[Todd Gillespie]

Hi Luke,

Before you assume that it’s not working, please EXPORT a small section to quicktime, then review.

Unfortunately FCP will shift, color, size, placement, etc. slightly during playback to give you realtime performance. I’m sure your problem is only during transitions, when FCP is dealing with a lot of throughput.
I dealt with this on a project last week, no matter how I rendered the Timeline, it was still playing back incorrectly. Exported the movie of the transition-looked great.

Good Luck,

Todd at UCSB
Television Production

[Todd Gillespie]

Hi Russ,

First thing I would be checking is to see how the tape is playing in the deck, regardless of iMovie or FCP. Watch the tape on a monitor with timecode running will give you an idea if the tape is playing back properly. FCP can be sensitive to time-code breaks and video dropouts.
Trash prefs, restart.

Check with another tape to see if the problem continues or if it’s just that particular tape.

Good Luck,

Todd at UCSB
Television Production

[Todd Gillespie]

Try compressing to .h264. It will look reasonably well and be a much smaller file. But do check on the PC to make sure that the file can play in realtime.

Good Luck,

Todd at UCSB
Television Production

[Todd Gillespie]

Yes. FCP doesn\’t like wave files. Convert to aiff and you\’ll be fine.

[Todd Gillespie]

Errol,

It’s a little particular, you need to make sure that the output settings are NOT highlighted in blue-your MPEG-2 setting. When it is, Compressor is holding FCP to give you an output of the video, adjustments, size, quality, etc. Once you don’t have anything highlighted, you can easily jump back to FCP.

Cheers,

Todd at UCSB
Television Production

[Todd Gillespie]

Hi Caleb,

Your questions are good, but very broad and I could spend a lot of time explaining all the issues that are involved with your choices. I’ll try to briefly give you some things to think about.

[Caleb McLaughlin] “We want 2 angles for these interviews. How important is it to have matching cameras?
“

Very important, if you were doing a wide shot and a close up you could get away with non matching cameras, but if you’re editing between angles it will be VERY difficult to get the cameras to match. Even if you properly color balance and ‘paint’ the cameras, the way each camera maker (Sony, Panasonic, JVC, etc.) deals with the colors and details is so different it will be difficult to get the different angles to look the same.

[Caleb McLaughlin] ”
I had planed on some lavalier mics, but do you think a boom mic is needed as well?”

No, a boom mic is good, but you can get by without one.

[Caleb McLaughlin] “What is the scoop on digital tape vs mem-card? Mem-card seems way more convenient…
“

I use both types of cameras, but if I were buying new, I would go tapeless. But you should do your research to see if the workflow for the camera you want will work with the editing workflow you have.

[Caleb McLaughlin] “Would it be best to run the mics into the cameras, or capture them with an external device?
“

This depends on who you talk to, most ‘old timers’ and professionals that have worked in film will ALWAYS record to another device. I’ve come up from the video side and have never needed to record to an independent audio recorder. Nor have I ever been burned with a bad recording to the camera. That being said; audio recording is critical (usually more important than the video) and you’ll need to make sure you are monitoring the audio levels correctly.

[Caleb McLaughlin] “Lastly, what cameras, mics and lighting rigs would you recommend?
“

This is impossible to answer without knowing a budget. I could spend $30,000 to do this or $6,000. Keep in mind with the cameras that you’ll want pro-audio connectors. XLR preferred. So that will shape what type of cameras you should be looking at.
Mics, low profile and good audio quality is best. Sennheiser, Sanken, or Country Man are my favorites.
Good lights are going to be your best friend, for Corporate work; fast setup, daylight or tungsten, and soft light are important. A good looking interview is 75% good lighting-IMHO. Fluorescence lights are one of the only ones that can fit that bill. LEDs are good, but not sure about tungsten without a gel. You’d also want to get a couple smaller Fresnel’s or ellipsoidal to use as background and rim light. Plus C-stands, flags, gels, etc.

FWIW.
Good Luck,

Todd at UCSB
Television Production

[Todd Gillespie]

You can get an eSata card for you MBP slot.
Lots of eSata Raids.

Good Luck,

Todd at UCSB
Television Production

[Todd Gillespie]

Hi Ron,

You Firewire capture settings do NOT affect the recording setting, so if it was recorded at a different audio rate, then you’ll want to convert to 48khz.

As to the firewire control, trash prefs, reboot try again. I’ve met a bunch of decks and cameras that don’t lock up for control and I usually do the same thing you did.

Good Luck,

Todd at UCSB
Television Production

[Todd Gillespie]

I was reminded when I bought a case of Kino bulbs, they do come in 2 indoor temps 2900 and 3200. You might want to see if the other temp is better for you.
When I want to make someone look good, I’ll throw on a Lee cosmetic gel in front of the Kino’s, but that’s not a correction gel.

Good Luck,

Todd at UCSB
Television Production

[Todd Gillespie]

The text tool sucks for FCP. A couple ways to do this is to use multiple layers of text so just one layer is the ‘bold’ lettering. You can also use the Boris text. (can’t remember what they call it) But that allows you to change the formating for any word or character.

Good Luck,

Todd at UCSB
Television Production