Is FCP the answer?

[Tom Meegan]

Hi Hornbill,

I’m just going to make a few general observations that hopefully, when combined with your experience will get you going in the right direction.

But first several questions. Is your “film footage” actually digital stills, either originally or after scanning?

Does the whole “site” reside on the DVD with the intro movie?

Are you producing the DVD as well, or just delivering the movie to a dvd author?

Are you producing in PAL or NTSC?

Regardless of the answers, a couple facts that might help you make good decisions.

Many people choose to work in DV when creating content which is destined for DVD. It has the advantage of having the same pixel dimenstions, pixel aspect ratio, and picture aspect ratio as the DVD video standard.

It sounds like this might be a good way for you to go.

Here is a little summary of how to start in FCP and a few warning signs for a project like this.

Start FCP.

Choose File > Save As…

Name your project and save it.

Go to Final Cut Pro > Easy Set up…

Choose DV-NTSC or DV-PAL (I am assuming this is a 4×3 project, not a 16×9 project. If it is 16×9 you will need to do some reading about anamorphic, letter boxing, etc and learn about how these things are all mistaken for one another…hopefully your project is 4×3…but if it isn’t choose the option that adds anamorphic.)

Delete the sequence that you have in the new project. Click on it and hit delete.

Hit Command – N to create a new one.

Name it.

You are now ready to import you stills, your music, your VO and your animations. Here are a few tips about the media I do know something about.

Import your stills as they are. Learn about using the motion tab to move them around. When you add them to your sequence they will scale to fit the dimensions of the sequence. They will look less than good in your canvas. Find a way to view on an external device that is similar to what your viewers will be dealing with. If it is a computer screen, read up on Digital Cinema Desktop Preview. It it is a NTSC or PAL monitor find out about FW converters to get this signal to a monitor (preferable) or a tv (better than nothing.)

Create or convert your music and VO at 16 bit 48 khz.

The animations are a sticking point. I’m not knowledgable about how flash works. I also don’t know enough about your project or Director to give you an opinion about what work flow would be better.

Best of luck.

Tom

[Hornbill]

Hi Tom

Many thanks for this. Here’s a few more facts about the project: the film is film (interviews mostly) which is why I am looking at FCP; the whole “site” including intro movie will reside on the same DVD; the format will probably have to be both PAL and NTSC, and yes, I am producing the DVD myself….

With this in mind, do you have a clearer idea about whether the project would benefit from being assembled in FCP or Director?

Cheers

[Tom Meegan]

Use FCP for your intro movie.

Author your dvd-rom content in Director.

Bring the finished intro movie into Director (in whatever format works,) and build your disc that way.

DVD Studio Pro is for building DVD-Video discs, although it does allow you to include DVD-ROM content. Your use of the word “site,” makes it sound like you are creating DVD-ROM content, which is definitely a job for Director.

Within DVD Studio Pro you must designate your disc to be either PAL or NTSC. You can’t do both on one disc. If your audience is going to be watching only on computer screens, PAL and NTSC matters little, and you should stay with Director.

Tom

[Hornbill]

You’re quite right Tom, I wasn’t clear here. What i ultimately need is pure video delivered on DVD for playing on DVD players and TVs.

Anyway, thanks for all the help