EX-1 workflow question - client review

P

Peter Reynolds

Well-known member
Hi All,

I will be pulling the trigger on a Sony EX-1R in the new year, but I had a question about workflow
- specifically, how does everyone deal with the client's need to review footage after the shoot?

Traditionally, I would bring the tapes from the day's shoot (Mini DV, Digi-Beta, etc.) to my local
dubbing house who would make DVD copies with burned in timecode. I'd then give those DVDs
to the client, who could review the footage.

Is there a simple way to do this with SxS cards?

My fear is that the only way would be to bring each raw file into an NLE timeline and burn a DVD
from there. This is something I can't easily do with 5-6 hours worth of footage.

Any solutions you may have would be greatly appreciated.

Peter
 
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I don't see the difference...

Instead of the dubbing house, use your NLE. Lay timecode on the window, drag all your footage to the timeline, and burn mpeg4 files. You can easily fit 4 hours on a DVD. Should save you money in not paying a dubbing house, and on DVD costs.

SHould be a heck of a lot faster than tape also.
 
Thanks for the advice.

I work with Premiere Pro CS3 and my concern was any rendering time needed for
all that footage. I also have to lay a single timecode across all the clips, which
should require rendering of some kind.

It would be very helpful if someone could give me a real-world example. If you've
had a create a DVD of 4 hours of footage. How long did the whole process take?

-Transfer footage from cards to the computer's hard drive
-Drag 4 hours of clips onto the timeline
-Add single Timecode across all the clips
-Render
-Export to DVD

If we're talking about an hour, that's one thing. If it 2-3 hours, I would not be saving money
as a full day's shooting (8 hours) would take almost another day to transfer.

Thanks
 
I must be honest. You have me terribly confused here. You want to process 4-8 hours of footage, including the DVD burn in an hour?

If you brought 4 1 hour tapes to the dubbing house, they'd have to get those tapes into the computer in real time. That's 4 hours. Then they'd have to render an mpeg2 file (probably another 2 hours), then they'd have to burn the DVDs, which would only be a few minutes per DVD. Se even someone set up to do it as a business would require the better part of a workday to do it from tapes.

In your case, you'd cut the ingest time from the raw materials by a factor of 10 most likely. You'd just lay the clips side by side on the timeline, turn on the timecode window (takes just moments), set up for a mpeg2 DVD burn, and walk away. If you have a decent computer this may happen at real time, or maybe half real time. So 4 hours could be finished in 2. Then open your DVD burning software, and create the DVD.

Do your clients need to be able to see this on a television? And do you need this DVD to be representative of the quality of your work? If the first answer is no, then just re-wrap the files into something they can view on a computer and be done with it. Though I am not sure if the Clipbrowser software that comes with the program can insert timecode.

If this DVD needs to be of rather high quality so the clients see the nature of your work, then I am afraid you are going to have MUCH more work to do. Getting high quality SD DVDs from a high quality HD source requires some care, and this most certainly is not the way to go about it.
 
The joys of tapeless workflow :)

The joys of tapeless workflow :)

Hi PerroneFord. I appreciate you taking the time to respond.

To be clear. The DVDs would just be a reference for the client, not high quality.
They do however, need to be DVDs - something that will play independently of software or operating systems, since I won't know what the client has.

PerroneFord said:
You'd just lay the clips side by side on the timeline, turn on the timecode window (takes just moments), set up for a mpeg2 DVD burn, and walk away. If you have a decent computer this may happen at real time, or maybe half real time. So 4 hours could be finished in 2. Then open your DVD burning software, and create the DVD.
Click to expand...

If this is correct, then there shouldn't be any problem. 4 hours worth of footage transferred to DVD in two hours is not bad.

This is just another hurdle in my transition to tapeless-workflow. My clients and I are so use to working with tape, that it's going to be quite a learning curve.

Thanks again.

Peter

Side note: If anyone reading this has had similar issues, I'd love to know what you charge clients for HD to DVD transfer. With MiniDV for example,
my dubbing house charges me $15.00 per hour of footage. I'd need to charge more than that to tie up my editing system. But how much?
 
I have used a portable DVD recorder connected to one of the video outputs of the camcorder. Depending on which output and the camcorder configuration settings, you can display the TC in the video frame as it is recorded on the DVD.
 
Thanks Richard.

That sounds like a perfect solution. What's the quality like on the DVD? Is it squished 16x9 or letterbox? How long a recording can you get on a single DVD?

Peter
 
Me Myself & I said:
Thanks Richard.

That sounds like a perfect solution. What's the quality like on the DVD? Is it squished 16x9 or letterbox? How long a recording can you get on a single DVD?

Peter
Click to expand...

The quality is not as good as a commercial DVD of a Hollywood movie. Because it is only one-pass compression (because it is done in real time!). Whether it is center 4:3 or letterbox or squeezed (anamorphic) depends on how you set up the output on the camera menus. Of course, it also assumes that you are shooting 30i since that is what DVDs are, at least here in NTSC-land.
 
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