-
2k editing on FCP
I am editing a low budget feature – that realistically may well be finished on our FCP system (no money for better DI processes).
Half of the footage was shot on the RED in 2:1 aspect ratio – mostly in 4k (and some in 3k where overcranking was required). I am using REDCINE-X to transcode the footage. The other half of the footage is Canon 5d, and 35mm film material transferred to ProRes444 files. Both of these are HD (1920 x 1080).
To further complicate matters – the finished film is to be 2.35:1 aspect ratio. So I am obviously cropping quite a lot (there’s also loads of split-screen).
My question concerns sequence settings in FCP. Should I transcode (ie. scale) the RED footage to 1024 x 2048 and use a timeline of that dimensions? This would mean that the HD files from the telecine would have to be enlarged a little in FCP. Of course I could use, say, MPEG Streamclip to transcode the Canon 5d H.264 original files to whatever size I want.
Put simply – should I be working in 2k on FCP, or am I over-complicating things and should just work on 1920×1080 HD sequences in FCP? I can transcode the RED and Canon footage to that size – and the telecine files are there anyway. Of course, whatever the size – I am going to make everything ProRes 444.
Or is there a completely different FCP workflow I should be considering? I want to keep the highest quality possibly given that the film will be finished on the FCP system. The director has a thing about working in 2k – but given the (4k) 2:1 aspect ratio of the RED footage, and the (HD) 1.85:1 aspect ratio of everything else, and the fact that the film has to be 2.35:1 – I am not even sure what 2k is in this mix!!
Any thoughts most gratefully received.
Jon Felix
DIGIT POST
Marin County, California -
2 Replies
-
The HD footage will suffer some if you enlarge it, so I’d be prone to want to edit in 1080. The DSLR footage original footage is also 1080 BTW.
There are a number of workflows for working in RED, but seems to me since you have all that mixed footage, you’re best off just editing in HD. If you do your final color correction in Color you actually can go back to the r3d files but if in the end you’re delivering HD letterboxed, I don’t think you’d see a bunch of difference in the end.
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski.
8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX Cinema Displays
-
i’m an editor, so i just want my edit experience to be as simple and as painless as possible.
i don’t want to have to carry huge files around with me while i cut,
so i’d say transcode all your material to something that is simple to deal with during the off-line stage.my girlfriend is a cinematographer, and she’d say that you’d want to grade from the 2K!
nick
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up