I’ve just finished editing my first short film in final cut, how should I export it?

[David Roth weiss]

[Andrew Jernigan] “Vid Rate: 23.98fps
Pixel Aspect: HD(960X720)
Compressor: H.264
Data Rate: 3.4MB/sec”

Andrew,

What format was your original video? How did you happen to wind-up with the Compressor set to H.264? That’s not an editing format.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

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[David Bogie]

andrew, you needed to make these decisions long before you started editing. Heck, you needed to make them before you even started planning on talking about shooting.

We’ll try to help you out after you answer DRW’s questions but you need to brace yourself for some serious work. You may need to recapture your footage. You may need to locate another Macintosh. You may need to lower your expectations to fit your technical skills and available equipment.

bogiesan

This is my standard sigfile so do not take it personally: “For crying out loud, read the freakin’ manual.”

[Andrew Jernigan]

Thanks for the reply.

To be honest, I’m not entirely sure which format the original footage was in. I shot on a Panasonic HVX using the P2 cards if that helps, and the video files were saved as .mxf files which wouldn’t read in my version of final cut, so I had a friend – also a professional editor – edit the project on his own computer. He then gave me the full res final cut in a .mov file with the final sound mix on a separate .wav file.

I wanted to do a few slight changes, add the title and credits, and add some pick-up sound effects I recorded after he handed me the final cut.

I set my sequence presets to the same as the .mov file wich had the H.264 codec already in place.

I haven’t had any trouble adding the changes I wanted, I just don’t know how to export the movie, including audio, so I can burn it to a dvd and still retain its HD resolution.

Forgive me if my questions seem elementary, but I’m completely new to all this and needless to say its been a HUGE learning experience…of what and what NOT to do as you can see.

– Andrew

[Walter Biscardi]

[Andrew Jernigan] “I set my sequence presets to the same as the .mov file wich had the H.264 codec already in place. “

Then these files were transcoded unnecessarily and most likely lost quality. H.264 is a finishing format for the web and BluRay, not an editing codec.

The HVX-200 shoots DVCPro 50 and DVCPro HD 720 or 1080 to the P2 cards and that’s what your files should be, not H.264. Not sure why your friend would give you H.264 files, but taking those files and then making a DVD will yield lower results than if the files had been left alone in DVCPro 50 or HD to begin with.

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

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