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Struggling to get best quality when finishing my projects!
Hi all,
As a bit of a ‘newbie’ to FCP 7 I am struggling to get best quality, and most efficient quality, when I come to finish my project. I suspect that my workflow is not particularly logical and could do with some urgent and best advice on what I may be doing wrong, and how best to fix it.
I have a project which I need to complete by the end of Sept, the output of which will be a 5 min film to feature on a web-site. The film was shot on a Canon 5D, edited in FCP7 and colorised (?) with Magic Bullet Looks.
What I’ve been doing is taking the footage from the camera – into iPhoto – converting it to Apple pro res 422(LT) for editing using MPEG Streamclip. This raises my first question, should I be taking the footage straight from the camera, bypassing iPhoto, and ingesting it straight into FCP ? Am I already degrading the quality of the image with an unnecessary step ? And if so – how do I do this? ( oops, that turned into 3 questions!)
Next question – how do I then return the finished, fully edited and colour corrected sequence into best/most appropriate quality to give me that cinematic quality – most urgently for the web-site clip, but thereafter to use in DVD Studio Pro ?
Final question, what format will the web-site designers want the film delivered in, and how do I get it into that format with best quality?
Thanks in advance for any advice you guys can give me!
regards
Dave
ps step by step guide(s) for the hard of understanding would be greatly appreciated!
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4 Replies
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1. You are correct in transcoding to ProRes, you’d probably want to transcode to ProRes 422, not LT. When you finish your project, go up to File > Export > Quicktime Movie. Make sure current settings are selected and that it’s a self contained quicktime movie.
2. You need to find out what format they want it delivered in, but I’d be willing to be it’d be h.264. Take your quicktime movie and drop it into MPEG Streamclip or Compressor and apply the h.264 setting.
You need to watch Shane Ross’ tutorial on tapeless workflow and FCP 7
https://library.creativecow.net/ross_shane/tapeless-workflow_fcp-7/1
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Thanks for your help with this Eric – very much appreciated!
regards
Dave
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[Dave Tennent] “What I’ve been doing is taking the footage from the camera – into iPhoto – converting it to Apple pro res 422(LT) for editing using MPEG Streamclip. This raises my first question, should I be taking the footage straight from the camera, bypassing iPhoto, and ingesting it straight into FCP ? Am I already degrading the quality of the image with an unnecessary step ? “
you are not degrading the picture (the conversion needs to be done somewhere), but you are complicating the workflow with an extra step.
In the other hand you loose the advantages of L&T in FC.
With a proper L&T you will be able of managing your media and reconnect to the original footage when needed.
Will also add TC to your canon stuff.
rafael -
Thanks for your comment Rafael. I’ve invested in ShotPut Pro and will now transfer the original files from my memory cards into my G-safe hard drive
regards
Dave
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