Added Metadata

Added metadata is Explicit metadata because you have to do something to create it. You have to create metadata by typing details into fields in your NLE or somewhere. In Final Cut Pro X Added metadata covers Keywords, Notes and Ratings. In other NLEs metadata is added in Notes, Bins, Subclip names, and in XMP Metadata.

Added Metadata is information that we just can’t get from the camera or capture software and has to come from a human. It can be added by a person on-set. For non-scripted workflows tools like Adobe Prelude LiveLogger, Lumberjack System, or into AJA’s KiPro can help. For scripted workflows you can enter Scene, Shot and Take metadata directly to the files using Atomos recorders or Blackmagic Design Ursa or Cinema cameras.

For more detailed log notes for narrative production, Light Iron offers LivePlay.

Alternatively it can be added during the logging process in the edit bay, which is more common.

Added metadata could cover:

  • Keywords
  • Comments or log notes
  • Event name
  • Person name
  • Track names in multi-track audio via iXML
  • Location (if not from GPS)
  • Ratings: Favorite, normal or Rejected.
  • Manual transcriptions of spoken content.

Although not usually added to shots, speech transcriptions are a very powerful form of metadata, both for its own purposes but also as a source for deriving keywords automatically for the clip.  See Transcription is the New Timecode.

In production terms, these are the script notes a script supervisor or on-set/location logger will provide. Script notes can be added to Final Cut Pro X or Premiere Pro using Kopto Studio’s Shot Notes X from any Comma Separated Variable (CSV) source such as a spreadsheet or an output from ScriptE.

Return to Where do we get Content Metadata.