Edit from DVDs, online from film scans?

[Bouncing Account needs new email address]

Once captured, the clips will have TC inside FCP.

[Stuart Simpson]

If the discs are screener copies you would have expected BITC… Have you looked at them – are they clean?

-Simmie
3 MacPros – Kona 3 & Kona LH
2 G5s – Kona LH
2 G4s – Cinewave
xbox360, Wii, PSP, PS2
https://www.speak.co.uk

[Jiri Fiala]

Stuart, these copies have NO timecode burns, no whatever, they are recorded with some kind of cheap DV device and burned straight to Video DVDs. Producers didn’t consult with me beforehand, their fault.

I wonder if it’s even possible to do a rought cut from plain DVDs (VOBs converted to DV files) and using these sequences as EDLs to determine what has to be scanned for online.

[Stuart Simpson]

You can edit with them, but if there is no BITC you’ll have to do shot descriptions and then match up by hand! Whatever you take off the DVD’s won’t match up to the source at all, especially if they were created by just hitting record on a consumer deck…

-Simmie
3 MacPros – Kona 3 & Kona LH
2 G5s – Kona LH
2 G4s – Cinewave
xbox360, Wii, PSP, PS2
https://www.speak.co.uk

[Bouncing Account needs new email address]

[Stuart Simpson] “You can edit with them, but if there is no BITC you’ll have to do shot descriptions and then match up by hand! “

That’s what I’m saying about the internal TC in FCP.

If each of these dubs is of continuous rolling footage, you can use a visual cue (first frame of second scene, for instance, or anything in a scene that is very distinctive) to call “00:00:00” on the Aux timecode of FCP, then you will have a time mark to call “zero” on each film.

But, all of this is moot if you are not going to scan everything on a film clip to high rez.

Without a locked reference, the off-line is useless (except to see what the finished cut MIGHT look like.)

[Jiri Fiala]

Yes, I kind of feared that. So, what do you suggest I do or tell the producers?

Thanks for all your help!

[Steve Eisen]

If quality is important to the producers, re-transfer the original footage into an editable format for FCP.

If not, you gotta rip those DVD’s.

Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Board of Directors
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group

[Paul Dickin]

Hi
Its a process of eye-matching.
This can be quite efficient if:

a) The source telecine/tapedeck operator can find a recognisable cue point for each reel/roll. Conventionally, this is the start-of-item leader.

b) the DVD-recorder operator always (and only) starts the offline DVD recording by including the reference point (ie leader) in EVERY recording.

c) Detailed notes are logged so all this can be repeated identically at a later date, for the on-line sections to be identified from the timing notes, and matched to the EDL of the off-line edit – which will be referencing from FCP’s internally-generated start-of-item timecodes.

If your Producers were not methodical in this way, then its a guess-eyematch process, which can take months 😉

[Jiri Fiala]

Steve, I kind of feared that… The producer is a company that distributes documentary DVDs and this is their first attempt at producing their own doco.

I think we could get away with DVD-ripped footage, if all they want is low-budget DVD distribution.

But they seem to seek TV syndication too. And I am almost certain that no TV broadcaster would accept such a low quality footage. Is it even possible to fix and sweeten low quality DVD-ripped footage (the footage itself is up to 70 years old, too!)? I think the producers will have some tough decisions to make…

Thanks!

[Lars Fuchs]

You’ve basically got two options, and they both come down to a time/money cost benefit analysis. The first, working with what you have in hand, is to eye-match the original film footage to your final offline edit. As Paul explained this can be very time consuming.

Option B is to retransfer the film with a timecode reference- at a minimum you need a burned in tc. This will save you tons of time as you can set the auxiliary time code to the bitc. This will allow you to generate a transfer list for the telecine in nothing flat. I’m not sure how you would use the aux tc to reconform the sequence with the transferred footage – but I’m sure theres someone on the forum who can help you with that, and I’m sure it wont take very long. Even if you had to do it by hand, you only have to match it up by the numbers, much faster than matching it up visually.

Which option you choose depends on yours and your client time vs money equation. If your time is expensive, spending weeks or more manually building a transfer list and eyematching the conform will cost a lot more than a retransfer. On the other hand, if the cost of the retransfer is prohibitve, you might consider hiring an apprentice or assistant editor. And hey- there aren’t enough opportunties for apprentices and assistants these days!

Also, it never hurts to fight for better quality, just as a general rule. Producers are always looking to cuts costs – that’s their job – but sometimes they don’t always realize what they’re giving up in terms of quality. There are an awful lot of competition for tv syndication and home-video distribution, and good-looking pictures always helps a product stand out.