[Rob Gardner]

We were just told there was a huge backorder and that we would be looking at 2-3 weeks for delivery. And we ordered early. And we need it…
Sigh

[Rob Gardner]

I bought 4 FCP packages three months ago because I had to set up four workstations to cut a series. I’m pretty annoyed like this guy is, but life goes on. The thing that saddens me is the amount of snottiness and smugness that comes out in this kind of thread. There is a lot of pettiness that serves no one. The entire value of a forum like this is to share information and to feel that you can honestly reveal ignorance without concern that you will be made to look like a fool. This is the prime covenant, as far as I’m concerned. Dragging out old war stories to show what a seasoned veteran you, or how much money you are making or whatever are is just self inflation and it helps no one. And I have noticed that it is almost always the true professional small timers who blow their horns the loudest. Why don’t you give this guy a little respect for his opinion and move on.

[Rob Gardner]

Hi,

Thanks for the response. I guess I need to get on the phone with an engineer. The deliverables list is not very specific.

Thanks again,

Nick

[Rob Gardner]

Hi Gary,

Yup, thanks for the help. I just got it all straightened out. It was actually pretty simple once I understood what was going on. I got the deck set at 23.98psf as well and it is working like a champ.
Thanks again for the help.

cheers,

Nick Gardner

[Rob Gardner]

Shane
Would you contact me please at rob@gardnerfilms.com. I’d like to talk to you about your workflow. We are also doing a series for History Channel with the Varicam and HDX 900.
Thanks
Rob Gardner

[Rob Gardner]

I wanted to thank everybody for all the thoughtful input. I also wanted to make clear that the work we are doing is in HD. Maybe the filters work better in SD. My understanding is that the legalizing filter has to be applied last for it to be effective, but I think we will start doing tests.

Regarding color correction, our shows are very carefully lit and are produced in feature film style with a unit of about 60 people, shooting in Europe. We use geared heads, Steadicam, a jimmy jib and full lighting truck and lighting crew every day of production. Color correction is done in FCP and it is minimal. To be honest, unless you are dealing with a lot of stuff shot under very different circumstances, and with a lot of exposure and contrast problems, I think expensive color sessions are a big luxury.

But the legalizing issue is a big one on this job because this is series, delivering in HD and SD, and every added technical step outside of our editing rooms means another dollar not earned. Every cost is multiplied by 13.

And here is what may be an unpleasent truth about the future of what used to be television: Budgets are not going up and many things in the production/post production work chain that were once considered essential are going to fall by the way. On-line suites and that entire business are vanishing as the work is done more and more in the computer. The producer that will survive is the producer who can deliver more for less, even in big markets. It’s a hard old world out there and the decisions that relate to what is considered quality are being measured with more and more scrutiny.

Thanks

rob

[Rob Gardner]

Lithuania, but our production partner is in the UK, so that’s probably where we would look for tapes. I thought I understood the BBC was going to DVCproHD, but perhaps not.
thanks

[Rob Gardner]

Thanks for the many interesting responses. Frank, this is a PBS show, so there are no commercials. Whether or not the show changed length in actual time is an interesting concept, but not one I’m sure I would test by delivering the show long (or what appears to be long) when I am expecting a check based on its passing QC.

We have now done a total of 14 hours of various shows originating on Varicam and delivering either on D-5 or HDcam, and this problem seems to re-occur. You would think we would have figured it out by now… As John suggested this process continues to supply surprises.

Anyway, we are figuring out a formula that will get us close enough on the next shows we do. I’ll pass it on, but I wish we could put our finger on just what is happening.
Rob

[Rob Gardner]

Thanks, though while I may be easily confused about drop frame, it would be odd if all four of the experienced editors working on two different broadcast projects and the guys in the on-line house didn’t.

I think there is more to it.

But you never know…

[Rob Gardner]

The patform is a Mac dual gig G5, running OSX 10.4.8 and the most recent Final Cut Pro. The workflow was from the original Varicam tape, shot at 720p into the Mac for editing, then out of the Mac by firewire to tape on a Panasonic 1200 at 720p 23.98 and from there to an HDcam deck, upconverting to 1080i at 59.94. (I think that’s correct). The HD masters are delivered to PBS on HDcam. None of my clients will accept a 720p master so everything has to go up either to D-5 or to HDcam for delivery.

This also happened when going to D-5 on another project. I’m a producer, not an editor, and I find understanding this process pretty complex.

But this problem of the small expansion of screen time has happened before and either we are doing something wrong or it is inherent in the process. I don’t remember seeing any other posts on the subject. Maybe there is a step we are misshandling or maybe there is a formlal for calculating the difference in final screen time so that it could be accounted for during editing (making the show shorter by a pre-determined amount of time, so that it will expand into the correct network spec for program length).

Any help or observations would be appreciated.

Thanks