Offline Editing

[Shane Ross]

The file sizes won’t be that large. HDV has roughly the same data rate as DV (what does that tell you?) so really they won’t be any larger than if you captured it all as DV. And firewire 400 drives can handle this so you will be good to go.

Shane

Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net

[David Roth weiss]

[carrcs] “Any detailed suggestions would be most appreciated.”

Did you hire a soundman to operate the camera? No! A grip to direct? No! But you’re editing yourself even though you say you’re a director who’s “ignorant when it comes to offline editing techniques.”

Please, hire an editor, it’ll improve both of your lives.

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

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY

A forum host of Creative COW’s Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.

[Chris Carr]

Always nice to post an inquiry and get a smart alec response. Sure, David, I’d love to hire an editor. While I’m at it, I’ll just reshoot the project on 35mm, call up Brad Pitt and George Clooney to star, and get my old buddy Mel Brooks to give the script a spit shine. The fact of the matter is that our budget prohibits hiring a professional editor, and, even if it didn’t, I am very interested in honing my own editing skills and knowledge of FCP. My self-proclaimed ignorance on the topic of offline editing techniques puts me in the same boat as the aforementioned professional editors before they LEARNED. It’s my understanding that posting here gives one an opportunity to do just that- learn, so that he or she may then pass the knowledge along to another neophytes rather than criticizing them for not paying to have it done. Shane, thanks for the help, by the way.

[Alan Okey]

[carrcs] “My self-proclaimed ignorance on the topic of offline editing techniques puts me in the same boat as the aforementioned professional editors before they LEARNED. It’s my understanding that posting here gives one an opportunity to do just that- learn, so that he or she may then pass the knowledge along to another neophytes rather than criticizing them for not paying to have it done.”

Outstanding response to a stupid comment.

David, many newer editors have not learned the legacy offline/online technique of editing because today’s hardware and acquisition formats frequently make the offline process irrelevant. Offlining may still be useful in certain situations, i.e. editing on laptops, editing long form projects where there is a ton of footage to review or editing HD projects where working with proxy footage speeds up cutting. Outside of high end broadcast or commerical work, the bulk of projects these days are being shot on DV or HDV.

The days of Betacam SP, SCSI RAIDs and ridiculously priced AVID systems for SD work are behind us. Budgets are getting smaller, and people are expecting more. Cheaper, faster, smarter is today’s reality. That does not necessarily preclude high quality, as long as care is taken along the way. Bob Zelin has made some great posts recently regarding the current state of the industry – I encourage you to read them.

[David Roth weiss]

[carrcs] “Always nice to post an inquiry and get a smart alec response.”

For the record, my response was prompted by the fact that you would shoot first and ask questions later. I can see how you might think it was a “smart alec” response. Sorry you took it that way, it was actually intended be helpful. I wish you luck on your project.

David

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

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY

A forum host of Creative COW’s Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.

[David Roth weiss]

[Alan Okey] “Outstanding response to a stupid comment.”

Alan,

Your entire online/offline “diatribe” is irrelevant to the conversation, as was the mention of “offline” editing in the initial post. I’m not sure at all why you went off on that subject as the big issue.

The fact that this fellow would shoot HD first, and only then begin asking the most basic questions about the format and the capabilities of his editing system is what prompted my response and what we should be discussing here if you want to have a discussion that is germaine.

David

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

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY

A forum host of Creative COW’s Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.

[Alan Okey]

[David Roth Weiss] “Your entire online/offline “diatribe” is irrelevant to the conversation”

If two short paragraphs constitutes a “diatribe,” then you must have a very, very short attention span.

I wrote about offline editing because the term appeared in both the original poster’s thread title and in the post itself. While he did not explicitly say so, I took his reference to mean that he might have thought that he needed to do an offline/proxy edit of the HD material on his lower spec editing system. If I misunderstood, then your delicate sensibilities will just have to deal with it.

As to what constitutes a germaine” discussion in a public forum, who appointed you Holy Lord of Forum Content? You’re not even listed as a moderator of this forum. Get over yourself.

Your initial response to the poster was condescending and unhelpful.

[David Roth weiss]

[Alan Okey] “As to what constitutes a germaine” discussion in a public forum, who appointed you Holy Lord of Forum Content? You’re not even listed as a moderator of this forum. Get over yourself.”

Alan,

One does not have to be a forum moderator to know when something is irrelevant. And, the fact that the original poster indeed seems to have gone out into the field to acquire HD footage without the most basic knowledge of the format pretty much says it all.

David

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

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY

A forum host of Creative COW’s Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.