Medialog is companion software distributed by AVID for its editing platforms. Medialog is designed so that you can do your time consuming data entry of shot information and Time Code on any Mac rather than on an AVID system. This means that you can prepare all your footage ahead of time
without wasting precious AVID time.
Medialog is a program that can be installed on any Mac with 8 megs of RAM or more. The program comes on a disk that is distributed by AVID with its other products. All you need to do is install the program on
your Mac from the disk.
NOTE: There are different versions of Medialog that are compatible with different versions of Media Composer and MCXpress. Make sure you have a compatible version. Also, Medialog has a lot of bin options like Scene
and Take that are available for the Media Composer 8000 but not the MCXpress. If you enter information into this field, it will not appear when you open up the project in MCXpress. Always make a trial transfer [see transferring your
project] before logging.
Medialog is a valuable tool not only because it allows you to create bins and enter all your information, but because it familiarizes you with the way AVID organizes footage and the interface. Once Medialog is installed, you can use it much like the digitize tool on Media Composer or MCXpress. Enter the Time Code numbers in the start and end fields and then click the log button. Then type in your slate number followed by your shot description. Once you have completed all of your shots, I suggest you the break the main bin down into scenes, with a new bin for each scene. Now you can organize shots in order by either slate number or order in which it was shot with the click of a button.
Transferring your project
Once you have completed logging, close Medialog. Find the folder marked "Composer Projects" on the hard drive. Open "Composer Projects" and drag the folder with your project in it onto your disk on the
desk top. Once the folder has copied, remove your disk.
Once your paper logs are entered and made into bins on disk, you are ready to walk into the edit bay with your tapes, your disk and your paper logs. Put your disk in the drive with the project you created with Medialog into the AVID. Before launching the AVID application, drag the folder with your project into "Composer Projects" on the AVID's hard drive. When you launch the AVID application (i.e. Media Composer) your project will automatically appear as one of the projects and you are ready to digitize.