Please allow us some reverie about standardized metadata exchange between audio recorders, cameras, crew and editing in today’s Metadata Monday.
First of all, producers of audio recorders took a step in the right direction. In 2004 they met up at the Institute of Professional Sound IPS (back then the name was IBS – Institute of Broadcast Sound) to exchange thoughts on a standardized metadata workflow between set and sound post-production.
The result was iXML, an open standard to save content information (scene, take, comment, etc.) as metadata in so-called BWAVs. Here, metadata are directly connected to the sound files, which most post-production tools like ProTools, Sony Vegas or FinalCut can read.
Unlike those leading producers (Sound Devices, Aaton an so on), camera producers did not agree on a standard of this kind yet. In theory, several camera systems provide the possibility but their usability is still too unhandy.
Let’s see how this continues. Just in case: Be assured there already is an easy-to-handle interface. You got it right: the LockitNetwork.