Any FCP pro's here? I jumped in the deep end...

[retro]

Ok, so I have been getting more interested in film making. I thought editing would be a good place to start.

So I asked a feature film director friend today if he knew any editors who may want or need an intern.

He is currently between feature films and just finished shooting 16mm and HD of a recording artist friend of his from a live show.

He asked me if I wanted to edit that, plus he is going to be following said artist around quite a bit more and filming more.

And he asked if I wanted to be shooting on one of the camera's also.

He's shooting HDV and 16mm film.

The project is one of love for the director, so the budget is very tight.

I need to budget and buy two things.

A good viable storage system solution for the film transfers and HDV tape. And a hardware solution for uploading the tape to the Mac.


I thought it might be a good idea to ask for suggestions here, on gear you might recommend I should look at.





The kicker to all this is I will also be responsible for tracking some intimate sessions of the artist singing and playing acoustic guitar.

:eek:

[LSchefman]

I have no experience editing film or video, I just score it. But my son is editing video in his college classes using Final Cut Pro, and a bunch of associated software. He can do it on a laptop...it's really pretty amazing.

As to hardware that can handle digital video, to do work of any substantial length you need a RAID system, and if you need a machine to load digital video into your computer...I think D2 machines run around 50 grand...you might want to talk about this project with an established studio and partner it with them.

Editing is a real art...some of the people I work with on projects are incredible (quite a number of them hail from Europe and came to the Detroit area to work on commercial projects).

I have no idea if one can simply jump in and do it, or if you need some training, but it sure wouldn't hurt to observe someone! Have you spoken with any of the video editing houses in your area to see if they need interns?

[retro]

Thanks Les,

Always appreciate your posts here...

I left out, that the director did have some editors working with Avid systems that I can hopefully get in to observe and gopher for.

And it's a little easier to ease into this since he wants to go ahead and edit the concert film he already has into a five minute piece.

Which shouldn't be too overwhelming to start.

Later it's on the road with the artist shooting and then the big edit.

But there won't be a deadline or big time crunch. So I should have time to learn as I go.


Maybe I can just buy a HDV cam that I can use to transfer tape to the Mac?

I thought I saw a rack system with removable drives that I hope may work to hand off to the film transfer house and then build a decent and not too expensive RAID. Just starting to look to see what's available and advisable.




Knowing that you use DP, I wonder what you tend to use for your mastering and in particular, SRC purposes.

I have a stereo mix from the FOH of the live concert I need to work on. Not sure about Sound Track Pro's capabilities.


Again thanks...

[e-z]

How much footage will you have and how long do you need everything online (stored on the drives and ready to use)? If the director is shooting multiple cameras on each concert you'll end up with quite a bit.

Les' suggestion of a RAID system is a good idea. If the money is really tight you can get a few LaCie drives and configure them as a RAID. Alternatively you can put in a couple of extra drives into your Mac Pro and configure them. Just make sure your tapes all have good timecode.

For software I say get a Mac Pro and FCP. I've used Avid since 1990 and it is a solid system. However, for the feature I'm currently cutting I went with FCP. With the right card (Kona 3) you can digitize and output full HD. The current version is fairly stable although a new version is expected at NAB in mid-April so don't buy right now unless you absolutely have to. Get two monitors for the computer. You probably have them for your audio work.

This brings us to another question: What video format is the HDV and what video format will the 16mm be transferred to? D-2 isn't a format that is used much (at least in my experience in L.A.) any more. More common master formats are Digibeta, D-5, HDCAM and HDCAM-SR. Renting one of those decks will be costly so I advise having your film transfer masters dubbed to the same format as your HDV material. That way you can use the same deck (or camera) for loading everything. The production people are responsible for the transfer specs so you'll need to coordinate with them regarding your dailies.

You also might want to consider hiring an assistant editor who knows FCP to help set up your system and configure the settings. It should take a half day for a simple system but would be well worth the cost.

A lot of editors are musicians so I'm sure you'll do a good job. Just don't be tempted to put in a ton of cuts. Make it flow. If I can answer any other questions (assuming I've answered some here), let me know.

ez

[GaryNattrass]

I use final cut express at the moment for editing HDV from a sony hvr-v1 camera.

I am about to go to FCP Studio and as the guys say a raid or high end storage system is required for data integrity and mass storage.

Also you can load in material from a HDV deck or if you can do it buy a camera as you say which is what I do.

How is the film being handled? if it has been graded to HDV then at least all of it is on one format. If it is still in film then you will need to transfer it, it can always be graded withing digital.

Final cut pro is a great editing package and if you have the studio version you also have the DVD authoring and compression package and cinema tools which will help you handle the film aspect.

Have a look on the LA FCP forum it may be of more help.
http://www.lafcpug.org/

This is the camera that I use to load in HDV:http://bssc.sel.sony.com/BroadcastandBusiness/minisites/HDV1080/HVR-V1U/index.html

You can also get HDV decks and they will work out cheaper:http://tapeworkstexas.com/sony_hvr_m15.html

[dankayaker]

Ok, so I have been getting more interested in film making. I thought editing would be a good place to start.

So I asked a feature film director friend today if he knew any editors who may want or need an intern.

He is currently between feature films and just finished shooting 16mm and HD of a recording artist friend of his from a live show.

He asked me if I wanted to edit that, plus he is going to be following said artist around quite a bit more and filming more.

And he asked if I wanted to be shooting on one of the camera's also.

He's shooting HDV and 16mm film.

The project is one of love for the director, so the budget is very tight.

I need to budget and buy two things.

A good viable storage system solution for the film transfers and HDV tape. And a hardware solution for uploading the tape to the Mac.


I thought it might be a good idea to ask for suggestions here, on gear you might recommend I should look at.





The kicker to all this is I will also be responsible for tracking some intimate sessions of the artist singing and playing acoustic guitar.

:eek:






I edit in FCP almost every day so maybe I can help a little. First, your budget . . . . . what does tight mean ? Here's what I've found as the best relatively cheap solution considering you're using 16mm (which I assume you'll want to digitize at 10 bit uncompressed). AJA makes the IO interface, you can get one that is just SDI for around $1200. As far as RAIDs go look into HUGE systems or the Medea RT series. get at least 600gigs and you'll ned an ATTO UL5D SCSI Card. PM me and I can send you links if you want. If you were only doing HDV you would not need the AJA. I guess the film could be transfered to HDV.

[e-z]

I edit in FCP every day also and I would say you don't need SCSI drives. Also, here's a link to site that discusses some of the issues of using HDV and FCP.

http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/hdvxdv_wright.html

[LSchefman]

>>Knowing that you use DP, I wonder what you tend to use for your mastering and in particular, SRC purposes.<<

I use DP for all of my audio work.

However, I must not do SRC, since I have no idea what that is! ;)

[GP_Hawk]

>>Knowing that you use DP, I wonder what you tend to use for your mastering and in particular, SRC purposes.<<

I use DP for all of my audio work.

However, I must not do SRC, since I have no idea what that is! ;)
sample rate conversion:jo

[retro]

Thanks everyone.

Just the kind of info and suggestions I am looking for. It's nice to get your feedback, because all of this is way above my paygrade.

Very appreciated.

Tight just means it has to do the job with the eye on the ppr, (price performance ratio).

And I need to find out what level and budget things can be accomplished at.

So in other words if it can be done using a FW RAID I throw together and an iMac. Then that's how I'll have to do it to save money.


I believe it will be a minimum of three HDV cams plus him shooting some handcranked 16mm with the final end product a 60 minute documentary.

I realize now I need to find out what his final output will be and what format quality he will be shooting in. And what he wants to telecine the film to.

Anyone know anything about Lumiere HD? Something worth investing in?


Good to know you stay in DP Les.

I know what SRC ( sample rate conversion ) stands for, but that's about it so far.

What I have gathered is that better results can be obtained using Peak or other product's algorithms.



Again thanks all. I have much digging to do.

[LSchefman]

>>sample rate conversion<<

Doh!

I rarely need to do it, but I do that in DP, too. It's got a very nice sounding algorithm.

[e-z]

Tight just means it has to do the job with the eye on the ppr, (price performance ratio).

And I need to find out what level and budget things can be accomplished at.

So in other words if it can be done using a FW RAID I throw together and an iMac. Then that's how I'll have to do it to save money.

I would strongly suggest you get the most powerful computer you can. You'll be able to work faster which in the end will save you time (money).

Are you Los Angeles based?

ez

[retro]

>Are you Los Angeles based?

Yep.

Definitely have my eye on a Mac pro quad. Trying to hold out until after WWDC though before buying another machine.

[GaryNattrass]

If most of the project is in HDV with hand cranked 16mm then it should be easy in final cut pro studio as it can handle multi cameras at the same time.

A large firewire 800 drive will be Ok but make sure you do back-ups of all media as a safety.

For ease of use I would keep everyting in FCP inc the soundtrack editing and the mac you mentioned should be fine with a decent video card and an i/o card suitable for the delivery and capture.

[e-z]

>Are you Los Angeles based?

Yep.

Definitely have my eye on a Mac pro quad. Trying to hold out until after WWDC though before buying another machine.

I'm in L.A. also. PM me if you need any more info/help.

ez

[retro]

I'm in L.A. also. PM me if you need any more info/help.

ez

Thanks a lot ez! I certainly will.

Appreciated...