File naming closer look

Owned by Noah Chamow
Last updated: Mar 13, 2024
2 min read

Here we take a closer look at the Sesame Street example, showing a file name template assembled from data that is part of the preset. This is readily applicable to many multicam recording setups, although most will not be as complex.

%P_%I_%1_%2_%3_%4_%5-%6-%7-%8-%9_%A%E_%t Looks like a lot of gibberish, no? Well each % is followed by a letter or number and the % indicates that the letter should be substituted with a “real” name or piece of data at record time. For instance %P means “use the Preset name here” %I means “use the Input name here” and %D means “use the current date in US format here” etc. So our template is really:

PresetName_InputName_InputLabel_CurrentList1Item-CurrentList2Item-CurrentList3Item-CurrentList4item-CurrentList5item-CurrentList6item-CurrentList7item-CurrentList8item-CurrentList9item_CurrentGlobal1item_CurrentGlobal2item_TakeNumber

which in real life might be:

S1E1_CAMA_Wide_Elmo-Ernie_audioRetake_Scene1_001.mov

Whew!

 

But wait, what happened to the guest actor and other muppets in the above example? Their list values were set to empty so that if there is no guest actor or Muppet present in that scene, the name simply doesn’t include them.

The magic happens on the next take, where we switch to different Muppets and a guest star is present. With just three clicks picking new current list items, we can change the naming on ALL the ISOs to:

S1E1_CAMA_Wide_Scene2_Elmo&Bert_EdSheehan_MOS_001.mov

And here is the set of lists that feed the values in the “blocks”

The above is a somewhat advanced look at what is possible, but by default the file names are designed to be sensible with no input from the user other than picking a disk destination for the recording:

%P_%I_%E_%t = PresetName_InputName_EncoderName_takeNumber. Pretty much any editor would be able to decode which recordings are which even with no actual info added by the operator:

Default_Input1_Primary_001.mov

Default_Input1_Proxy_001.mov

Default_Input2_Primary_001.mov

Default_Input2_Proxy_001.mov

Default_Input3_Primary_001.mov

Default_Input3_Proxy_001.mov

Default_Input4_Primary_001.mov

Default_Input4_Proxy_001.mov