Producing an edit decision list

Explain the importance and historical context of the edit decision list.


lets start with the basic cuts.



 In editing, there are two types, there is offline and online. 

• Offline editing is part of the post-production process of film making and television production in which raw footage is copied and edited, without affecting the camera original film stock or video tape.

• Online editing is a post-production linear video editing process that is performed in the final stage of a video production. It occurs after offline editing. For the most part,online editing has been replaced by video editing software that operate on non-linear editing systems. 

What is an EDL?

An edit decision list or EDL is used in the post-production process of film editing and video editing. The list contains an ordered list of reel and time-code data representing where each video clip can be obtained in order to conform the final cut. - (google)


Why would we use an EDL? 

An edit decision list is used to allow the editor to know what footage to keep and what footage to clear out. At the same time, they keep the edit together as is passes through various parts within the post-production pipeline. EDL allows you to cut in an offline way, then export it to a better and higher quality software.










How would an EDL work? 

In the tape-based past, editors would create their edit by playing one tape and recording the shot they wanted onto another tape. So now the editor has made a copy of the master tape (source).

When the clip was recorded onto the other tape, they would have the next tape ready to record the clip they wanted. This process would repeat and repeat. Whilst this process is forming, the editor would keep a detailed log of every clip used. The log would contain information about where the tape came from and the time-code of the footage.

This process is a very long process to complete. In terms of film making, it is very important to meet deadlines and dates so this process of editing would be a tense task to get done in time. However, in the past they did not have the technology we use today so the editor would spend long amounts of time combined with vast amounts of attention in order to get it perfect.