ABSTRACT
In principle, data management sounds simple: the cinematographers download the camera media, put it on a hard drive, and back it up. In reality, it is a process fraught with danger and chances to mess up badly. The film industry has spent decades developing methodical and careful processes regarding the handling of exposed film stock: loaders (the member of the camera crew who loads the film mags with raw stock and then downloads the exposed footage) are trained in standard methods and procedures; they keep extensive standardized paperwork and prepare the film in a prescribed way for delivery to the film lab. One fundamental principle is that there should be one and one only person on the set who is allowed to format the media. This addresses the most basic of all dangers in digital workflow—being absolutely and unfailingly sure that the data has been downloaded and backed up and so it is safe to format.
