How to log your footage with your tape player

Think in terms of "scenes." For purposes of logging, a "scene" begins each time you begin taping a new event, even if you haven't turned the camera off and on again. For example: you begin taping Tommy at home plate. Out of the corner of your eye you see the coach helping Sally select her bat, and you swing the camera around to record this moment, then swing back to continue taping Tommy. For editing purposes, this constitutes three scenes: Tommy #1, Sally #2, and Tommy is #3. The starting and ending point of each scene should be noted separately.

The easiest way to log is if your VCR has a real time counter, a counter which shows hours, minutes and seconds (00:00:00). You merely have to note the time that each scene begins and ends.

But what if your VCR only records footage -- the relative length of tape that has passed by the playback head?

• You can bring in or send your video to us (Pro Video) and we'll transfer your video to a draft-quality DVD at our special rate for logging ($10 per tape.)
  

Beside the beginning and ending times for each scene, write a brief description of the action taking place and the relative audio and video quality.

The start of your log sheet might look like this: