[Nick Meyers]

Hi, Jonno.

“To adjust sync”

yoiks! i would have tried to fix that first.
i mean, if your picture and sound don’t sync, it is a serious issue that needs to be addressed.
if it isnt, there’d be repercussions all through the edit, as you know

but maybe you didn’t have time,
or the issue couldn’t be fixed???
either way here you are, dealing with repercussions…

“if for some reason I have to slip the sound from the picture,
the clips often don’t show the red ‘sync offset number’ that I have come to rely on.”

maybe that section was never linked to the video in the first place?
would depend on the syncing process:

– if the audio is linked, THEN split up for re-syncing, you should get the red warnings.

– if the audio is split and synched, THEN one part of it linked,
the other parts will never show the warning.

either way, you cant really “rely” on the sync warning on this film ,
as all your clips will have sections that will DISPLAY as out of sync, while they are actually IN sync.

“It is also a little cumbersome having to re-lock the clip to make it select both pics and sound in order to trim both simultaneously etc. ”

i wouldn’t bother re-linking.
for starters, re-linking really WILL get rid of the red sync warning.
try it: shift some audio separate to the video so you get the red warning.
then un-link and re-link.
warning disappears.

and as you say, it’s just another step.

rather tan re-linking, simply select the video, hold apple, then also select the audio. (Or vica-versa)
there’ most likely come a time when a lot of your trims will be a-synchronous anyway, so it’ll just become a habit.

“Another symptom is that sometimes when I do the equivalent of ‘Find Clip in Browser’ (not sure exact term off hand), FCP tells me the clip is not in the project”

ok, this is another issue altogether.
(i don’t think they are related.)

this is the Master / Affiliate relationships in the project going awry.

this M/A relationship can be pretty fragile in FCP.
oh… you should know that it only works WITHIN a project.
FCP cant track clips cut from one project into another,
so if your rushes are in one project, an your cut sequences in another, then it just wont work.

as i as saying the M/A relationship can also be broken.
on the feature i was cutting last year, my assistant would prep the rushes into their relevant scenes and give them to me in a daily project.

they were formated into Bins AND sequences.
the M/A relationship worked in her project,
but when i copied them across into my edit projects,
it didn’t.

solution was to copy the Bins and Sequences separately.
THEN it worked in my project.

Multiclips were part of the problem, too (i guess in some way they are “collections” of clips, like sequences are)
so if i wanted to have multiclips, and their “constituent” clips, and be able to match back to either,
i had to copy them separately, too.

finally, the links can just break.
i’ve opened projects and gotten a warning that my Master Affiliate relationships had become corrupted.
d’oh!

i managed to “fix” that by closing without saving, and opening on another machine (that film had shared storage)
it opened fine on the other machine,
then opened ok on my machine… go figure.

good thing about a feature (drama, anyway) is the level of organization.
you pretty much know what scene you are working on (especially if you are using american slating)
so you can easily find the right bin in the browser.

hope that helps a little,
nick

[Nick Meyers]

Q:
where to you want to go with this footage?
what is your final delivery format?

A:
compressor will get you there just as easily as Mpeg StreamClip, i think,
most likely by converting it to a ProRes format,
but then again…. see questions above.

nick

[Nick Meyers]

no worries, Paul.

and i guess that’s the answer to the original poster.

in the compressor de-interlace filter,
BLUR seems to be a BLEND of the fields.
looks great on text, crapy on a moving image.

as a compromise SHARP seems acceptable on text and the bg,
(but i’m only looking in the preview window)

nick

[Nick Meyers]

i use QuicKeys for this sort of thing,
but there are other, cheaper alternatives that work just as well.
i’ve seen keyboard maestro mentioned as ok.

nick

[Nick Meyers]

ok, looked up FHA,
and we’re talking about the same thing.
cool!

nm

[Nick Meyers]

[Göran Thorén] “16:9 FHA timeline”

i probably should know what FHA is, but i don’t, sorry.

i’m suggesting you work in a Standard Def anamorphic timeline,
as that’s what you need to deliver.
in theory FCP should fit clips correctly,
but if it doesn’t, you can always go into the Motion Tab > Distortion to adjust them.

[Göran Thorén] “What do you mean “render in down time”?
“

like when you go to lunch, or leave for the day,
or if you’re on the phone..whatever

you can set “Autorender” to kick off after a certain amount of inactivity.
that’s in your user prefs (Option Q)

that will render any type of render you have ticked in Sequence Menu > Render Selected

[Göran Thorén] “just hit render when I´m done? “

sure, you can do that too 🙂

all the best,
nick

[Nick Meyers]

“I resized it to 1920 x 1080”

probably should have just left it alone.

if you want to, open it into the viewer from the timeline.
go to the motion tab,
and find the distortion settings.

aspect maybe able to be adjusted.
try +/-6.67
or try adding/subtracting 6.67 from whatever it is.

nick

[Nick Meyers]

a lot depends on your version of FCP.

FCP6 has the Prores codec, which is virtually indistinguishable from uncompressed,
with much lower bandwidth,
and better RT playback support for mixed codecs.

i’d cut in an SD ProRs timeline, set to Dynamic RT.
render in down time.

nick

[Nick Meyers]

hey, geoffrey,
if you are still in the market,

red Giant are giving a HUGE 75% discount on key correct pro, which brings it into your price range
i couldn’t find the details on their site,
so here’s the link they sent me: (it’s HUGE too)

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here are the details, anyway:

“to make your compositing job just a little easier, you can save 75% on any new order of Key Correct Pro from now through August 19, 2009. Enter Coupon Code NLKC0809 to buy Key Correct Pro for only $99.75.”

cheers,
nick

[Nick Meyers]

depends on how you plan to reconform.

if you’re going outside of FCP, simple EDLs are pretty much universal.
talk to your post house for the format they require.

if you are doing it inside FCP, then use Media Manager to create a trimmed, offline project set to your online res and re-capture.

MM settings:

– Create Offline mode (from the pulldown)
– Set Sequences to: your online format
– DO delete unused (un-tick anything that says “include”)
– Add Handles to taste
– Base Media FIle Names on: Clip Names is my guess, as you may be using subclips.

cheers,
nick