Session/project approach to working on a feature

[Marcus Herrick]

Hi Chris,

Having just done a Red feature, go for one real per project as it is more stable for importing updated XML.

Due to the processing overhead on the older system I was working on, I extracted the red files before grading, but working straight from the red files should be easy. Grade at 1/2 or 1/4 res then outpur at full res. I’d run a test render on you system to check it’s going to be fast enough.

Good luck,

Marcus

Marcus Herrick
Freelance Editor / Grader

[Robbie Carman]

I’m a fan of 1 project multiple sessions.

I have found no downside to this approach but only upsides meaning….

1. Never had a project crash – even with 3 or 4 versions per clip and a ton of stills
2. Timelines easy to look at 15-30min
3. Stills accessible throughout – Color trace is great but a PIA on the same project if you ask me.

I’m about to start a feature doc on tuesday and I’m considering grading it as one long piece – other than one big timeline I can’t see a reason not to do it.

Robbie Carman
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[Kevin Cannon]

I often switch between using project-per-reel and session-per-reel. I’ve had at least one 70-80 minute RED project where the complexity of the project bogged everything down until the project had to be duplicated, half the reels deleted and all the media from those reels removed from the master session.

I could be totally wrong on this, but I am under the impression that the RED clips are more RAM intensive because of the fact that they consist of multiple 2GB files that Resolve (and other systems) display as single clips but are adding unseen weight to the media pool. At least it’s more taxing on the system in some way…

Certainly with 12GB of RAM or less you are more likely to run into issues.

KC

Prehistoric Digital
PhD Grading Suite

[Colin Travers]

Just to chime in here – on the last RED indie feature I did i too had one project and each 15 minute reel was its own session totaling 5 all together – all RED mx material and it worked beautifully – mind you I am on a 12-core with 32GB of RAM, I did however notice that it took a lot longer to load, save, etc…but it worked!

Also, I know this is not a RED feature project example BUT at the moment i am working on a series of car spots (Alexa Log-C ProRes444 1080p23.98) and I have decided to have one project with a whole bunch of sessions as there will also be cutdown versions of some of the spots. I added all the footage and composites from the Nuke guy into the media pool and I add new renders as needed or via force conform when shots change as they come down the pipeline from the vfx dept. – i am also adding offline versions of cuts into the media pool to make sure my xml’s from fcp are frame accurate for each spot.

At this point there are 15 sessions in this one project each with its own stills page and I am using ‘remote’ versions as opposed to local right now which i believe will give me more control of things..correct me if I am wrong!?

As the cutdown versions for some of these spots come in I plan to just go to the respective stills page and apply the grade as needed. Fingers crossed that I am following the proper workflow here, would like to get some thoughts or feedback from you guys if you have any suggestions or things to watch out for at this point?

Thank you

[Kevin Cannon]

Hi Colin,

I use 24GB of RAM in my suite and don’t really fear putting a feature in one project, especially if it’s Alexa or DPX or otherwise uncomplicated. But on another system with 12GB of RAM I did run into those problems.

As far as using the remote versions, it doesn’t give you more control, per se, but it stores the version in the master session so that all your sessions can share that grade… When you get the cutdowns you won’t even need to apply the grades from the stills, the cutdown sessions will point to the same media in the master session which already has all the remote versions, you just need to select the correct version if you have more than one. Which of course you can’t do if you use different projects…

KC

Prehistoric Digital
PhD Grading Suite

[Colin Travers]

Hey Kevin thank you for the reply!

What if I did want that control within this multi session project? Not in front of my computer at the moment so I forget, is that a remove from group function or what?

Cheers
Colin

[Chris Tomkins]

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I think I’ll go multiple projects, just to be on the safe side.

[Lee Niederkofler]

Ive just done a 90min feature R3D docu all in one big timeline in one project! Had no problem whatsoever
with performance. Had a ton of R3Ds loaded into the browser!
Ive 16 GB Ram,2x470s and a redrocket card.

I like to quickly jump between beginning and end! 🙂

best
Lee