Digital Camera Reports

[James Malamatinas]

I was wondering if anyone had advice on best practice for digital camera reports. I've worked on a number of digital productions and thus far all of the reporting methods have been completely different, ranging from; nothing, to basic scene and take numbers, to full details of every shot. Is there a common reporting system used by larger budget films? I'm aware that there will be some variation depending on director or DoP and the info they want.

 

One thing I have noticed is that the DIT guys generally keep a very detailed spreadsheet of all of the cards and clips so, what I generally do is give them the following info:

 

Per Card

 

- Card/Roll Number

 

Per Clip

 

- Clip Name

- Slate

- Scene

- Take

- Lens

- T-Stop

 

And any notes of course.

 

I generally put some sticky tape on the back of my clapperboard and keep a note on this so that when we reload the card I just rip the tape off and stick it over the card case and hand it to the DIT.

 

If I do this however I do not complete a negative-style report, like you would for film. Am I doing things right? Anyone have other tips?