re: Using FCP to cut film

Hi guys,

A friend of mine in the East Coast is planning her feature. She's considering whether to rent an Avid or buy an FCP system -- classic decision. She wants to be her own editor, so obviously her decision would also be based on which platform she's more familiar with, but she wanted to check on a few things and I've been telling her what I know. Here are the issues:

1. I've only cut one film that *wasn't* staying on tape in FCP. In that case, an NYU thesis film, I believe the director (who took the film through the last stages of online on her own) didn't bother with an EDL; I believe she used the keycode burn-ins, gave the negative cutter a visual copy of the film, and the cutter assembled the film using that. Is that a viable way to work, or am I missing a step? Have EDL issues been fixed/improved in FCP since I used it that time, which was in 2002? Finally, if I'm right about the NYU thesis, there's still the question of whether this method would work as well for a 120-minute feature as for an eight-minute short.

2. My friend's current plan is to shoot on Super-16mm, transfer to DigiBeta, then not go back to film unless she gets more financing. What would make more sense: a) Doing one more transfer to DVCam/Mini-DV with matching timecode, then capturing and cutting on that, with an online edit at the end, or b) Buying/renting a DigiBeta deck and working directly with the DigiBeta footage? I know that you can still use DV NTSC codec to capture analog Beta -- that *should* still work if you're capturing from a DigiBeta deck, right? I don't think my friend would want to buy enough storage for all her first-stage captures to be at online DigiBeta quality.

3. What is the formula, exactly, for capturing DigiBeta-quality clips? I think the codec would be Uncompressed 10-bit -- what's the time-storage formula? I think Uncompressed 8-bit would be over 1GB per minute; what about 10-bit?

4. I've been telling my friend that, at 10-to-1 shooting ratio on a 120-page script, she would need at least about 500GB of storage at DV quality, with my formula being (13GB per hour x 20 hours) + 100GB of render files + 100GB of safety space. What do you think?

Thanks for your input!

hi, derek.

1. EDLs and Cutlists are both fine for filmwork in FCP.
well, i can say from personal xperience that CutLists are fine, but i understand that since 4.5 EDLs are fine, too.
it; very easy to test, and i recomend that she does test the whole process for her own peice of mind.
having the negmatcher make up a list from burn in would be a very BAD way to do it, as it would no doubt take a lot longer, and cost a lot more.

2. Make DVCam clones from the digibeta.
the tapes will always be on hand in case of a disaster. (leave the masters at the tape house, perhaps?)
in my case, we used the smaller 40min tapes exclusivley.
most days we didnt go over that, but i did it as a safety measure: if my DSR11 failed, i could use my TRV900 camera

offline in DV, then online the digibeta later.

3. rusty on this so dont treat it as gospel: 8bit is 70G/Hr, 10bit is 100G/Hr

4. she wont need that much for the renders, i;ll bet, and certainly wont need 100G empty. that;s just overkill.

we used 350G for rushes (120min film ratio of 16:1 or thereabouts), and it hoverd not far above there for amost of the edit.
exports for playouts and screenings and DVDs were made using another drive during the cut.
after lock off the exports etc really blow out, and i filled my 500G drive up almost to the brim.

so a 500G drive is a good idea.
a BETTER iddea is TWO 500G drives.
that;s what we did.
the second drive was used by my assistant, and had exaclty the same media files and file structure on it.
it is also a backup in case something goes wrong.
i dont know what it;s like in NTSC land, but for us in PAL land, after converting the frame rate from 25 to 24, it;s more of a pain to re-capture.
more steps to go thru, etc.
even if that wasnt the case, we didnt want to be held up for the days of re-captureng that would have been required.

for most of your exports and playouts, i;d give my assistant my FCP projects, and she would connect to her rushes and do the rest, while i could keep working.

after lock off, your friend could wipe the second drive and use it to capture the digibeta if she wants to do the online (or at least the compile) herself.


5. i know there was no point 5, but i wanted to add one!
has HD, DVCProHD, or HDV been considered at all?

cheers,
nick

Hey Nick,

Thanks for the extensive breakdown. I was wondering: Is there a better brand of 500GB drives than Lacie? I've never had one die on my watch, but I'm not gonna be the one editing this thing, and maintenance will probably be a little off on this project. I've been liking Promax's SATA RAID arrays and have recommended them to my friend, but what's your take on it (or anybody else's)?

And since, again, I'm not intimately involved in the project, I don't know whether my friend has considered an HD transfer. Would make sense in her case if she's considering a film blow-up...I don't know if she's concerned about the cost of the film-HD telecine (I have *no* idea what the cost would be compared to DigiBeta), or she doesn't want to work in the HD format, or she doesn't know about it. If she does go the HD route, she should probably stay at 24fps and use Standards Conversion to export cuts. Makes sense? As for DVCProHD, that would mean she would have to use a Panasonic deck, but better quality, correct?

well, i;ve used LaCies without issue for a while now, too.
others would reccomned the Medea G Raid.
check them out.

HD to film would be a lot better than SD to film.
cost more, too. but i dont know the scale, either.

24fps / 29.97fps issues i really know knowting about, sorry, and i just mentioned DVDProHD in passing.

if she already has DV or DVCAM gear, then maybe she should stick to that.

time for someone else to take over here, i think.

cheers,
nick

All of the above helps, Nick -- thanks. I don't think it's a matter of finding the "right" approach, rather making sure my friend makes informed decisions and has thought about the entire post process. Also future knowledge for me, as the director I've worked with the longest has two films in the horizon, a short and a feature, and I'll be confronting these same issues myself before long.