Patent ID: 8627191

Claim:
A method of producing a second sequence of visual information based on a first sequence of visual information, the method comprising: receiving input specifying one or more editing decisions that identify one or more edits to be made to the first sequence of visual information to produce the second sequence of visual information; generating a single Extensible Markup Language (XML) document that specifies how a source of the first sequence of visual information is to be conformed to the one or more editing decisions to produce the second sequence of visual information; wherein at least one editing decision of the one or more editing decisions relates to either: (a) visual information that is to be cut from the first sequence of visual information to produce a final product, (b) a space to be removed between portions of the first sequence of visual information that are to be retained in the second sequence of visual information, or (c) a visual effect to be used with the first sequence of visual information in producing the second sequence of visual information; wherein the XML document comprises at least one element corresponding to the at least one editing decision; wherein the at least one element contains information subordinate to the at least one element within the XML document; wherein the subordinate information pertains to the at least one editing decision and includes running film footage information, running frame count information, and running time information pertaining to the at least one editing decision; wherein the running film footage information comprises an element, subordinate in the XML document to the at least one element, that specifies a running film footage count pertaining to the at least one editing decision; wherein the running frame count information comprises an element, subordinate in the XML document to the at least one element, that specifies a running frame count pertaining to the at least one editing decision but does not specify a running footage count pertaining to the at least one editing decision; wherein the running time information comprises an element, subordinate in the XML document to the at least one element, that specifies a running time pertaining the at least one editing decision; wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.