A new Resolve timeline starts at 01:00:00:00. Earwig markers are stamped with the actual time of day of your shoot, so on a hand-made timeline they land hours away, or not at all. The XML carries your camera's start timecode — which is why the timeline you're about to build opens at 12:42:58:10, with every mark on the frame where you tapped it.
Build the timeline from the XML
This creates the timeline and puts every marker on the right frame. Colours come after.
Open the import dialogue
Right-click an empty area of the Media Pool and follow Timelines ▸ Import ▸ AAF / EDL / XML / DRT / ADL / OTIO
Or press ⇧⌘I and skip the menus.
Choose the .xml
Earwig sends two files with the same name. Take the one ending .xml now. The .edl comes back in part two, so leave it where it is.
Check the frame rate
Make sure the timeline frame rate matches your footage. Everything else can stay as it is.
If your rushes are not on this machine yet, untick Automatically import source clips into media pool so Resolve stops hunting for media that is not there.
It arrives without picture. That's normal, not broken.
The XML says where your markers go, not where your footage lives. Right-click the offline clip and choose Link Media to point it at your rushes.
Markers land by timecode, so they are already in the right place. They just have nothing to sit on until the media connects.
Bring the colours across with the EDL
Your markers are all blue at this point. Two more clicks fixes that.
Import the markers over the top
Right-click your new timeline in the Media Pool and follow Timelines ▸ Import ▸ Timeline Markers from EDL
This colours the markers already on the timeline. Nothing is replaced and nothing moves.
Choose the .edl this time
Pick the file ending .edl and open it.
Look at those
Every mark you made on set is now on the timeline in its own colour, on the frame where you tapped it. Hover any marker to read the line that was said.
If something looks wrong
My markers are all in the wrong place
Almost always a frame rate mismatch. Check the timeline frame rate in the Load XML dialogue against the frame rate of your footage. A 25 timeline carrying 23.98 material looks fine at the top of an interview and is seconds out by the end.
If the offset is constant rather than growing, your camera timecode and the timecode Earwig recorded do not match. Scan the camera's display again at the top of your next shoot.
The markers are still all blue
The EDL step has not run, or it ran against a different timeline. Right-click the timeline you just made, not the Media Pool background, then Timelines ▸ Import ▸ Timeline Markers from EDL.
The timeline is empty and says media offline
Expected. Right-click the offline clip, choose Link Media, and point Resolve at the folder holding your rushes. The markers are already on the right frames.
Do I need Resolve Studio?
No. Both imports work in the free version.
Can I skip all of this?
Yes. Earwig Sync reads your camera card, matches your markers to the footage and builds the timeline with everything already linked. Same account, no extra cost.
Timelines that build themselves
Automatic timeline builds — correct colour markers, word-perfect transcription, no relinking — come from our plugins for Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve Studio.
- Instant-build timelines from your markers
- Share transcript selects and paper edits with your editor
- Correct colour markers, automatically
- Word-perfect transcription matched to your footage
Not on Resolve Studio? The plugin needs Studio's scripting. Leave your email and we'll tell you the day the free-Resolve version ships.
You're on the list — we'll email you the day it ships.