Introduction

First Assistant is a multi-purpose data management utility for film and video professionals, designed to aid offline editors and assistant editors in the production and post-production workflow.

Its features include:

• Management of editorial notes for creating asset lists and cue sheets (e.g., for ADR, VFX, stock footage).
• Automatic whole-document conversion between timecode formats (e.g., 23.98 NDF to 29.97 DF pull-down).
• Import from a Final Cut Pro timeline, and text-based export for Microsoft Excel.
• Tracking of scene timings (including page counts, estimated and production timings) during prep and editorial assembly.
• Versatile sorting, filtering, and summarizing.

First Assistant provides two primary document types:

An Editor's Notes document is like a spreadsheet specifically tailored for the needs of an editor or assistant editor. It eases the management of assets and clips in a film or video project for the purposes of creating ADR or VFX lists, stock footage or music cue sheets, and notes for the online editor or colourist.

A Scene Timings document is another type of spreadsheet designed for tabulating page counts and correlating estimated and actual scene durations. It can help a script supervisor to prepare estimates in pre-production, or an assistant editor to report dailies assembly timings during production.

In addition, First Assistant provides stand-alone timecode calculator and conversion tool that's always at the ready.

Examples for both Editor's Notes and Scene Timings are accessible in the Help > Open Example Document menu.