Logging takes in the field for multi-camera set-up with OL

Question

Is there any way to designate separate cameras or link shots (to be labeled as CamA or CamB) to advance takes and make notes simultaneously?
OL doesn't really seem set up to use with documentary style shooting with multiple cameras, but maybe there is some way around this?
I just want to be able to add takes in OL to multiple cameras without a lot of typing between each take...and add notes that are applicable to multiple cameras within one shot and one take.
Any ideas?

Answer 1

OnLocation CS5 has an entirely new feature set known as the File-Based Workflow that may be just what you are looking for. The basic steps are as follows:
PRE-PRODUCTION (IDEALLY)
1) Create a placeholder for one camera angle of a given scene/shot. (Consider using Adobe Story to prepare your script. Then you can hand the script off to OL and have it automatically broken down into scene-level placeholders. You will then still need to break those placeholders down to the shot level)
2) Use the Camera Name property to designate the camera for that shot. If you use the "auto-matching" process, which you will likely want to do if you're entering notes per take, then this data point will be used to automatically mate a set of clips from, say Camera A to the correct set of placeholders.
3) Fill in any other metadata that is common to other camera angles.
4) Duplicate the placeholder for other camera angles & shots of the scene. To do this, you can use either the Duplicate Placeholder command or, to create multiple duplcates, the Break Out Scene command, both of which are available in the context menu when you right-click a row in the shot list. Note that both commands work with multiple rows selected.
5) Customize each duplicate as appropriate.
6) Repeat for your other shots.
DURING THE SHOOT
1) [Strongly recommended] For multi-cam shoots, synchronize the date/time on all the cameras. Ideally, synch them all to the date/time on the computer running OnLocation. This greatly simplifies the auto-matching process by saving you the hassle of repeatedly changing the camera date/time in OnLocation.
2) Select placeholder(s) or clip(s) for the next shot.
3) At any time between starting and stopping recording of the take, click the Timestamp button (upper left corner of the Project/Shot List panel). This step applies a timestamp to the placeholder, which makes it possible for the auto-matching mechanism to determine which clip belongs with which placeholder.
4) Optional: Add temporal comment markers to timestamped placeholders, which will be aligned to the clip when you auto-match. (Note that PPRO does not recognize comment markers added in OnLocation.)
5) Repeat steps 1-3 for subsequent shots
AFTER TRANFERRING CLIPS TO THE COMPUTER
1) In the Media Browser panel, navigate to the folder where you copied the content.
2) Select the clips.
3) Click the Auto-Match button at the top of the panel. This opens the Auto-Match dialog.
4) if this is a multi-camera shoot, check the appropriate box and select the name of the camera that this content came from. The list for the Camera Name setting is populated from what you entered in the Camera Name field for all timestamped placeholders. [Be alert for unintended variants. For example, if you entered "Camera A" for some shots and "Cam A" for others, you'll see both versions in the list. Before proceeding, you should standardize the entries.]
5) Set the Camera Date/Time. If you synched the cameras' date & time to the computer's, then this step is not necessary (unless you previously set a Camera Date/Time offset in OL, in which case you will need to reset the Date/Time to match the computer's.)
6) Click OK to proceed with auto-matching. OnLocation will proceed to find the placeholder whose timestamp fits within the Start and Stop Recording times of one of the clips and, if relevant, whose Camera Name matches your selection. All metadata from that placeholder will be merged into the clip.
[Please note that all of the foregoing is from memory--I don't have OL CS5 installed on this home computer--so I may have gotten the names of some of the controls wrong. I'm pretty confident that the basic workflow is sound, however.]
Here's the help page for this feature. I'm afraid it's does not really cover the particulars for a multi-camera workflow. http://help.adobe.com/en_US/onlocation/cs/using/WS89e4fde9608114f41e5eb2de124b454ea2b-8000 .html
As for entering the same string in the Comment field (or any other metadata property) for multiple placeholders or clips simultaneously, simply select whichever rows in the Shot List that you want to edit, then in the Metadata panel edit whichever properties you choose to. Your changes will be applied to all selected rows (assuming they're editable--i.e., not read-only or offline, both of which apply only to clips, not to placeholders)