About to start editing a feature w/ FCP4 and ...

[Guest]

Hi Fellow DVX Users,

I'm an editor that just recently swiched over to the Mac from the PC world and am using FCP4 on a new G5. Anyway, I have just finished logging 30+ hours of footage for my production company's independant film, which we hope to have completed sometime in March. Our footage was shot on the Panasonic DVX-100p cameras, using Panasonic's anamorphic adapters, and using 24p Advanced.

I've been up and down many different web sites, talked to various people, and can't seem to get a consistant answer about the following: In FCP4, what should all my settings be to capture and edit the footage we shot?

This is what we have so far, but I don't know if it's correct:
Sequence Preset: DV NTSC 48 kHz - 23.98 .. (Anamorphic 16:9 checked)
Capture Preset: DV NTSC 48 kHz Advanced (2:3:3:2) Pulldown Removal ..(Anamorphic 16:9 checked)

One concern is that the sequence preset we have is at 23.98 timebase and the capture preset we have is greyed out at FPS 29.97 .. does that make sence?

Also, is it possible to edit our captured footage (once we decide on all the correct settings), on the computer monitor, in widescreen or 16:9 format? I understand that a typical NTSC monitor won't show the 16:9 (we're just using a cheap 13" color TV as a monitor - but might get a new LCD TV capable of switching between 4:3 and 16:9, suggestions?)


Sorry for the long email, but I would sooo appreciate your insight to our dragging delima.

Thanks,
-Matt Balough
Producer/Editor
www.moonsafari.com/film
mhbalough@hotmail.com
773-209-6828

[dashwood]

One concern is that the sequence preset we have is at 23.98 timebase and the capture preset we have is greyed out at FPS 29.97 .. does that make sence?


This does make sense because DV video can only be stored on tape in 29.97 NTSC or 25 PAL - regardless of what progressive capture mode was used on aquisition.
FCP will actually capture the footage at 29.97 (the same way avid film composer does) and then flag the pulldown frames for "removal" resulting in a 23.98 clip.


s it possible to edit our captured footage (once we decide on all the correct settings), on the computer monitor, in widescreen or 16:9 format? I understand that a typical NTSC monitor won't show the 16:9 (we're just using a cheap 13" color TV as a monitor - but might get a new LCD TV capable of switching between 4:3 and 16:9, suggestions?)



You're lucky you have a G5. * You can either create a 23.98 sequence that is native 16x9 (and the shape of the source/record windows should change) or create a 23.98 sequence that is 4x3 and edit your 16x9 material into it. * On the G5, you have the realtime processing power to make a 4x3 sequence with 16x9 clips (automatically squeezed back down to a flat letterbox) and output to your NTSC monitor on the fly with a newly created pulldown.
Use this technique if you would like your director/producers to be able to view the image properly.
When you are finished, just change the 4x3 Sequence Setting back to 16x9, select all of the clips, "remove attributes--distort" and then you are ready to make your 16x9 native DVD!

[Obi_Don]

I believe I may have made a mistake in my CAPTURE process, after reading this topic subject. We shot on the 24P setting, and then I was able to change the greyed-out 29.97 capture setting, to 24, by changing it after I opened the Capture window. Now, after reading this, I realize that I should have left the setting at 29.97, to capture the 24p DVX footage.

Now my question is, is this why my footage looks somewhat strobe like, and is there anything that can be done, or do I just need to recapture the footage, with the 29.97 capture setting left alone?

Thanks.

[dashwood]

Recapture you normal 24P footage at NTSC DV 29.97.

If you want to edit in 24 or 23.98 fps, then quit FCP4, and launch Cinema Tools. When it asks for a database file just hit cancel.

Now go up to "file" and select "Batch Reverse Telecine" and choose one of your newly digitized 29.97 NTSC DV clips in your capture scratch folder. A window will come up and automatically detect that the clip is 2:3:2:3 pulldown (24P normal.) Select 23.98 or 24 (I suggest the default 23.98 if you don't intend to output to film.) Click on "check for cadence discontinuities" and "keep originals." It will now batch telecine reverse everything in the capture scratch for that project and make three new folders: "reversed," "original," and "skipped." This process takes a while, and will require almost twice as much hard drive space for the new clips.

When cinema tools is finished, you will have new clips that are 23.98 progressive that you can now import into a new FCP4 project and cut in 23.98 sequences. The only slight disadvantage is that the new files may have a couple more compression artifacts than before because of the copy & recompression.

If you had shot 24Pa, you would have been able to skip Cinema Tools all together.
Tim