HD TV Commercials PostProduction Basics

[Terence Curren]

You are asking for an enormous amount of combined experience. Since you are just starting out, you don’t know yet exactly how much you don’t know. That’s okay, we all started out at some point. But you will keep your head from exploding if you focus on specific areas to become expert in, and settle for a broader knowledge in other areas where you can use others who are more experienced.

So, my suggestion in general would be to figure out what YOU really enjoy doing and focus on that as your area of expertise. For example, you love to paint with light, become a Director of Photography. You love to create new worlds by combining unique sounds in new and creative ways, become a sound designer. I could go on this for a long time, but hopefully you get the gist of it.

Now to your immediate question. The best way to approach any project is to know what your delivery is going to be BEFORE you shoot anything. If you are going to make film prints to project around the world, you would do everything completely different than if you planned to just distribute on the internet.

With a broad stroke, for an infomercial which is going to air on TV in the US only, you would shoot 1080i 59.94. From there, I could go on for half an hour easily, but the better choice would be for you to hire folks who have already done it, or go get an entry level job at a production company that specializes in making infomercials.

Terence Curren
http://www.alphadogs.tv
http://www.digitalservicestation.com
Burbank,Ca

[Shane Ross]

One thing I might suggest is that when you are just starting out like this, try finding a job somewhere as an assistant, or some other entry level position at a post facility that does broadcast post. This way you can learn on the job all that is required for broadcast TV delivery. There is a lot.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Eddie Gonzalez]

There might be an article or guide or tutorial that can answer @ least a couple things like
*what the settings on Avid should be (fps, resolution, etc) before importing all the footage for a new infomercial project
*which settings to use for exporting & delivering the final master

I’m not trying to become a 10 year veteran but there might be a resource that someone is aware of that explains those two questions
Kind Thanks!
Eddie

[Terence Curren]

As I stated above, you need to know what your delivery is going to be. There are no absolute standards so there is no way Avid can tell you exactly what to do. If the end user wants a 1080P 23.98 master, then you can look up or easily ask here for guidance on what to do, however, they may want an SD 29.97 master, or a 25P master, or an SD PAL master, or the 59.94i master, or maybe they want the 24P look delivered in a 59.94 master, or, they may even want a 720P 60 master (which is really 720P 59.94), etc.

Do you see the problem with what you are asking in a blanket question? Each of those would entail a different workflow and should be decided BEFORE production.

Terence Curren
http://www.alphadogs.tv
http://www.digitalservicestation.com
Burbank,Ca

[Eddie Gonzalez]

They want 720p 59.94. I’ll send them a digital file via FTP. That said, how do set the options for exporting the final master file?

[Shane Ross]

[Eddie Gonzalez] “They want 720p 59.94.”

Then edit in a 720p 59.94 sequence. Hopefully shoot the same format….like DVCPRO HD.

[Eddie Gonzalez] ” That said, how do set the options for exporting the final master file?”

As I stated in another thread…it all depends on what format the station/network asks for. We don’t dictate what they accept, they do.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def