiar with the play window and logging in Forscene before attempting multi-cam logging. Watch the tutorial videos to get up to speed! You can view and log media from up to 18 synched cameras simultaneously in Forscene.

To access multi-cam logging, select the standard edit option on your start page for high memory editing. To begin working in multi-cam, open the file window and navigate to the folder containing the clips with corresponding time code.

Select the media that you would like work with either by holding down Shift and clicking, or by lassoing your selection. Right click the highlighted clips to open a menu and select “create multi-cam”. This will create a new multi-cam clip containing all the selected clips.
This new multi-cam clip will have this icon in the top right corner of the thumbnail and it will have the editable title of “new multi-cam”. Type to enter a new name for the multi-cam clip. Double click or drag the multi-cam clip into the play window to view. The left side of the multi-cam play window displays the synched cameras from left to right.

You can have any number of cameras in your multicam sequence – from 3, to 11, to 18. Multi-cam clips will automatically be time code synced. This rarely needs changing but can be adjusted if necessary.
Leave a message in support chat if you need assistance with adjusting sync. If you have more than 10 multi-cam clips it is advisable that you adjust the playback frame-rate of the camera views. You can choose whether to play the camera views at full, half or a quarter frame rate, depending on your Internet’s bandwidth. Talk to your Account Manager for more information on how to do this.

Click on a camera’s display to select that camera view, so it will be displayed in the main play window on the right. The navigation bar will reflect that camera’s tracks and the audio from that camera will playback through your speakers. Click the main camera window or press insert to start playback.
Change the selected camera either by clicking on another camera’s view, or by typing the camera’s number on your keyboard. You can do this while the video is playing. Right click the audio monitor button to open the multi-cam configuration menu allowing you to monitor which audio tracks you want to hear with which camera during playback. Use the padlock at the top of this window to lock your audio playback selection, so that even if you change camera views, the playback selection won’t change.
Other than camera selection, the multi-cam play window supports the functionality of Forscene’s standard play window.

Watch the tutorial videos for a full demonstration.

Logging with multi-cam media is very similar to the standard logging demonstrated in our logging tutorial, except for camera selection. When logging multi-cam material, your logging metadata is automatically associated with the camera selected in the main play window. So that camera number will reflect in the camera column in the logging window. But this can be changed. Hold down control and press any number key to change the selected camera while logging, or hold control and the zero key to select all cameras. The number in the camera column updates as you select the new camera.
After you have completed a logging entry, right click the camera column to change the selected camera, or choose multiple cameras to associate with your metadata.

You can choose any combination of cameras, or all cameras. Right click to make multiple selections, left click to select and close. Logging can be dragged to the record window to create a sync pull. Watch the “How to work with logged media” tutorial to see how to print and export your logs.

The post How to log multicam media appeared first on Blackbird.