Apple Final Cut Pro 7 - Manual (Page 1605)

This chapter covers the following:
• About EDLs (p. 1605)
• Exporting EDLs (p. 1610)
• Importing EDLs (p. 1617)
• EDL Considerations Before Capturing (p. 1620)
• EDL Considerations During Editing (p. 1623)
• Transition Wipe Codes for EDL Export (p. 1626)
Edit Decision Lists (EDLs) are useful for transferring edit information between editing
systems.
About EDLs
In the days of linear tape editing, EDLs were used to save and restore the timecode
information for each edit performed on a computer-controlled editing system. Because
timecode editing systems were expensive, many editors would perform offline edits with
window dubs (low-quality copies of original footage with timecode visually superimposed,
or burned, directly onto the image) and then create an EDL by hand for delivery to a
computer-controlled editing system for the online edit.
If you need to move a project to or from a different system or editing workstation, you
can export your project to an interchange file format such as EDL or Final Cut Pro XML
Interchange Format. For example, EDLs are commonly used in DI (digital intermediate)
workflows with Color.
You should also export your sequence to an EDL when you are transferring it to an older,
tape-to-tape system, or to a system that doesn’t recognize more recent interchange
formats (such as OMF, AAF, or the Final Cut Pro XML Interchange Format). Because EDLs
are relatively simple, they are still the lowest-common-denominator file format for
exchanging edit information between editing systems.
1605
Importing and Exporting EDLs 96