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FCP to eQ . RAW EX3 .MP4 to eQ?
Hello
I am currently editing a low-budget independent feature in South Africa.
Due to funding issues, we are handing the film over to a large company who have the facilities to take the film to cinema and beyond!
Having joined the project late, the post-production workflow was never planned.
The issue I am having arises with the grade and the tests I am currently doing with this company.
Background:
The DOP on the film shot with 2 camera’s.
Canon 7D (ProRes 422)
Sony EX3 (standard codec after using the transfer utility)I hope you can shed light on a request by the grading facility.
They have asked that I provide the RAW footage for grading in eQ.
That was fine for the 7D footage.
The EX was a little different. All the raw media is contained in BPAV folders with the affix .MP4
I cannot “reconnect media” to .MP4 since it is a non-supported file type.
Despite this, I still provided them with the RAW ex footage in one folder, the non-raw(processed) ex footage in another and just in case, the RAW EX with the .MP4 replaced by .mov (don’t laugh!) in a third folder.
(I handed over one scene of the film in the form of a FCP project file. I do not have Automatic Duck.)
They have now requested that I give them an EDL that I has been altered to accept .MP4(I think they forgot that I can’t create a compatible EDL for eQ.)
Next step will be for them to create the EDL from their machine that I can edit. This makes me quite nervous since it leaves so much open to human error and I’m not even sure it will work.
I look forward to hearing your opinions.
My instinct tells me that there is not even a need to go through eQ since the ex3 footage looks quite shoddy in the first place(raw or not). I also think that RAW ex footage is no better than the (transfer utility) processed one.
Warm Regards,
Marc de Montbron(any tips on how I can improve my queries for future are welcome)
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3 Replies
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I can’t speak to the EDL part of this but they can get Calibrated, or you could too, at https://www.calibratedsoftware.com/MP4EXImport_Mac.asp to see the mp4 footage in Sony EX format on FCP, of course, if they are using Macs. All XDCam transfer does is rewrap the footage. It’s essential that the BPAV folder structures and contents are maintained and not altered, although you point to the actual mp4s when importing them to FCP.
Greg Ondera
http://www.Plexus.tv
http://www.SurgeonToday.org -
Thanks for your reply.
If it’s rewrapping, then I assume the footage is essentially the same therefore no need to go through 3rd party softwares or directly calibrating the EDL?
Im trying to understand the purpose of having to go through all of this and if it truly conserves the fidelity of the footage. I would like to avoid these sort of steps in the name of simplicity.
On a less technical note: Would you advise a young editor such as myself not to pick a fight and relent to the long way round if that is what they insist on?
Thank you for the link, looks like a magic bullet.
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Indeed it is the same footage. The purpose of XDCam Transfer is to get it into Final Cut Pro. I imagine a Calibrated like tool will be included in this next version of FCP.
As with all relationships with clients and colleagues, it depends on how you frame your advocacies and what is the primary purpose that all of you want to achieve. My philosophy for these kind of things is to list a “best of all possible worlds” scenario, and consider the drawbacks for each method.
Since ProRes is being used by the other camera, I would consider codecing the XDCam footage over to ProRes as well. This should not result in loss of anything and possibly what they would have to do anyway. Then edit with the ProRes.
Hopefully someone else with more experience can weigh in on this.
Greg Ondera
http://www.Plexus.tv
http://www.SurgeonToday.org
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