[Marc Wielage]

Joe, I always at least ask for a framing chart, because I never know what the DP really intended on the set. I’ve gotten quite a few Red 1.90:1 projects in the last year, and some clients are baffled when told that their distributors expect 1.78:1 for HD release.

I’m surprised that more people don’t shoot 5K and then crop on all four sides to 4K 1.78, simply because they’ll have a lot more room to reframe in post. But that would require thought, a custom reticle, and a chart on set.

[Marc Wielage]

You may find it easier to export a flattened file from your editing program and then just color-correct the flattened file within Resolve. These toy cameras without time-of-day timecode and the ability to name files logically are a huge pain for post. The absence of reel names (or numbers) is also problematic.

If you stay on top of this from day one and use transcodes for everything, it can work — provided the files are named and given timecode that will avoid conflicts in the final edit lists.

[Marc Wielage]

What camera was used for the production? What camera file format are you dealing with? What are the project settings? There’s a lot of ways to drive right off the road with workflows like this.

I think you’ll have a greater range of options with Resolve 12.5.1 (the latest version). You can choose upper (field 1) with 1080i and 640i files with Clip Attributes in the latest Resolve.

[Marc Wielage]

What does the cinematographer say? This is more of a creative choice than a technical one.

If you’re releasing in 1.78 (HD and UHD), then you’ll actually be doing a lot of tilting & scanning — not panning per se.

To me, the ultimate answer lies with these questions: 1) how was the framing during production? 2) what are the intentions of the story? 3) what will be the biggest potential audience for the show?

If the answer to the third question is home video, to me, it makes more sense to frame for 1.78, shoot for 1.78, and release in 1.78. But I’ve always felt that very few films really need to be in 2.39; the rare exception are wide-vista Westerns, sprawling action/adventures, and historical epics. Intimate human dramas, comedies, romances, and “typical” indie productions… not so much.

[Marc Wielage]

10 months of frustration but you only posted a note here a week ago?

This is all covered in the manual on page 664 of the Resolve 12.5 manual: “Limitations When Grading With the Viewer on a Computer Display.”

[Marc Wielage]

Sizing and other aspects do not translate well between FCP7 and other editing programs. In particular, sizing does not generally translate to Resolve. My advice is to render a flattened reference file from FCP7 and use that to manually resize all the shots.

I have seen cases where recent versions of Premiere and Avid do export XMLs where size changes do translate correctly. In particular, on one Avid project sometime back, they had dynamic repositions that actually came through in Resolve just fine.

[Marc Wielage]

Benny, you should try it when you have a 2-hour feature with 2500 cuts, and they’ve changed half the movie. 200 cuts is easy.

ColorTrace is an absolute lifesaver, but be sure to check the entire reel to make sure everything is correct. In particular, keep an eye on tracking windows and dissolves, in the event the shot length has changed.

[Marc Wielage]

What kind of source material are you using? How are the drives rated using BMD’s Speed Test?

In truth, I don’t think MacBook Pros are ideal for Resolve, but they can work to a point if you’re using HD proxies with a simple format like ProRes 422.

[Marc Wielage]

Here are Vimeo’s own recommendations for settings:

https://vimeo.com/help/compression

[Marc Wielage]

You are mistaken. Don’t do this. You cannot color correct on an iMac screen, not for anything actually being delivered to paying customers. It’s fine for practicing, for learning, for student projects, and for YouTube cat videos.