XML and AAF

What this is about

These are the formats a modern handover actually runs on. AAF is the established route into audio post, carrying multiple tracks, volume automation and handles so the sound editor has material to work either side of a cut. XML is the common language between editing systems and grading software, keeping layers, speed changes and basic effects. Neither survives perfectly: plugin effects and odd transitions often arrive wrong, so a reference export always travels with the file.

A term only helps when everyone on set means the same thing by it — so what follows is how it is used, not a dictionary definition.

What runs differently here

Where this differs from the general case:

• AAF is the standard route into audio post; XML is the usual path into grading software
• Always export audio handles, typically a few seconds, so the sound editor can work around cuts
• Send a reference video with every interchange file so the receiving side can compare

With TillyGen

Handovers to sound and grading sit in TillyGen's plan as their own deliverables, so nobody discovers on the day that the export was never scheduled.

Change one constraint and the consequences travel through the whole plan: affected shots are flagged, the call sheet is regenerated, and nobody keeps working from yesterday's version.