what are the duties of an "online editor"

[Mass Appeal]

hi everyone,

i recently started working at a local tv production studio, and i was wondering if anyone could tell me the role the online editor plays in the production of a tv show.

[TVPostSound]

In a nutshell:

Taking one step back, the off-line editor creates the show by building the video at usually 15:1 video compression ratio. He then either sends a sequence or EDL to the on-line editor who conforms the show with 1:1 video, cleans up the edits, then adds EFX, GRFX, titles, and color correction.

[orange]

agreed, although the distinction is getting a little blurred between online and offline as many offline type systems can actually do online ...if that makes sense ?!?

[TVPostSound]

the distinction is getting a little blurred between online and offline

Yes, that is true, years ago, before NLE, you dubbed your shoot tapes (1", Beta SP, Digibeta) to 3/4" and edited from those (offline), as you didnt want to shuttle your shoot tapes for weeks. You then assembled from an EDL with the shoot tapes.

When NLE and hard drives arrived, you feasibly could have a hundred shoot tapes, so you would digitize them at 15:1 to edit, saving drive space, and CPU cycles. Then assemble 1:1 to an online system in the same manner as the paragraph above.

Now its acceptable to digitize a smaller project at 2:1, and skip the "offline" process due to lower hard drive costs, and faster CPUs.

[Tim Halligan]

Think of the online editor like you'd think of a mastering engineer.

Sort of...

Kind of...

He's the guy that takes the oflline editor's output and makes it look pretty...but he does this in a more "technical" manner as opposed to a "creative" manor.

IOW...he's the turd polisher.



Damn...now I've managed to piss off both online and offline editors...


Cheers,
Tim