HD Post Production BLOG

I posted this on a couple other FCP forums, and hope it is allowed here as well...

I will be soon venturing into the world of High Definition Television Post when I begin editing an HD show for The History Channel. We (the producer and I) have decided to use FCP for this venture. And I will be chronicling the process on a blog. I invite all who are interested to visit the blog, see what I am up to, and offer suggestions, questions, tips, coviates and general comments.

We won't be starting until late November, but have already begun are research and testing. This will be a low-end HD production as it will be shot with the Panasonic Varicam (OK...mid-range?) and not the Panavision or Viper Slipstream. Mainly DVCRO HD footage captured via firewire and later upresed to 10-bit HD for output.

Thank you, and goodnight.

[homepage.mac.com]

Awesome Shane I'll be sure to tune in and read.

Exactly what I needed at exactly the right time. My favourite director and I are about to work on our first DVCPro HD project. Thanks, Shane.

Shane,
I love your blog. I'm beginning to prep a documentary feature that I will cut on FCP5. We have muli-formats: hi-def, dv cam, broadcast material at the 4:5 ratio and 16mm that needs to be transferred to tape. Plus, all this stuff is in PAL!! AND everything will be 16:9 format; he shot the hi-def and dv at 16:9, we always use the 16:9 format. I've cut two other docs with this director, and both were PAL and multi-format; but this time we want to finish on D5 Hi Def, so I need to do some research.

Which is where this forum comes in...
I'm thinking we should down convert the hi-def. Transfer the 16mm to hi def and do a down convert. The dv is what it is; but since all the other stuff is gonna be 24fps, should I do some conversion to the DV??? It is PAL 25fps.
The broadcast stuff will also be 25fps. I'm not worried about the 4:5 to 16:9, I already can fix that with the aspect dealie in the motion window.

What sequence should I use?

I do own a Sony DVcam DSR25 deck. I don't want to rent a hi-def deck; too expensive and waaay too finicky for my taste. I don't own any kona or aja dealies, and I cannot afford to buy anyway. So if I stay in the down converted world I can view on my monitor; which is PAL/NTSC.

I believe we'll need to take the project somewhere and re-dig the hi-def footage. Does anyone know of a place that can handle this? Plus, we'll want to do a color correct of the final on-lined master before we dub.

And last but certainly not least: audio. There are no frames in audio, but in order to do a syncable layback I need to hand the mixer/composer an output that will work with the final D5 24 frame master. So I guess I really need to work in a 24fps world. Or is it 23.98??

Help!!

Thanks,
Rochelle

First, Post houses with FCP. Digital Film Tree, West Post Digital, The DR Group. Call any of them and ask them what they have and what they have to say. Contacting the post facility where you will be doing the post is the WISEST thing you can do. We can tell you lots of things, but any one of these things might not work for the particular post facility you go to. They will lay out the workflow that makes the most sense and will help THEM help you.

Audio...audio doesn't have a frame rate. You can roll a DAT machine, Film camera and video camera all at the same time and be able to sync the audio to both, even though film runs at 24 fps and video at 30 fps. Audio is measured by sample rate...in Khz. 44.1, 48.

Excellent and informative blog Shane. I've read all you've done so far and I'll stay tuned for the rest.



- Justin Barham -

Shane,

I was going to tell you that you don't need to render your DVCPro HD sequence in a 10bit sequence cuz the Kona 2 will do that for you without rendering. But then I read that on your blog. Seems like you're on a good track.

CHL

I am glad you said that. Because I was very skeptical of that claim. Thanks for the backup on that....

Soon I will get to see it with my own eyes...on a loaner system.

That's so great to learn. I have a DVC Pro HD project right now that will eventually go out to D5. Dropping it in a 10-bit uncompressed sequence with no render would be bliss.



- Justin Barham -