Opening a Final Cut Online Facility

N

noam

Well-known member
Hello All,

I've been running a production/post production company for about a year now ( www.creativerebellion.ca ) and have recently been given the opportunity to online a reality series. I've decided that if things run smoothly on this project I will consider offering on-line editing services more aggressively to local producers who are also dealing with the same format.

This is something very new to me and I was curious if anyone here currently works in an online facility and might be able to answer some general questions for me.

I currently have Final Cut Studio set up on a mac pro - 8 core. Along with several other macs (iMac, MacBook Pro, Mac Mini). The show I will be on-lining will be shot on DVCPRO HD and the final delivery will be on DigiBeta.

First off, I'm curious about the workflow involved. I'm assuming that typically I would have their offline editor provide us with an EDL and the tapes at which point we would re-ingest the footage and replace all the media with the full quality files, then do a final output to DigiBeta and deliver. Does this sound like the correct workflow? Am I missing something here?

I think what is troubling me is the simple question of why they can't do a lot of this themselves. If they're having the offline cut on a mac pro, Final Cut system... Can they not just initially ingest the footage in full HD (prores or uncompressed) and then simply output a master and have it transferred at a post facility and qc'd on their decks?
 
I believe the workflow you are talking about is correct. There are probably many articles from broadcast editors who could help alleviate your worries if you search. If you want to check out some training on offline/online editing for broadcast check out this link: http://rippletraining.com/engine/fcp_masters_series.html. This training is helping me understand how broadcast editors have their workflow set up.
 
Onlining assumes 2 basic things, that you have an editor who knows how to conform & prep a show for whatever it's delivery spec is, and the gear needed to do the job.

Depending on the situation, the editor's job may range from just conforming & assembling all of the show elements to color grading, sound mixing, building graphics, rotoscoping & pulling keys.

The gear includes not only the computer to do it, but also the right hard drive system, correct monitoring (sound & picture), scopes & decks. And a room that's been designed properly for both sound & color.
 
No Offline

No Offline

In my area all the independent producers I know capture at full rez and simply send out a hard drive with the finished Quicktime Movie to a facility for mastering to tape (digibeta and HDCAM). The Mastering facility does not do any color correction (the editor does it), but does run the program through a legalizer to be safe as it goes to tape. There is no traditional offline/online process for the Mastering facility, just layback to tape, Dolby E encoding, closed captioning .
 
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