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Varicam Timcode breaks mid shot
I have had an interesting problem. I just returned from shooting in Spain, and got a call from the editor saying that there were time code breaks in the middle of about six shots. Not at the end of the shot but in the middle during the take. The picture and audio were un affected and telling FCP to ignore the breaks allowed them to be captured but I would like to know if this is something I should be concerned with. Was shooting at various frame rates for a 24fps time line. If anyone else has come across this problem, or has any thoughts, please le me know.
Thanks,
Nick Gardner
Varicam owner
Steadicam Operator -
5 Replies
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[Nick Gardner] “ot a call from the editor saying that there were time code breaks in the middle of about six shots. Not at the end of the shot but in the middle during the take….. Was shooting at various frame rates for a 24fps time line.”
by changing the frame rate during the shot- you changed the cadence of the redundant frames that FCP was looking to remove. FCP therefore assumed that there was a break in the TImecode –
my guess is that your editor saw there was an issue in the capture (FCP tells you there is a “Cadence Error”) and just assumed there was a TC break.
gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows
Chicago, IL
gary@studio37.com -
I was shooting at various frame rates but I did not do any ramps or speed changes during a take.
Nick
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[Nick Gardner] “I was shooting at various frame rates but I did not do any ramps or speed changes during a take.”
How much header did you put prior to each shot.
Did the editor use Capture Now instead of using a batch capture?
How experienced is your editor with FCP and using DVCPROHD from a varicam?I said that was what the FRC was created for. – Because your editor was capturing across the speed changes -even if you started and stopped the camera between frame rate changes the underlying pulldown changed between the clips -throwing FCP into a tizzy
Recommend that camera ops have 10-15 seconds of black before any capture of offseed materials- or better yet do all of the off speed on a separate tape with large amounts of header between each change with a Slate to identify.
gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows
Chicago, IL
gary@studio37.com -
Thanks Gary. I suspect you may be right.He was trying to batch capture. Although, after talking to the editor today (by the way he has done tons of work in fcp with varicam) it seems to have been a mysterious problem that seemed to go away after shutting down and rebooting. At any rate, probably not a problem with the camera.
Thanks again,
Nick -
you should probaly stick to shooting on film
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