Mark Raudonis
3
COW Coins
Forum Replies Created
-
I don’t understand what you’re trying to accomplish.
Can you try to explain it another way?
mark
-
Low res compared to what? HD? SD uncompressed? Film res? DV? You need to know what your “full res” is before you can tell if your suspected clips are below that. I’m assuming you mean SD video since you don’t specify.
Right click on a clip that you’re suspicious of in the browser. Open “item Properties”. Then, “format”
The key to telling if it’s full res are the “Frame Size” which for SD would be 720 X 480, and the “Data rate”, which for DV is 3.6 mb/sec.
If your clips are less than this, then yes, they’re at low res. For example, we use “Off-line RT” which results in a frame size of 320 X 240 and a very low data rate.
By the way, audio can be recorded at alower rate too.
Hope this helps.
Mark
-
Watch “My Super Sweet Sixteen” on MTV!
If your client is anything like the spoiled brats on that show, you’re in for an adventure!
Seriously, though, these events seem to be less “structured” than a wedding, bar mitzvah, etc. Therefore, I would suggest you communicate with your clients BEFORE the event to learn as much as possible about what they expect from you. Seems like these parties would offer an excellent opportunity for you to pitch your client on doing a “memories” montage for the birthday girl that plays during the party. That’s an “add on” service for editing and projection at the event.
Hope this helps.
mark
-
david,
I agree with the comments above, and would like to add one more.
Don’t forget to take advantage of the power of sound design to influene your emotional statement. Just throwing in a musical cue as a bed squanders your opportunity to add to the power of the scenes with innovative sounds. As cut, your music is effectively “leveling out” any emotional content and therefore, creating a monotonous, boring pace. You can break out of the monotone with unexpected usage of sound. Contrasting the sounds of children playing and screaming on the playground with the barrels of radioactive waster can be a powerful sound/sight image. Remember “The Terminator”? Watch that film and see the juxtaposition of sound and image to scare the pants off of you.
Finally, just because you’re doing a “documentary” don’t think you can’t use every trick in the book from feature films to “sell” your point of view.
You can and you should.Mark
-
Paul,
Ouch. I’m sorry to say, you’re toast!
Your only hope is if you saved a copy of the project with a different name the night before. That won’t get you back today’s work, but at least you have a place to start clean.
We have our editors save every night to three different places: locally, globally (x-san) and mobilly (removable usb memory sticks). They also rename the project every day adding the date to the title. That makes it easy to see which project was saved when… and is a help if a version becomes corrupt.
We’ve all made mistakes in our careers. That’s how you gain experience.
mark
PS As you now know, it’s not a good idea to leave your program open all night long.
-
[John Burgan] “nor is this a solution for those working in multi-editor setups”
Actually, John, we DO use this method (smaller, separate projects) with all of our multi-editor projects. Using X-SAN/X-raid, we take advantage of the fact that with FCP your media does NOT have to live in a project. Therefore, you can store, organize, and find your media just using the basic mac finder functions. Of course this requires some attention to detail and discipline in the digitizing phase, but in the end, it’s worth it.
We regularly have at least three editors working on a single, one hour episode using various different projects to access the media. There are close to one hundred editors in our shop using this method.
Let’s recap: Big projects, bad. Small projects, Good! And… most importantly, you don’t need an FCP project to store, organize and use your media.
Mark
-
Ken,
What you’ve experienced is unfortunately, quite common. There are some well publicized workarounds for some of the issues you’re raising. The bottom line is, DON’T just assume that when you turn over your off-line cut that all will go smoothly. We hand check and conform EVERY SINGLE EDIT in our timeline. So, plan on the time to check it and correct it.
The speed change thing is well documented. Open up your “motion” tab on the new high res version. You’ll probably see one errant key frame that is causing the “compression” that you’re observing. Frequently, deleting just that one “Bad” keyframe will bring your clip back to what you wanted.
As for all the other stuff, I can only suggest that you upgrade to the most recent version of FCP out there (5.03). I believe that some of these issues may have been resolved with the most recent version.
The size of the project will cause slow openings, but not the kind of issues that you’re experiencing.
Mark
-
Marco & Ian
The point is… THERE IS NO QUICK FIX to making audio sound great. You’re asking for a simple answer to a very complex question… and then get defensive when people tell you your expectations are unrealistic. Sound designers, mixers, musicians, etc. devote their entire career to the pursuit of clean crisp sound. We’ve told you the basics, now it’s up to you to spend the time to learn it. It’s not going to happen in one session or on one project. You’re also NOT going to learn it from a few posts on this board.
Next time you’re in one of your audio sessions, ask the mixer how he does what he does. Ask him to “preview” different types of EQ and compression. That’s how you learn what tools to use to do it your self.
You also may want to seek out and post your questions on a similar “audio only” list for Pro Tools or Fairlight, or Sound track Pro. You’re more apt to get a more detailed response.
Mark
-
Michael,
You must be confusing FCP with an AVID! 🙂
I’m enjoying reading your posts, ’cause I went through many of the same frustrations when making the switch to FCP.
Sure, Avid handles this kind of settings issue in a more organized, concise manner. But once you get over the initial shock of “what were they thinking”, the settings and how they’re organized do make sense.
Think of your transition to FCP like learning a foreign language. If you know French, there’s plenty of similarities to Spanish. But, in order to really become fluent, you need to begin to “think” in the new language.
Same with FCP. Once you understand the logic behind how the system works, you’ll find it quite a capable system.
mark
-
Two words: Compression and Equalization.
Professional mixers compress ALL voice over track so that they “cut” through the background and music. Also, a mid range boost for most vocals will make it cut through better. FCP has filters that can do both of these tasks. Check them out. Compress first. Be sure to click “preserve volume”. Then equalize to taste.
Finally, the quality of your vocal track are MOST DEPENDENT on the quality of your original recording. Are you using a good quality USB mic (The “Snowball” by BLUE is a good one).
What’s the room sound like? Can you hear the computer fan in your tracks?Top quality vocal tracks are not an accident. There is no magic button to hit to make them sound. The basic recipe you’re looking for is: record good quality tracks, compress and EQ to taste.
Hope this helps.
Mark