Apple Pro Training Series: Optimizing Your Final Cut Pro System: A Technical Guide to RealWorld PostProduction [Electronic resources]

Selecting a Medium

When you begin a project, you need to determine which of the various media you will use to store your picture and audio. A poorly chosen medium can easily sap time away from the art of editing.

We will cover the major media that you'll need to consider, and we'll discuss the factors that will influence your selection. You need to think about each of these workflow components carefully, and keep in mind that any component you leave undetermined could easily cause problems later in the project.

For each medium category, we'll cover the traditional considerations of selecting a medium and the general advantages and disadvantages of each one.

Picture Capture Medium

Typically, you have to accept the picture capture medium you are given, because the producer, director, and the director of photography (DP) usually choose the camera and the camera format. However, if you have an opportunity for some early input, knowing the basic strengths and weaknesses of each medium may help you influence the choice of picture capture medium.

In general, tapes are traditional for video projects, film is traditional for high-end capture for both TV and films, and hard-disk cameras are gaining favor in all industries that can afford them. Tape works well for shows that need integration with other facilities, but it can become cumbersome and inefficient as a show grows larger. Digital files are fast and easy to exchange, but properly configuring the workflow requires expertise and time. Film has superior resolution and aesthetic qualities, but in an online workflow, the image quality will be limited by the medium you transfer the image to. This is because, although you can capture your material on film negative, you can't edit film directly in Final Cut Pro, so you must transfer the image to another format such as video or data files.

• Tapes Tapes are traditional and safe. They provide a good backup for your media and are the most widely transferable format. The quality of the picture on the tape depends on the camera and its format, so you can easily capture all but the highest quality material on tape.

• Files Performing a Telecine" section in Lesson 4 for more information.) However, since we're discussing only picture capture media for Final Cut Pro integration, you would consider using film as a capture medium only if you intended to transfer the media to videotape or data files that could be edited in Final Cut Pro.

Many variables are involved in choosing a picture capture medium, but sometimes your project's genre and delivery format will help you decide. For example, if you're shooting a sports program that contains fast action and requires quick turnaround and delivery for broadcast, you might choose 1080i (digital HD tape). Perhaps you're shooting a feature film and can't afford film acquisition, yet you want a similar feel to film, and your delivery involves a transfer to film and DVD. Then you might choose 720p 24 (digital HD tape). If your project is special effectsdominated, receiving digital files might suit you best, so you might choose direct-to-tape.

Regardless of choice, remember to make sure your system is compatible. For example, if you choose direct-to-tape, check to see if the digital files are easily imported into Final Cut Pro. If you choose a tape format, check for access to an appropriate deck in order to capture the material.

Picture Transfer Medium

Lesson 4 for more information.) A less common method is to opt for processing and printing all takes, by camera roll. Printing the entire film material provides continuous key numbers but is more expensive, and you will need additional organizational time to break down the camera rolls, depending on how much material you have.

The choice of transfer medium can impact your budget and efficiency. The medium decision is dependent on one or a number of factors.

In an offline workflow, your transfer medium often depends on what format and tape machine you can afford, or for film what the telecine room can transfer to and which format looks reasonable during the editing process. You do need to be sure that your tape medium is perfectly frame accurate and timecode controlled. Since you want to maintain all forms of metadata that link your low-resolution material back to the source, place window burns on your tapes. For film, you should also check with telecine to provide consistent flex files and also ask that the "A" frames of the film fall on

even seconds of timecode. (See Lessons 4 and 6 for more information.)

Lesson 7; and for 24p SD conversion, see Lesson 8.)

Timecode window burn

Timecode and keycode window burn below the piocture.

Sound-Capture Medium

Lesson 8 for more information.) If you capture sound during production on a dual system, and you do not have access to an appropriate audio deck, you can have a lab capture the sound material overnight and deliver sound files to you in the morning. In this case, talk to the lab to be sure they have the capabilities to capture your sound medium and deliver compatible files.

New technology has been introduced in the form of direct-to-disk or hard disk sound recorders. Several on the market now provide files instead of tape. One unique feature of hard disk recorders is that they continuously record to a small RAM buffer once you turn them on. This means that the recordist rarely misses the sound at the head of a shot. Traditionally with DAT, a sound recordist had to begin recording in advance of the director calling action. This meant running extra tape and, as a consequence, we as editors had more material to wade through. Hard disk recorders are advantageous because they save time. However you do need to confirm that the file delivered by the direct-to-disk device is compatible with your system. (See the section on audio in Lesson 8 for more information.)

Lesson 8 for compatible file formats.)

Sync Techniques

• Using timecode SMPTE , clapboard The clapboard has a timecode display that allows you to look at a frame of picture and read the sound timecode that relates to it. Although it involves looking at the image and doing some work by hand, this is an easy way to determine sync.

SMPTE clapboard

Note

SMPTE is the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, a technical society devoted to advancing the theory, application, and standardization of motion-imaging technology. See www.smpte.org for more information.

• Using event sync Event sync is an effective alternative for syncing audio to video. It's a manual method involving an event that occurs simultaneously on the picture and sound track, such as the clap from a clapboard. When the clapboard is struck, the visual of the clap is recorded by picture, and the sound of the clap is recorded by sound. In order to put the two back into sync, you have to match the event on each medium. The benefit of this method is that you can use just about anything to create the event, such as two paperback books placed spine to spine. This method is effective although syncing using event sync can be quite time-consuming; there is no timecode reference, so you must rely on manually finding each event.

Event sync using a hand clap. The video of the closed hand matches the audio peak of the clap, allowing you to use the clap as a visual and audible reference.

[View full size image]

Capture Codec

Codec is an acronym for

co mpression

dec ompression. Basically a codec is an extension that QuickTime can read allowing Final Cut Pro to work with different formats of digital video.

Lesson 7.)

close-up and a long shot, and so on. Then try capturing your selection of shots with various codecs. Do some side-by-side comparisons of the media. The resolution and clarity of an image can vary depending on the codec, so be sure that you can see everything you need to see during the offline edit, such as the direction that someone's eyes are looking or action in the distance.

Consider your codec and storage together since one will likely influence the other. (See Lesson 9 for more information on data rate calculations.)

Storage Medium

How to store your media is perhaps the most important decision you can make when setting up your workflow. An offline workflow storage requirement may exceed those of an online workflow. This might seem counterintuitive, since an individual offline workflow media file is usually smaller, requiring less bandwidth. But the number of files in an offline workflow can be excessive.

RAID . If you are capturing low data rates, you can probably use lower-bandwidth hard drives such as FireWire drives. (See the section on performance and capacity in Lesson 9 for more information.)

Remember, when you're calculating your storage needs, you should take into account all the files you may create or receive from other sources, such as an animation facility. Files may include renders, graphics, animation, and tests. As a guideline, add 20 percent to your data rate calculations, and use that figure as your minimum storage requirement.

Keep in mind also that the media requirements of your project may increase unpredictably (due to additional shooting, for example). Depending on your budget and project, allow for at least 10 percent and preferably as much as 50 percent extra storage.

Using a single internal hard drive may be sufficient if the project is small, straightforward, and remains on the same machine for the life of the project.

If two or three people are working together, FireWire drives may be adequate since they provide more portability than internal drives at a relatively low cost. Using FireWire drives for a small editing team can be sufficient, especially for low data rate projects. (See the section on FireWire in Lesson 9 for more information.)

An Xserve RAID will give you a greater amount of storage. High transfer speeds and a much larger bandwidth allow you to edit with high data rates. An Xserve RAID can be beneficial for online and offline workflows, especially if your offline workflow has large storage requirements. (See the RAID section in Lesson 9 for more information.)

Lesson 15), you can now set up a file-based SAN for a relatively low cost.

• Internal drives For a project that exists on a single-machine, if the project does not exceed the internal drive storage capacity, and the bandwidth required for the data rate is commensurate with the speed of the drive, then this storage method is convenient and adequate. You can keep all the media on internal drives, but for optimal performance, you need to keep all media off the drive that runs the operating system. In the case of a desktop machine, use at least two physical drives, one for your operating system and applications and the other for storing your media. A laptop contains only one internal drive, so use an external FireWire drive when editing with a laptop.

• External FireWire drives FireWire drives deliver good performance for low data rate/low bandwidth projects and allow for great portability. For example, with a FireWire drive, you can easily move your project from a desktop machine to a laptop. It's common to have multiple identical FireWire drives as the backbone of a small editing project. The media is captured to one drive and then copied to all the other drives. Replicate all media file structures and their locations on the drives so that you can avoid reconnecting media files whenever projects are moved between machines. This allows you to transfer a project between machines without having to transfer the media each time.

• Xserve RAID An Xserve RAID is an excellent storage medium for single-editor online or offline projects. Expandable, high bandwidth, high data transfer means that Xserve RAIDs offer superior performance to FireWire or internal drives. However, a RAID is less portable than its FireWire counterpart.

• XSAN XSAN allows multiple users to access the same media simultaneously. Typically, file transfers are done over a dedicated Fibre Channel network, and since a SAN is hardware-based and requires configuration, it does cost more than a FireWire-based storage solution. However, SANs provide much greater bandwidth, allow the use of high data rate codecs, and are extremely flexible. They can be scaled from a fairly small two-client installation to a large team of editors. Any laptops on the network will need to connect via Ethernet to the SAN instead of high-speed Fibre Channel.

If you're planning to take the show on the road, and you don't have a team of roadies to move your RAID or SAN and desktop machines, and the codec you've chosen is appropriate for FireWire (under 10 MB/second), consider external FireWire drives.

If you know that you and the majority of your facility will need simultaneous access to the media, a SAN solution will serve you best. In all of these options, and if your budget allows, consider having the ultimate of all scenariosXsan and FireWirewhich lets you easily share

and travel. (See the media storage overview section in Lesson 9, for further technical details.)

Exchange Medium

The essence of exchanging media files is when you send a media file to another person, that person makes changes to it, and then sends the modified media file back to you. This is different from sending someone a

preview of your project, say on a DVD, since that is for viewing purposes only. Therefore, in an exchange medium you absolutely must be able to give

and receive media files in a frame-accurate manner, with minimal hassle and negligible quality loss. The two main media file exchange methods are tapes and files.

Lesson 7 for more information.)

In any exchange scenario, whether you use tape or file, you need to watch for degradation in quality and check timecode accuracy. Run a few tests before relying on an accumulative process of exchange. Attempt to limit the amount any

one file is exchanged during the course of your project.

Preview Medium

Generally, a project will use multiple preview media so that everyone involved in the post-production can readily see the various stages of the edit. An editor may be required in both online and offline workflows to output previews of an edit using any number of media. For example, the

New England Aquarium editors exported QuickTime files to send to the sound department for review;

The Magic Hour editors output an edit on DVD for the directors to preview at home.

Professional format tapes are a traditional preview medium because you can reference timecode to communicate a specific shot. For instance, during special effects design, the director may need to discuss a shot with the special effects team on the other side of the country. The director and the special effects team can both reference timecode to ensure they're discussing the same thing. DVDs are useful not only for viewing at home but also on laptops, and occasionally you may even use the editing workstation as a preview medium. Traditional analog methods involve previewing an edit by conforming a work print of the original film negative. This method is becoming less popular, especially because it's usually more expensive and time consuming. Essentially, your preview medium is all about convenience, both for you and the people on the receiving end.

• Tapes Tapes are the most traditional form of preview medium. Provided you have access to an appropriate tape deck, it is common to output to VHS tape with some form of timecode reference usually through a

  Timeline window burn. If you need timecode precision, an output to a timecode-accurate professional tape format such as Betacam or HD may be necessary. If you need multiple copies, it's common to output to a professional tape format and send the preview master to a duplication house for copies onto the appropriate medium. Tapes can become time consuming and expensive depending on the number of copies you are required to create.

• DVD DVDs are fast becoming the standard preview medium because they're small and easy to navigate, and the SD DVDs offer reasonably high-quality picture and sound. In addition to authoring SD DVDs, DVD Studio Pro 4 now supports authoring of HD DVDs. This makes it possible for you to take advantage of the superior quality of HD. You can make DVDs of your material in two ways: using a computer or a DVD recorder. With a computer, you can use an application such as Apple's DVD Studio Pro to program a DVD, or you can purchase a DVD recorder and output your edited sequence directly to the DVD. The advantage of using your computer to program a DVD is that you can customize the DVD, and duplicates are efficient once you've programmed the first. The advantage of a DVD recorder is that you can record your edit without any additional setup time. Duplicates of your output using a DVD recorder are, however, a challenge because you need to re-output the edit from the Timeline or duplicate the original recorded DVD. You can make duplicates from the original output to a DVD recorder, however, the DVD duplicate will lose image quality.

• Computer You can always use Final Cut Pro or even QuickTime Player to preview the project. This method involves little or no setup time although the hitch is that for portability you may need a laptop. You can even export a file from Final Cut Pro and view it using the QuickTime Player. Since Final Cut Pro doesn't use proprietary formats, you can output a QuickTime or QuickTime compatible format for any modern computer. You can also use a computer in a timecode-sensitive environment such as a sound mix stage. Several products, such as Gallery UK's VirtualVTR (www.virtualvtr.com), can open any QuickTime movie and synchronize playback chasing timecode. You can control VirtualVTR via Midi, Sony 9-pin, or TCP/IP. This is extremely useful because you can shuttle and change locations in the QuickTime file more readily than you can by tape.

• Work print A bulky but traditional preview medium for film. The advantage of using a work print is that the aesthetic quality of the image is closer to the final film image that audiences will watch on the screen at a cinema. The disadvantage is that it takes a few days to conform a work print; it's usually more expensive, and although the aesthetic is film, the work print image usually contains many distracting scratches and grease pencil marks.

Consider the amount of previews you need to deliver. If you're screening an edit for a small group of people, using a computer and projector would be sensible. If you're screening for a larger audience, it may be more convenient to consider an output to a professional quality tape format. If your audience is scattered, VHS tapes or DVDs will be a good option. Remember, tapes are output in real time, so if you don't have the luxury of a duplication facility, DVD burning may be the most efficient and convenient method.

Archive Medium

When you archive a project, look for a storage medium that will not only last a long time but can be recovered quickly if the project starts up again. (One of the most common reasons for restarting a project is for DVD release.) The factors to consider when choosing an archive medium are the same for both online and offline projects. When you archive a project, you will save two different categories of information: the Final Cut Pro project and some media files.

The Final Cut Pro project you archive should contain all the sequences (edited Timelines) or versions you create during the editing process. When you archive a project, you should save both the Final Cut Pro project containing the edited sequences and an output of each sequence for a visual record of the edit.

Professional videotape formats are the traditional medium for archiving the output of each sequence, but you should consider archiving the sequences electronically as well. To do this, simply export each sequence as a self-contained QuickTime movie. The editors of the

New England Aquarium project exported a QuickTime movie of the completed commercial as part of their archive process and included the QT file on their archive DVD along with the Final Cut Pro project file, music, and graphic files.

MPEG are fine, as long as you can get a sense of your edit visually. After you export the QT file, duplicate the edited sequence and place the reference QT file into a new track above the edited clips in the duplicated sequence. This way you can play back the movie and see the clips that created it without needing to reload or reconnect the original media files.

The ideal archive medium for your project and/or media depends on the size of storage required, ranging from CDs and DVDs for small projects to videotapes, tape drives, or hard drives for longer projects.

• CDs and DVDs This medium is an ideal way to back up projects and preferences, as well as graphics and any small elements that did not originate on tape. Because it's safer to keep the project archive off the active machine and in a secure environment, data CDs and DVDs are good storage solutions. Realistically, you will probably be able to use CDs for your projects and graphics, and DVDs will be suitable for projects, graphics, and small amounts of media. Blu-ray disc technology (www.blu-ray.com) will allow even greater data storage options. The Blu-ray format was initially developed to enable HD DVD solutions, and it also enables large data storage. A single layer Blu-ray disc can hold 25 GB and a dual layer 50 GB. Currently there are even prototypes of single layer 100 GB Blu-ray discs in development.

• Videotapes Tapes are a good medium for archiving linear incremental cuts of the project. Tapes provide an ideal way to preserve a slice in time and are application-independent, therefore you can view your edit without a computer. In addition to archiving incremental cuts, editors usually output several final masters of an edit onto professional videotape and keep one master with the Final Cut Pro project file archive and source tapes for storage. Because videotape is linear, be sure to save the project file containing the progress of the cuts in conjunction with the tape; you can always recapture an archived project as long as you save the source tapes. The best way to archive the source material is to save the original tapes. If you choose to archive edits using tapes, remember to also output any media not represented on source tapes, such as visual effects originating on computer.

• Hard drives Archiving the Final Cut Pro project and media on a hard drive is straightforward, and it's becoming less expensive as the prices of hard drives fall. The main advantage of archiving the Final Cut Pro project file and all the media files themselves is that you can reopen a project without needing to recapture from tapes.

• Tape drives Tape drives are a traditional way to back up media files for large projects. A tape drive allows you to store large amounts of data (multiple terabytes) for possibly less money than hard drives. The disadvantage is that you need a separate device to store or recover the media. It can also take several days to archive or recover a complete show.

Lesson 12.)