Alex Elkins
Forum Replies Created
-
As this thread is relatively recent I just want to add another thing. I was streaming with FMLE and an AJA Kona 3 and similarly was getting quite bad audio sync. It seems to drift over time.
So my point really is that this doesn’t appear to be an AJA or Blackmagic issue. I can’t seem to find a solution online, but I think it looks like an issue with FMLE.
Alex Elkins
Twitter: @postbluetv
http://www.postblue.tv
Post Blue showreel
Latest work: Greyhounds in Motion at 500fps
My Vimeo Pro page -
Hi Kent,
The simple answer to all of your questions is: Do whatever the broadcaster requires.
[Kent Vanderberg] “When shooting HD and framing for 16:9, must one always protect for TV to center-cut crop the sides of the frame on 4:3 TVs?”
If the broadcaster says you should, then you should. Most broadcasters here in the UK allow 16:9 title safe these days, especially for programme content. For commercials it’s still 4:3 safe unfortunately.
[Kent Vanderberg] “But a broadcast engineer wandered onto the set and said the letterboxed version would appear both letterboxed and pillarboxed on 16:9 TVs.”
That’s nonsense. Broadcasters work one of three ways – they letterbox your material on 4×3 TVs or they centre crop. There’s also a happy medium between the two called 14:9, where you get a bit of letterboxing and a bit of cropping. Keeping things 14:9 safe is often all the broadcasters request in my experience.
Again, check with the stations you’ll be delivering to.[Kent Vanderberg] “I would like to distribute the spots in full raster 16:9 for everyone that is viewing on 16:9 TVs, whether viewing the SD channels or HD channels. But I DON’T want those viewing 4:3 SD to have the image center-cropped.”
That’s not for you to decide unfortunately. Adhere to the broadcasters’ specs or they won’t air your content, it’s as simple as that. The fact is that some broadcasters will do a 4:3 centre cut, some will crop to 14:9 and others will letterbox. You don’t control that, but you can choose to shoot in a way that adheres to some or all of the potential broadcast standards. Check with the stations.
All the best
AlexP.S. This is really a question more suited to the Digital Delivery forum.
Alex Elkins
Twitter: @postbluetv
http://www.postblue.tv
Post Blue showreel
Latest work: Greyhounds in Motion at 500fps
My Vimeo Pro page -
This is a guess, but it’s the one thing you’ve not mentioned. Everything else seems to be about right…
Sounds like perhaps the graphics were created in Photoshop with 1:1 (square) pixel aspect ratio. You need to recreate the graphic in a Photoshop document using the correct aspect ratio – there are presets for Film & TV that you can work from.
Any better?
Alex Elkins
Twitter: @postbluetv
http://www.postblue.tv
Post Blue showreel
Latest work: Greyhounds in Motion at 500fps
My Vimeo Pro page -
It would be a more manual process, but there’s nothing to stop you from transcoding to your online format outside of FCP, then reconnecting the files inside FCP.
As long as timecodes, reel names, file names and durations all match up with the original offline files you’ll be fine.
MPEG Streamclip doesn’t add the timecode but you can add it back in per-reel batches using Video Toolshed’s QTChange.
You could even transcode to your online format in FCP again inside a new project, then manually relink to those new files.
Alex Elkins
Twitter: @postbluetv
http://www.postblue.tv
Post Blue showreel
Latest work: Greyhounds in Motion at 500fps
My Vimeo Pro page -
Those settings are kind of overkill for the web. Also, 800×318 is quite an annusual (although not unheard of) aspect ratio. Is your material standard 16×9 widescreen?
Try the following format:
h264 mid/high (move the quality slider to a little but above the half-way point.)
Key Frames: Automatic
Dimensions: 1280 x 720Audio:
AAC
48kHz
128kbps stereo or 64Kbps mono (I usually only bother with stereo if there are audio pans that have a real affect on the viewing experience and for music videos where obviously audio quality is important).If you’re finding the encoding takes too long, switch the video settings to single pass. Quite often this is perfectly acceptable anyway.
Make sure your video is rendered inside FCP first. This will speed up the encode as well.
You might also want to look into setting up a Qmaster cluster for rendering with Compressor, but that’s another topic entirely.
Alex Elkins
Twitter: @postbluetv
http://www.postblue.tv
Post Blue showreel
Latest work: Greyhounds in Motion at 500fps
My Vimeo Pro page -
Hmm, sounds like you’re doing everything right. Have you tried all the usual tricks? Restart FCP, trash preferences, etc…
Is this something that has worked in the past and suddenly has stopped working? If so, what has changed on your computer or the way you’re working?
Alex Elkins
Twitter: @postbluetv
http://www.postblue.tv
Post Blue showreel
Latest work: Greyhounds in Motion at 500fps
My Vimeo Pro page -
Is your video rendered in the timeline?
Alex Elkins
Twitter: @postbluetv
http://www.postblue.tv
Post Blue showreel
Latest work: Greyhounds in Motion at 500fps
My Vimeo Pro page -
About a year ago I was in the same position of, for the first time in my career, having to interview potential staff editors.
Some of the things I was looking for were:
Does this person actually know who I or my company is? Do they want to work for me, or do they just want work?
If the candidate has done their research and is interested in what your company does then already that’s a huge tick next to the question of “Can I trust them?” – you certainly can’t trust someone who hasn’t got a clue who he/she is speaking to.Does this person want a future in post-production?
This may not apply, but when I was interviewing we were looking to fill a fairly junior role. I wasn’t interested in people who were just looking for any way into The Business – I wanted someone who loved editing. The question “where do you see yourself in 5 years’ time?” might be a bit cheesy, but when someone answers “I’d like to have directed my first feature film” then you know they’re not a keeper.Assuming that I was confident in their ability, my main concern was whether or not I felt I (and our clients) would get on with the candidate. You can gauge that pretty well just from chatting quite generally with them.
Do they feel like the sort of person who delivers what they’ve promised? Can they substantiate that with any examples of previous work? The corporate world is cut-throat so you don’t want someone who promises more than they can deliver.
Alex Elkins
Twitter: @postbluetv
http://www.postblue.tv
Post Blue showreel
Latest work: Greyhounds in Motion at 500fps
My Vimeo Pro page -
To find the total duration of every video clip in your project make a new sequence. You could be really clever and call it ‘All Clips’ or something similar.
Next, locate one of the video files in Finder. Assuming you’ve been organised all of your video files should be organised in a way where you can easily locate them. Select them all and drag-and-drop them into your new sequence.
Look at the total duration of the sequence.
Note – the reason I say to drag-and-drop from Finder rather than FCP’s browser is that if you have in and out points set on any of your clips you will only drag in those selections.
It wasn’t completely clear from your post whether you wanted the answer I’ve given above, or whether you wanted to know the total duration of all of your sequences. If it’s the latter, just drag-and-drop all of the sequences into a new sequence and look at the total duration of the new one.
Alex Elkins
Twitter: @postbluetv
http://www.postblue.tv
Post Blue showreel
Latest work: Greyhounds in Motion at 500fps
My Vimeo Pro page -
I think you need to appeal to the better nature of this director and explain that the only reason you agreed to work for free was to have something for your reel. If he’s not happy with the result then that’s a shame, but he shouldn’t bar you from using your own work.
If he still has a problem then explain you’ll need to bill him for your time.
It seems like he’s concerned with the perceived fact that he thinks you having your ‘bad edit’ online could affect people’s reaction to his film. The only actual fact is that this guy needs to grow the hell up and stop pretending that his poxy little freebie short film will be seen by anyone other than his friends and family.
Alex Elkins
Twitter: @postbluetv
http://www.postblue.tv
Post Blue showreel
Latest work: Greyhounds in Motion at 500fps
My Vimeo Pro page