File management for a series

i have 8 shows that i do 6 episodes of in a year. I have 2 other shows ( now on episode 3) that i will be doing bi-weekly.

I have just now started to run into a problem about file management. So before i capture the next ep. i am asking what is the suedo proper way to deal with managing the episodes and the media associated.

I have not had enough experience in multi episode series to be sure of the best way.

Here are some options that i have thought of:

1. one project with multiple dated sequences and bins. This i thought would eventually get crowded and confusing. However it would give me full access to all me of the media if i were to decide to do a best of or a promo.

2. a new project for every show. However, i would have to open multiple projects to do a promo or pull footage from the last show. I also know that having multiple projects open in fcp steals ram and would have fcp processing slower.

I am also going to install a drive for each show, which made lead to swap storage issues such as is i use up a 1tb drive and begin to start a new one then i would have to pull a drive from another shows tray in order to access the full range of media that was associated with that show. NOT A BIGGIE i don't think.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

Shane Ross has a good DVD about project management that's definitely worth checking out. When I was an AE we'd create a Mother Project that all the media and assets (gfx, music, etc.,) would get ingested into first and then the media would be disseminated into the proper projects. This helped because there was always a single location (a central hub, if you will) to go back to when you needed to grab something. If you need a graphic or a piece of music you don't have to hunt thru 3 or 4 projects you just go to the Mother Project and, bang, there it is.

Using 1 drive per show could be a headache if you are pulling multiple clips for a promo (especially if you are under pressure) and will also lead to "cross pollination" (the same clip copied onto multiple drives) which might not bode well in terms of organization. Having access to all the footage all the time seems like a better way to go.


-A

definitely a new project for each show / ep.

the slight inconvenience of your promos will be off-set by slicker performance, and ease of work


nick

Agree. One project per show, and a 'vault' drive with a master project where all your graphics, music, titles and so on are stored. I also keep the skeletons of all shows so I can quickly rebuild sequences for repeats or reviews, and nab groups of effects.

I don't keep all the footage after each show though, so no need for multiple 1TB drives being interchanged. Just archive the project to tape (or whatever) - one textless and split audio and one master, then dump all the non-recyclable media.

Then set up the new project for the next show.

OK, got it and not buying the 4 extra tb will be a cash saver. so i will keep a master and the sequential episodes in one folder. this way i will only have to open the master with the graphics and the ep i am working on.
Another thing is when transferring the previous episodes to an outside archive is there anything wrong with going to dvd as data rather than tape?

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"