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Problems Exporting Quicktime from SD Sequence for Kickstarter Pitch
Greetings oh wise ones.
I’m the director of a documentary that has now been over a decade in the making, and it’s time to finish it! I do have an editor but right now I’m about to launch a Kickstarter to try to raise finishing funds – I’m not an expert like most of you but I do have some FCP/editing experience. Just stuck in the world of codecs, bitrates, export sizes and compression options.
Trying to export my 3 min 52 sec Kickstarter Pitch as Quicktime – have tried a few export setting options but each time it starts to upload to Kickstarter site but then fails. (Kickstarter requires a direct upload, not going via YouTube).
I am using FCP 7 on my MacBook Pro. This is a project I’ve been working on for YEARS – not HD (sadly)….MiniDV originals; some original footage 24p but most 24p-adv.
This particular sequence is 29.97 and all renderings have been done.I’ve tried exporting the sequence as an uncompressed QT .mov file = about 850 GB. Takes forever then fails.
I’ve tried Quicktime Compressor, always checking for H.264 as requested by Kstarter. One of those files was 79MB. Seems too small. Ok on a tiny screen but if anyone hits “full screen mode” it looks like someone rubbed sandpaper on it.
Max upload size for Kickstarter is 5GB so I’m safe either way.I google all sorts of articles, etc. and came up with the following suggested SD settings that might be outdated, but recommend:
Video Compression: H.264/Current Frame Rate/ KeyFrames every 24 frames/ Best Quality/ Data Rate @ 2000kbits/sec (Kickstarter suggests at least 1500).
Export Size Settings: 640 x 480 VGA (but my sequence is 720×480 3:2 – confused about 4:3 or 3:2)
I think I should DESELECT “preserve aspect ratio using Letterbox” because Kstarter automatically puts black bars on anything not native 16×9, so I don’t want the whole thing encased in black above, below and sides!
Sound Settings: Format AAC / Stero / Rate 44.1 kHz/ Render Normal/ Ave. Bit Rate/ Target 320kbps.What follows are a few screengrabs of the current SEQUENCE SETTINGS.
Help me Obi Wan – anything I should change /alter? Not all gels with those recommendations but maybe the article I found is OLD and outdated. I also seem to remember that MiniDV is always NDF so maybe I should deselect that “DF” on the Timeline Options tab.
I am indebted and unspeakably grateful for any help you can offer. I have spent 3 days trying to figure this out…THANK YOU! (and aplogies for post length)
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7 Replies
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Export a self contained QT movie…use the sequence settings, DV/NTSC. You’ll get a 720×480 QT movie. Take that into Compressor, choose H.264, and keep the same frame size, or use the one suggested. DO NOT BLOW IT UP…this is SD, and sorry, but if people go full screen with it, it will soften. This is DV, after all.
All the settings you posted look good. Make sure to DEINTERLACE if your footage is interlaced. Interlacing looks bad on the web.
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Thank you Shane.
I don’t THINK I have interlacing.
Ashamed to not know. -
Thank you for your response Dave.
I was under the impression that I needed to have HD footage to use the ProRes422 Codec.And yes, we will be doing the “real” film in a 23.98 timeline and exporting as such as well. We’ve converted any standard 24p footage.
Claire
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re: de interlacing –
should I go into sequence settings before exporting and change field dominance to none?
– or just leave field dominance as “lower” (as sequence setting now stands) and de-interlace in compressor? I have been doing some further reading and it seems that compressor does a better job.
The H.264 options are 1) for Apple devices 2) for Blue-Ray and 3) for DVD Studio Pro. If I am making it for streaming on the internet (Kickstarter website directly, not via YouTube in this case), do I chose the Apple Devices option? I assume that it will work on PC’s, any computer etc.Can you tell it’s my first time using compressor? Two hours reading the manual 🙂
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figuring out best workflow…
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[Claire Panke] “I was under the impression that I needed to have HD footage to use the ProRes422 Codec.”
Nope. ProRes codecs work in SD, HD, and 4K resolutions. You can use ProRes for this project if needed.
Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost -
thanks Ryan! Good to know…
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