At the end of a project ...

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Geoff Addis
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Re: MiniDV tapes

Post by Geoff Addis »

Michael,

I think that all media will have a 'sell by' date, it's just a question of knowing , or should I say predicting the shelf life. As far as I'm aware, the only CD in my collection to have suffered the ravages of time was a commercial one in which the sealing was inadequate and the metallic coating oxidized!

For the important jobs, I do keep tape or hard disk back-up, but now that I'm using the EX1 I'm not saving so much to tape. In some ways, one can argue that it's no bad thing to ditch all the original takes after a job has been completed and just keep the final edit - it draws a line under the project and forces you to move forward!

Regards, Geoff
Michael Slowe
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Re: MiniDV tapes

Post by Michael Slowe »

Geoff, we're off thread here and will be in trouble with Big Dave, but I agree with you, I never (well, hardly ever) keep original camera material once a project is cut, mastered and archived. Many professionals are aghast at this but they may need their stuff if a client comes back for a re edit or they need the stuff for something else. I bet the Beeb only keep finished projects other than news, sport or current affairs.
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Dave Watterson
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At the end of a project ...

Post by Dave Watterson »

Another thread started to talk about what people do when a film project is complete. It seems an interesting notion, so I moved the two posts here.

Do you keep everything "just in case" or do you "draw a line under it" and get rid of everything but the finished product? Do you maintain a library of shots that might be useful in future?
- Dave
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fraught
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Re: At the end of a project ...

Post by fraught »

In my younger days i didn't think twice about recording over the top of my tapes... but now i look back and i get annoyed with myself for destroying golden moments that i will never be able to get back.

So nowadays... i don't delete anything! Regardless of the cost in Hard Drives, etc...
Only Boring People Get Bored
http://www.fraught.net
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Trev52A
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Re: At the end of a project ...

Post by Trev52A »

Hello fellow videomakers - this is my first posting (if that is the correct terminology!)

I always transfer completed projects onto MiniDV tape, with a new tape for each project. That way I can have different versions of each project archived together. I must admit with some I find it difficult to draw a line under them - with my "Impressions of Paris" I'm up to Edit 17 (!), although I am getting a bit sick of it by now.

Once I am certain I have the definitive version saved on tape, I don't mind clearing the hard drive, particularly if it is so full it is difficult to add anything more!

On the other hand I am very loathe to wipe original clips from the master tapes.

If, as has happened, I need to tweak a project that has been deleted from the computer, I capture the best version back on to the timeline, and can usually 'patch in' a new bit from the original clips I still have on tape.

(I thought everybody did this!?)

Goodness knows what will happen when Mini DV tape becomes unavailable!
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Stephen
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Re: At the end of a project ...

Post by Stephen »

Hiya Trev

good to see you on the forum!

Your contributions will be warmly welcomed by all on here.

I also find it difficult to draw a line under the latest archived edition of a film!!!! all part of the fun!
running 6Tb's of HDDs here at the mo! and imminent purchase of a 2TB drive for finished files!

The speed at which technology grows should not pose a threat to we band of film makers !!
in a couple of years time there will discs capable of holding peta bytes (PB) 1000 to the power 5,
then you will be able to compress the data into smaller and smaller sized files with the aid of compression techniques.
It's there, it just needs the development and money!

Our files will be safe for future generations !
just means copying your archive over to the new format every couple of years.
Stephen

Film making is not a matter of Life and Death
It's much more important than that.
Geoff Addis
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Re: At the end of a project ...

Post by Geoff Addis »

I'm not quite sure how I came to start a new thread, my original posting (on this thread) was in response a posting from Michael on another one; I was quite surprised when it didn't appear on that thread. Just like editing, one can so easily do the unexpected!

Geoff

[Dave Watterson - sorry Geoff, you did indeed post correctly to another thread, but the topic seemed so interesting that I moved your message and started this thread with it. It was just me playing gremlin and not the computers!]
Alternative4u
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Re: At the end of a project ...

Post by Alternative4u »

Hello everyone, I have kept my 8mm movies since I started filming in the 70's and all my 8mm tapes are recorded just once, then after editing and storing the 8mm tapes are kept in a safe for ever, got loads of them.
I will never ever trust CD or DVD disks to keep my film data on because I have read lots of reports that DVD disks will often fail to operate on PC's when they are over 10 years old, so do look after the tapes you use to film on, they will survive, disk's will not.
I have spoken to people who filmed Weddings 8 years ago and gave the movie to couples to keep, sadly those disks failed and the Wedding was lost for ever.
David.
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