Organizing footage
 

How do you organize your footage/tapes? Just wondering about other effective methods.

I currently have a very simple setup. Every MiniDV tape I buy immediately gets labeled with a number and listed in an Excel spreadsheet. (e.g. MDV001, MDV002, MDV003)

After I use the tape, I fill in pertinent information for that tape in Excel. (e.g. notes, descriptions, date & time etc.)

Of course I still can never find the tape I'm looking for, when I need it, but that's another issue ...

I expand on your methid just a bit by filing DV cassettes away in a Barco cassette tray (from my sponsor Pro-Tape at www.pro-tape.com, about $15 or so) and these trays live in an inexpensive clear plastic three-drawer storage bin. Everything in one place...

I also write a short "title" on the DV cases to know what it is
about, without having to look up the number.

I have about two dozen stacked up on my desk, about a third of em without labels, the rest are in a shoe box. Works for me.

(Your method sounds better.)

Wait until you get about fifty or sixty tapes laying around, and then you'll be sure to adopt some sort of method.

Those labels! So tiny... the real estate of a VHS spine label seems like Montana in comparison. Hard for me to write anything intelligent on a Mini-DV label. That's why the simple code-number method makes so much sense.

i do mine by project name and tape # .
France tape 01, France tape 02 etc...
load them into excel .... store them in boxes by project name ..
have a misc box for those 1-2 tape holiday tapes

First I number the tape with the date mm/dd/yy + A,B, C, etc

On the reverse side of a stickie note I enter the same info plus the contents of the tape, stick it to the side that you put the tape in. all done

Bruce