Listening to this show and trying to reach from what I know to what the least informed person knows is very difficult. It's hard to record a session of me talking off the cuff, just using notes, because I end up using a lot of shorthand without explain things. I need a glossary.
I don't have one, but I have included some brief explanations of some of the video codewords I've mentioned in passing, in this show. If you follow the links you'll find more thorough descriptions. It can get pretty thick, but it really helps to know these things.
This episode begins with a recent revelation about my goals and future direction as a filmmaking professional. I've also included details I've gleaned from blogs, podcasts and presentations at a recent meeting of the Boston FCP User's Group.
This has been a busy summer of media events. I've attended Podcamp Boston 4, Podcaster's Across Borders in Kingston Ontario, the Boston Media Makers get together which meets in Jamaica Plains the first Sunday of every month and the annual Avid Summer BBQ.
I wanted to attend Podcamp Montreal, which takes place in a couple weeks, but I think I need to stay at home. There is also a Podcamp New Hampshire, taking place in Portsmouth in November.
It was at the Boston Final Cut Pro User's group that took place in August that I saw Philip Hodgetts present an overview of new features for FCP7. I've also included information I've gleaned from Apple's FCS site and the Digital Production Buzz. You can also find video tutorials online that demonstrate what the new features are in all applications within the suite.
One of the warm up presentations that I thought was particularly noteworthy was for Mocha for FCP from Imagineer Systems. Check out the link above for videos that explain image tracking and rotoscoping in a way that will quickly make sense. Here's my abbreviated version:
Imagine you're seeing a movie and there's a scene at a football stadium. There's a huge video screen that shows instant replays and and short commercials. The people who made that movie didn't record the information on that screen when they shot the footage of the stadium, they inserted their own footage on the screen in the editing suite. Maybe an advertisement for a product that they're getting paid to place in the movie.
In a still image you can select the space inside the frame of the jumbotron and remove it and insert what ever image you choose. In a moving image, the shape of the screen and position of the screen in the frame is changing in every frame if the camera is moving.
You accomplish this difficult task by marking places in the frame that are always visible (bright white points usually) and then making sure they remain in place as the camera pans across or zooms out. Now that you've got the location of the anchor points, you create a mask that fits inside the screen area of the jumbotron and then make sure that mask is linked to those anchor points that are being tracked. That is called rotoscoping. Then you drop in your video and make it look like it was always there.
For sure, that's a gross simplification, but I hope it gets the idea across.
The new version of the Final Cut Suite (no number, should be #3 tho) include new feature updates for all the produces (except for DVD Studio Pro), but Philip was there to cover just Final Cut Pro 7.
Because I clumsily referred to ProRez 422 in passing, give me a moment to explain what an intermediate codec is and what 422 color space and 4444 refers to.
A color space is the limited range of color that can be viewed from the entire spectrum of color. Humans can see a wide swath of color between ultra violet and infra red (violet to red). Some insects and animals can see beyond that range. Mechanical devices, like monitors and cameras and capture and display color in a variety color spaces depending on type of color space. HSB (Hue Saturation and Brightness) is one space, RGB (Red, Green and Blue) is another.
Video cameras generally use a color space called YCC, which is roughly RGB. The Y is the luma quality and the two Cs are the chroma, or color qualities. Those are the three values in a camera that shoots 4.2.2.
Our eyes are more sensitive to luma than chroma, so in a 4.2.2 color space there's twice as much luma, or light, as there is color. Web and DVD video use a 4.2.0 space and the DV standard uses 4.1.1.
Think of the 3 areas of information captured by a 4.2.2 camera as distinct channels of light or color. Like channels in photoshop. There is 4th channel of visual information which cameras won't capture because it is created in post production, the alpha channel.
Alpha channels are used in Photoshop, After Effects and Final Cut Pro are an additional layer of information that can be used to remove areas of the frame so that something else can be seen through it. Or it can act as a selection area of a moving object in the frame so an effect or filter can be applied to it.
Hold that thought for a moment and let me move on to a codec. Among other things, it's a software program that compresses a moving digital image. There are a variety of codecs that compress video as a camera records it, and decompresses it as a DVD player plays it. It's a lossy process, which means digital information is lost when it's compressed. The greater compression, the more minutes of video can be shushed into a gigabyte of storage space.
Still with me?
There are a lot of codecs out there and the variety is necessary because of how you're using them. Camera codecs need to compress data a certain way to retain the most information to fit on the storage medium, tape, drive or solid state card. Cameras are capturing video for one purpose only, to store it. You aren't using it, cutting it into pieces, so it can squeeze it really tight.
Cutting video in a codec designed for camera capture, particularly HDV, is not a pleasure to cut. It's doable, but has problems that I'm not going to get into. If you're producing a feature length movie or TV video you want to work in a codec that will give you more freedom to edit. That's what an intermediate codec is.
One codec for capture, another for playback (sometimes the same one) and one in-between for the edit. Prorez is an intermediate codec.
You capture the video from the camera as you do normally, then select the footage in FCP and then convert it to a Prorez codec.
Hang in there, I'm coming to the end.
When you convert footage captured by a camera using a codec using the 4.1.1 or 4.2.0 color space to, say, Prorez 4.2.2, does that mean you're getting a better quality out of the footage you shot?
No!
Footage captured in every DV or HDV camera is being compressed on the fly using whatever color space the camera uses. That compress, being lossy discards anything that doesn't fit. So when you convert it to a high resolution color space, it's got a bunch space it isn't using. When you shake it, you can hear it rattle.
So why would you convert it to the 4.2.2 space, or for that matter, 4.4.4?
One reason is these other codecs have other characters that make it more efficient for your editing software to edit, render and export the video. More importantly though, and this IS the reason you would use Prorez 4x4 (4.4.4.4) is that anything else you add, a still image, motions graphics from After Effects or Motion, or 3D animation from Maya or 3D Studio Max will be added at their full, mostly likely higher color and image resolution.
These additional elements, even something as simple as title text have to be massaged by various filters and often moved in and out of other programs to make them feel like they're as real as the realness of the video footage. Have a space that allows you to work with the maximum amount of resolution of color and pixel depth offers the kind of control the people with the big bucks are looking for.
You and I are just lucky that we don't have to have big bucks to get into this party.
As hard as that was to read, and I congratulate you if you got this far, it was no picnic figuring how to say it. And be careful, don't use this in your research paper.
I'm not going to put links to all this stuff. I've put out the bare bones. If you need to know more you can look it up for yourself.
I hope it's been useful.
You can find pricing for educational software at Journey Ed and Academic Superstore. I've used them both and they're fast.
Mike Jones at Digital Basin has a good review of the suite upgrade, including what's missing. And check out the Film School Drinking game which I found in the same article. It's an education in itself.
Finally, if you're on the fence about getting the Snow Leopard update, Leo Laporte and his gang of usual suspects provide a definitve thrashing of the pros and cons in #156 of Macbreak Weekly.
Showing posts with label fcp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fcp. Show all posts
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
#114 Panic on Day Zero
Day Zero - Project Due
It's fitting that this show, which is about the final day of my film project for the Film program at CDIA at Boston University ends with a lot of energy and emotion, because, up 'til now I've been holding it in, quite well I think.
I wouldn't say I lost it, but it was close, it was more like clawing my way back onto the cliff edge that I was sliding off. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
I only want to say that over these past 4 weeks the excitement and fun of editing and completing a film has completely leached away to frustration, stomach gnawing stress and all other kinds of unpleasant feelings due to having too much to do in way too little time. In the end I have to confess to dreaming too big.
I'm not apologizing for that, nothing I've experienced so far will change that about myself, but I have learned that I never want to do a film this way again. We'll see if I can hold true to that promise.
Today was a race against time, right up to the wire to complete color correction and titles - how many times have I talked about getting those two things done.
I seem to have gotten on a rag about various features of Avid, GUI in general, but Titles really took me for a beating. In the end I had to bail on using titles in Avid and did something quickly in Final Cut Pro. Don't do this at home, it's very, very painful and time consuming. Bringing an exported Quicktime file from Avid into FCP requires that you render the entire timeline and the titles will have to rendered each time you tweak them. But it was necessary to meet the deadline. I would be better to know how to use the tools within Avid. I'll let you know how difficult that really is in the next few weeks, once my head clears and I can approach learning it with a little more time.
I also plan to do a review of working in Avid, talking about the pros and cons. I know that most people listening are not using Avid, maybe not even using Final Cut Pro, but it is an industry standard tool, for the present, and I would like to give the benefit of my experience, as painful as it sometimes has been, so that you know where it sits in the pantheon of NLE gods.
Tags:
Avid, FCP, FCS, titles, color correction, transcode, tape transfer
It's fitting that this show, which is about the final day of my film project for the Film program at CDIA at Boston University ends with a lot of energy and emotion, because, up 'til now I've been holding it in, quite well I think.
I wouldn't say I lost it, but it was close, it was more like clawing my way back onto the cliff edge that I was sliding off. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
I only want to say that over these past 4 weeks the excitement and fun of editing and completing a film has completely leached away to frustration, stomach gnawing stress and all other kinds of unpleasant feelings due to having too much to do in way too little time. In the end I have to confess to dreaming too big.
I'm not apologizing for that, nothing I've experienced so far will change that about myself, but I have learned that I never want to do a film this way again. We'll see if I can hold true to that promise.
Today was a race against time, right up to the wire to complete color correction and titles - how many times have I talked about getting those two things done.
I seem to have gotten on a rag about various features of Avid, GUI in general, but Titles really took me for a beating. In the end I had to bail on using titles in Avid and did something quickly in Final Cut Pro. Don't do this at home, it's very, very painful and time consuming. Bringing an exported Quicktime file from Avid into FCP requires that you render the entire timeline and the titles will have to rendered each time you tweak them. But it was necessary to meet the deadline. I would be better to know how to use the tools within Avid. I'll let you know how difficult that really is in the next few weeks, once my head clears and I can approach learning it with a little more time.
I also plan to do a review of working in Avid, talking about the pros and cons. I know that most people listening are not using Avid, maybe not even using Final Cut Pro, but it is an industry standard tool, for the present, and I would like to give the benefit of my experience, as painful as it sometimes has been, so that you know where it sits in the pantheon of NLE gods.
Tags:
Avid, FCP, FCS, titles, color correction, transcode, tape transfer
Thursday, July 3, 2008
#99 Wk73 DVD Authoring
Another new module and the final one of this Program. This week plus two more and I will be done with school, but not with my film. Finishing the film will be my priority once school is finished. It's sort of like graduating and then having to go to summer school, or cleaning up after the prom. Or something.
There's no time to rest though, until I finish my film my stomach is going to be churning and adrenaline is going to be pumping.
This final class is shoe horning in two ideas, DVD Authoring and Color Correction. We're using Apple's DVD Studio Pro for the authoring and we're looking at color correction in Avid, which has superior tools for the job over Final Cut Pro. Not so Color, Apples newest tool in the Final Cut Suite. I address them all in this show, including reasons why Color, which is the deepest and richest of the three tools for professional color correction, should not be the first thing you reach for when you correct color. Take a look at the T L Cooper Eclipse, an expensive sophisticated keyboard/input device that allows you maximize the color correction workflow. There's a great review of using this tool at Ken Stone's site. In the show I refer to Pitch Black, Titanic and the Lord of the Rings series are good examples of using color throughout a film to evoke place, mood and time.
Macaela Vandermost is the instructor for this module. She introduced the idea of color correction at the beginning of the class, because we're going to be spending a full day on Saturday, the last day of the class, learning about color correcting in Avid. A lot of people in class felt they should get an overview of color correction in FCP and she kindly obliged. Color Correction is a difficult concept to grasp and it's even harder to do well, so getting an introduction at the beginning of the class and then more in depth instruction at the end should make it easier to get it.
We spent the entire class Tuesday looking at color correction and Thursday we did a quick run through of using DVD Studio Pro 4 to author a DVD. Classes for the remaining module will go into depth on the critical aspects of authoring, such as compression, creating menu navigation and menu graphics and developing an efficient workflow.
There's no time to rest though, until I finish my film my stomach is going to be churning and adrenaline is going to be pumping.
This final class is shoe horning in two ideas, DVD Authoring and Color Correction. We're using Apple's DVD Studio Pro for the authoring and we're looking at color correction in Avid, which has superior tools for the job over Final Cut Pro. Not so Color, Apples newest tool in the Final Cut Suite. I address them all in this show, including reasons why Color, which is the deepest and richest of the three tools for professional color correction, should not be the first thing you reach for when you correct color. Take a look at the T L Cooper Eclipse, an expensive sophisticated keyboard/input device that allows you maximize the color correction workflow. There's a great review of using this tool at Ken Stone's site. In the show I refer to Pitch Black, Titanic and the Lord of the Rings series are good examples of using color throughout a film to evoke place, mood and time.
Macaela Vandermost is the instructor for this module. She introduced the idea of color correction at the beginning of the class, because we're going to be spending a full day on Saturday, the last day of the class, learning about color correcting in Avid. A lot of people in class felt they should get an overview of color correction in FCP and she kindly obliged. Color Correction is a difficult concept to grasp and it's even harder to do well, so getting an introduction at the beginning of the class and then more in depth instruction at the end should make it easier to get it.
We spent the entire class Tuesday looking at color correction and Thursday we did a quick run through of using DVD Studio Pro 4 to author a DVD. Classes for the remaining module will go into depth on the critical aspects of authoring, such as compression, creating menu navigation and menu graphics and developing an efficient workflow.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
#72 Wk52 Edit Lab III
Doug Plante is instructor for this module, Edit Lab II. He is an ex-Avid employee - Avid is in Tewksbury Massachussets. He is also, according to Howard Phillips, the programs associate director, a FCP god.
This week Doug spoke about the fine points of the rough cut and fine cut
He was all business and was there to see we got to the fine cut done. There's not going to be a lot of instruction in this class. It's all going to come as he works with us individually as we massage our edits.
I had a heck of a time working with Avid, lost a whole class before I moved on to FCP 6. Now I have a problem where I upgraded to 6.02 and the school is at 6.0. and guess what, the file types are not compatible. Can you believe it?
I know, Avid files created between a long list of revisions in that software don't cause a hiccup for Avid users, but FCP apparently is very touchy. But a x.0.2 release? It's enough to make you a hater.
But I don't hate FCP, I just feel I would benefit from continuing using Avid. I know FCP well enough to learn the rest on my own. But Avid, I'm surrounded by Avid gurus and I want to take advantage of that knowledge.
I know I tend to treat this like a dog with a sock monkey, but I once again discuss the archival problems with P2 footage. You can't keep it on the card, it's too expensive. And the life of the solid state card is unknown for long term storage. Drives are a problem for long term storage. What are we going to do once we have to give up tape forever?
This week Doug spoke about the fine points of the rough cut and fine cut
He was all business and was there to see we got to the fine cut done. There's not going to be a lot of instruction in this class. It's all going to come as he works with us individually as we massage our edits.
I had a heck of a time working with Avid, lost a whole class before I moved on to FCP 6. Now I have a problem where I upgraded to 6.02 and the school is at 6.0. and guess what, the file types are not compatible. Can you believe it?
I know, Avid files created between a long list of revisions in that software don't cause a hiccup for Avid users, but FCP apparently is very touchy. But a x.0.2 release? It's enough to make you a hater.
But I don't hate FCP, I just feel I would benefit from continuing using Avid. I know FCP well enough to learn the rest on my own. But Avid, I'm surrounded by Avid gurus and I want to take advantage of that knowledge.
I know I tend to treat this like a dog with a sock monkey, but I once again discuss the archival problems with P2 footage. You can't keep it on the card, it's too expensive. And the life of the solid state card is unknown for long term storage. Drives are a problem for long term storage. What are we going to do once we have to give up tape forever?
Sunday, December 2, 2007
#61 Howard Phillips Interview Pt.2
The second half of the interview with Howard Phillips, Associate Director of the Filmmaking program at CDIA at Boston University. Lots of talk about the role of technology in creating films and CDIA's goal of developing a filmmaking community.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
#51 Wk36 Avid Edit Lab
This week we begin the Avid Edit Lab module, continuing to learn how to use Avid as we cut a movie from footage we shot a month ago. I'm finding it very difficult to get this. I'm looking forward to actually digging into a project where I have to cut it from capture to export. Be forewarned, if you've already got experience with FCP, it's going to complicate your brain learning Avid.
The film we shot for the Huntington Theatre demonstrated to me how awkward the color correction tools in FCP 5 are. I know, they're way better in the next upgrade of the Suite. Apple's Color app is a great deal, amazing deal, but I don't have it yet. I asked Howard, our instructor to show Laura and I how to use the color tools in Avid. Cool, powerful and intuitive, at least to someone who's been color correcting digital photographs for years. You use curves, not levels, not unlike Photoshop, only different. Of course I'm used to thinking in CMYK, from years of prepress work, so I'm sure it will be bumpy ride to the top.
Scouring the web for new podcasts I discovered one on wood fired pottery. Oten Maxwell's podcast, The Firing Log about using a woodfired Anagama kiln, was very entertaining for the long drives home from school and it got me to thinking about the divided lives professional crafts people create for themselves due to their livelihood. They produce one of a kind objects in a mass production world, they use 15th century tools in the 21st century and they work outside the mainstream workplace. How do you live when your focus is high touch in a high tech world. I got to wondering how it looks from their perspective.
Our final project is a 10 minute film, give or take, narrative or documentary, subject of our choosing. It's still early, but I'm going to investigate this a little further, so don't be surprised if you read some comments about frits, fluxes and fettling knives.
The film we shot for the Huntington Theatre demonstrated to me how awkward the color correction tools in FCP 5 are. I know, they're way better in the next upgrade of the Suite. Apple's Color app is a great deal, amazing deal, but I don't have it yet. I asked Howard, our instructor to show Laura and I how to use the color tools in Avid. Cool, powerful and intuitive, at least to someone who's been color correcting digital photographs for years. You use curves, not levels, not unlike Photoshop, only different. Of course I'm used to thinking in CMYK, from years of prepress work, so I'm sure it will be bumpy ride to the top.
Scouring the web for new podcasts I discovered one on wood fired pottery. Oten Maxwell's podcast, The Firing Log about using a woodfired Anagama kiln, was very entertaining for the long drives home from school and it got me to thinking about the divided lives professional crafts people create for themselves due to their livelihood. They produce one of a kind objects in a mass production world, they use 15th century tools in the 21st century and they work outside the mainstream workplace. How do you live when your focus is high touch in a high tech world. I got to wondering how it looks from their perspective.
Our final project is a 10 minute film, give or take, narrative or documentary, subject of our choosing. It's still early, but I'm going to investigate this a little further, so don't be surprised if you read some comments about frits, fluxes and fettling knives.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
# 49 Wk34-5 Intro to Avid
I'm running to keep up again. I spent a lot of time recently on a non-class film project for the Huntington Theatre in Boston Mass. We did a promotional film for a play that is running through next week called the 39 Steps, a comedy based on the Alfred Hitchcock spy thriller. It was a lot work in a short time, but I, along with classmate Laura got it in on time and made the client happy, so it was good all round.
This is the end of the Module on the introduction to Avid, but there's another 3 weeks of Avid that follows where we edit our own film. I'm going to spread my comments about Avid over the next few weeks. This week I'll give you a general overview of the program and talk specifically about the user interface and how important it is to organize your files properly in Avid, as opposed to to Final Cut Pro.
We edited the 39 Steps promo in FCP, but it's really difficult to use one program on a job while you're learning a different one in class. There's a lot of lessons we learned, like how difficult it can be for two people to edit one film, dividing up production tasks and working remotely.
I thought you would be interested in the process of setting up for the shoot, so I included that as well as described the equipment we used and why. Towards the end of the podcast I've included a list of things I would do differently, or pay more attention to if we have a chance to do this again, which I believe we will.
Some of the highlights of the post production process was doing color correction, creating and working with a soundtrack and setting the compression values to optimize file quality for posting on Youtube.
This is the end of the Module on the introduction to Avid, but there's another 3 weeks of Avid that follows where we edit our own film. I'm going to spread my comments about Avid over the next few weeks. This week I'll give you a general overview of the program and talk specifically about the user interface and how important it is to organize your files properly in Avid, as opposed to to Final Cut Pro.
We edited the 39 Steps promo in FCP, but it's really difficult to use one program on a job while you're learning a different one in class. There's a lot of lessons we learned, like how difficult it can be for two people to edit one film, dividing up production tasks and working remotely.
I thought you would be interested in the process of setting up for the shoot, so I included that as well as described the equipment we used and why. Towards the end of the podcast I've included a list of things I would do differently, or pay more attention to if we have a chance to do this again, which I believe we will.
Some of the highlights of the post production process was doing color correction, creating and working with a soundtrack and setting the compression values to optimize file quality for posting on Youtube.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
#46 Wk32 - Intro to Avid
This is the first week of a new module where we learn how to use Avid Xpress Pro, in preparation for editing the footage we shoot a few weeks ago. Avid doesn't have the mind share among would be filmmakers as Final Cut Pro does, so I spend a little time talking about it's place in the filmmaking world.
It is the premier NLE and there's always talk about how it measures up against FCP, so I've included 1, 2, 3 different articles comparing the two. A very significant difference is that the companies that produce these programs have very different missions. Apple is all about bringing the professional media experience to the consumer, Avid is focused on the production needs of professional media makers thru it's own post production systems and the many companies it has acquired, like M-box, Digidesign and Softimage.
I've got some details about a project I'm involved in along with Laura, who I've worked with in the past on the genetic fingerprint documentary. We're going to shoot audience reaction to the play, The 39 Steps, that will be running at the Huntington Theater during September and October. It's a lot of work in a short time, so it should make for some interesting experiences.
It is the premier NLE and there's always talk about how it measures up against FCP, so I've included 1, 2, 3 different articles comparing the two. A very significant difference is that the companies that produce these programs have very different missions. Apple is all about bringing the professional media experience to the consumer, Avid is focused on the production needs of professional media makers thru it's own post production systems and the many companies it has acquired, like M-box, Digidesign and Softimage.
I've got some details about a project I'm involved in along with Laura, who I've worked with in the past on the genetic fingerprint documentary. We're going to shoot audience reaction to the play, The 39 Steps, that will be running at the Huntington Theater during September and October. It's a lot of work in a short time, so it should make for some interesting experiences.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
#34 Wk25 - Non Fiction Narrative
And in the End...
This week it all ends, at least for the current film project. I'm talking about last minute deadlines and the mixed feelings that result. There's always some vague unsatisfied feeling when you finish an all consuming project, as this one was. For me, I'm so glad to get this off my back, but also I realize that even though my mind an nerves are refilling with a sense of ease, there's still a sense of lack. Just putting a name to it is difficult, I still can't articulate it.
I know that I'm looking for a response, feedback, realization, something that I wasn't looking for when I started. Not affirmation, not the satisfaction of a job well done. All those things are welcome, for sure. I think it has something to do with purpose. Either the purpose of this project wasn't realized in the finished project, or it was too small a goal.
I'm just going to sound stupid trying to figure this out in a blog, so just leave it at this, that gnawing unfulfilled feeling you get when you're full, but you're still hungry.
So this episode is about meeting the deadline, the client meeting and review of the finished project. I add a little commentary at the end about gleaning meaning out of the experience.
Lastly I add a brief how to regarding multi-track audio editing between FCP and Soundtrack.
Below are the steps I go through in the podcast:
Select the File menu
Select Send To
Soundtrack Pro Multitrack Project
Make sure both options, Open in Sountrack Pro Multitrack Editor and Include Background Video are checked and click Save.
When you work with the audio in Soundtrack you’re going to be shuffling files between the two programs quite often, so I like to name my files to indicate what program they were saved from and what program they’re to be editing in. So when I export it from FCP I might call it FilmName, then add from Final Cut Pro to Soundtrack Pro. I usually abbreviate it, like FCP-SP, or simply F-S. Exporting it from Soundtrack Pro to FCP would be the reverse, FilmName S-F.
Following the export, Soundtrack Pro launches and opens the file in the Multitrack view. The stereo track from Final Cut displays as a single track in Soundtrack Pro. In Soundtrack Pro you can add additional tracks, such as sound effects, loops and other dialog.
By default there’s only one track for audio. You can add more tracks by right clicking in an audio track and selecting Insert Track Before, or After.
Add your audio and then Export the file, it’s an audio file, it has a .aif extension. Choose File/Export/Export Mix.
Import the audio file into Final cut. It appears as a single track.
Place in the video sequence. If you want to edit it, right click on the audio track and choose Open in Editor.
Soundtrack Pro comes to the front and tells you that the aif file is linked to a .stmp file, a Soundtrack project and asks you if you want to open the audio file or the project file.
Choose the project file to edit the individual tracks
The file opens with each audio element in independent tracks.
Make further changes to the different tracks, or add new tracks, then, as before, Choose File/Export/Export Mix and save it with the name you saved it as in the previous export, it supplies the same name by default.
When you go back to FCP you’ll see the changes are updated.
In this manner you can work between the two programs to keep you audio modifications in sync and still be able to work with each track separately. Without having to deal with a large number of separate tracks in FCP.
This week it all ends, at least for the current film project. I'm talking about last minute deadlines and the mixed feelings that result. There's always some vague unsatisfied feeling when you finish an all consuming project, as this one was. For me, I'm so glad to get this off my back, but also I realize that even though my mind an nerves are refilling with a sense of ease, there's still a sense of lack. Just putting a name to it is difficult, I still can't articulate it.
I know that I'm looking for a response, feedback, realization, something that I wasn't looking for when I started. Not affirmation, not the satisfaction of a job well done. All those things are welcome, for sure. I think it has something to do with purpose. Either the purpose of this project wasn't realized in the finished project, or it was too small a goal.
I'm just going to sound stupid trying to figure this out in a blog, so just leave it at this, that gnawing unfulfilled feeling you get when you're full, but you're still hungry.
So this episode is about meeting the deadline, the client meeting and review of the finished project. I add a little commentary at the end about gleaning meaning out of the experience.
Lastly I add a brief how to regarding multi-track audio editing between FCP and Soundtrack.
Below are the steps I go through in the podcast:
Select the File menu
Select Send To
Soundtrack Pro Multitrack Project
Make sure both options, Open in Sountrack Pro Multitrack Editor and Include Background Video are checked and click Save.
When you work with the audio in Soundtrack you’re going to be shuffling files between the two programs quite often, so I like to name my files to indicate what program they were saved from and what program they’re to be editing in. So when I export it from FCP I might call it FilmName, then add from Final Cut Pro to Soundtrack Pro. I usually abbreviate it, like FCP-SP, or simply F-S. Exporting it from Soundtrack Pro to FCP would be the reverse, FilmName S-F.
Following the export, Soundtrack Pro launches and opens the file in the Multitrack view. The stereo track from Final Cut displays as a single track in Soundtrack Pro. In Soundtrack Pro you can add additional tracks, such as sound effects, loops and other dialog.
By default there’s only one track for audio. You can add more tracks by right clicking in an audio track and selecting Insert Track Before, or After.
Add your audio and then Export the file, it’s an audio file, it has a .aif extension. Choose File/Export/Export Mix.
Import the audio file into Final cut. It appears as a single track.
Place in the video sequence. If you want to edit it, right click on the audio track and choose Open in Editor.
Soundtrack Pro comes to the front and tells you that the aif file is linked to a .stmp file, a Soundtrack project and asks you if you want to open the audio file or the project file.
Choose the project file to edit the individual tracks
The file opens with each audio element in independent tracks.
Make further changes to the different tracks, or add new tracks, then, as before, Choose File/Export/Export Mix and save it with the name you saved it as in the previous export, it supplies the same name by default.
When you go back to FCP you’ll see the changes are updated.
In this manner you can work between the two programs to keep you audio modifications in sync and still be able to work with each track separately. Without having to deal with a large number of separate tracks in FCP.
Monday, June 18, 2007
#29 Wk21 - Editing Lab 1
Crunch Time
I've been really busy editing stories to meet a deadline so I've got a short episode this time.
Just an update on the editing process - things that can go wrong and ways to cope with stress, or not, you can decide if I'm coping well.
We're going to use iDVD for final output so I've listed all the steps for exporting from FCP and creating a finished DVD in iDVD.
Next week I'll give you the highlights from the final critique.
I've been really busy editing stories to meet a deadline so I've got a short episode this time.
Just an update on the editing process - things that can go wrong and ways to cope with stress, or not, you can decide if I'm coping well.
We're going to use iDVD for final output so I've listed all the steps for exporting from FCP and creating a finished DVD in iDVD.
Next week I'll give you the highlights from the final critique.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
#28 Wk20 - Editing Lab 1
Episode 28 begins with comments from episode 27 regarding the idea of context
I offer my Ballpark view philosophy and consider some ideas for adding variety to the podcast thru
Audio Mixer
We get a quick introduction to the audio mixer in FCP including how to
organize the tracks in the mixer environment without changing the order of the audio tracks in the timeline
recording on the fly mixing changes using keyframes
adding Audio Mixer buttons to the timeline
axporting audio to Pro Tools and Soundtrack Pro
Firewire Firewire Firewire
I note a couple pitfalls to avoid when dealing with external drives
No USB capture in FCP
Reformat your drive when you get it out of the box
Finally, I mention visiting the Bison and Alpaca ranches of New England for some B-roll
I offer my Ballpark view philosophy and consider some ideas for adding variety to the podcast thru
- Interviews
- Editorials
Audio Mixer
We get a quick introduction to the audio mixer in FCP including how to
organize the tracks in the mixer environment without changing the order of the audio tracks in the timeline
recording on the fly mixing changes using keyframes
adding Audio Mixer buttons to the timeline
axporting audio to Pro Tools and Soundtrack Pro
Firewire Firewire Firewire
I note a couple pitfalls to avoid when dealing with external drives
No USB capture in FCP
Reformat your drive when you get it out of the box
- Use the Disk Utility in Applications/Utilities
- It's simple and fast
Finally, I mention visiting the Bison and Alpaca ranches of New England for some B-roll
Monday, June 4, 2007
#27 Wk19 - Final Cut Pro
I've included some musings on taking time to think and putting things in context.
Check out this book by Edward Dmytryk, On Film Editing
I've included some musings on taking time to think and putting things in context.
Despite my interest in putting things in a thoughtful way, I manage to run through a bunch of processes like a kid running through the woods during a thunderstorm. So I quickly explain how to, among other things, different kinds of cuts, using the motion feature in FCP, working with filters and compositing.
Most of the week was spent editing a rough cut of our projects. We have to get them done in 3 weeks. In-between editing Federico likes to show us some student films and discuss how successful they are. That's been really instructive.
Check out this book by Edward Dmytryk, On Film Editing
I've included some musings on taking time to think and putting things in context.
Despite my interest in putting things in a thoughtful way, I manage to run through a bunch of processes like a kid running through the woods during a thunderstorm. So I quickly explain how to, among other things, different kinds of cuts, using the motion feature in FCP, working with filters and compositing.
Most of the week was spent editing a rough cut of our projects. We have to get them done in 3 weeks. In-between editing Federico likes to show us some student films and discuss how successful they are. That's been really instructive.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
#26 Wk18 - Final Cut Pro
Continuing with the Final Cut module, for the second week
I was looking for some new production video and audio podcasts on iTunes and was reading the comments when I got curious about this podcast's page. I checked it out and was surprised that there was a comment. The writer was very generous and encouraging and indicated that while he hoped one day he would be able to do some filmmaking, this podcast gave him a look inside the process of learning filmmaking. Just one comment, but I was both humbled and gratified. It doesn't take a lot of encouragement to lift your spirits.
I haven't done much since I began to promote the podcast and I know of several things I could do. Frankly getting an episode out each week is often a struggle in time and effort. I have yet to check my stats on Libsyn, my hosting site, to see what, if any number of downloads there have been. Occasionally I check the blogs to see if there are any comments and even rarely do I check my email. I think that's the least I could do. Already I'm making myself busy. I'll do better, I promise.
This definitely points out my main goal though, which is to create a journal of my school experience, regardless of anyone else's participation. I don't mean I don't give a damn if no one listens to this podcast, or sends me comments and emails. I've already said how good an experience that is. I mean that my primary motivation, apart from any other consideration, is to create the podcast consistently through the end of my program at CDIA and in the process incorporate the best production values that I can. I don't know how much time I could devote to developing a community, no matter how small, of people interested in talking about my experiences in school, or theirs for that matter, unless it were to happen. I do know that I can learn a lot from creating this podcast and using it to reflect on what I discover each week at school. I'm just as glad that other people can do the same.
More stuff about Final Cut Pro editing strategies. Placing shortcuts to menu commands using the Button Bars in the top of every window pane, Timeline, Browser, Viewer etc. Option-J brings up the Button command lists, Option-H brings up the virtual keyboard that displays all the command key combinations. Rendering, which applies a special effect to a selected clip and then writes a file that stores that effect, can be a big time saver, and at the same time a disk hog. You'll need to remove these files from time to time. The wise thing to do is to delete them within Final Cut Pro, as opposed to deleting them from the Finder, otherwise you could get headaches from persistent alerts that media files are missing. Use Command-R to generate a render.
By the way, I'll always refer to the Apple Command key as the Command key, not the Apple key as I hear it often referred to in class and by other students. Maybe it's just old school, but I can't think of it as anything else.
As far as transitions are concerned, there are four which are recommended for their consistently effective impact:
Thursday night was the Practicum showing. Student projects that created products in their media for local non profit organizations under the direction of a professional filmmaker. Great professional looking work.
Finally I mention a recent episode of This Week in Media, show # 53, Learning to Learn. TWIM is produced by Pixecorps.tv. I listen to this podcast weekly, very new media oriented with an emphasis on filmmaking issues. This one is about learning strategies for professionals that help you keep current.
Leave a comment or send me an email.
I was looking for some new production video and audio podcasts on iTunes and was reading the comments when I got curious about this podcast's page. I checked it out and was surprised that there was a comment. The writer was very generous and encouraging and indicated that while he hoped one day he would be able to do some filmmaking, this podcast gave him a look inside the process of learning filmmaking. Just one comment, but I was both humbled and gratified. It doesn't take a lot of encouragement to lift your spirits.
I haven't done much since I began to promote the podcast and I know of several things I could do. Frankly getting an episode out each week is often a struggle in time and effort. I have yet to check my stats on Libsyn, my hosting site, to see what, if any number of downloads there have been. Occasionally I check the blogs to see if there are any comments and even rarely do I check my email. I think that's the least I could do. Already I'm making myself busy. I'll do better, I promise.
This definitely points out my main goal though, which is to create a journal of my school experience, regardless of anyone else's participation. I don't mean I don't give a damn if no one listens to this podcast, or sends me comments and emails. I've already said how good an experience that is. I mean that my primary motivation, apart from any other consideration, is to create the podcast consistently through the end of my program at CDIA and in the process incorporate the best production values that I can. I don't know how much time I could devote to developing a community, no matter how small, of people interested in talking about my experiences in school, or theirs for that matter, unless it were to happen. I do know that I can learn a lot from creating this podcast and using it to reflect on what I discover each week at school. I'm just as glad that other people can do the same.
More stuff about Final Cut Pro editing strategies. Placing shortcuts to menu commands using the Button Bars in the top of every window pane, Timeline, Browser, Viewer etc. Option-J brings up the Button command lists, Option-H brings up the virtual keyboard that displays all the command key combinations. Rendering, which applies a special effect to a selected clip and then writes a file that stores that effect, can be a big time saver, and at the same time a disk hog. You'll need to remove these files from time to time. The wise thing to do is to delete them within Final Cut Pro, as opposed to deleting them from the Finder, otherwise you could get headaches from persistent alerts that media files are missing. Use Command-R to generate a render.
By the way, I'll always refer to the Apple Command key as the Command key, not the Apple key as I hear it often referred to in class and by other students. Maybe it's just old school, but I can't think of it as anything else.
As far as transitions are concerned, there are four which are recommended for their consistently effective impact:
- A Straight Cut
- dissolve
- Fade to black
- Dip to Color
Thursday night was the Practicum showing. Student projects that created products in their media for local non profit organizations under the direction of a professional filmmaker. Great professional looking work.
Finally I mention a recent episode of This Week in Media, show # 53, Learning to Learn. TWIM is produced by Pixecorps.tv. I listen to this podcast weekly, very new media oriented with an emphasis on filmmaking issues. This one is about learning strategies for professionals that help you keep current.
Leave a comment or send me an email.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
#25 Wk17 - Final Cut Pro
This is the first week of the Final Cut Pro module. Tuesday night was a special topic class, separate form the module.
Our speaker was Robert Patton Spruill, director of Squeeze and a documentary on Public Enemy which is in final production.
He brought some fresh perspective on how to live your life as an independent filmmaker. I also appreciated his perspective on the program at CDIA versus, Emerson College, where he teaches as well.
Federico Muchnik, the video program director is our instructor for the Final Cut Pro module. He has an easygoing style that he uses effectively to cut through all the mucky details and focuses specifically on the need to know stuff for filmmakers. We’re covering a lot of ground in a short time, the point is that we’ll do the real learning once we start cutting. I cover the things I think are most important to the editing workflow.
Somehow I got into a rant about archiving files. It’s definitely something you need to consider before you go to far into a project. Finally I bring up an important point about capturing video. Don’t capture video to an external drive connected via USB. Just don’t’.
Our speaker was Robert Patton Spruill, director of Squeeze and a documentary on Public Enemy which is in final production.
He brought some fresh perspective on how to live your life as an independent filmmaker. I also appreciated his perspective on the program at CDIA versus, Emerson College, where he teaches as well.
Federico Muchnik, the video program director is our instructor for the Final Cut Pro module. He has an easygoing style that he uses effectively to cut through all the mucky details and focuses specifically on the need to know stuff for filmmakers. We’re covering a lot of ground in a short time, the point is that we’ll do the real learning once we start cutting. I cover the things I think are most important to the editing workflow.
Somehow I got into a rant about archiving files. It’s definitely something you need to consider before you go to far into a project. Finally I bring up an important point about capturing video. Don’t capture video to an external drive connected via USB. Just don’t’.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
#24 Wk16 - Film Project 1
Click on the podcast title to link to a player of this post.
After a review of our footage from last week's shoot we returned to New Hampshire and spent the morning at the Jackson Estuarine Lab. We filmed the steps that will ultimately be a movie on how to make a genetic fingerprint.
This module has been an excellent learning opportunity. I have learned to check equipment before I leave the equipment room, to make a shooting list before going on locaiton and most importantly, I learned a valuable lesson about setting the white balance on a DVX100.
Finally I end with an insider's description of the Pixelcorps. This is an online community that serves video professionals through training, mentoring and job postings. There's a summer special of $50 for 3 months membership. It's a good deal.
Go to Pixelcorp.tv for a good source for production video podcasts.
After a review of our footage from last week's shoot we returned to New Hampshire and spent the morning at the Jackson Estuarine Lab. We filmed the steps that will ultimately be a movie on how to make a genetic fingerprint.
This module has been an excellent learning opportunity. I have learned to check equipment before I leave the equipment room, to make a shooting list before going on locaiton and most importantly, I learned a valuable lesson about setting the white balance on a DVX100.
Finally I end with an insider's description of the Pixelcorps. This is an online community that serves video professionals through training, mentoring and job postings. There's a summer special of $50 for 3 months membership. It's a good deal.
Go to Pixelcorp.tv for a good source for production video podcasts.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
#21 Wk13 - Training at NAB
There's lots of training on Flash video, HD cameras and workflow, Audio production, compression and color correction in FCP. I'll give you the highlights.
Of course there's classes on After Effects, 3D software, Adobe suite, Final Cut Pro suite, Avid, HD DVD production. There's tons of stuff to learn and hard choices to make.
Once the exhibition show opened on Monday April 15 I fought the crowds to find out stuff about Apple and Adobes new offerings. I've got a little news, more to come in the next episode.
Of course there's classes on After Effects, 3D software, Adobe suite, Final Cut Pro suite, Avid, HD DVD production. There's tons of stuff to learn and hard choices to make.
Once the exhibition show opened on Monday April 15 I fought the crowds to find out stuff about Apple and Adobes new offerings. I've got a little news, more to come in the next episode.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
#15 Wk9 - Filmmaking Fundamentals
Just a brief note, you'll have to listen to the podcast to figure what's on. Click on the title to link to the audio or subscribe to it on iTunes.
This podcast closes the last classes of the Filmmaking Fundamentals module. I also give a run down of things to see at the National Association of Broadcaster's show in Las Vegas, coming up in April. Lots of stuff about software, cameras, video editing seminars.
I'll see you there.
This podcast closes the last classes of the Filmmaking Fundamentals module. I also give a run down of things to see at the National Association of Broadcaster's show in Las Vegas, coming up in April. Lots of stuff about software, cameras, video editing seminars.
I'll see you there.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
#10 Wk4 - Special Topic
Documentary A-Z
This is a special mid week episode of the Video StudentGuy podcast. Thursday night we had a special topic presentation by Franco Sacchi, a filmmaker and instructor at CDIA. He presented his documentary, American Eunuch, as an example of how to create a documentary.
The class covered every step of the production process beginning with finding the idea, preproduction, the shoot, post and promotion. Check out IFP.org for help marketing your film.
Franco briefly referred to the Long Tail marketing concept which I try to explain in a nutshell. This was a term popularized by Chris Anderson of Wired and he went on to write a book about it as well. He also has a blog on it. I believe this business model has significant impact on all content producers and will continue to gain mind-share over the next several years.
Everything about the film should be rolled up into a website for promotional purposes. Include budget, proposal and treatment to demonstrate your organizational skills. You should contrast the earlier American Eunuch site to the more current This is Nollywood website to see how he is using the web to create buzz about his movies. Nollywood is a documentary about the growing film industry in Nigeria. That film is currently in post.
Towards the end of the show I present a few of my thoughts about the movie. Keep in mind I only saw a portion of the film. All the same I give it a thumbs up. I close out with some production notes about this podcast.
Chapter Titles
This is a special mid week episode of the Video StudentGuy podcast. Thursday night we had a special topic presentation by Franco Sacchi, a filmmaker and instructor at CDIA. He presented his documentary, American Eunuch, as an example of how to create a documentary.
The class covered every step of the production process beginning with finding the idea, preproduction, the shoot, post and promotion. Check out IFP.org for help marketing your film.
Franco briefly referred to the Long Tail marketing concept which I try to explain in a nutshell. This was a term popularized by Chris Anderson of Wired and he went on to write a book about it as well. He also has a blog on it. I believe this business model has significant impact on all content producers and will continue to gain mind-share over the next several years.
Everything about the film should be rolled up into a website for promotional purposes. Include budget, proposal and treatment to demonstrate your organizational skills. You should contrast the earlier American Eunuch site to the more current This is Nollywood website to see how he is using the web to create buzz about his movies. Nollywood is a documentary about the growing film industry in Nigeria. That film is currently in post.
Towards the end of the show I present a few of my thoughts about the movie. Keep in mind I only saw a portion of the film. All the same I give it a thumbs up. I close out with some production notes about this podcast.
Chapter Titles
- 00:08 This Week
- 01:25 Franco Sacchi
- 01:50 Costs
- 03:44 Find the story
- 06:31 Preproduction
- 07:41 The Shoot
- 08:43 Post
- 10:03 Promotion
- 11:40 The Long Tail
- 13:36 Websites
- 15:23 Film Commentary
- 18:10 Close - Production Notes
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