Deleting Clips

[Jeremy Wiles]

Is there a proper way to delete clips in post or is it even possible? I need to free up some hard drive space on my editing machine and would like to remove some unused clips.

Thanks,

Jeremy

 

[jimhare]

Do you mean is it safe to remove unused R3Ds from your editing system?

Absolutely it is, just throw them away, but make sure you aren't referencing them in a bin in your NLE or it will ask for the clip every time you load the project.

I'm assuming they are backed up somewhere in case you decide you need them later.

It's not possible to delete clips from a camera drive, needs to be reformatted after the data is copied.

 

[Stephen Pruitt]

What is not possible, and what a lot of us would like, is for a way to delete clips from the drive or CF cards.

Stephen

 

[jimhare]

Been discussed a thousand times and those that don't want it for on-set data security win every time.

I would love to be able to delete a dud clip on set at the end of a take, though would be terrified if I accidentally deleted a keeper.

No one has come up with an appropriate way to delete or recover clips that suits everyone so it remains.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

On an editing system or any post system other than the camera, you can keep or delete clips as you choose. They're just clips... All are independent of one another.

As for deleting on the camera. The primary reason that feature can't exist actually isn't because of data security or idiot-proofing. But rather the way the RED One (and presumably EPIC) write to the media. They write sequentially, so if you delete a clip, it leaves a gap in the media. So, going back to write in that gap would only be feasible if the new clip could be guaranteed to be the same size on the media or less. Technically, the only realistic possibility of an on-camera delete for the RED One would be a "delete last take" option. It's been discussed in the past and opinions were mixed. Personally, I'm not a fan of deleting anything on the camera. I prefer to review in post when logging footage and then make my decision to delete or not. ...But that's just me.

 

[jimhare]

Makes sense Jeff, but the directory would be independent of this so it would be easy to just remove the name and not reuse the sectors. For me it would be great when I'm shooting on my own and do 10 takes of talking head or something.

When I get back to the studio I would have much less to copy and look through.

Completely agree with all the reasons not to do it, just wish I could for this one!

 

[Jeremy Wiles]

Absolutely it is, just throw them away, but make sure you aren't referencing them in a bin in your NLE or it will ask for the clip every time you load the project.

Thank you. I wasn't completely sure if it would mess up the file structure.

For me it would be great when I'm shooting on my own and do 10 takes of talking head or something.

When I get back to the studio I would have much less to copy and look through.

For me it would be great because I film in a lot of isolated environments where power is a major issue (such as high elevations, arctic, deserts, etc.) If I don't have to backup as many clips to an external drive, then I'm saving power. Every time I go to a new place I'm faced with this challenge because I can't delete clips in camera. I'm spending thousands of dollars for my power needs to power my equipment and backup footage. If there was an option that said, "Are you sure you want to delete this clip?", then it would be safe for everyone. If that's not enough, then add a second, "Are you really really sure you want to delete this clip?" If that's still not enough, then there could be a setting in the system menu that says, "Allow user to delete clips" that turns off the capability of deleting footage. Now everyone should be happy.

For a lot of RED users who are editing their own productions, this would be a huge advantage because it allows them to be more efficient in post since they don't have to sort through a ton of footage.

 

[jimhare]

Hey Jeremy,

I hear you. Pretty sure they aren't going to budge on this one. I think the next best thing in your situation is instead of deleting clips, just make a note of the clips you don't want, or inversely only the clips you will use, and only back those up.

The clip number is clearly displayed while shooting, and the R3D folders represent it. Very easy to do a selective backup.

 

[jorge krausch]

No delete, more Redcard sales I think is the main reason... I delete bad takes on the surface pro.

 

[Freya]

Would be good to add a "bad take" flag as meta data however.

Freya