AAF or EDL: what should you send to sound and colour?
Sound almost always wants an AAF, because it carries the audio tracks with their clips and levels in a form a sound editor can open and work from. Colour often works from an EDL or an AAF along with a reference video, then rebuilds the picture from the camera originals. The safest rule is to ask each facility for their spec and send a short test before the real turnover.
When the picture is locked, the edit leaves the cutting room. Sound and colour each need to rebuild your timeline in their own software, and the file you send decides how much of your work arrives.
What an EDL is
An EDL (edit decision list) is a plain text list of edits. Each line names the source and gives its timecode in and out, along with where the shot sits in the programme. Simple transitions such as a dissolve are included.
That simplicity is its strength. Almost any finishing software can read an EDL, and anyone can open one and check it by eye. But an EDL carries little beyond source names and timecode. It knows nothing about audio levels or track names, and it is usually used for one track of picture at a time.
What an AAF is
An AAF carries the timeline with much more structure. It holds the audio as separate tracks with their clips and levels, and the picture tracks with their edits. Depending on how it is exported it can point at the media or include copies of the audio inside it.
That makes it the usual choice for sound, who need every track and clip to arrive where you left it.
What sound usually wants
- An AAF of the locked cut, with the audio included or alongside it.
- Handles, extra frames either side of each clip, so the sound editor can extend a cut or smooth a join. Ask how many.
- A reference video with burned-in timecode, matching the AAF exactly.
- Clear track names, so they know which track is the boom and which is the radio mic.
What colour usually wants
- An EDL or AAF of the picture, so they can rebuild the cut from the camera originals.
- A reference video to check their rebuild against, shot by shot.
- Access to the camera originals, or a note of where they are.
Colourists vary more than sound editors do. Some prefer an AAF or XML, while others ask for an EDL per track. Ask.
Before the real turnover
Send a short test of a scene or two to each facility a few days ahead. A ten-minute check then avoids a day of fixes later. And if picture changes after turnover, send a change list rather than a whole new timeline, so nobody redoes finished work.
How B/side handles it
B/side hands off as AAF or EDL, and it makes change lists for when the picture moves after turnover. With the free desktop helper it also exports ProRes, which you can use for the reference video. Mic names travel with the audio to the mix and to the files you hand off, so the sound editor sees the boom and each radio mic named on the right track.
Hand-off formats are part of the Editor seat and Production plans, which are made for handing work to another facility.
When something else is better
If the facility has a firm spec built around a particular editor’s export, follow their spec. They know what their software reads best, and a turnover that matches it will go more smoothly than any general rule.
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