Configuring an editing station for documentary?

[Lisa Rolley]

Hey everyone!!

thank you all for such detailed thoughtful responses – to answer the big question the majoproity of the footage was shot on HDV PAL – there is some dv and P2 footage but only a very small amount.

I think you guys are right about dual monitors – not sure balckamagic card will be necessary as well an an ntsc monitor because this is just for offline as far as i know – its just being cut at the director’s home studio – i will confirm this and also check to see what would be left in the budget…

ok so any more questions?? what are all you thoughts?

thank you so much!

Lisa

[Walter Biscardi]

[Lisa Rolley] “I think you guys are right about dual monitors – not sure balckamagic card will be necessary as well an an ntsc monitor because this is just for offline as far as i know – its just being cut at the director’s home studio – i will confirm this and also check to see what would be left in the budget… “

If this is strictly offline with no finishing, then you do not need an external monitor, though it might be nice to at least have something so the director doesn’t have to sit right next to you to see anything.

Two computer monitors are a must. Get a good primary monitor, the one you’re going to do all your editing on. Cheap monitors can’t display crisp text and your eyes will get weary in a hurry if the text is soft. The second monitor can be any cheap display since you’ll just put your bins on it. Most of us recommend the Dell 24″ models.

Get the proper storage and enough of it. Do NOT plan to get some firewire drives now to daisy chain and then add more later “if needed.” Your project will slow to a crawl. Run the math to figure out how much 250 hours of HDV footage is and then pick up double the amount of storage to what you need.

Absolutely, positively purchase an APC, a battery backup. It will never fail that power will go out at some point, probably multiple times, during your edit. The battery backup allows you to save your work and shut down the computer in the event of a power failure.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.

Read my Blog!

STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!