The handover: XML and final-film page

The film leaves with an editable timeline file (XML) holding everything, a two-line note on how to open it, and, when it is sent as a page, a clean final-film page.

The final XML, one per version (decided): an edited film always comes with an editable timeline. Each one holds:

• the cut;

• every earlier take of every shot, stacked beneath it and switched off;

• the overlays;

• dialogue, voice-over and their alternates;

• the chosen music with its stems, and the other options muted;

• the designed effects;

• the graded-range markers;

• the caption track.

How the timeline is laid out is in Editing → The editable timeline.

Check it against the delivered folder: open it from the delivered files and confirm every clip is online (steps below). Put the LUT and the SRTs beside the XML. Nothing may exist only in a render.

The handover note, two lines, filed with the delivered files. Written for this guide:

Import Shaybar_30s_16x9_Master.xml into Premiere.
Add one adjustment layer over the GRADE markers, then Lumetri Color › Creative › Look › LOOK_v3.cube (beside the XML).

The delivered files go into one delivery folder at the project's top level, flat, under their version-table names, so a later delivery never overwrites an earlier one.

The final-film page, when the film is sent as a page:

• one player with sound at a time;

• the films on the page 14 MB or less;

• no review label on a finished film;

• file names on the page use a page-safe film name, without an internal version token;

• nothing internal: no tools, takes, LUT files, costs or working notes;

• the link to the masters goes out only after the client approves, as a delivery send of its own.

Run the pre-send check and publish on a new link (see Client presentations → The rhythm check and the pre-send check and Client presentations → A new link per send). Log the delivery like every send, and keep the cover message a draft until you send it yourself (see The stages and gates → Approvals and the send log).

The approval line closes the page and the cover message, in these words: "When you approve this film and its versions, we deliver the masters." Silence is no answer.

Notes on the finished film are worked exactly as at every stage. Change only the element named. Decide any note that touches shots or timing before anything moves. Each new delivery is a new version on a new link (see The stages and gates → Handling notes).

Do it yourself

Relink offline media (Premiere)

1. If anything shows offline, File › Link Media on one file and Premiere finds the rest.

Sources

• This Guide's own delivery rules.