Step 3: Review!
This might be a no-brainer - especially if you’re getting paid to create content - but make sure you’re reviewing your footage on a daily basis to keep track of what you’ve already captured and take notes on what you might have missed.
When traveling, especially if you’re with other people and feeling pressure to move along, things can go awry! Important shots might not be in focus or framed correctly. You might have had to rush something due to tourists and timing, so you really owe it to yourself to check the footage (and organize it for post-production!) to ensure that you’re getting everything you need.
If you’re in a far away destination and wait until you get home to check everything - you’ll probably be kicking yourself because that one shot you were so pumped about didn't work out. If during your daily review you realize that you were unable to capture an important shot, you will now have time to decide to either go reshoot (if time and travel plans allow) or rework your editing plan based on what footage you do have. Do yourself a favor and be proactive.
To be honest, if we have a critical shot - we shoot it about 5000 times and review on the spot so we make sure we have it. But traveling, especially with other people, doesn't always allow room for that.
Doing a daily review isn't always doable, so at the very least - check the important stuff, dump your card, and back up your files. Our favorite travel hard drives are the WD 2 Terabyte My Passport for Mac portable hard drive and the LaCie Rugged 2 Terabyte portable hard drive.
You can get REALLY in depth with your filing system or you can leave it pretty basic, just make sure it's safe, backed up, and well labeled according to your preferences and needs so that you can find your shots easily when you edit! Keywords are so helpful when you need to go back six months after a shoot to look for footage - so make sure your labels are clear, consistent, and easily remembered! :)
Our current way of dumping travel footage on the go:
- Separate footage from photos by creating a footage folder. We constantly switch between taking photos and taking videos, so when we dump our cards we don't want these mixed.
- Add folders based off location and/or trip
- Label it by location
- Date it by shot day
- If we have multiple camera's - add A Cam, and B Cam
- If we use multiple cards - add Card 1, Card 2, Card 3
Ex: Folder: Winter Trip_19, Folder: Iceland, Folder: Iceland_1.3.19, Folder: A CAM, Folder: Card 1, Folder: Footage OR Folder: Photos (include screenshot)
Once things are dumped, you can organize them even further by specific location. We could add a folder of all the shots from Reykavik, all the shots from Vík, etc.
If I PERSONALLY were in charge of organizing footage, it would be color coded, separated into about 30,000 folders and backed up 17 times. One day, I'll convince Eric to live this way. One day...
Recap:
- If you have time, review, and organize your footage daily while it's fresh on your mind.
- Triple check your important shots, you don't want to be surprised when you start editing and one of your crucial shots is no good.
- At the very least, check your important shots, dump your card and back up your files!
- Create an easy labeling system that works for you.
- Consistent keywords!
Eric's Fave: Daily dumps! ;) Not letting a card go more than one day without being dumped, it's safer and less confusing! Christina's Fave: WELL LABELED AND ORGANIZED FOLDERS!