2009
Table Of Contents
- Final Cut Studio Workflows
- Contents
- Introduction
- Developing a Post-Production Strategy
- Ingesting and Organizing Your Media
- Integration During Editorial Development
- Client Review
- Finishing
- What Is Finishing?
- Finishing Using Compressed Versus Uncompressed Media
- Format Conversion When Finishing Mixed-Format Sequences
- Reconforming Media to Online Quality
- Creating Final Broadcast Design Elements and Effects
- Color Correction
- Final Sound Editing, Design, and Mixing
- Mastering
- Output and Delivery
Sometimes, to save on tape costs, multiple rolls are transferred to a single 60-minute
tape. For 35mm film, each subsequent roll is transferred in 15-minute increments. For
example, the first roll is transferred starting at 01:00:00:00, the second roll is transferred
starting at 01:15:00:00, the third roll starts at 01:30:00:00, and the fourth roll starts at
01:45:00:00.
In the case of 16mm film, you can request that multiple camera rolls be assembled onto
consolidated lab rolls by the lab doing the developing. Each lab roll is then treated as a
single continuous roll, which can be transferred to a single 60-minute tape with ease.
After every roll of film has been transferred to a reel of tape, ingest and organization are
the same as with any tape-based format. See “Ingesting Tape-Based Media” for more
information.
Tracking and Organizational Information
During the transfer, a marker frame (also referred to as a lab roll hole, head punch, or punch
hole) is assigned to each roll of film at a point before the first shot begins, with a hole
punch permanently identifying that frame. The marker frame is assigned the timecode
value of XX:00:00:00 (where XX is an hour value that is incremented for each subsequent
camera roll being transferred). The marker frame creates an absolute timecode reference
for each frame of film on that roll. The marker frame also sets up a permanent film
frame–to–timecode reference that defines the timecode that’s recorded to tape and that
is essential for accurately retransferring the film later.
As with any tape-based format, the three most critical pieces of metadata include the
clip name you assign during capture, the reel number that matches each clip to the source
videotape (and by extension, the roll of camera negative), and the timecode track that
identifies which range of media came from what part of the source videotape. Accurate
timecode control is critical, as is keeping careful track of reel numbers.
If the transfer is being done strictly for offline editing, you can ask for a window burn that
displays both timecode and edge code. If you’re transferring film to a video format with
a 4:3 aspect ratio, you can have this window burn made in the black letterboxed area so
it doesn’t obscure the image. It may also be possible to write the edge code number of
the source film to the user bit of VITC timecode for electronic tracking. Ask the facility
doing the transfer what would be best for your situation.
Additionally, you have the option of tracking film-specific metadata by importing telecine
logs (such as FLEx and ALE files) into Final Cut Pro (or Cinema Tools) to create a database
that allows you to track the correspondence between the reel and timecode numbers of
your videotapes and the roll and edge code numbers of the source camera negative. This
is important if you’re editing transferred videotape with the intention of conforming the
original negative, retransferring best-light selects, or doing a datacine transfer of your
program’s selects to DPX or Cineon image sequences for digital intermediate grading
and finishing.
37Chapter 2 Ingesting and Organizing Your Media