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Short Film Project
I have a client who is asking me to edit a short film for him. I’ve been shooting and editing video for 25 years, but have never done anything with film. I would assume he would take care of all film transfers so I can edit. But one thing in particular has me confused. His comment was “I plan to shoot around 4:1 / 6:1 ratio”
What is that? How does that affect my editing? The other question would be if he’s having the footage transferred to Beta SP, do I just edit normally 29.97? at or do I edit 23.98? Anything else I need to be aware of?
Thanks much for your help.
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3 Replies
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I think the 4:1 / 6:1 ratio means that he is shooting footage equal to 4 to 6 times the length of the finished film.
So a 30 minute film would shoot 120 to 150 minutes of footage.
You should find out how the film will be finished, whether it will end as a video, DVD, or if the negative will be cut and a film print made. This will help you decide how to proceed.
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Sorry, I should have said 120 to 180 minutes. Hopefully you get the idea despite my simple math error.
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“What is that? How does that affect my editing? The other question would be if he’s having the footage transferred to Beta SP, do I just edit normally 29.97? at or do I edit 23.98? Anything else I need to be aware of?”
Normally I think of “short” films as being in the 4-5 minute range, but anyway.
Determining whether to edit on a 24 or 30 frame timeline will depend on your release format. If it’s straight to video — may as well keep it on 29.97 if its being delivered on BetaSP.
If, however, there is some intention of going back to 24 frames for some reason — possible film-out, then strip out the pull-down and edit on a 24 frame timeline. There is another, quirkier way of doing things, and that would be to keep the 29.97 material native, and use the feet+frames display on the sequence, making sure that the footage counter matches your stock/gauge — ie 40 frames per foot for 16mm and 20 frames/ft for 35mm, and then of course the pull-down will have to be managed so that it is coherent. By that I mean that the 3:2 cadence cannot be disturbed, and must be preserved through edits. That’s the danger of keeping 24 frame material on a 30 frame timeline. Kind of like the old days of colour-framing — most NLE editors won’t even know that term — the ABCD frames likewise. But that’s only if you’re going back to film, maybe, or doing something else other than just straight back to 29.97 tape, disk, etc.
Joe
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