Dialogue Editing

Back up Your Files 85
Of course, each version is a new session. You have to name these fi les something,
so you might as well give them names that illuminate. With all of this
in mind, here’s a suggestion for dialogue session fi le names:
shortname Dial Rx ver x, edit x
which translates into what’s shown in Table 6-1.
Barring other reasons for creating new versions, I’ll do a save as twice daily,
once at lunch and once at the end of the day. If my starting fi le for the day
was Jordan Dial R5 ver4 edit 3, my midday save will be Jordan Dial
R5 ver4 edit 4, and my end-of-the-day save will be Jordan Dial R5 ver4
edit 5.
If I come in the next morning only to realize that the double cheeseburger at
yesterday’s lunch so clouded my judgment as to render the entire afternoon’s
work unusable, I can always revert to edit 4, not tell anyone of my disaster,
and swear off heavy food for the rest of the gig. If I’m going to try an editorial
path I consider likely to fail, I’ll make a new edit (possibly Jordan Dial
R5 ver4 edit 5a) that differentiates this experimental version from the
“straight” work I’ve done. If edit 5a fails to be brilliant, I can easily revert
to edit 5.
Perform a normal save, in which the session fi le is overwritten, as often as
you can remember. You can also use your workstation’s auto-save feature to
make overwrite saves of your sessions at regular intervals.
Back up Your Files
Table 6-1 Fields in a Dialogue Session File Name
shortname Abbreviated fi lm name used by all editors. Probably the name the lab uses
on fi les relating to the fi lm.
Dial Indicator that the session is about dialogue and not SFX, BG, etc.
R Reel number.
ver Picture version the session applies to. Could be the date when the video
was modifi ed or the picture version name or number. Could also refer
to special attributes of the session (director’s version, screening version,
merged-session version, etc.).
edit Dialogue edit in this picture version. Might be a series number (1, 2, 3, . . .)
or date of the edit.
Needless to say, you must have a plan for backing up your soundfi les and
sessions. Unlike SFX editing, where your bank of soundfi les is constantly