Sequences, shots, pseudoshots

medialoopster administration → medialoopster → Pseudoshots/Sequences/Shots

A video asset is made of multiple sequences and a sequence is made of multiple sequent shots. A sequence is used to manage metadata grouped over multiple shots, and a shot is usually a group of frames between two editing cuts or between turning on and off the camera button. 

Initially at asset creation:

  • there is one sequence assigned for the whole video duration
  • the shots are automatically detected during the proxy generation, on the principle that
    • within a shot there should be more or less the same content
    • shots that have less frames than settings.MIN_AUTO_SHOT_LENGTH=2, are merged with an adjacent shot
  • for each shot, a shot thumbnail is generated.

Automatic shot detection is by default enabled, but since it is an intensive operation, you may disable it:

  • in the device administration interface, at the "Autoshot detection" (by default checked)
  • via watchfolder one can explicitely set the argument "auto_detect_shots" to false (by default set to true).

An admin can perform manual shot detection as well:

  • shots thumbnails: via the administration interface "Video assets" → "Generate shot thumbnails for selected assets", for videos where the shots already exist
  • shots itself (if autodetection is enabled): together with the proxy generation, via the administration interface "Video assets" → "Generate proxy for selected assets"

A pseudoshot entry is automatically created from the shot info, when a shot is added to a favorites list. 

In the administration interface the sequences, shots and pseudoshots models should be used only for visualizing. 


Options sequences

Name

Required

Description

NameYesInternal name of the sequence, of the format <asset_file_name> (<sequence_timecode_start>-<sequence_timecode_end>).
DescriptionNoLonger description text. Can be edited via the browser user interface.
Timecode start/endYes

First and last frame number within the asset.

KeywordsNo

To the left is the pool of all keywords added to the system via the keywords administration interface. To the right are the keywords already allocated from this pool via the user interface to the sequence, or picked here from the left.

Is compositingNoBoolean value indicating if the sequence was originally created by blending a few image inputs together with various effects, such as layering, motion, bluring, cropping, positioning etc. This info is extracted when importing a video asset with one of our API import tools, via an XML input file. The XML file originates from a timeline-based video editing app such as Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere, and is then parsed in medialoopster for sequence filters and effects.
AssetYes

ID of the video asset where the sequence belongs to.

ShotsYesList of all shots and their fields, belonging to this sequence.

Options shots

Name

Required

Description

NameYesInternal name of the shot, of the format <asset_file_name> (<shot_timecode_start>:<shot_timecode_end>).
DescriptionNoLonger description text. Can be edited via the browser user interface.
Path thumbnailNoPath where the video shot thumbnail is stored, as seen by medialoopster. It has the format: /mnt/medialoopster/Proxy/<production_codename>/video/<asset_id>/shot/<asset_id>_<shot_timecode_start>_<asset_fps>.png
CopyrightNoNot used at the moment.
Timecode start/endYes

First and last frame number within the asset. Are used to build the shot name.

KeywordsNo

To the left is the pool of all keywords added to the system via the keywords administration interface. To the right are the keywords already allocated from this pool via the user interface to the shot, or picked here from the left.

AncestorNoA reference to a shot of another video asset. A timeline-based video editing app such as Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere, can create videos where shots reference one another. Their exported XML files are then imported in medialoopster via our API import tools, and the shots metadata extracted.
Ancestor in/outNo

The shot timecode start/end of the referenced external shot (ancestor).

Is compositingNoThis field is inherited from the parent sequence's "is compositing" field.
AssetYes

ID of the video asset where the shot belongs to.

SequenceYesID of the sequence where the shot belongs to.
Licensor/licenseNoIf a user set a licensor/license from the system via the user interface, it will appear here.
Location/cityNoLocation or city this shot was recorded at.