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Post workflow for feature on Varicam for Russian Producer
I’m about to start shooting a feature using the Varicam. The film will be shot 95% in the US and the rest in Russia. The film will be mostly distributed in Russia, on film and dvd/tv. It will also have a US distribution, probably on DVD/tv only. Russia is a PAL country.
The film will be finished in Russia, though the Russian editor will be working in the US while we shoot, probably on a laptop in FCP.
There are a few issues:
I would like to shoot at 23.98 FPS for lighting/flicker reasons.
I have suggested that the footage be captured via firewire to external hard drives and downcoverted to mini dv for dailies simultaneously by a post house.
I think the editor would ideally like the sound recording (when shooting double system) to have the same time code as the captured footage. What is the best way to do this as I believe the Varicam always uses 30/29.98 timecode even when shooting at 24/23.97 FPS. If we shoot at 24 or 23.97 what timecode will be on the captured footage?
So the question is what timecode should audio use? And should we jam or cable or lockit box this to the cameras? Personally I’d like to shoot Record Run timecode on the cameras and let post manually sync sound when we’re unable to record sound on the camera by photographing a digital slate jammed to the audio timecode. I won’t have a DIT to wrangle clockit box / timecode cables or issues.
I did receive a suggestion that we record the audio timecode and one of the audio channels, but I”ve also been warned that this could get complicated in FCP.
I’ve also been warned that FCP might not read timecode on the audio files delivered on DVD. Is this true? Is there a specific file format that should be used for delivery of the audio files?
They might also insist on shooting at 25FPS. What issuses does this present for shooting/capturing in FCP? Does the frame rate converter software work to convert (slow motion) to 25fps? Can 25fps be captured into FCP via firewire? I guess 25fps will also interfere with getting downconverted dailies as well in NTSC/DV format I assume.
Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.
Thanks,
Bruce Alan Greene
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5 Replies
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How are you finishing? I think it’s best to find out what you are delivering and work backwards.
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Steven,
Could you be more specific? What do mean by finishing?
If you mean will the orginal footage be recaptured and what type of online will be done, this is unknown, and I think will not be known in advance.
Would there be some problem with using the original capture to use in finishing if all the rendering is done uncompressed to avoid recompressing to the dvcproHD codec? I’m not sure the editor is a workflow expert, just an artistic cutter. And there is a lanuage barrier to overcome.
Do you also have a suggestion for a finishing method?
-bruce
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[bruce alan greene] “There are a few issues:
I would like to shoot at 23.98 FPS for lighting/flicker reasons.
I have suggested that the footage be captured via firewire to external hard drives and downcoverted to mini dv for dailies simultaneously by a post house.
Why downconvert at all? DVCPro HD is a easy format to capture and edit in natively via firewire capture.
I think the editor would ideally like the sound recording (when shooting double system) to have the same time code as the captured footage. What is the best way to do this as I believe the Varicam always uses 30/29.98 timecode even when shooting at 24/23.97 FPS. If we shoot at 24 or 23.97 what timecode will be on the captured footage?
Double check with your rental house but I believe your audio recording should run at 29.97 since your final video footage will be 23.98. This is an easy question for your rental house to answer. On another note, why double system? You’re making it a lot more work for post with double system. You can feed the audio to the camera as well as an external recorder. Use the external recordings/DAT as a back up. HD Audio can be record as 24 bit these days – just as good a DATs or Devas.
The current version of FCP will accept BWF. This may help your situation with timecode.
FCP can capture 25fps fine via FW but 23.98 is your best bet for NTSC and PAL outputs.
-CHL
Chi-Ho Lee
Film & Video Editor
Apple Certified Final Cut Pro Trainer
http://www.chiholee.com -
[Chi-Ho Lee] “I would like to shoot at 23.98 FPS for lighting/flicker reasons.
I have suggested that the footage be captured via firewire to external hard drives and downcoverted to mini dv for dailies simultaneously by a post house.
Why downconvert at all? DVCPro HD is a easy format to capture and edit in natively via firewire capture.
I would like a dv copy of the dailies for myself and to review on the set if necessary
I think the editor would ideally like the sound recording (when shooting double system) to have the same time code as the captured footage. What is the best way to do this as I believe the Varicam always uses 30/29.98 timecode even when shooting at 24/23.97 FPS. If we shoot at 24 or 23.97 what timecode will be on the captured footage?
Double check with your rental house but I believe your audio recording should run at 29.97 since your final video footage will be 23.98. This is an easy question for your rental house to answer.
I’ts not so easy to get an answer to this unfortunately
On another note, why double system? You’re making it a lot more work for post with double system. You can feed the audio to the camera as well as an external recorder.
We will, but will shoot double system when using Steadicam and some car shots.
Use the external recordings/DAT as a back up. HD Audio can be record as 24 bit these days – just as good a DATs or Devas.
The current version of FCP will accept BWF. This may help your situation with timecode.
FCP can capture 25fps fine via FW but 23.98 is your best bet for NTSC and PAL outputs.
-CHL “
Thanks CHL
-bruce -
Post in native DVCPRO-HD – it is easy. Use double system – shooting is expensive, post is cheap. Record sound to hard disk or solid state recorder – DAT is dead. FCP reads timecode from BWF (Broadcast WAVE) files just fine. Always clap sticks no matter digital slate or “analog”.
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