OMF workflow question

I know in a perfect world there should be a picture lock before mixing audio but I'm wondering what strategies I can use (or problems I can expect) in handing off an OMF film do my audio team can start mixing, before I've finished fine cutting the project? Is there a safe workflow to go back and forth and have all the time code conform? I know Soundtrack listed this as a feature, right? I would guess the biggest problem would be trying to bring the files back into FCP as separate tracks, when various plugins et.c have been applied to clips?

The film is a documentary, with static interviews. Pretty cut and dry, only 6 tracks going at most.
They're mixing on Protools. I'm on FCP6. Everything was shot single system audio, into the camera.

Thanks for the advice.

Don't do this to your sound guys. Please...don't. Only send them an OMF when you are done and locked. The amount of work they will need to REDO when you give them a later cut will not make up for getting them something early.

If you are done with one part of a show...that part is LOCKED and will not change, then you might have luck sending that...say like the first part or last part of a show. But never give a work in progress. If you have ever heard the swearing that audio guys do when us picture editors say "oops, we had a slight change in Act 4..." your ears would burn.

Audio guys are so low on the totem pole in terms of how the final product is given to them (despite being more important than visual, IMHO) that throwing one more wrench into the works wouldn't be wise.

No time will be saved...trust me.


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I agree with Shane on this. It's a false economy to think that you're "getting a head start" by starting audio before picture lock. You ultimately will spend more time (and money) with this workflow than waiting until final lock.

Ok. Having said that, unfortunately, we deal with this situation all the time. There are some specific steps you can take to "minimize" the pain for your mixers, be these only work if you're doing isolated changes. If you think you're going to "finecut" your show, shave frames here and there, and then let the mixers figure it out... that's just a waste of time. Most mixers would rather start over clean than try to deal with so many little changes.

There is a program called "Virtual Katy" that's designed to track these kinds of changes. It was developed by the LOTR team in New Zealand. The story goes, that "Katy" was the girl who had to "conform" all of the audio changes on the stage. Someone said, "Hey, we should have a "virtual Katy" to do this... and so the program was developed. I haven't personally used it, so I can't tell you how well it works, but the concept sure is intriguing.

Good luck.

Mark

I'm of the same mind -- it'll be more work, not less. However, if you and your sound people are willing to do the work now to make your rough cuts sound better, and are willing to start from scratch when the film is actually done, then I don't see a big problem. As long as you're clear to your sound people that it's temporary work, and as long as you don't insist on perfection now. If you do want perfection, then wait until you're picture-locked. Even Mark's suggestion of the Virtual Katy would be problematic, I imagine, because it can't possibly deal with things like alternate takes, jumbled structure, and other editing changes that are far-reaching. It'll probably
deal better with a fine cut that's going to be finessed than an early cut which may be completely redone.


www.derekmok.com

Thanks for the feedback.

I'm not shocked to hear the warnings, and it's nothing I would have considered before FCP, but it was actually my audio teams idea to start work now. My only expectation is for a scratch mix. I know they

I value the audio aspect of post too much to try and do it in a rush, and would love to accommodate their request so they can start cleaning up audio.

I was hoping there was a way to auto-conform changes, in both directions, and it does sound like Soundtrack does this - but figured someone here might have experiences to share.

Thanks for the VirtualKaty suggestion. Will check that out.

The democratization of the process that FCP makes available makes the idea of locked picture laughable. As a mixer & editor I'll say, "please don't do it, make sure your picture is locked before handing it off to audio." As a realist and given my recent experiences with all-in-one, do-it-yourself-ers, I can say everyone seems to be messing with picture even up to AFTER printmastering and until just before layback. Crazy.

> I can say everyone seems to be messing with picture even up to AFTER printmastering and until
> just before layback. Crazy.

Even half of the professional producers I work for do this. Because fear drives a lot of them. They're not focused on the strengths and innovation that they can nurture in their pieces; they're focused on what's wrong, what's bad, what criticisms the pieces will get.

The director partner I've worked with the most has never gone back on a picture lock, luckily for us! But that is another thing -- so many directors and producers are now trying to cut their own films (a result of the whole "democratization" thing) that they don't have somebody to play off of, so they keep revising, very often for the worse as they throw away inspiration after inspiration, risk after risk, just out of fear and anxiety.


www.derekmok.com