• Avid Media Composer

  Workflow MC7: Arri Alexa Plus 33fps and Sony F55 XAVC4K in 1080p25 project

  Posted by Cess Wilson on February 23, 2015 at 11:50 am

  Hey everyone,

  I’m running into a few issue regarding a postproduction workflow using Avid MC7, more particularly with Arri Alexa Plus 33fps footage and Sony F55 XAVC4K footage.

  We are working on a TV series shot mostly via Arri Alexa Plus in 1080p25 DNxHD444. We are then using AMA link to load the footage, we apply the appropriate LUT, transcode to DNxHD36 keeping the color transformation, sync and export for dailies. The TV series will then be edited in DNxHD36 and conformed to the original media once finished.

  33FPS:
  The first issue that I ran into is that the DOP decided to shoot some footage at 33fps with the Alexa. If I AMA link these, their frame rate get adapted to my 25fps project and my clips are now playing like all the other 25fps clip: at real speed. What I would like to have is a slow motion clip playing at 25fps but using all the 33frames (hence 32% longer). What would be the ideal workflow? When confronted with these kinds of slow motion problems with 50fps footage in a 25 fps project, I just create a new project matching the slow motion frame rate, AMA link and transcode my footage, then get back to my normal project and open the newly created bin. However, Avid doesn’t have a 33fps kind of project so what is the appropriate workflow? They are also planning to shoot at 75fps and 100fps so I really need to find a solution…

  SONY F55 XAVC4K:
  My second issue is that they also decided to use a Sony F55 as a B camera for landscapes. They shot in XAVC 4K, hoping they could re-frame their shots later. What is the best way to ingest these footage in Avid MC7? I downloaded the Sony PDZK-MA2 AMA plugin so I can AMA link these footage, however that process downscales the footage from 4K to 1080, which means they won’t be able to re-frame their shots. What would be the correct workflow to keep the full definition and be able to re-frame later?

  Thanks for your help!

  Michael Phillips replied 11 years, 7 months ago 2 Members · 1 Reply
• 1 Reply

• 

  Michael Phillips

  February 23, 2015 at 1:43 pm

  MC 8.3 finally added a source side “match project rate” where clips will play frame for frame at the project rate resulting in either a slow or fast motion. In previous versions the methods were:

  1. In console, enter:
  IgnoreQTRate true
  then hit return. Importing these clips would result in a frame for frame (slomo) with no audio.
  2. Drop the clip on the timeline, got to the motion editor (before transcoding) and set speed to 100%. Either use sequence as source, or roundtrip out a new clip, but make sure you either create a new high quality submaster to be used in conform, or track metadata really well.
  3. Refer to this knowledgebase for doing the same with AMA: https://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/How_To/How-to-use-AMA-with-slow-motion-Quicktime-clips

  As far as 4K – it is there as long as you don’t transcode the clip. Keeping it live linked will allow you to access the higher resolution for reframing. See my blogs on this topic: https://24p.com/wordpress/?p=160

  Michael

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