• Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

  Setting up best 16:9 dv pal workflow to use?

  Posted by John Crossfield on July 21, 2010 at 1:28 pm

  Hi there,

  Been using Final cut for some time now in my work with young people in hospital settings, using video and animation to reflect on their experiences of mental illness.

  Until now everything I’ve done in FCS has been pretty much from a self taught perspective and I just know I’m going about it in a cack-handed way and I’ve always accessed the brilliant expert advice on the COW whenever I’ve got stuck.

  Well it’s about time I changed and set up our projects and sequences from the start to fit with the equipment we use and the things we do with it.

  So I have many questions, but first just to say we are working on FCS2 and FCS3 (just upgraded, not tried it yet!)on Mac book pro’s with plenty of ram and GRaid drives for data). WE record our (mostly 16:9) footage on a mixture of Sony Z1 (HD and SD), sony handycams and some cheap toshiba camileo SD card based HD camcorders that rec in H264 I think. We also sometimes use youtube clips/ clips from tv/ dvd within our layers.

  I know, I know, it’s already a mess of a hotchpotch of stuff but this is the NHS we are talking about and the kit has been built up over time. It also gives the kids loads of opportunities to do their own stuff in their own time (this is for their use as part of their rehab programs not resale or public consumption). They are often restricted to what they can create themselves hence the use of other/ stock footage.

  We take all this footage, add sound, stills, text, effects, speed up/ slow down, time remap etc. These pieces often involve several layers of footage/ stills using transparencies and motion tracking to float images/ footage around the screen. (these are teenagers, they like the goodies on offer!!)Then ultimately burn to (SD) DVD as more accessible for kids and their families. We also convert for web for individuals own websites etc.

  So to the questions……..

  I want to set up a custom sequence setting, what shall I use and which codec?

  Is there anything I should do with the footage before getting it into FCP? ie downconvert HD footage/ convert H264 footage?

  Best RT settings for previewing footage with effects etc?

  Best format for audio?

  Best size and format for stills?

  Best FC export settings? QT

  Best Compressor settings to avoid stuff like avoid shaky, squiggly footage on speed altered footage and text made in FC? (are we working with interlaced footage or de-interlaced? I never know!)

  Should I avoid using the FC text creator? had problems previously with quality when wanting to zoom in and out of FC generated text. If so, what would you recommend we use? motion and import as a motn file or dv file?

  Phew!! I think that’s it, sorry about that but I really need to streamline the process as the young people I work with find it hard sticking with it when these technical challenges slow us right down.

  thanks for reading and in anticipation of any help offered

  best
  John

  John Crossfield replied 15 years, 10 months ago 1 Member · 0 Replies
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