Logging takes, finding shots and preparing to edit a film

Reader’s question:

I want to express my sincere appreciation to you for the tips you’ve been sharing with us. I, personally, have learnt a lot from these posts.

Now there is a question I have for you. I hope you’ll find time to give me an answer. Here goes: How does a Director tell an Editor on which tapes to find which scenes?

What I mean is, suppose you use ten mini-DV tapes to shoot a movie on location (a movie which was not shot sequentially). Tape No. 1 has Scenes 5, 10, and 80 on it. Tape No. 10 has Scenes 1, 29, 70, and 89 on it, and so forth.

Now, how does your editor sort them out? How does he/she know which tape has Scene 1 on it and so on? Is there a particular template/form used in recording these?

I hope I have made my question clear. Thank you for your attention.

My answer:

All you have to do is make a tidy and accurate record of where each shot is found, using timecode — use whichever format makes intuitive sense to you. I recommend you categorize by shot rather than anything else, as the editor will be looking for specific shots.

In any case, a good editor will want to watch every take of every shot on every tape, even if you made an accurate record on paper in advance, for the following purposes:

1) To familiarize with the footage and develop an idea of what the film is about — this is seriously important, because unless the director and editor are the same person, the editor will be totally in the dark at the beginning. I have edited projects shot by other directors in the past, and I did not start editing until I watched all the raw footage. If you want outstanding results, nothing else will do!

2) To identify the best take of each shot, and find hidden gems. I always edit my own projects, and I still watch every frame of the raw footage before I start editing. I always find hidden gems: shots (or bits of shots) that I thought were junk while I was shooting, but actually turn out to be brilliant.

Watching all the raw footage and making detailed notes before editing takes time, but it is the only way to achieve the best results. If the editor is just a hired gun and does not absolutely love your project, that is a different story…

I hope this helps!