Bill Stephan
Forum Replies Created
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It’s almost impossible to adhere a CD and a DVD layer without making the resulting disc over-spec for thickness, so these discs might be problematic in some players.
Bill Stephan
Senior Editor/DVD Author
USA Studios
New York City -
There is a method of converting anamorphic to letterbox: change the vertical size of the footage to 75%. That gives you 1.78:1 (16×9) letterbox. If desired, put the 1.85 film mask effect on top.
Part of on-line editing is knowing what needs to be made to fulfill the deliverables. If you plan on doing an upconversion, I would make an anamorphic master. Then you can go to hi-def or Ntsc letterbox as necessary.
Bill Stephan
Senior Editor/DVD Author
USA Studios
New York City -
There are plenty of classes around that teach how to operate an Avid edit systems, but it sounds like you want training in editing creatively. Many editors spend years in film schools and universities learning the craft of editing. Learning to edit is a process that begins before you get your first job, and it continues throughout your entire career.
So aside from doing the film school thing or becoming the apprentice to a master editor, you can read book on the craft of editing such as Walter Murch’s for inspiration.
But an editor edits, and a lot of the craft is learned by doing — sitting there in the edit room, working out the problems, and finding new ways to tell the story. So you need to get into the game somehow and begin playing.
Avid does offer master editing classes at the factory in Tekwsbury, but these are geared mostly to the mechanics of accomplishing sophisticated post production processes used in feature film editorial. Those who take these classses tend to be expert editors and assistants.
Bill Stephan
Senior Editor/DVD Author
USA Studios
New York City -
Here are a few of my signs:
Customer wants hi-volume DVD replication, but will only give us the job if we can fix his iDVD project for free.
Tries to get credit account, but none of the references will respond.
Wants fixed price for editorial project, but balks at a cap on number of days or hours.
Sends messenger without a check to pick up a C.O.D. job, and then makes a stink about blowing his deadline when we won’t release the job.
Orders the wrong dub and then want the job redone correctly for free or he won’t pay us.
Has DVD-R copies made, then complains that the discs don’t play, so he wants to keep the discs and not pay for them.
Bill Stephan
Senior Editor/DVD Author
USA Studios
New York City -
Rip the VOBs from the version you like down to the elementary streams, and then swap the resulting MPEG-2 & audio streams in the Encore project. Then burn a new DVD. This kind of change needs to be done at the authoring level. Don’t screw with the files on the DVD unless you have the tools to do it (such as TFDVD).
Bill Stephan
Senior Editor/DVD Author
USA Studios
New York City -
Don’t tempt fate by making a big change in your system configuration in the middle of a project. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.
Either finish the project before going to Mac, or stock up on plenty of Rolaids and Excedrin.
Bill Stephan
Senior Editor/DVD Author
USA Studios
New York City -
Click on the source window, enter a time code number using the number pad on your keyboard, click enter and you jump to that time code number. But you have to load the clip first — there’s no way to enter a reel number. This also works on the record monitor to jump quickly to a specific time code in the master.
Bill Stephan
Senior Editor/DVD Author
USA Studios
New York City -
Any effect that exists on the target Avid system will transfer in the timeline. Because you are transfering a sequence from a more capable Avid to a low-end Avid, you will lose 3D Warp, which doesn’t exist on the Xpress software.
This is a problem frequently encountered when going to final conform on a high-end Avid. You need to make sure that all third-party filters used in the off-line are available in the on-line system. Otherwise the effects will need to be rebuilt.
Bill Stephan
Senior Editor/DVD Author
USA Studios
New York City -
When I need to make a change in a project that no longer has media on line, I just batch digitize the section I want to work on plus a shot or two on each side just in case. Then I can make fixes and output the revised section.
The larger question is if you need more compositing firepower to accomplish your work, what software will do what you need. Certainly Boris Red (and Continuum Complete) will add capability to your Media Composer. But Red does the same kinds of things that you can do in After Effects. Red does make certain tasks like 3D extrusions much easier than After Efx. And it is an advantage that Red and BCC operate within Avid’s AVX architecture.
If you need more than After Efx or Red, there is Combustion, which a lot of motion graphics people really like. You need to export the footage from Avid, make your changes, and reimport back to Avid. Same process as with After Efx.
If your boss has deep pockets, you can go with an Avid DS Nitris, which has the editing plus the sophisticated graphics compositing all in one box.
Bill Stephan
Senior Editor/DVD Author
USA Studios
New York City -
Mark the audio clip you want to copy, copy to clipboard with C key, load into source monitor using drop down menu above source monitor (clipboard contents), edit into sequence where desired.
Bill Stephan
Senior Editor/DVD Author
USA Studios
New York City