The human mind craves order. Since the first human decided to neatly stack a stockpile of defensive rocks, we've been on an endless quest to organize stuff. And when it comes to video editing, we face a desktop full of virtual clips, graphics and sound files arrayed in a virtual environment of digitally created folders, bins and project files. And, in such a fluid, digital world, it is important to develop a consistent scheme for identifying, locating and storing our files.
For this reason, many of today's editing systems include sophisticated, specialized databases for keeping track of the digital assets that will make up your projects. And like all databases, if you spend some time thinking in advance about how you want to organize things, you'll avoid problems down the road.
Log and Capture
To turn your physical videotapes into virtual electronic clips, connect your camcorder to your computer and invoke the log and capture system for your particular software.
Around the main Log and Capture (or Batch Capture) window, you'll find several places that display, or provide a place for you to enter information about yo…