[Francis Robertson]

Thanks, that’s great.

[Francis Robertson]

Okay I’ll do that thanks for your help.

[Francis Robertson]

Thanks for the advise Walter.

Now as for your DigiBeta layback at the end of the project, again, this is where something like the AJA Kona board shines. You edit your entire project in HD (which is what I would highly recommend since so much of your footage is HD to begin with) and when you’re ready for DigiBeta layback, you simply have the Kona downconvert during Edit to Tape. You can select Crop, Letterbox or Anamorphic for the downconvert. Then you can also lay off your HDCAM master as well

I have a Black Magic Board, can it downconvert during edit-to-tape as well? I was recommended Black Magic by a friend who works at an edit facility, maybe I should have gone with AJA Kona.

[Francis Robertson]

Thats great, thanks Rafael.

I hadn’t thought about working on an SD sequence, I guess I just thought that because my footage is HD i needed to work on an HD sequence. Will changing the sequence settings to SD now cause any problems further down the line if we do decide to make an HD master?

Just to clarify; SQ stands for standard quality? It’s not in my list of codecs, should it be?

Thanks again.

[Francis Robertson]

Great, thanks Walter.

[Francis Robertson]

Thanks Rob

[Francis Robertson]

You should have done your research into the workflows before buying ANYTHING.
Your tools are often the largest limiting factor in any workflow, if you don’t know anything about HDor the deliverables how do you plan to sell your services?

I am trying to learn about HD and the deliverables, that is why I am asking these rather basic questions. I have always felt that the best way to learn anything in editing is to plunge straight into a real project where you come across real problems that need to be solved. This particular charity video seemed like the perfect learning project for me because I know the client very well, I have explained to him that it will be a bit of a learning curve for me and things might take a little longer than usual, he is happy with that.

I did do my research into the workflow of this particular project before buying the kit, and everything is going smoothly so far.

As for future projects? Who knows, one big reason for wanting kit of my own is that it means I can collaborate with friends and edit our own projects, I choose FCP mainly because of cost and the fact that I wanted to become proficient at using it, something I’ve been putting off for years. The fact that I could then hire it out to current or future clients was something of an afterthought.

I am going to say up front that is not the kind of work you are going to get at first unless it is an existing client that you are taking with you from your old job.

Did I say that I expected to get this kind of work at first? No I said at some point in the future, even then it was a hypothetical scenario. I’m just trying to understand how it would work.

What ‘old job’? As I said, I’ve been freelance for 5 years, before that I was in house at a production company. I fully intend to continue getting most of my income from freelance Avid work for the time being, this is really just an initial foray into the world of FCP.

Most post houses I know of in the UK and throughout the EU would not give out the edit to someone not affiliated with the “online” finishing facility.

No they probably wouldn’t, I don’t intend to get work from post houses, most of my work comes from producers and directors.

I don’t know why you need to put the word online in quotation marks, is this an antiquated term? Not in London.

In the FCP world (especially with RED footage) a freelance editor is often asked to do more than just a cuts-only edit for someone else to clean up. Your first low budget clients are going to want an editor that can do more than one single task, so an “editor” position might also include graphics, some audio, possibly even grading and finishing a project, and they usually don’t pay twice (once for offline, once for online).

This is true in the Avid world as well, as I said I have done a little online work, grading and audio work, I don’t pretend to be proficient at it and as it happens the vast majority of my current clients can afford a finishing editor and audio mixer. I gave you a hypothetical situation, all I asked was if I had got the workflow roughly correct, I didn’t ask for a lecture on what my clients might or might not be able to afford.

I gather from your responses you have never finished a project all the way through to client delivery?

Yes I have, please don’t patronize me.

The majority of my work happens to be offline, my clients hire me for my editorial skills, my speed, and my hard working ethos. I’m a fast learner, I’m creative and dispite the impression you seem to have of me I know my way around post production.

Except when it comes to HD.

Which is why I’m TRYING to learn about it.

I don’t expect to be editing the next James Bond movie on my little set up, I am just trying to establish what it’s limits are.

[Francis Robertson]

You’ll have to excuse my ignorance gary I’m really very new to working with resolutions higher than Standard Definition and there are several terms which I do not understand.

What is HDCamSR? Is this a tape format?

Automatic Duck tools?

What am I doing now? I’m a freelance Avid editor, have been for about 5 years, doing TV mainly with some corporate and short films as well.

I’ve been toying with the Idea of buying a FCP suite for years, and when an old client told me that he had a charity video that needed editing for a low budget I thought it would be a good excuse to buy the gear and rent it to him for a (massively) reduced rate. My thinking was that it would be a good job to learn FCP on because it wasn’t too much pressure and if I messed up it wasn’t the end of the world.

Then when I’ve learnt the software and feel confident working with the different variety of resolutions I’ll be able rent the equipment (and my services) for a higher rate.

He’s shot it 1080i on XDCAM EX, and it’s been an interesting learning curve figuring out how to import the files into FCP and it got me thinking about what other resolutions I could work with using the setup I have.

Especially as I have a DOP friend who has access to a RED ONE camera so he and I have talked about collaborating on some projects, which is why I was asking about 2k and 4k workflows.

I’m not about to start running before I can walk, I just want to know what is actually possible using the equipment I have invested in.

Here is an imaginary scenario that might take place at some point in the future. Do I have it right?

I am given 4k Footage shot on RED ONE, I import the files and edit them with an offline codec, I layoff a Digibeta master (for viewing purposes, and as a guide for the next stage of the process). I create an EDL or XML file and give it to the client along with the digibeta and the original cards. The Client takes it all along to a top end facilities house where they can import the EDL, grade and finish the film and deliver the final product at whatever resolution the client needs.

Presumably there is no such thing as a conform? The finishing editor can just relink the files using the info from the EDL?

Is my thinking too ‘tape based’?

[Francis Robertson]

Okay thanks gary that helps a lot.

I’m not really an online editor or colorist (although i’ve done a little of both) I’m primarily an offline or film editor (whichever term you prefer). What I want to be able to do is the equivalent of an offline edit which I would do on avid at a lower resolution to the one finally delivered to the client.

My confusion arrises from the best workflow for this kind of footage

Can I import 2k or 4k files, work with them at a lower resolution, say 720/576 (i’m from the UK) or lower. Then export the equivalent of an EDL to send to a higher spec suite for finishing?

[Francis Robertson]

Thanks shane, I will try switching field dominance to none.

Incidentally, something I should have mentioned is that I have already tried mixing them on the timeline and it wouldn’t let me play both without rendering one, but I will try the field dominance thing and see if that works.

Thanks again