Apple Cinema Tools 4 User Manual

Cinema Tools 4

User Manual

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Welcome to Cinema Tools7Preface

About Cinema Tools7 About the Cinema Tools Documentation8 Additional Resources8

An Overview of Using Cinema Tools9Chapter 1

Editing Film Digitally9 Why 24p Video?12 Working with 24p Sources13 Offline and Online Editing13 Creating the Cinema Tools Database14 Capturing the Source Clips with Final Cut Pro16 Preparing the Clips for Editing19 Creating Cut Lists and Other Lists with Cinema Tools20 How Much Can Be Done from Final Cut Pro?21

Before You Begin Your Film Project23Chapter 2

An Introduction to Film Projects23 Before You Shoot Your Film24 Which Film to Use?24 Transferring Film to Video25 Frame Rate Basics28 Audio Considerations34 Working in Final Cut Pro38

Cinema Tools Workflows41Chapter 3

Basic Film Workflow Steps41 Film Workflow Examples42 Basic Digital Intermediate Workflow Steps46 Digital Intermediate Workflow Using a Telecine49 Working with REDCODE Media51

Creating a Cinema Tools Database53Chapter 4 An Introduction to Cinema Tools Databases53

Deciding How You Should Create the Database54 Creating and Configuring a New Database58

Working with Databases65Chapter 5

Opening an Existing Database65 Viewing Database Properties66 About the Detail View Window66 Settings in the Detail View Window67 About the List View Window73 Settings in the List View Window74 Finding and Opening Database Records76 Settings in the Find Dialog77 Backing Up, Copying, Renaming, and Locking Databases80 About the Clip Window80 Settings in the Clip Window81 Accessing Information About a Source Clip84

Entering and Modifying Database Information85Chapter 6

About Working with Database Information85 Importing Database Information86 Entering Database Information Manually91 Using the Identify Feature to Calculate Database Information96 Deleting a Database Record98 Choosing a Different Poster Frame for a Clip98 Changing the Default Database Settings99 Changing All Reel or Roll Identifiers100 Verifying and Correcting Edge Code and Timecode Numbers101

Capturing Source Clips and Connecting Them to the Database105Chapter 7

About Source Clips and the Database105 Preparing to Capture105 Generating a Batch Capture List from Cinema Tools109 Connecting Source Clips to the Database115 Fixing Broken Clip-to-Database Links120

Preparing the Source Clips for Editing123Chapter 8

An Introduction to Preparing Source Clips for Editing123 Determining How to Prepare Source Clips for Editing123 Using the Conform Feature125 Reversing the Telecine Pull-Down127 Making Adjustments to Audio Speed139 Synchronizing Separately Captured Audio and Video139 Dividing or Deleting Sections of Source Clips Before Editing141

4 Contents

Editing with Final Cut Pro143Chapter 9

About Easy Setups and Setting the Editing Timebase143 Working with 25 fps Video Conformed to 24 fps144 Displaying Film Information in Final Cut Pro146 Opening Final Cut Pro Clips in Cinema Tools150 Restrictions for Using Multiple Tracks150 Using Effects, Filters, and Transitions151 Tracking Duplicate Uses of Source Material157 Ensuring Cut List Accuracy with 3:2 Pull-Down or 24 & 1 Video158

Generating Film Lists and Change Lists159Chapter 10

An Introduction to Film Lists and Change Lists159 Choosing the List Format160 Lists You Can Export161 Exporting Film Lists Using Final Cut Pro166 Creating Change Lists174 Working with XSL Style Sheets189

Export Considerations and Creating Audio EDLs193Chapter 11

About Common Items You Can Export for Your Project193 Considerations When Exporting to Videotape194 Considerations When Exporting Audio194 Exporting an Audio EDL195

Working with External EDLs, XML, and ALE Files201Chapter 12

Creating EDL-Based and XML-Based Film Lists201 Working with ALE Files206

Working with 24p Video and 24 fps EDLs209Chapter 13

Considerations When Originating on Film210 Editing 24p Video with Final Cut Pro211 Adding and Removing Pull-Down in 24p Clips217 Using Audio EDLs for Dual System Sound227

Film Background Basics229Appendix A

Film Basics229 Editing Film Using Traditional Methods234 Editing Film Using Digital Methods236

How Cinema Tools Creates Film Lists241Appendix B

Film List Creation Overview241 About the Clip-Based Method242 About the Timecode-Based Method243

5Contents

Solving Problems245Appendix C

Resources for Solving Problems245 Solutions to Common Problems245 Contacting AppleCare Support247

249Glossary

6 Contents

Welcome to Cinema Tools

Cinema Tools is a powerful database that tracks Final Cut Pro edits for conforming film, digital intermediate, and 24p video projects.

This preface covers the following:

• About Cinema Tools (p. 7)

• About the Cinema Tools Documentation (p. 8)

• Additional Resources (p. 8)

About Cinema Tools

In today’s post-production environment, it’s common for editors and filmmakers to find themselves faced with a confounding array of formats, frame rates, and workflows encompassing a single project. Projects are often shot, edited, and output using completely different formats at each step.

Preface

For editors and filmmakers who specifically want to shoot and finish on film or use a digital intermediate workflow, Cinema Tools becomes an essential part of the post-production process when editing with Final Cut Pro. For example, when working with film you need to be able to track the relationship between the original film frames and their video counterparts. Cinema Tools includes a sophisticated database feature that tracks this relationship regardless of the video standard you use, ensuring that the film can be conformed to match your Final Cut Pro edits.

Cinema Tools also provides the ability to convert captured video clips to 24-frame-per-second (fps) video. For NTSC, this includes a Reverse Telecine feature that removes the extra frames added during the 3:2 pull-down process commonly used when transferring film to video or when downconverting 24p video.

Cinema Tools, in combination with Final Cut Pro, provides tools designed to make editing film digitally, using digital intermediate processes involving Color, and working with 24p video easier and more cost effective, providing functionality previously found only on high-end or very specialized editing systems.

The integration between Cinema Tools and Final Cut Pro makes it possible to perform the most common Cinema Tools tasks directly from Final Cut Pro—Cinema Tools performs the tasks automatically in the background.

About the Cinema Tools Documentation

Cinema Tools comes with the Cinema Tools 4 User Manual (this document), which provides detailed information about the application. This comprehensive document describes the Cinema Tools interface, commands, and menus and gives step-by-step instructions for creating Cinema Tools databases and for accomplishing specific tasks. It is written for users of all levels of experience. This manual documents not only all aspects of using the Cinema Tools application, but also all related functions within Final Cut Pro.

Note: This manual is not intended to be a complete guide to the art of filmmaking. Much of the film-specific information presented here is very general in nature and is supplied to provide a context for the terminology used when describing Cinema Tools functions.

Additional Resources

Along with the documentation that comes with Cinema Tools, there are a variety of other resources you can use to find out more about Cinema Tools.

Cinema Tools Website

For general information and updates, as well as the latest news on Cinema Tools, go to:

• http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/finalcutpro/cinematools.html

Apple Service and Support Websites

For software updates and answers to the most frequently asked questions for all Apple products, go to the general Apple Support webpage. You’ll also have access to product specifications, reference documentation, and Apple and third-party product technical articles.

• http://www.apple.com/support

For software updates, documentation, discussion forums, and answers to the most frequently asked questions for Cinema Tools, go to:

• http://www.apple.com/support/cinematools

For discussion forums for all Apple products from around the world, where you can search for an answer, post your question, or answer other users’ questions, go to:

• http://discussions.apple.com

8 Preface Welcome to Cinema Tools

An Overview of Using Cinema Tools

Cinema Tools combined with Final Cut Pro gives unprecedented power to film, digital intermediate, and 24p video editors.

This chapter covers the following:

• Editing Film Digitally (p. 9)

• Why 24p Video? (p. 12)

• Working with 24p Sources (p. 13)

• Offline and Online Editing (p. 13)

• Creating the Cinema Tools Database (p. 14)

• Capturing the Source Clips with Final Cut Pro (p. 16)

• Preparing the Clips for Editing (p. 19)

• Creating Cut Lists and Other Lists with Cinema Tools (p. 20)

• How Much Can Be Done from Final Cut Pro? (p. 21)

Editing Film Digitally

Computer technology is changing the film-creation process. Most feature-length films are now edited digitally, using sophisticated and expensive nonlinear editors designed for that specific purpose. Until recently, this sort of tool has not been available to filmmakers on a limited budget.

Cinema Tools provides Final Cut Pro with the functionality of systems costing many times more at a price that all filmmakers can afford. If you are shooting with 35mm or 16mm film and want to edit digitally and finish on film, Cinema Tools allows you to edit video transfers from your film using Final Cut Pro and then generate an accurate cut list that can be used to finish the film.

Even if you do not intend to conform the original camera negative, as in a digital intermediate workflow, Cinema Tools provides a variety of tools for capturing and processing your film’s video. See About the Digital Intermediate Process for more information.

How Does Cinema Tools Help You Edit Your Film?

Cut list

Original camera negative

Convert

film to

video

Conform

original camera

negative

Create

release

Shoot film

Edit in Final Cut Pro

with Cinema Tools

For many, film still provides the optimum medium for capturing images. And, if your goal is a theatrical release or a showing at a film festival, you may need to provide the final movie on film. Using Final Cut Pro with Cinema Tools does not change the process of exposing the film in the camera or projecting the final movie in a theater—it’s the part in between that takes advantage of the advances in technology.

Editing film has traditionally involved the cutting and splicing together of a film workprint, a process that is time-consuming and tends to discourage experimenting with alternative scene versions. Transferring the film to video makes it possible to use a nonlinear editor (NLE) to edit your project. The flexible nature of an NLE makes it easy to put together each scene and gives you the ability to try different edits. The final edited video is generally not used—the edit decisions you make are the real goal. They provide the information needed to cut and splice (conform) the original camera negative into the final movie. The challenge is in matching the timecode of the video edits with the key numbers of the film negative so that a negative cutter can accurately create a film-based version of the edit.

This is where Cinema Tools comes in. Cinema Tools tracks the relationship between the original camera negative and the video transfer. Once you have finished editing with Final Cut Pro, you can use Cinema Tools to generate a cut list based on the edits you made. Armed with this list, a negative cutter can transform the original camera negative into the final film.

If your production process involves workprint screenings and modifications, you can also use Cinema Tools to create change lists that describe what needs to be done to a workprint to make it match the new version of the sequence edited in Final Cut Pro. See Basic Film

Workflow Steps for more details about this workflow.

What Cinema Tools Does

Cinema Tools tracks all of the elements that go into the making of the final film. It knows the relationship between the original camera negative, the transferred videotapes, and the captured video clips on the editing computer. It works with Final Cut Pro to store information about how the video clips are being used and generates the cut list required to transform the original camera negative into the final edited movie.

10 Chapter 1 An Overview of Using Cinema Tools

Cinema Tools also checks for problems that can arise while using Final Cut Pro, the most common one being duplicate uses of source material: using a shot (or a portion of it) more than once. Besides creating duplicate lists, you can use Cinema Tools to generate other lists, such as one dealing with opticals—the placement of transitions, motion effects (video at other than normal speed), and titles.

Cinema Tools can also work with the production audio, tracking the relationship between the audio used by Final Cut Pro and the original production audio sources. It is possible to use the edited audio from Final Cut Pro when creating an Edit Decision List (EDL) and process (or finish) the audio at a specialized audio post-production facility.

It’s important to understand that you use Final Cut Pro only to make the edit decisions—the final edited video output is not typically used, since the video it is edited from generally is compressed and includes burned-in timecode (window burn) and film information. It is the edit-based cut list that you can generate with Cinema Tools that is the goal.

About the Digital Intermediate Process

As movies become more sophisticated and the demand for digitally generated special effects grows, the digital intermediate process, also known as DI, has become increasingly important to filmmakers. This process often starts with a high-quality scan of the original film. This scan results in extremely high-quality video, often in the form of digital picture exchange (DPX) image sequences whose quality rivals or surpasses that of film. This high-quality video can then be edited, manipulated, and color corrected digitally. The big difference between this process and the telecine-based film editing process described previously is that the DI process does not actually conform the original camera negative—instead, the final digital output is either printed to film or distributed directly.

The term DI is also usedto describe the editing, digital manipulation, and color correction processes used when the source of the video is a high-resolution camera system that does not use film at all, such as the RED ONE camera.

The video clips created most often during this process are referred to as 2K video image sequences. An image sequence is actually a folder containing individual image files for each video frame. Because of the large size of these video clips, they are not generally edited directly. Instead, lower-resolution versions of the files are created, usually based on the Apple ProRes 422 codec, and then edited.

Once the edit is finished, the next step is to use Color to apply any needed color correction. This color correction is applied to the original 2K media. To accomplish this, an Edit Decision List (EDL) is exported from Final Cut Pro. This EDL is used to match the edits to the 2K media, allowing Color to conform and color correct the 2K media.

11Chapter 1 An Overview of Using Cinema Tools

Cinema Tools databases can be used in this process to match the EDL to the 2K media,

EDLOffline

video

Final Cut Pro with

Cinema Tools

Edit

sequence

Scan film

to video

Create

release

Shoot film

Color

Conform and

color correct

DPX

image

sequences

DPX

linking the reel names and timecode of each edit to entries in a database created from a folder of 2K image sequence clips. Using a Cinema Tools database provides powerful tools to diagnose and resolve any issues that occur, such as nonmatching reel names.

See Basic Digital Intermediate Workflow Steps and Digital Intermediate Workflow Using

a Telecine for details about this workflow.

Why 24p Video?

The proliferation of high definition (HD) video standards and the desire for worldwide broadcast distribution have created a demand for a video standard that can be easily converted to all other standards. Additionally, a standard that translates well to film, providing an easy, high-quality method of originating and editing on video and finishing on film, is needed.

24p video provides all this. It uses the same 24 fps rate as film, making it possible to take advantage of existing conversion schemes to create NTSC and PAL versions of your project. It uses progressive scanning to create an output well suited to being projected on large

12 Chapter 1 An Overview of Using Cinema Tools

screens and converted to film.

Additionally, 24p video makes it possible to produce high-quality 24 fps telecine transfers from film. These are very useful when you intend to broadcast the final product in multiple standards.

Working with 24p Sources

With the emergence of 24p HD video recorders, there is a growing need for Final Cut Pro to support several aspects of editing at 24 fps (in some cases, actually 23.98 fps). To this end, Final Cut Pro and Cinema Tools provide the following:

• The import and export of 24 fps and 23.98 fps EDLs

• The ability to convert NTSC 29.97 fps EDLs to 23.98 fps or 24 fps EDLs

• A Reverse Telecine feature to undo the 3:2 pull-down used when 24 fps film or video is converted to NTSC’s 29.97 fps

• The ability to remove 2:3:3:2 or 2:3:2:3 pull-down from NTSC media files so you can edit at 24 fps or 23.98 fps

• The ability to output 23.98 fps video via FireWire at the NTSC standard of 29.97 fps video

• The ability to match the edits of videotape audio with the original production audio tapes and generate an audio EDL that can then be used to recapture and finish the audio if you intend to recapture it elsewhere for final processing

Several of the features mentioned above are included with Final Cut Pro and do not require Cinema Tools; however, this manual describes all of these features because they relate to working with 24p, which is of specific interest to many filmmakers. See Frame

Rate Basics for more information about working with the different frame rates.

Offline and Online Editing

If you are working with a high-resolution 24p format, such as uncompressed HD video, you may need to make lower-resolution copies of your footage to maximize your computer’s disk space and processing power. In this case, there are four basic steps to the editing process:

• Production (generating the master video): Transfer film to or natively shoot on uncompressed 24p HD video.

• Offline edit: Convert footage to NTSC or PAL video (which is generally lower-resolution than 24p) and edit it.

• Project interchange: Export a Final Cut Pro project or an EDL containing your final edit decisions.

13Chapter 1 An Overview of Using Cinema Tools

• Online edit: Replace low-resolution footage and create a full-resolution master.

24p master

source

Capture

video

Online edit

(24 fps)

Edit

clips

24 fps EDL

NTSC or PAL video

24p video

Convert

to 24 fps

Final Cut Pro with Cinema Tools

(offline edit)

Edited 24p

master

See Editing 24p Video with Final Cut Pro for more information.

Creating the Cinema Tools Database

There are a number of issues to take into account when you create your database.

How the Database Works

The database can contain one record or thousands of records, depending on how you decide to use Cinema Tools. These records are matched to the edits made in Final Cut Pro so that the cut list can be created. To be valid in a film workflow, a record must have values for the camera, daily, or lab roll, as well as the edge code (key numbers or ink numbers). In addition, the record must either have a clip connected to it or have video reel and video timecode (In point and duration) values.

When you export the cut list after editing the video in Final Cut Pro, Cinema Tools looks at each edit and tries to find the appropriate record in its database to determine the corresponding key numbers or ink numbers (edge code). Cinema Tools first looks for a record connected to the media file used in the edit. If a record is found, Cinema Tools then locates the file, adds a note to the cut list, and moves on to the next edit.

If no record is found using an edit’s media file, or the file is not located, Cinema Tools looks at the video reel number to see if any of its records have the same number (“001” is not the same as “0001”). If so, it then looks to see if the edit’s In and Out points fall within the range of one of the records. If this condition is also met, the edit is added to the cut list, and Cinema Tools moves on to the next edit.

If a record cannot be found that uses an edit’s clip pathname or video reel number with suitable timecode entries, “<missing>” appears in the cut list and a note is added to the missing elements list. If a record is found but is incomplete (missing the key number, for example), “<missing>” is placed in those fields and a note is added to the missing elements list.

14 Chapter 1 An Overview of Using Cinema Tools

See An Introduction to Film Lists and Change Lists and How Cinema Tools Creates Film

Lists for details about this process and the missing elements list.

A Detailed or Simple Database?

Cinema Tools is designed to allow you to create a record for an entire camera roll, for each take, or somewhere in between, depending on how you like to work. Each record can contain:

• Scene, shot, and take numbers with descriptions

• The film’s camera roll number, edge code, and related video timecode and reel number

• The sound roll and timecode

• A clip poster frame showing a representative frame from the clip

• Basic settings such as film and timecode format

The records can be entered manually or imported from a telecine log. You can modify, delete, and add records to the database as required, even if it is based on the telecine log. You can also merge databases. For example, if you are working with dailies, you can create a new database for each session and merge them all together when the shoot is complete.

The telecine log from scene-and-take transfers, where only specified film takes are transferred to video, can provide the basic information for the database. You can add additional records, comments, and other information as needed.

The telecine log from camera-roll transfers typically provides information for a single record—the edge code and video timecode used at the start of the transfer. Assuming continuous film key numbers and video timecode throughout the transfer, that single record is sufficient for Cinema Tools to generate a cut list for that camera roll.

Importing Telecine Logs

You have a choice of importing the telecine log using Cinema Tools or Final Cut Pro. You can choose either method according to your workflow.

In both cases, you have the option of assigning a camera letter, which is appended to the take entries, to the import. This is useful in those cases where multiple cameras were used for each take. See Assigning Camera Letters for more information.

See Importing Database Information from a Telecine Log or ALE File for more information about importing telecine logs.

• Importing telecine logs using Cinema Tools: To import a telecine log into Cinema Tools, you must first have a database open. The database can be an existing one that you want to add new records to, or it can be a new one with no records.

Once the records have been imported, you can export a batch capture list from Cinema Tools that you can import into Final Cut Pro to automate the clip capture process.

15Chapter 1 An Overview of Using Cinema Tools

• Importing telecine logs using Final Cut Pro: When you import a telecine log using Final Cut Pro, you choose whether to import it into an existing Cinema Tools database or whether a new database should be created.

As records are added to the selected Cinema Tools database, each record also creates an offline clip in the Final Cut Pro Browser so that clips can be batch captured. The film-related information from the telecine log is automatically added to each clip. You can show this information in a variety of ways while editing the clips in Final Cut Pro. See Displaying Film Information in Final Cut Pro for more information.

Manually Entering Database Records

The most common reason to manually enter a record into the database is that there is no log available from the film-to-video transfer process. Some film-to-video transfer methods, such as film chains, do not provide logs.

Each record in a database should represent a media file that has continuous timecode and key numbers. With scene-and-take transfers, each take requires its own record because film key numbers are skipped when jumping from take to take during the transfer.

With camera-roll transfers, because the film roll and video recorder run continuously from start to finish, you require only one record for the entire clip, even if you later break it into smaller clips (that retain the original timecode) and delete the unused portions. This is because Cinema Tools can use an edit’s video reel number and edit points to calculate the appropriate key numbers, as long as the video reel and edit point information is part of a record.

To manually enter database records, you need to know the key number and video timecode number for a frame of the clip. This is easiest when the transfer has these values burned in to the video.

See Creating a Cinema Tools Database for details about creating and managing Cinema Tools databases.

Capturing the Source Clips with Final Cut Pro

How you capture the source clips with Final Cut Pro depends in large part on the actual media used for the telecine transfer.

• If you have a telecine log file and the clips are provided using a tape-based system: In this case, you start by importing the telecine log file into either Cinema Tools or Final Cut Pro. If you import the telecine log file into Cinema Tools, you then export a batch capture list for Final Cut Pro. If you import the telecine log file into Final Cut Pro, you can use the batch capture process to capture the clips.

16 Chapter 1 An Overview of Using Cinema Tools

Note: Capturing video clips from a tape-based device may require third-party hardware. When using serial device control, make sure to calibrate its capture offset. See the Final Cut Pro documentation for more information. Also see Setting Up Your Hardware

to Capture Accurate Timecode for more information about capturing your clips.

• If youdo not have atelecine log file and theclips are provided usinga tape-based system: In this case, you use the Final Cut Pro Log and Capture window to manually capture each clip. Once the clips are captured, you can create a Cinema Tools database based on them using the Synchronize with Cinema Tools command. In some cases, third-party hardware is required.

• If the clips are provided using a file-based system, such as on a hard disk or DVD-ROM disc: In this case, most often you also have a telecine log file. You can import the telecine log file into Final Cut Pro, copy the files to your computer, and connect them to your Final Cut Pro project.

• If your clips are coming directly from a digital acquisition source, such as camcorders using solid-state cards: In this case, you use the Log and Transfer window in Final Cut Pro to ingest the clips. You then use the Synchronize with Cinema Tools command to create a Cinema Tools database based on the clips.

Recompressing the Captured Files

Regardless of how you captured your video, you may decide to recompress the files to make them smaller and easier to work with. For example, taking advantage of the correct codec may allow you to edit on an older portable computer.

About Compression

Compression, in terms of digital video, is a means of squeezing the content into smaller files that require less hard disk space and potentially less processor power to display. The tradeoff is lower-quality images.

It’s important to remember that the edited video that results from Final Cut Pro when used with Cinema Tools is not typically going to be used in an environment where high quality would be expected. The most common use of the edited video is to give the negative cutter a visual guide to go along with the cut list. This means that the quality of the video only needs to be good enough to make your edit decisions and read the window burn values. However, because your edit decisions are sometimes based on subtle visual cues, it’s best not to get too carried away with excess compression.

Important: Do not use long-GOP codecs, such as most MPEG-2, XDCAM, H.264, or HDV

codecs. In addition to being difficult to edit, these files cannot take advantage of the Reverse Telecine feature.

17Chapter 1 An Overview of Using Cinema Tools

Capturing Tactics

There are several approaches to capturing your video and audio. Determining which is right for you depends on a number of factors, including whether you have device control of the source tape deck and the transfer type used (camera-roll or scene-and-take).

Device Control

A primary consideration when determining how to capture video and audio is whether Final Cut Pro supports device control for the deck you use. Device control allows you to capture precisely the video and audio you want in a way that can be exactly repeated, if necessary. You can even set up a “batch capture” that automates the process, freeing you to do other tasks.

Capturing without device control presents several challenges. Clips that are captured manually do not have precise start and end times. If you intend to match start and end times from a telecine log, you must trim the clips after capturing them. Additionally, without device control, a clip’s timecode does not match the timecode on the tape. Final Cut Pro has a provision for changing a clip’s timecode, but in order for that timecode to match the source tape, you must have a visual reference (a hole-punched or marked frame) with a known timecode value.

For more information about device control, see the Final Cut Pro documentation.

Camera-Roll Transfers

Camera-roll transfers require you either to capture the entire tape or to manually capture a clip for each take. As long as the tape uses continuous video timecode and film key numbers, Cinema Tools requires only a single database record showing the relationship between the two.

If Final Cut Pro has device control of your source deck, the best method for capturing the desired takes is to use the Final Cut Pro Log and Capture window and enter the In and Out points and reel number for each. You can then use batch capture to finish the process. It’s not necessary to create a database record for each clip, as long as you do not change the timecode.

Without device control, you must manually capture either the individual takes you want or the entire tape. You may need to trim a take that you capture manually, and you will also have to manually set its timecode to match the source tape. An advantage to capturing the entire tape is that you only have to set the clip’s timecode once (assuming that the source tape had continuous timecode). The drawback is the amount of disk space required, although once the tape is captured, you can use Final Cut Pro to create subclips of the useful takes and then delete the unused material.

See Capturing Source Clips and Connecting Them to the Database for details about capturing clips.

18 Chapter 1 An Overview of Using Cinema Tools

Scene-and-Take Transfers

Scene-and-take transfers generally result in records in the Cinema Tools database that are suitable for performing a batch capture. You can export a capture list from Cinema Tools and import it into the Final Cut Pro Browser. Final Cut Pro can then perform a batch capture (assuming it can control the source device), creating clips as directed by the Cinema Tools list. These clips can then be easily linked to records in the Cinema Tools database.

Finishing with High-Quality Video

If you intend to provide a high-quality video output when you have finished the project, there are several issues you might need to consider.

When capturing video for the initial offline edit, you can capture with relatively high compression and include burned-in timecode and key numbers. The compression makes it easier for your computer to work with the video and requires less hard disk space, allowing you to capture more video to use for making your edit decisions.

After you have finished the offline edit, you can use Final Cut Pro to recapture just the video actually used in the edits, using a high-quality codec and a version of the video without burned-in timecode and key numbers.

See Working with 24p Video and 24 fps EDLs for more information about this process. Also see your Final Cut Pro documentation for more information about offline and online editing workflows.

Preparing the Clips for Editing

Cinema Tools includes two features you can use to help prepare the captured clips for editing.

Reverse Telecine

The Reverse Telecine feature (for NTSC transfers only) provides a means of removing the extra fields added during the 3:2 pull-down process of the telecine transfer. You need to do this when you intend to edit the video at 23.98 fps. See Frame Rate Basics for information about what a 3:2 pull-down is and why you might want to reverse it. See

Reversing the Telecine Pull-Down for details about using the Reverse Telecine feature.

Note: The Reverse Telecine feature cannot be used with temporally compressed video such as MPEG-2-format video.

Conform

The Conform feature is useful both to correct errors in video clips and to change the frame rate (timebase) of a clip. Cinema Tools lets you select the frame rate you want to conform a clip to.

19Chapter 1 An Overview of Using Cinema Tools

In order to understand the Conform feature, you need to know a bit about the nature of QuickTime video files. Each video frame within a QuickTime file has a duration setting that defines the length of time that a particular frame is displayed (normal NTSC- or PAL-based QuickTime video has the same duration assigned to all frames). For example, the NTSC video ratehas a value of 1/30 of a second (actually 1/29.97 of a second) assigned to each frame. The PAL video rate is 1/25 of a second.

Occasionally, captured video clips have some frames whose durations are set to slightly different values. Although the differences are not visible when playing the clip, they can cause problems when Cinema Tools creates the cut list or when you use the Reverse Telecine feature. In these cases, you can conform the clip to its current frame rate.

There are also times when you may want to change the frame rate of a clip. If you transferred 24 fps film to video by speeding it up (either to 29.97 fps for NTSC or to 25 fps for PAL—in each case ensuring a one-to-one relationship between the film and video frames), the action during playback will be faster than in the original film, and the audio will need to have its playback speed adjusted to compensate. You can use the Conform feature to change the clip’s frame rate to 24 fps, making it play back at the original film rate and stay in sync with the audio. See Using the Conform Feature for details.

Note: Make sure to use the Conform feature on a clip before editing it in Final Cut Pro. Also make sure the editing timebase in the Final Cut Pro Sequence Preset Editor is set at the same rate you are conforming to.

See Determining How to Prepare Source Clips for Editing for more information.

Creating Cut Lists and Other Lists with Cinema Tools

There are a number of other useful lists that can be generated at the same time as a cut list. One film list file can contain any of the following:

• Missing elements list: A list of any required information that could not be found in the database

• Duplicate list: A list of duplicate usages of the same source material

• Optical list: A list for the effects printer, describing any transitions and motion effects

• Pull list: A list to aid the lab in pulling the required negative rolls

• Scene list: A list of all the scenes used in your program and the shots used in the opticals

You can also export a change list, useful if your production process involves workprint screenings and modifications. The change list assumes a workprint has been cut to the specifications of a cut list (or prior change list) and it specifies further changes to make to the workprint, based on edits you have made to the sequence in Final Cut Pro. See

When Are Change Lists Used in a Film Workflow? for a flow chart of the workprint and

change list process.

20 Chapter 1 An Overview of Using Cinema Tools

See An Introduction to Film Lists and Change Lists for more details about all the film-related lists that are available.

How Much Can Be Done from Final Cut Pro?

Because of the high level of integration between Cinema Tools and Final Cut Pro, you have several options for each stage in your project’s workflow. For example, should you import the telecine log into Cinema Tools and export a batch capture list for Final Cut Pro, or should you import the telecine log directly into Final Cut Pro? Your situation and preferred working methods will often make this decision for you. Among the Cinema Tools–related functions you can perform directly from Final Cut Pro are:

• Importing telecine log files

• Conforming 25 fps video to 24 fps

• Reversing the telecine pull-down (using the last settings in Cinema Tools)

• Opening a clip in the Cinema Tools Clip window

• Synchronizing a Cinema Tools database to a group of selected clips

• Exporting film lists and change lists

21Chapter 1 An Overview of Using Cinema Tools

Following is a diagram showing an ideal workflow that focuses on using Final Cut Pro

Steps Performed from

Final Cut Pro

How Cinema Tools

Is Involved

Process clips (if needed)

• Reverse telecine

• Conform (25 @ 24)

Synchronize captured clips

with Cinema Tools database

Edit clips

Import a log into the Final Cut Pro project,

creating the offline clips

for capture

Batch capture clips

Export lists

Cinema Tools

creates the lists

Cinema Tools

does the processing

A new Cinema Tools

database is created

The clips are connected to

the Cinema Tools database

Create a new

Final Cut Pro project

methods.

In this workflow, you can focus on using Final Cut Pro, and Cinema Tools performs tasks in the background as needed. You must use Cinema Tools manually if you want to add information to the database beyond what the telecine log provided, or if you have a unique issue with reverse telecine and need to configure its settings.

22 Chapter 1 An Overview of Using Cinema Tools

Before You Begin Your Film Project

Start planning your project early to ensure its success.

This chapter covers the following:

• An Introduction to Film Projects (p. 23)

• Before You Shoot Your Film (p. 24)

• Which Film to Use? (p. 24)

• Transferring Film to Video (p. 25)

• Frame Rate Basics (p. 28)

• Audio Considerations (p. 34)

• Working in Final Cut Pro (p. 38)

An Introduction to Film Projects

Successful film production requires thorough planning well before exposing the first frame. Besides the normal preparations, additional issues must be considered when you intend to edit the film digitally. These issues may affect the film you use, how you record your sound, and other aspects of your production.

This chapter provides basic information about many of the issues you will face:

• Which film to use

• Choices for transferring the film to video

• Frame rate issues between the film, your video standard, and your editing timebase

• Audio issues such as which recorder and timecode to use and how to synchronize the audio with the video

• Issues with Final Cut Pro such as selecting a sequence timebase and using effects

Note: Much of this information is very general in nature and is not intended to serve as a complete guide to filmmaking. The digital filmmaking industry changes rapidly, so what you read here is not necessarily the final word.

Before You Shoot Your Film

Before you begin your project, make sure to discuss it with all parties involved in the process:

• Those providing equipment or supplies used during the production

• Those involved in the actual production

• The facility that will develop your film, create workprints, and create the release print

• The video transfer facility

• The editor using Cinema Tools and Final Cut Pro (if it is not you)

• The negative cutter

• The audio post-production facility

These are people who are experts in their fields. They can provide invaluable information that can make the difference between a smooth, successful project and one that seems constantly to run into obstacles.

Be Careful How You Save Money

There are a number of times throughout the film production process when you will get to choose between “doing it right” and “doing it well enough.” Often your budget or a lack of time drives the decision. Make sure you thoroughly understand your workflow choices before making decisions that could end up costing you more, both in time and money, in the long run. Problems based on choices made early in the process—for example, deciding not to have a telecine log made—could take you by surprise later.

Having professional facilities handle the tasks they specialize in, especially when you are new to the process, is highly recommended. You may actually save money by spending a little for tasks that you could do yourself, such as using an audio post-production facility.

Also, do not underestimate the importance of using the cut list to conform a workprint before conforming the negative. Although creating and editing a workprint adds costs to the project, incorrectly conforming the original camera negative will cause irreparable harm to your film.

Which Film to Use?

One of the first steps in any film production is choosing the film format to use. Cinema Tools requirements must be taken into account when making this choice.

Cinema Tools supports 4-perf 35mm, 3-perf 35mm, and 16mm-20 film formats. See Film

Basics for details about these formats.

24 Chapter 2 Before You Begin Your Film Project

Your budget will likely determine which format you use. Although it’s generally best to use the same film format throughout your production, Cinema Tools does not require it. Each database record has its own film format setting.

Transferring Film to Video

In order to digitally edit your film, you need to transfer it to video so that it can be captured by the computer. There are a few ways to do this, but an overriding requirement is that there be a reliable way to match the film’s key numbers to the edited video’s timecode. This relationship allows Cinema Tools to accurately calculate specific key numbers based on each edit’s In and Out point timecode values.

You also need to make decisions regarding film and video frame rates used during the transfer. These affect the editing timebase and impact the accuracy of the cut list that Cinema Tools generates.

Telecines

By far the most common method of transferring film to video is to use a telecine. Telecines are devices that scan each film frame onto a charge-coupled device (CCD) to convert the film frames to video frames. Although a telecine provides an excellent picture, for the purposes of Cinema Tools the more important benefit is that it results in a locked relationship between the film and video, with no drifting between them.

Telecines are typically gentler on the film and offer sophisticated color correction and operational control as compared to film chains, described in Transfer Techniques That

Are Not Recommended. Another advantage is that telecines can create video from the

original camera negative—most other methods require you to create a film positive (workprint) first. (Although from a budget viewpoint it may be a benefit not to create a workprint, workprints are generally created anyway since they provide the best way to see the footage on a large screen and spot any issues that might impact which takes you use. Even more importantly, they allow you to test the cut list before working on the negative.)

In addition to providing a high-quality transfer, most modern telecines read the key numbers from the film and can access the video recorder’s timecode generator, burning in these numbers on the video output. An additional benefit of the telecine transfer method is its ability to provide synchronized audio along with the video output. It can control the audio source and burn in the audio timecode along with the video timecode and the key numbers.

25Chapter 2 Before You Begin Your Film Project

But What If You Want a Clean Master?

If you plan to conform the original camera negative, the presence of burned-in timecode and key numbers on the video clips you edit in Final Cut Pro may not be a problem, especially if you are working with a highly compressed video format.

The burned-in numbers can be a problem, however, if you intend to use the edited video for screenings or for broadcast. As valuable as they are to the editor, the burned-in numbers can be distracting when watching an edited project. There are two common methods you can use to minimize this problem:

• Letterbox the video during capture using a 2:35 aspect ratio so that there is enough room below the video to show the numbers.

• Flash the burn-in information on the first frame only. Although not quite as useful as a continuous burn-in, this does provide the editor with the ability to ensure that the relationship of the edge code to the timecode is correct.

In most cases, telecines produce a log file that can provide the basis for the Cinema Tools database. This allows you to automate capturing the video into the computer.

Increasingly, telecine facilities can also capture the video clips for you, providing the clips on a DVD disc or FireWire drive, along with the telecine log and videotapes.

Transfer Techniques That Are Not Recommended

There are a couple of transfer techniques that are worth mentioning just to point out why you should not use them.

Film Chains

You should avoid using a film chain if at all possible. Film chains are relatively old technology, as compared to telecines. A film chain is basically a film projector linked to a video camera. Film chains typically do not support features such as reading the key numbers or controlling video recorders, and they cannot create a positive video from a film negative. You must create a workprint to use a film chain.

Using a film chain is usually less expensive than using a telecine, although the cost of creating a workprint partly offsets the lower cost. The biggest challenge is being able to define the relationship between the film’s key numbers and the video timecode. This is usually accomplished with hole punches (or some other distinct frame marker) at known film frames.

Important: Older film chains may not synchronize the film projector tothe video recorder,

potentially causing the film-to-video relationship to drift.

26 Chapter 2 Before You Begin Your Film Project

Recording a Projected Image with a Camcorder

Because of the greatly increased chances for error and the additional time you have to spend tracking key numbers, this method of transfer is strongly discouraged and should not be considered.

Projecting your film and recording the results using a video camcorder is a method that, although relatively inexpensive, almost guarantees errors in the final negative cutting. Telecines and film chains are usually able to synchronize the film and video devices, ensuring a consistent transfer at whatever frame rates you choose. The projector’s and video camcorder’s frame rates may be close to ideal but will drift apart throughout the transfer, making it impossible to ensure a reliable relationship between the film’s key numbers and the video timecode. You will have to spend extra time going over the cut list to ensure the proper film frames are being used. Additionally, there may be substantial flicker in the video output, making it difficult to see some frames and determine which to edit on.

Because the video is not actually used for anything except determining edit points, its quality doesn’t matter too much. As with film chains, you have to create a workprint to project. Being able to proof your cut list before the original camera negative is worked on is very important with this type of transfer.

How Much Should You Transfer?

Deciding how much of your film to transfer to video depends on a number of issues, the biggest one probably being cost. The amount of time the telecine operator spends on the transfer determines the cost. Whether it is more efficient to transfer entire rolls of film (a “camera-roll” transfer), including bad takes and scenes that won’t be used, or to spend time locating specific takes and transferring only the useful ones (a “scene-and-take” transfer) needs to be determined before starting.

Camera-Roll Transfers

Cinema Tools uses a database to track the relationship between the film key numbers and the video and audio timecode numbers. The database is designed to have a record for each camera take, but this is not required. If you transfer an entire roll of film continuously to videotape, Cinema Tools needs only one record to establish the relationship between the key numbers and the video timecode. All edits using any portion of that single large clip can be accurately matched to the original camera negative’s key numbers. A drawback to this transfer method is the large file sizes, especially if significant chunks of footage will not be used.

27Chapter 2 Before You Begin Your Film Project

Additionally, because of the way it is recorded, audio is difficult to synchronize at the telecine during a camera-roll transfer. During a production, the sound recorder typically starts recording before film starts rolling and ends after filming has stopped. You also will often shoot some film without sound (known as MOS shots). This means you cannot establish audio sync at the start of the film roll and expect it to be maintained throughout the roll. Instead, each clip needs to be synced individually. The Cinema Tools database includes provisions for tracking the original production sound rolls and audio timecode.

Once captured, a single large clip can be broken into smaller ones, allowing you to delete the excess video. Even with multiple clips, it is possible for Cinema Tools to generate a complete cut list with only one database record. Another approach is to manually add additional records for each clip, allowing you to take advantage of the extensive database capabilities of Cinema Tools. See Creating the Cinema Tools Database for a detailed discussion of these choices.

Scene-and-Take Transfers

Scene-and-take transfers are a bit more expensive than camera-roll transfers, but they offer significant advantages:

• Scene-and-take transfers make it easier to synchronize audio during the transfer.

• Because the telecine log contains one record per take, it establishes a solid database when imported into Cinema Tools.

• With an established database, Cinema Tools can export a batch capture list. With this list (and appropriate device control), Final Cut Pro can capture and digitize the appropriate takes with minimum effort on your part.

Maintaining an accurate film log and using a timecode slate can help speed the transfer process and reduce costs.

Frame Rate Basics

When transferring film to video, you need to take into account the differences in film and video frame rates. Film is commonly shot at 24 frames per second (fps), although 25 fps is sometimes used when the final project is to be delivered as PAL video (as opposed to the more common technique of just speeding up 24 fps film to 25 fps). Video can have a 29.97 fps rate (NTSC), a 25 fps rate (PAL), or either a 24 fps or 23.98 fps rate (24p), depending on your video standard.

The frame rate of your video (whether you sync the audio during the telecine transfer or not) and the frame rate you want to edit at can determine what you needto do to prepare your clips for editing. You may find it useful to read Determining How to Prepare Source

Clips for Editing before you make any decisions about frame rates.

28 Chapter 2 Before You Begin Your Film Project

Working with NTSC Video

Before (23.98 fps)

A BA B B CC D D D

A B C D A D A B C D A B C D A B C D A B C D

B C

A A B B B C C D D D A A B B B C C D D D A A B B C C D D D A A B BB CC D D D A BA B B CC D DB D

A B C D

A A B B B C C D D D

Field1Field2Field1Field

Field1Field

3:2 Pull-Down

After (29.97 fps)

One second

The original frame rate of NTSC video was exactly 30 fps. When color was added, the rate had to be changed slightly, to the rate of 29.97 fps. The field rate of NTSC video is 59.94 fields per second. NTSC video is often referred to as having a frame rate of 30 fps, and although the difference is not large, it cannot be ignored when transferring film to video (because of its impact on audio synchronization, explained in Synchronizing the Audio

with the Video).

Another issue is how to distribute film’s 24 fps among NTSC video’s 29.97 fps.

The most common approach to distributing film’s 24 fps among NTSC video’s 29.97 fps is to perform a 3:2 pull-down (also known as a 2:3:2:3pull-down). If you alternate recording two fields of one film frame and then three fields of the next, the 24 frames in 1 second of film end up filling the 30 frames in 1 second of video.

Note: The actual NTSC video frame rate is 29.97 fps. The film frame rate is modified to

23.98 fps in order to create the 3:2 pattern.

As shown above, the 3:2 pattern (actually a 2:3:2:3 pattern because frame A is recorded to two fields followed by frame B recorded to three fields) repeats after four film frames. Virtually all high-end commercials, movies, and non-livetelevision shows use this process prior to being broadcast.

29Chapter 2 Before You Begin Your Film Project

Note that there is not a one-to-one correspondence between film frames and video frames after this pull-down occurs. The duration of a video frame is four-fifths the duration of a film frame. Because of this discrepancy, if you tried to match a specific number of whole video frames to some number of whole film frames, the durations would seldom match perfectly. In order to maintain overall synchronization, there is usually some fraction of a film frame that must be either added to or subtracted from the duration of the next edit. This means that in the cut list, Cinema Tools occasionally has to add or subtract a film frame from the end of a cut in order to maintain synchronization. For this reason, if you edit 3:2 pull-down video, the Cinema Tools cut list is only accurate to within +/– 1 frame on each edit.

This accuracy issue is easily resolved by using the Reverse Telecine feature (or third-party hardware or software) to remove the extra fields and restore the film’s original 24 fps rate before you begin editing digitally, providing a one-to-one relationship between the video and film frames. Setting the Final Cut Pro editing timebase in the Sequence Preset Editor to 24 fps (or 23.98 fps—see Synchronizing the Audio with the Video) allows you to edit the video and generate a very accurate cut list. See Determining How to Prepare Source

Clips for Editing for more information about issues related to these options.

What’s an A Frame?

You will see and hear references to “A” frames whenever you are involved with 3:2 pull-down video. As the previous illustration shows, the A frame is the only one that has all its fields contained within one video frame. The others (B, C, and D frames) all appear in two video frames. Because the A frame is the start of the video five-frame pattern, it is highly desirable to have one as the first frame in all video clips. It’s common practice to have A frames at non-drop frame timecode numbers ending in “5” and “0.”

See About A Frames for more information.

Working with PAL Video

The PAL video frame rate is exactly 25 fps. There are two methods used when transferring film to PAL: running the film at 25 fps (referred to as the 24 @ 25 method), and adding two extra fields per second (similar to NTSC’s 3:2 pull-down, referred to as the 24 & 1 method, or the 24 @ 25 pull-down method).

30 Chapter 2 Before You Begin Your Film Project

24 @ 25 Method

24 fps

25 fps

1 2 3 4 5 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

6 7

First frame of next second

22334455667788991010111112121313141415151616171718

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

19 20 21 22 23 24

One second

24 fps

25 fps

1 2 3 4 5 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

6 7

Repeated field

22334455667788991010111112121312141315141615171618

17 18 19 20 21 22 23

19 20 21 22 23 24

Repeated field

One second

Running the film at 25 fps sets up a one-to-one relationship between the film and video frames. The drawback is that the action in the film is sped up by 4 percent, and the audio will need an identical speed increase to maintain synchronization. To take advantage of the wide variety of 25 fps video equipment available, you can choose to edit with the action 4 percent faster. Another option is to use the Cinema Tools Conform feature to change the clip’s timebase to 24 fps, correcting the speed. The video can then be edited with Final Cut Pro as long as the sequences using it have a 24 fps timebase.

Note: Final Cut Pro includes an Easy Setup and sequence preset with “24 @ 25” in their names, as well as a timecode format named “24 @ 25.” These are all intended to be used with clips that originated as PAL 25 fps video but have been conformed to 24 fps video. See Working with 25 fps Video Conformed to 24 fps for more information.

24 & 1 Method

Adding two extra video fields per second (also known as the 24 @ 25 pull-down method in Final Cut Pro) has the advantage of maintaining the original film speed, at the expense of losing the one-to-one film-to-video frame relationship. This method records an extra video field every twelfth film frame.

Working with 24p Video

With its frame rate and progressive scanning, 24p video is well suited for use with telecine transfers. It uses the same frame rate as film, providing a one-to-one relationship between the film and video frames without requiring a frame rate conversion.

31Chapter 2 Before You Begin Your Film Project

Your Final Cut Pro system needs to be equipped with specialized hardware to capture 24p video, either as compressed or uncompressed clips. Alternatively, some DV cameras, such as the Panasonic AG-DVX100 camcorder, can shoot 24p video and use the 2:3:3:2 pull-down method to record it to tape at 29.97 fps (the NTSC standard). Using Final Cut Pro and Cinema Tools, you can capture this video and remove the 2:3:3:2 pull-down so that you can edit it at 24 fps. See Adding and Removing Pull-Down in 24p Clips for more information.

Note: When used as part of an NTSC system, the 24p videotape recorder’s (VTR’s) frame rate is actually 23.976 fps (referred to as 23.98 fps) to be compatible with the NTSC 29.97 fps rate.

Timecode Considerations

There are several general issues related to timecode that you should be aware of. If you’re using NTSC video, you can also choose between two timecode formats.

General Timecode Tips

When using video or audio equipment that allows you to define the timecode setting, it is recommended that you set the “hours” part of the timecode to match the tape’s reel number. This makes it much easier to recognize which reel a clip originated from. It is also best to avoid “crossing midnight” on a tape. This happens when the timecode turns over from 23:59:59:29 to 00:00:00:00 while the tape is playing.

You have the option to use record run or free run timecode during the production:

• Record run timecode: The timecode generator pauses each time you stop recording. Your tape ends up with continuous timecode, because each time you start recording it picks up from where it left off.

• Free run timecode: The timecode generator runs continuously. Your tape ends up with a timecode break each time you start recording.

To avoid potential issues while capturing clips, it is strongly suggested that you use the record run method, which avoids noncontinuous timecode within a tape.

Whenever a tape has noncontinuous timecode (with jumps in the numbers between takes), make sure to allow enough time (handles) for the pre-roll and post-roll required during the capture process when logging your clips. See the Final Cut Pro documentation for additional information about timecode usage.

About NTSC Timecode

Normal NTSC timecode (referred to as non-drop frame timecode) works as you would expect—each frame uses the next available number. There are 30 frames per second, 60 seconds per minute, and 60 minutes per hour. Because NTSC’s actual frame rate of

29.97 fps is a little less than 30 fps, non-drop frame timecode ends up being slow (by

3 seconds and 18 frames per hour) when compared to actual elapsed time.

32 Chapter 2 Before You Begin Your Film Project

To compensate for this, drop frame timecode skips ahead by two frames each minute,

NTSC video frames (29.97 fps)

One second

Clip start

Reverse-telecined video frames (23.98 fps)

1:00 1:01 1:02 1:03 1:04 1:05 1:06 1:07 1:08 1:09 1:10 1:11 1:12 1:13 1:14 1:15 1:16 1:17 1:18 1:19 1:20 1:21 1:22 1:23 2:00

1:00

1:011:021:031:041:051:061:071:08 1:091:101:11 1:12 1:13 1:14 1:151:16 1:171:181:191:20 1:211:221:231:241:251:261:27 1:281:29 2:00

Discarded fields

except those minutes ending in “0.” (Note that it is only the numbers that are skipped—not the actual video frames.) This correction makes the timecode accurate with respect to real time but adds confusion to the process of digital film editing.

With non-drop frame timecode, once you find an A frame, you know that the frame at that frame number and the one five away from it will always be A frames. For example, if you find an A frame at 1:23:14:15, you know that all frames ending in “5” and “0” will be A frames. With drop frame timecode, you are not able to easily establish this sort of relationship.

Note: It is standard practice to have A frames at non-drop frame timecode numbers ending in “5” and “0.”

It is highly recommended that you use non-drop frame timecode for both the video and audio in all film editing projects, even though both Cinema Tools and Final Cut Pro are able to use either type. Whichever you use, make sure to use the same for both the video and audio tapes.

Note: PAL timecode does not have this issue—it runs at a true 25 fps.

What Happens to the Timecode After Using Reverse Telecine?

The Reverse Telecine feature (used to change 29.97 fps video to 23.98 fps video) directly affects the timecode of the video frames. Because Cinema Tools must generate new

23.98 fps timecode for the frames (based on the original timecode), you may see a

difference between the burned-in timecode numbers and the numbers shown in Final Cut Pro. Though the timecode discrepancies between the window burn and Final Cut Pro timecode may be confusing, Cinema Tools tracks the new timecode of the

23.98 fps video and is able to match it back to its original NTSC or PAL values, and thus

back to the film’s key numbers.

Note: The Reverse Telecine feature is most often used to convert the NTSC video to

23.98 fps to match the audio timecode, but it can also convert the video to 24 fps.

This is what happens to the timecode: reverse telecine removes six frames per second, so the timecode numbers continue to match at the beginning of each second. This means that a clip that lasts for 38 seconds when played at its NTSC rate of 29.97 fps will still last for 38 seconds when played at the reverse-telecined rate of 23.98 fps.

33Chapter 2 Before You Begin Your Film Project

In the above illustration, the blue NTSC fields represent fields that are removed during the reverse telecine process on a clip using traditional 3:2 pull-down. (See Adding and

Removing Pull-Down in 24p Clips for information about 2:3:3:2 pull-down.) The window

burn NTSC timecode will be different from what Final Cut Pro shows for all frames except the first one of each second, regardless of the clip’s length.

What Happens to the Timecode After Using Conform?

There are three common situations you would use the Conform feature for:

• Converting PAL 25 fps video to 24 fps: The timecode is not changed, which ensures that an EDL exported after the clips are edited will accurately refer to the original PAL timecode. The drawback is that the timecode, at 25 fps, no longer accurately represents the true passage of time when played at 24 fps because each frame is displayed for a slightly longer time. See Working with 25 fps Video Conformed to 24 fps for more information.

• Conforming 29.97 fps video to 29.97 fps: The timecode is not changed. This process is used to correct issues in a QuickTime file prior to using the Reverse Telecine feature. See Solutions to Common Problems for more information.

• Converting NTSC 29.97 fps video to 23.98 fps: The timecode is altered, with a number skipped every five frames. This conform situation is rarely used.

See Using the Conform Feature for more information.

Audio Considerations

Because the audio for a film is recorded separately on a sound recorder, there are a number of issues that you must be aware of and plan for:

• What type of sound recorder to use: For more information, see Choosing a Sound

Recorder.

• What timecode format to use: For more information, see Choosing an Audio Timecode

Format.

• How to mix the final audio: For more information, see Mixing the Final Audio.

• How to synchronize the audio with the video: For more information, see Synchronizing

the Audio with the Video.

Choosing a Sound Recorder

When choosing a sound recorder, you have several options: an analog tape recorder (typically a Nagra), a Digital Audio Tape (DAT ) recorder, or a digital disc recorder. Whether analog or digital, make sure the recorder has timecode capability.

34 Chapter 2 Before You Begin Your Film Project

Choosing an Audio Timecode Format

Unlike video or film, which must be structured with a specific frame rate, audio is linear with no physical frame boundaries. Adding timecode to audio is simply a way to identify points in time, making it easier to match the audio to video or film frames.

During the shoot, you have the choice of which audio timecode standard to use (typically 30 fps, 29.97 fps, 25 fps, 24 fps, or 23.98 fps). You also have the choice, with 30 fps and

29.97 fps, of using drop frame or non-drop frame timecode. For NTSC transfers, it is highly

recommended that you use non-drop frame timecode for both the video and audio (although Cinema Tools can work with either). See About NTSC Timecode for more information about drop frame and non-drop frame timecode.

A consideration for the audio timecode setting is how the final audio will be mixed:

• If the final mix is to be completed using Final Cut Pro: The setting needs to match the Final Cut Pro Editing Timebase setting in the Sequence Preset Editor.

• If thefinal mix isto becompleted at an audio post-productionfacility: The timecode needs to be compatible with the facility’s equipment.

Note: Make sure to consult with the facility and make this determination before the shoot begins.

In general, if you are syncing the audio during the telecine transfer, the timecode should match the video standard (29.97 fps for NTSC, 25 fps for PAL, or 24 fps for 24p). Check with your sound editor before you shoot to make sure the editor is comfortable with your choice.

Mixing the Final Audio

The way you mix the final audio depends on how complicated the soundtrack is (multiple tracks, sound effects, and overdubbing all add to its complexity) and your budget. You can either finish the audio with Final Cut Pro or have it finished at a post-production facility.

Finishing the Audio with Final Cut Pro

If you capture high-quality audio clips, you can finish the audio for your project with Final Cut Pro, which includes sophisticated audio editing tools. Keep in mind, however, that good audio is crucial to a good film, and a decision not to put your audio in the hands of an audio post-production facility familiar with the issues of creating audio for film might lead to disappointing results.

35Chapter 2 Before You Begin Your Film Project

You can export the audio from Final Cut Pro as an Open Media Framework (OMF) file for use at an audio post-production facility. An exported OMF file contains not only the information about audio In and Out points, but also the audio itself. This means that, for example, any sound effects clips you may have added are included. When you use an OMF file, the recording quality must be as high as possible, as this is what the audience will hear. Make sure to use a good capture device and observe proper recording levels.

Exporting Audio EDLs

Another approach is to use lower-quality clips in Final Cut Pro and then export an audio Edit Decision List (EDL) for use at an audio post-production facility. There they can capture high-quality versions of the audio clips straight from the original production audio source and edit them based on the audio EDL. For this to work, the timecode and roll numbers of the original sound rolls must be kept track of and used to create the audio EDL.

Audio clips captured as part of video clips do not retain their original timecode and roll numbers, and the Final Cut Pro EDL cannot be used by an audio post-production facility. This is most common with clips created from scene-and-take transfers, where the audio is synchronized to the film and recorded onto the videotape, losing the original audio timecode. But because the telecine log from the transfer generally contains timecode and reel number information for both the video and audio, importing this log into the Cinema Tools database allows the database to track audio usage, and you can export an audio EDL from Cinema Tools once you finish editing.

See Exporting an Audio EDL for details about the process.

Synchronizing the Audio with the Video

The production audio for a film is recorded separately on a sound recorder; this is known as dual (or double) system recording. Synchronizing the audio with the film and video, ensuring good lip-sync, is a critical step in making a movie. How you synchronize depends on the equipment used and when syncing is done. There are also considerations related to your video standard, how the telecine transfer was done, and the timecode used that directly impact the process.

There are three times when audio synchronization is important:

• During the telecine transfer

• During editing

• While creating the release print

Different strategies may be required to maintain sync at each of these times. Make sure you have planned accordingly.

36 Chapter 2 Before You Begin Your Film Project

Synchronization Basics

Synchronizing the audio with the video image can be fairly easy as long as some care was taken during the shoot. There are two aspects to synchronizing your audio: establishing sync at a particular point in each clip, and playing the audio at the correct speed so that it stays in sync.

While shooting, you must provide visible and audible cues to sync on. The most common method is to use a clapper board (also called a slate or sticks) at the beginning of each take. Even better, you can use a timecode slate that displays the sound recorder’s timecode. To sync the audio with the video, position the video at the first frame where the slate is closed, then locate the sound (or timecode) of the related audio. Note that production requirements occasionally require the slate to occur at the end of the take, generally with the slate held upside down.

Because the film is often either slightly sped up or slowed down during the telecine transfer, the audio must also have its speed changed. If the audio is being synced during the transfer, the speed change is handled there. If the audio is being synced to the videotape after the transfer, the speed change must happen then.

Synchronizing During the Telecine Transfer

During the shoot, you typically start the sound recorder a little before the camera rolls and stop it a little after the camera stops. Because you end up recording more audio than film, you cannot play the audio tape and the film through several takes and have them stay in sync. If you want the telecine transfer to record synchronized audio on the videotape, you must either use the scene-and-take transfer method, synchronizing each take on its own, or create a synced sound roll before performing a camera-roll transfer.

A large benefit to synchronizing during the telecine transfer, aside from having videotapes with synchronized audio ready to be captured, is that the telecine log usually includes the audio timecode and sound roll number information. Importing the log into Cinema Tools makes it possible to export an audio EDL so that an audio post-production facility can recapture the audio clips at a higher quality later, if needed.

• NTSC transfers: When transferring film to NTSC video, it is always necessary to run the film 0.1 percent slower than 24 fps (23.976 fps, typically referred to as 23.98 fps) to compensate for NTSC video’s actual frame rate of 29.97 fps (instead of an ideal 30 fps). Because the film has been slowed down, audio too must be slowed to maintain sync.

• PAL transfers: PAL transfers using the 24 @ 25 method (speeding up the film to 25 fps) require that the audio also be sped up if you are syncing the audio during the telecine transfer or if you intend to edit the video at this rate.

If you are transferring the film to video using the 24 & 1 method (recording an extra video field every twelfth film frame), you should run the audio at its normal speed regardless of where sync is established. Use 25 fps timecode for the audio in this case.

37Chapter 2 Before You Begin Your Film Project

Synchronizing in Final Cut Pro

If you don’t synchronize your sound and picture onto tape via the telecine transfer, they are captured into Final Cut Pro as separate audio and video clips. You can then synchronize them in Final Cut Pro, using the clapper board shots. See Synchronization Basics for more information. After you synchronize two or more clips, you can link them together as one clip, using the Final Cut Pro merged clips feature. See Synchronizing Separately Captured

Audio and Video and the Final Cut Pro documentation for more information.

Working in Final Cut Pro

Decisions you make regarding the telecine transfer and how you work with audio affect how you use Final Cut Pro during the editing process.

Setting the Editing Timebase for Sequences

In Final Cut Pro, you must set the editing timebase for sequences to match the frame rate of the captured clips.

Important: Do not place clips into a sequence if the clips and sequence have different

frame rates. If you do, the resulting film list is likely to be inaccurate. For example, if you want to edit at 24 fps, make sure your clips’ frame rates are all set at 24 fps (either by using the Reverse Telecine feature or the Conform feature).

See About Easy Setups and Setting the Editing Timebase and the Final Cut Pro documentation for details about setting the editing timebase for sequences.

Outputting to Videotape When Editing at 24 fps

One of the benefits of editing at 24 fps is that you get a one-to-one relationship between the film and video frames, allowing for very accurate cut lists. A drawback is that you need a 24p VTR to directly record video as 24 fps—you cannot easily record the video on standard NTSC or PAL video equipment. This can be a problem if you want to record a videotape of the edited project, either to show others or to give the negative cutter a visual reference to use along with the cut list, but there are solutions:

• If you’re working with NTSC video: You can use the pull-down insertion feature in Final Cut Pro to apply a pull-down pattern to the video, thus outputting it at 29.97 fps. See Pull-Down Patterns You Can Apply to 23.98 fps Video for details. There are also third-party cards and applications that can perform a 3:2 pull-down on the video, allowing it to run at the NTSC 29.97 fps rate.

• If you’re working with PAL video: If you know that you will want to record a videotape when finished, it’s easiest to edit at 25 fps (with the film having been sped up to maintain the one-to-one relationship).

38 Chapter 2 Before You Begin Your Film Project

Using Effects

Final Cut Pro provides extensive effects capabilities, including common film effects such as dissolves, wipes, speed changes, and text credits. Keep in mind that the video output of Final Cut Pro is not intended to be transferred to film, and these effects must be created by a facility specializing in opticals, or created digitally using high-resolution scans of footage to be composited. See Using Effects, Filters, and Transitions for more information, including an outline of the basic workflow for including effects and transitions in your digitally edited film.

39Chapter 2 Before You Begin Your Film Project

Cinema Tools Workflows

The primary purpose of Cinema Tools is to export film lists based on edits made in Final Cut Pro. You can also use Cinema Tools in workflows involving Color, DPX image sequences, and REDCODE media files. There are a few critical steps that are necessary for these workflows, but for the most part, the Cinema Tools workflow you should follow depends on the equipment you use, your video standard, and how you like to work.

This chapter covers the following:

• Basic Film Workflow Steps (p. 41)

• Film Workflow Examples (p. 42)

• Basic Digital Intermediate Workflow Steps (p. 46)

• Digital Intermediate Workflow Using a Telecine (p. 49)

• Working with REDCODE Media (p. 51)

Basic Film Workflow Steps

This section details a Cinema Tools database workflow for working with film. See Film

Workflow Examples for possible scenarios. See How Much Can Be Done from Final Cut Pro?

for information about which steps can be done directly in Final Cut Pro.

The typical Cinema Tools film workflow is outlined below.

Stage 1: Creating the Cinema Tools Database

The heart of Cinema Tools is its database, where the relationships between the elements of your movie (the film, video, and audio) are established and tracked. Although there is no actual requirement that the database be created prior to editing, it can provide some useful tools to help with capturing clips and planning the edit.

See Creating the Cinema Tools Database for more information.

Stage 2: Capturing the Source Clips with Final Cut Pro

You must capture the video and audio on your editing computer. How you do this depends in large part on the actual media used for the telecine transfer.

See Capturing the Source Clips with Final Cut Pro for more information.

Stage 3: Connecting the Clips to the Database

Once you have captured the source clips, you can connect them to the Cinema Tools database (also known as linking the clips to the database). Connecting a clip to the database gives Cinema Tools the ability to access a record’s clip while creating the cut list, reducing the chance of timecode entry problems.

When creating a cut list, Cinema Tools starts by looking at the clip pathname used in the edit and matching it back to the database. Being able to work with the clip file in this way reduces the chances of a timecode error, which can cause inaccurate records in the cut list. This is especially important when editing at 24 fps. See How Cinema Tools Creates

Film Lists and Connecting Source Clips to the Database for more information.

Stage 4: Preparing the Clips for Editing

Cinema Tools has two powerful features that can be used on your clips prior to editing them: the Reverse Telecine feature and the Conform feature.

See Preparing the Clips for Editing for more information.

Stage 5: Editing the Clips in Final Cut Pro

You edit the clips in Final Cut Pro much as you would for any video project, but there are a few important things to keep in mind. See Editing with Final Cut Pro for descriptions of these considerations.

Stage 6: Creating Cut Lists and Other Lists with Cinema Tools

Once you have edited your clips and are satisfied with your digitally edited project, you are ready togenerate film-related lists that describe how to cutthe negative or workprint. The cut list provides a list of the edits and of titling information.

See Creating Cut Lists and Other Lists with Cinema Tools for more information.

Film Workflow Examples

The following sections detail several Cinema Tools database workflow scenarios. Keep in mind that there are many possible variations of these workflows, and you often do not have to follow the steps exactly in order. It’s also possible to use parts of several workflows. See Basic Film Workflow Steps for details about specific steps. For a discussion of the integration between Final Cut Pro and Cinema Tools, see How Much Can Be Done from

Final Cut Pro?

Following are sections covering two groups of workflows—those that use scene-and-take transfers (If You Used Scene-and-Take Transfers) and those that use camera-roll transfers (If You Used Camera-Roll Transfers). These workflows are further divided depending on whether a telecine log is available and whether you have device control of your video player during the capture process.

42 Chapter 3 Cinema Tools Workflows

If You Used Scene-and-Take Transfers

Yes

Generate a batch capture

list with Cinema Tools

Import the batch list into the Final Cut Pro Browser

and batch capture

Use the Cinema Tools

Connect Clips command

to connect clips to database

Device

control?

Key number

burned in?

Yes

Import a telecine log

into the database

Create a new

database

Connect clips

to the database

Trim clips to match

database records

Use Final Cut Pro

to manually capture

each clip

Connect clips to

the database and

use Identify feature

to determine and enter key number and timecode for a known

frame of each clip

Use Final Cut Pro

to manually capture

each clip

Indicates steps that use automated processes.

The blue boxes show the preferred workflow, which contains the most automated steps and produces the most accurate cut list.

Because scene-and-take transfers require a database record for each take (because of noncontinuous key numbers), an important first consideration is whether or not a telecine log is available.

Workflow for a Scene-and-Take Transfer with a Telecine Log

Importing a telecine log automatically creates the database entries.

Workflow for a Scene-and-Take Transfer Without a Telecine Log

With no telecine log to import, you can do either of the following:

• Manually add entries to the database for each clip: With this workflow (outlined in the following diagram), you export a batch capture list with Cinema Tools. If you have device control and you already know the In and Out points of the clips, this method can be efficient.

43Chapter 3 Cinema Tools Workflows

• Manually capture the clips with Final Cut Pro and use the Synchronize with Cinema Tools

Yes

Generate a batch capture

list with Cinema Tools

Import the batch list into the Final Cut Pro Browser

and batch capture

Use the Cinema Tools

Connect Clips command

to connect clips to database

Device

control?

Key number

burned in?

Yes

Create a new

database

Connect clips

to the database

Trim clips to match

database records

Use Final Cut Pro

to manually capture

each clip

Connect clips to

the database and

use Identify feature

to determine and enter key number and timecode for a known

frame of each clip

Use Final Cut Pro

to manually capture

each clip

Add an entry for each clip

to the database

Indicates steps that use automated processes.

The blue boxes show the preferred workflow, which contains the most automated steps and produces the most accurate cut list.

command to create the Cinema Tools database: This workflow is most useful when you don’t know the exact In and Out points for each clip or if you do not have device control. You can also create the Cinema Tools database by dragging the folder containing the clips to the Cinema Tools application icon. You can use the Identify feature of Cinema Tools to determine and enter the key number information for each database record.

If You Used Camera-Roll Transfers

The primary consideration when using camera-roll transfers is the film list generation method you intend to use. See How Cinema Tools Creates Film Lists for an explanation

44 Chapter 3 Cinema Tools Workflows

of the two available methods. Make sure to sync the audio to the video before you capture the clips.

Clip-Based Workflow for a Camera-Roll Transfer

Import log into database

(should generate one

record per camera roll)

Enter at least one record

for each camera roll,

defining key number and

timecode relationship

Optional: Enter additional

records, one for each clip

(recommended when you

have device control)

Optional: Enter additional records, one for each clip

(recommended when you

have device control)

Yes

Generate a batch capture

list with Cinema Tools

Import the batch list into

the Final Cut Pro Browser

and batch capture

Use the Cinema Tools

Connect Clips command

to connect clips to database

Device

control?

Key number

burned in?

Yes

Connect clips

to the database

Trim clips to match

database records

Use Final Cut Pro

to manually capture

each clip

Connect clips to

the database and

use Identify feature

to determine and

enter key number and timecode for a known

frame of each clip

Use Final Cut Pro

to manually capture

each clip

Telecine

log?

Create a new

database

Indicates steps that use automated processes.

The blue boxes show the preferred workflow, which contains the most automated steps and produces the most accurate cut list.

The clip-based method is more reliable because there are fewer variables.

45Chapter 3 Cinema Tools Workflows

Timecode-Based Workflow for a Camera-Roll Transfer

Use Final Cut Pro to

capture the entire camera

roll as a single clip or

capture desired takes as

separate clips (the timecode

must not change from

the original)

Create a new

database

Enter at least one record,

defining key number and

timecode relationship

Import log into database

(should generate one

record per camera roll)

Yes

Telecine

log?

The timecode-based method must be used in certain situations, such as when generating a list from an external EDL or when the clip files are offline.

Basic Digital Intermediate Workflow Steps

The digitalintermediate (DI) process generally refers to any workflow that involves source video of 2K resolution or higher, whether from a high-quality film scan or a digital camera, and that results in new output media being generated for distribution instead of relying

46 Chapter 3 Cinema Tools Workflows

on conforming the original camera negative. The output can be high-resolution digital files or a film print made from the files.

The primary goal of this workflow is to edit low-resolution versions of the source video clips in Final Cut Pro but have Color be able to color correct the original full-resolution source video clips and output the final movie. This is accomplished by exporting an Edit Decision List (EDL) from Final Cut Pro that Color uses to match to clip records in a Cinema Tools database.

There are two common approaches that you can take in a DI workflow:

• Scan allof the film: This is the simplest approach but requires a lot of disk storage space for the large video files that result. This approach is detailed in this section.

• Use a telecine for all of the film, and then scan only the clips that are used: This approach

Final Cut Pro

Offline

edit

Color

Apple ProRes

video clips

EDL

EDLXML

Offline QuickTime conversion

Conform

video

Create

high-quality

film scan

Final

program

output

Color

correct

2K DPX

image

sequences

DPX

Cinema Tools

Create

database

is a bit more complicated and uses a telecine to provide the offline video for Final Cut Pro to edit. This approach is detailed in the Digital Intermediate Workflow Using a Telecine section.

A typical scan-based DI workflow is outlined below.

Stage 1: Creating Apple ProRes Files for Final Cut Pro

Final Cut Pro cannot work directly with the DPX image sequences that are typically used in this workflow. You can use Color to create QuickTime files (usually based on an Apple ProRes codec) from the DPX image sequences. Using Color ensures that the QuickTime files have the correct reel number (the folder name that contains the actual DPX files) and timecode (as embedded in the DPX files).

47Chapter 3 Cinema Tools Workflows

You can create these downconverted files in Color by creating a new project with Render File Type set to QuickTime and Export Codec set to the codec you want to use. Then simply edit all the shots you want to convert into the Timeline, add them to the Render Queue, and click Start Render. See the Color documentation for more information.

Stage 2: Creating the Cinema Tools Database

A Cinema Tools database for a DI workflow is much simpler than a database for a typical film workflow because there is often no film information to track. You can create the database by simply dragging the folder that contains the original media files to the Cinema Tools application icon (it doesn’t matter whether Cinema Tools is already open or not). A dialog appears asking if you want to create a new database. The new database creates a record for each clip found in the folder and its subfolders.

Note: If you create a Cinema Tools database by dragging a folder containing many DPX files to the Cinema Tools application icon, the process can take a long time and it might appear that Cinema Tools is not responding. Be sure to give Cinema Tools plenty of time to process the clips.

Once you have created the database, you can easily add new clips to it as they become available by dragging them to the List View window.

Stage 3: Editing the Clips in Final Cut Pro

You edit the downconverted video clips in Final Cut Pro much as you would for any video project, but there are a few important things to keep in mind. See Editing with Final Cut Pro for descriptions of these considerations.

Stage 4: Exporting an EDL File from Final Cut Pro

After you have completed editing the downconverted video clips in Final Cut Pro, you export an EDL. This file contains a list of every edit, with the reel names of the source clips and their In and Out point timecode numbers.

Stage 5: Importing the EDL into Color

When you import an EDL into a Color project, you can choose the folder that contains the source clips the EDL refers to. You can choose the folder that contains the original DPX clips and have Color connect the EDL records to the clips, or you can choose the Cinema Tools database you created from the clips.

The advantages of choosing the Cinema Tools database are:

• You can easily correct any issues there might be between the EDL and the actual clips. For example, if a reel name does not match, you can change the reel name in the Cinema Tools database to match the name listed in the EDL.

• Once you have created the Cinema Tools database, choosing it when importing an EDL into Color can be faster than choosing the folder with the clips. Choosing the database becomes especially useful if you end up importing the EDL into Color multiple times as additional clips become available.

48 Chapter 3 Cinema Tools Workflows

• If the EDL refers to clips on more than one volume, a Cinema Tools database can connect

Cinema Tools

Create

database

Pull list

EDL

Color

Final

program

output

Color

correct

Conform

video

Film list

Offline

video

Create

high-quality

film scan

Telecine

log

Original camera

negative

DPX

image

sequences

DPX

Final Cut Pro

Convert to video with

a telecine

Capture

Offline

edit

to all of the clips. Color can automatically connect to the clips on only one volume, and you must manually connect to the clips on the other volumes.

Stage 6: Finishing the Project in Color

Once you have imported the EDL into Color and matched it to the source clips, the clips are conformed to match the edits, and you can proceed with the usual color correction process. Color is then used to render the final output video.

Digital Intermediate Workflow Using a Telecine

Using a telecine to create the offline video clips to edit with Final Cut Pro requires far less storage space than using a film scan for all of the film footage. After the edit is finished, you use Cinema Tools to generate the pull list, which is used to create scans for only the video clips that are actually used in the program. The drawbacks of this method are that the original camera negative must be processed twice and the clips from each process must use the same reel names and timecode.

49Chapter 3 Cinema Tools Workflows

Stage 1: Creating the Offline Video Clips

Using a telecine, you create the offline video clips that Final Cut Pro uses to edit the program. You should try to create offline video clips with the same frame rate as the DPX image sequence clips you will create with the film scan when the offline edit is finished. You also need to make sure the reel name and timecode of the telecine clips will match those of the clips from the film scan.

Note: Cinema Tools and Color use the name of the folder containing the DPX image sequence files as the reel name.

You should also generate a telecine log file that Cinema Tools can use to create a database for exporting the pull list used by the film scanner.

Stage 2: Creating the Cinema Tools Database

You create a Cinema Tools database using the telecine log file. This database is used to generate the pull list after you finish editing the program.

Stage 3: Editing the Clips in Final Cut Pro

You edit the offline video clips in Final Cut Pro much as you would for any video project, but there are a few important things to keep in mind. See Editing with Final Cut Pro for descriptions of these considerations.

Stage 4: Exporting the Pull List

After you have finished editing the offline video clips, you can export a Cinema Tools film list that includes the pull list used to scan the high-quality video clips used in the program.

Stage 5: Creating the High-Quality Video Clips

The pull list is used by a film scanner to create high-quality video clips, usually DPX image sequences, that are then used to finish the program in Color.

It is critical that the reel names and timecode of the scanned clips match what the telecine process provided for the offline video clips.

Stage 6: Exporting an EDL File from Final Cut Pro

After you have completed editing the offline video clips in Final Cut Pro, you export an EDL. This file contains a list of every edit, with the reel names of the source clips and their In and Out point timecode numbers.

Stage 7: Importing the EDL into Color

When you import an EDL into a Color project, you can choose the folder that contains the source clips the EDL refers to. You can choose the folder that contains the scanned DPX clips and have Color connect the EDL records to the clips, or you can choose a Cinema Tools database you create from the clips.

50 Chapter 3 Cinema Tools Workflows

The advantages of choosing the Cinema Tools database are:

• If the EDL refers to clips on more than one volume, a Cinema Tools database can connect to all of the clips. Color can automatically connect to the clips on only one volume, and you must manually connect to the clips on the other volumes.

Stage 8: Finishing the Project in Color

Working with REDCODE Media

Working with media recorded using the RED ONE camera requires that your computer have RED Final Cut Studio support software installed. See the RED Digital Cinema Camera Company website at http://www.red.com/support for more information.

Each REDCODE media file is made up of several files inside a folder with an .RDC extension. For example, you can have a folder with the name H046_C001_1002VL.RDC that contains the following files:

• H046_C001_1002VL_001.R3D

• H046_C001_1002VL_F.mov

• H046_C001_1002VL_H.mov

• H046_C001_1002VL_M.mov

• H046_C001_1002VL_P.mov

The file with the .R3D extension is the actual media clip—the other files in the folder with .mov extensions are QuickTime movies that areoptionally created by the RED ONE camera, providing different resolutions of the media file.

To add a record that is connected to a REDCODE clip to a Cinema Tools database, you need to drag the .RDC folder that contains the media files or any of the .mov files in the folder to the Cinema Tools List View window. Alternatively, you can drag a folder that contains multiple .RDC folders (representing multiple REDCODE clips) to the Cinema Tools application icon to create a new database based on the clips.

51Chapter 3 Cinema Tools Workflows

When you play the clip in the Clip window, a .mov file (usually the one with “_M” in its name) is played.

Important: There has to be at least one .mov file in the folder for Cinema Tools to be able

to play the clip in the Clip window.

52 Chapter 3 Cinema Tools Workflows

Creating a Cinema Tools Database

At the heart of Cinema Tools is its database, providing powerful organizational tools.

This chapter covers the following:

• An Introduction to Cinema Tools Databases (p. 53)

• Deciding How You Should Create the Database (p. 54)

• Creating and Configuring a New Database (p. 58)

An Introduction to Cinema Tools Databases

A Cinema Tools database contains records that:

• Describe your source clips

• Track the relationship between the film rolls and edge code (key numbers, ink numbers, or both) and the video reels and timecode

• Can also track other elements such as scenes, shots, and takes, as well as sound rolls and audio timecode

You generally create a database for each film or video project. Alternatively, you can create databases for sections of your project and later merge them all into one large database.

When you work on film projects, the database makes it possible for you to export film lists that tell the negative cutter how to cut your original camera negative. When you work on projects using a digital intermediate workflow, the database makes it easier to manage your original full-resolution media.

Beyond creating film lists, you may want to use the database as an organizational tool. It can function similarly to the code book traditionally used in the post-production of film, tracking important elements such as the scene, shot, and take; the camera and lab rolls; the edge code numbers; the video reels and timecode numbers; the sound rolls and audio timecode numbers; and the source clips.

Depending on your situation, you may be able to simplify the database creation process

One source clip

containing one take

Take 1

One

database

record

One source clip

containing one camera roll

One

database

record

One source clip

containing multiple takes

Take 1 Take 2 Take 3

One

database

record

by building the database from a telecine log or by creating just one database record per camera roll.

Understanding the Basic Structure of a Cinema Tools Database

A database is made up of records, and each record describes one source clip. There are three different types of source clips for which you might create a database record:

• If you used a scene-and-take transfer: You’ll have one database record for each take, where each source clip is one take.

• If you useda camera-roll telecine transfer: You’ll have one database record per camera roll, where each source clip is one camera roll (typically containing several takes).

54 Chapter 4 Creating a Cinema Tools Database

• If you have broken down source clips into groups of takes: Each database record is associated with one source clip that contains several takes.

Deciding How You Should Create the Database

The way you create the database depends on how you want to use it and whether or not you have a telecine log or Avid Log Exchange (ALE) file.

If you haven’t done so yet, take a look at Cinema Tools Workflows for general information. Use these examples to guide you in determining the basic steps you need to take to create your database and capture your clips. The steps you take, and the order of those steps, differ depending on a number of factors, most of which are summarized in the workflow examples.

Capturing Before You Create the Database

When using a traditional film workflow, it is possible to capture your source clips before creating your database, and to build the Cinema Tools database by importing a batch capture list created in Final Cut Pro. This approach is not as easy as building a database from a telecine log or ALE file because you then need to manually add the key number and film roll information to each database record. See Importing Database Information

from a Batch Capture List for more information.

When using a digital intermediate workflow, you will need to capture, or more often transfer, your video files from their source media using the Final Cut Pro Log and Capture or Log and Transfer window. You can then create the Cinema Tools database by simply dragging the folder with the captured files to the Cinema Tools application icon.

If You Have a Telecine Log or ALE File

A telecine log, sometimes referred to as a FLEx file, is a file created by the telecine technician during a telecine transfer. You can also use an Avid Log Exchange (ALE) file as you would use a telecine log. The telecine log records the key numbers of the original camera negative and the timecode of the video transfer, and tracks the relationship between them.

Advantages of Using a Telecine Log or ALE File

Creating your database from a log is ideal because it provides these advantages:

• Time savings: You can create database records from a telecine log. You don’t have to manually create and enter details in each record. You can then generate a batch capture list from the database, expediting the capture process.

• Accuracy andcompleteness: Assuming the log you use is accurate, you’ll instantly have an accurate database and you won’t have to worry about your own potential data entry errors. Using the database batch capture list also ensures that the source media files you capture match your database information.

To build a database from an existing log

1 Create a new, empty database.

See Creating and Configuring a New Database for more information.

2 Generate the database records from the log.

55Chapter 4 Creating a Cinema Tools Database

See Importing Database Information from a Telecine Log or ALE File for more information.

If You Do Not Have a Telecine Log or ALE File

Although it’s faster and more efficient to use a log, you can build a database without one. This is the most common approach with digital intermediate workflows.

To create a database without a log

1 Create a new, empty database.

See Creating and Configuring a New Database for more information.

2 Enter database records manually.

See A Potential Database Shortcut for Camera-Roll Transfers and Entering Database

Information Manually for more information.

Note: Alternatively, you could capture your source clips before creating your database and then build the Cinema Tools database by importing a batch capture list created in Final Cut Pro. See Importing Database Information from a Batch Capture List for more information.

Is Your Edge Code Number-to-Timecode Relationship Continuous or Noncontinuous?

The edge code number-to-timecode relationship in a camera roll is continuous if the camera roll was transferred to video without stopping.

The edge code number-to-timecode relationship is noncontinuous if:

• You used a scene-and-take telecine transfer, where the video recording was stopped and restarted in between takes

• The film roll was made up oftakes that were spliced together before it wastransferred to video

Note: Occasionally the edge code number-to-timecode relationship is broken if, during filming, the camera crew opened up a camera to check, clean, or change parts of the camera (often called checking the gate). When the camera is opened for such purposes, the film is typically unthreaded and then rethreaded. When the film is rethreaded, it may be on a different perforation number. This means that at the telecine, the telecine technician needs to stop, reframe, and make an edit, thus breaking the edge code number-to-timecode relationship in the camera roll. This should be evident in the telecine log.

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A Potential Database Shortcut for Camera-Roll Transfers

If you used a camera-roll transfer and need to manually create your database, you may be able to save time by creating one database record per camera roll, depending on whether or not the edge code number-to-timecode relationship is continuous for each camera-roll transfer.

If the Edge Code Number-to-Timecode Relationship Is Continuous on Each Roll

You can create one database record per camera roll, and Cinema Tools can use the timecode-based method of locating database records in order to create film lists. In this case, each camera roll acts as one source clip.

As long as you create an accurate database record for the camera roll, Cinema Tools will be able to accurately create film lists. However, if you also connect the source clips to the database records, you are providing extra insurance that the match-back will go smoothly even if there is a timecode error. See Timecode-Based Workflow for a Camera-Roll Transfer and How Cinema Tools Creates Film Lists for more information.

Even if you have a continuous edge code number-to-timecode relationship, you may want to take the time to create database records for each source clip for your own organizational and tracking purposes. For example:

• A database can be used to cross-check which take is on which sound roll and which lab roll contains a negative you need.

• You may want to have records for each clip so that you can add notes about different clips.

• Database records provide a poster frame of each clip for quick visual reference, and you can access and play the whole clip from the database.

If the Edge Code Number-to-Timecode Relationship Is Noncontinuous on Each Roll

You need to create separate database records for each clip and connect each clip to its record. Each database record must include the key number or ink number of the first frame of the associated source clip, so that Cinema Tools can adequately track the edge code number-to-timecode relationships throughout your sequence.

Additional Uses for the Database

Optionally, you may want to use the database for purposes beyond simply matching video back to film, and this can affect how you create databases:

• Individual databases for dailies: If you have daily shoots that you want to process and track separately, you can create new individual databases for each daily session. If you do create individual databases for dailies, consider naming each database file by the date of the daily. Eventually, you can merge the databases into a master database by importing all the databases into one database.

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• Creating an audio Edit Decision List (EDL): If you plan to give an audio EDL to the audio post-production facility, make sure that the audio timecode, video timecode, and sound roll information isentered in each database record. Creating the database by importing a telecine log is the easiest and most efficient way to make sure that all the necessary information is entered in the database.

Creating and Configuring a New Database

When you create a new Cinema Tools database, you make default selections for your project settings in the New Database dialog.

Note: When you import data from a telecine log, the film standard, video timecode rate, audio timecode rate, and telecine speed are typically included in the log and are automatically set in Cinema Tools. Data from the telecine log takes precedence over the defaults, so even if your default settings are different from the telecine log data, Cinema Tools uses the settings in the telecine log.

You can create a new database using Cinema Tools or Final Cut Pro.

Creating a New Database Using Cinema Tools

You can create a new database and configure its default settings directly in Cinema Tools.

Note: If a database is already open when you create a new one, the currently open database is closed.

To create a new database

1 Do one of the following:

• Open Cinema Tools and click Create a New Database in the Welcome dialog, if it appears.

The Welcome dialog generally appears only the first time you open Cinema Tools.

After that, Cinema Tools opens the database that was open the last time you closed Cinema Tools. If there was no database open when you closed Cinema Tools, the Welcome dialog appears again.

• Choose Database > New Database (or press Command-Shift-N).

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• Drag one or more folders with clips from a Finder window to the Cinema Tools application icon.

Note: If you drag a mixture of selected clips and folders to the application icon, a dialog appears advising you not to mix the two types of items. Dragging selected clips to the application icon does not create a new database, but opens the clips in the Clip window instead.

2 In the New Database dialog, choose default settings for your database and click OK. See

Settings in the New Database Dialog for information about the settings.

Note: The settings in this dialog can be left at their default values when you are creating a database from video clips and do not intend to track any film-related information in the database records.

3 In the “Create a new database” dialog, choose a location and enter a filename for the

database.

An empty database is created, and you are ready to enter information in it. See About

Working with Database Information for more information.

Important: If you created the database by dragging a folder that contains many clips,

especially if they are DPX image sequences, it can take Cinema Tools a significant amount of time to process and add all of the clips to the new database. Cinema Tools may appear to have stopped responding during this time. Be sure to allow plenty of time for Cinema Tools to finish processing the folder of clips.

Creating a New Database Using Final Cut Pro

There are two methods you can use to create a Cinema Tools database while using Final Cut Pro:

• Synchronize a set of clips with a new database.

• Import a telecine log file into a new database.

Synchronizing a Set of Selected Clips to Create a New Database

You can use the Synchronize with Cinema Tools command if you have one or more clips in the Final Cut Pro Browser that you would like to add to a new Cinema Tools database. This can be useful when you have manually captured a set of clips but have no telecine log to go with them, or when you want to create a separate database for a set of clips already in a database.

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To create a new database using the Synchronize with Cinema Tools command

1 In the Final Cut Pro Browser, select the clips that you want to add to a new Cinema Tools

database.

These can be clips that are already in a database, or they can be new clips that are not in a database.

2 Choose Tools > Synchronize with Cinema Tools.

A dialog appears that allows you to configure the synchronization process.

The Database field shows the currently selected database.

3 Select the “Add new records” checkbox.

This option must be selected when you are synchronizing with a new database.

4 Select the “Auto connect” checkbox if you want the database to automatically connect

the clips to any new records that are created in the database.

5 Click New Database to create a new Cinema Tools database.

6 In the dialog that appears, enter a name and location for the database, and configure its

default settings. See Settings in the New Database Dialog for information about these settings.

7 To close the dialog, click Save when finished.

8 Click OK.

A new Cinema Tools database is created, and the selected clips, along with any film-related information they might contain, are added to it.

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See Synchronizing Final Cut Pro Clips with Cinema Tools for more information about the Synchronize with Cinema Tools command, including how to use it to synchronize clips to an existing database.

Importing a Telecine Log File to Create a New Database

When you import a telecine log file into Final Cut Pro, you can choose to import it into a new or existing Cinema Tools database. See Importing Telecine Logs Using Final Cut Pro for more information.

Settings in the New Database Dialog

When you make choices in the New Database dialog, keep the following points in mind:

• Choosing a default setting does not lock you into using that setting in the database records. Default settings are applied automatically to new database records, but you can change the film standard, video timecode rate, and audio timecode rate for each clip individually in the Detail View window.

• When you import data from a telecine log, the film standard, video timecode rate, audio timecode rate, and telecine speed are typically included in the log and are automatically set in Cinema Tools. Data from the telecine log takes precedence over the defaults, so even if your default settings are different from the telecine log data, Cinema Tools uses the settings in the telecine log.

• The settings in this dialog can be left at their default values when you are creating a database from video clips and do not intend to track any film-related information in the database records, such as in a typical DI workflow.

If you need to change default settings you already made, see Changing the Default

Database Settings for information.

Tip: If youare combining existing databases or want to check information such as default settings, filenames, and modification dates for an existing database, choose Database > Database Properties. The Database Properties dialog displays the full pathname and size of the database file, as well as the creation and modification dates. You can see the default project settings for the film standard, video timecode rate, and audio timecode rate.

The New Database dialog contains the following settings:

• Film Standard: Cinema Tools supports the 4-perf 35mm, 3-perf 35mm, and 16mm-20 formats. (See Film Background Basics for information about these standards.)

Normally you use the same film stock throughout a film, so the film standard doesn’t change. However, if you need to, you can set the film standard for each shot individually in the Detail View window. For example, if you have some clips that are reverse but most are normal, you can specify the reverse film standard in the Detail View window for those clips.

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Choose the standard film type used for your project from the Film Standard pop-up menu:

• 35mm 4p: 35mm film, 4 perforations per frame

• 16mm 20: 16mm film, 20 frames per key number

• 35mm 3p: 35mm film, 3 perforations per frame

• Video TC Rate: Cinema Tools supports four different video timecode rates. See Film

Background Basics for information about timecode rates. The film lab that transfers

your film to video can tell you what kind of timecode is recorded on the videotape.

Choose the type of timecode recorded on the videotapes for your project from the Video TC Rate pop-up menu:

• 30 NDF: Non-drop frame NTSC timecode at 29.97 fps

• 30 DF: Drop frame NTSC timecode at 29.97 fps

• 25 FPS: PAL timecode at 25 fps

• 24 FPS: Video timecode at 24 fps or 23.98 fps

• Sound TC Rate: Usually, timecode is recorded along with the soundtracks on the production sound rolls. That timecode can be used to locate the audio that goes with any particular clip, and many systems can use that timecode to synchronize the audio with the video. The primary purpose for entering the sound roll and audio timecode information in the database is for matching audio back to an audio Edit Decision List (EDL). See Exporting an Audio EDL for more information.

Choose the type of timecode recorded on your production sound rolls from the Sound TC Rate pop-up menu:

• 30 NDF: Non-drop frame NTSC timecode at 29.97 fps

• 30 DF: Drop frame NTSC timecode at 29.97 fps

• 25 FPS: PAL timecode at 25 fps

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• 24 FPS: Video timecode at 24 fps or 23.98 fps

• TelecineSpeed: Telecine speed (shown as TK Speed in the Detail View window, the Clip window’s Identify pane, and optionally in the Final Cut Pro Browser window) refers to the frame rate of the film in the telecine equipment during the transfer to video.

From the Telecine Speed pop-up menu, you choose the speed at which the film was transferred:

• 24: 24 fps or 23.98 fps telecine film speed

• 25: 25 fps telecine film speed

• 30: 29.97 fps telecine film speed

If you are working with NTSC video, you usually choose 24 fps as the telecine film speed, though the actual telecine film speed is approximately 23.98 fps. The Telecine Speed pop-up menu also allows you to choose a setting of 30 fps because it is possible to transfer film to NTSC video with the film running at a speed of 30 fps (actually 29.97 fps).

If you are working with PAL video, see Frame Rate Basics for a discussion of the PAL frame rate choices.

If your film was transferred to video at a telecine film speed of 24 fps, choose 24 fps as the telecine film speed. If your film was transferred to video at a telecine film speed of 25 fps, choose 25 fps.

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Working with Databases

To work with the database, you need to know how to open it, find specific records, and access information about a record’s clip. This chapter also details using the List View, Detail View, and Clip windows.

This chapter covers the following:

• Opening an Existing Database (p. 65)

• Viewing Database Properties (p. 66)

• About the Detail View Window (p. 66)

• Settings in the Detail View Window (p. 67)

• About the List View Window (p. 73)

• Settings in the List View Window (p. 74)

• Finding and Opening Database Records (p. 76)

• Settings in the Find Dialog (p. 77)

• Backing Up, Copying, Renaming, and Locking Databases (p. 80)

• About the Clip Window (p. 80)

• Settings in the Clip Window (p. 81)

• Accessing Information About a Source Clip (p. 84)

Opening an Existing Database

The first step in working with a database is to open it.

To open an existing database

Do one of the following:

Choose Database > Open Database (or press Command-Shift-O), then select the database

in the dialog.

Drag a database file from a Finder window to the Cinema Tools application icon.

All the records in the open database are listed in the List View window, and the Detail View window shows the first record’s details. See About the Detail View Window and

About the List View Window for details about using these two windows.

Note: The current database closes if one is already open.

Viewing Database Properties

You can use the Database Properties dialog to see a wide variety of information about the current database, including its default settings and statistics about the records.

To open the Database Properties dialog

Choose Database > Database Properties (or press Command-I).

About the Detail View Window

You use the Detail View window to view, enter, and change information in a database record. When you open an existing database, the Detail View window displays the first record. The specific numbers in the Detail View window (reels, rolls, and key and ink numbers) all describe values for the first frame of the source clip associated with the database record.

The Detail View window appears along with the List View window whenever you open a database.

To view the Detail View window

Do one of the following:

Choose Window > Detail View (or press Command-2).

If necessary, drag the List View window to a different screen position.

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If necessary, click the Detail View window to bring it to the front.

See Settings in the Detail View Window for more information about the Detail View window.

Settings in the Detail View Window

The Detail View window includes a number of fields and buttons for creating a database record. Only a few of these settings are required for the purpose of using the database to create a cut list or change list. The required settings depend on the type of list you will create and the method you will use to create it.

These settings are required if you intend to generate a cut list or change list for a film-based project:

• Lab, camera, or daily roll

• Key number or ink number

Additionally, each source clip must be connected to a record, unless you can use the timecode-based method for cut list or change list generation (see A Potential Database

Shortcut for Camera-Roll Transfers).

To use the timecode-based method for cut list or change list generation, these elements are also needed:

• Video reel

• Video timecode and duration

These settings are required if you intend to export an audio EDL:

• Each source clip must be connected to a record, or each record must have the video reel and video timecode and duration entered.

• Each record must have the sound roll, audio timecode, and audio timecode rate (Sound TC Rate) entered.

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Field for take notes

Field for telecine session notes

Previous Record and Next Record buttons

The Detail View window contains the following fields and buttons:

Database Fields and Buttons

These fields and buttons apply to the entire database.

• Previous Record and Next Record buttons (arrows): Click these buttons to switch to the previous or next record (as currently sorted and displayed in the List View window).

Note: One of these buttons is dimmed when you are at the beginning or end of the list and there isn’t a previous or next record.

As a shortcut, you can use the Left Arrow and Right Arrow keys on your keyboard. If you have made changes to the current record, a dialog appears asking if you want to save those changes.

• New Record button: Click to create a new database record. In the dialog that appears, enter the scene andtake identifiers for the new databaserecord. See Using Scene, Shot,

and Take Identifiers for more information.

• Save button: Click when you have added or modified data in the current database record. Your added or modified information is not recorded unless you click Save.

• Telecine Session area: This area, in the middle-right part of the window, lists the name of the telecine log file imported into the database (if applicable).

• Telecine Session Notes field: Enter any notes you want to include about the telecine session.

Note: This field is available onlyif you have imported a telecine log file intothe database.

Scene and Shot Description Fields

You only need to enter this data once per scene. Once you enter it, it is added to all existing and new records for the same scene.

• Scene description field: Enter a description of the scene.

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• Shot description field: Enter a description of the shot.

• Script Pages fields: Enter the starting and ending script pages associated with the scene and the shot.

Film Settings

The following settings relate specifically to the film. In general, you can ignore these settings if your project does not involve film or you are not intending to finish the project by conforming the original camera negative.

• Scene field: Use this field to enter or modify the identifier for the scene. See Using Scene,

Shot, and Take Identifiers for more information.

• Take field: Enter a take identifier here. Takes are usually identified as numbers, but you can enter whatever text you want to use to identify the take, up to 15 characters. If there are multiple takes in the source clip, think of the take identifier as a subclip identifier.

• Cam Roll field: (If you intend to create a cut list or change list for a film-based project, one of the film roll fields must be completed.) If editing material from camera rolls, enter the camera roll identifier given to the roll of film by the camera assistant during production. The camera roll identifier should be the same as that which appears on the slate for the take.

Note: In many cases the camera roll and the lab roll are the same thing and can be given the same identifier. You can choose to enter data in either one or both of these fields. You should, however, be consistent. When creating a cut list or change list, Cinema Tools gives you the choice of showing the camera roll, lab roll, or daily roll. Whichever one you choose, it must be present in every database record, or Cinema Tools will report an error when you export a film list.

• Lab Roll field: (If you intend to create a cut list or change list for a film-based project, one of the film roll fields must be completed.) If editing material from lab rolls, enter the identifier given to the lab roll by the laboratory that processed the film. Or, enter an identifier for a roll created from select takes, for printing. (Sometimes such a roll is referred to as the A negative.) In many cases the lab roll and the camera roll are the same thing and can be given the same identifier—see the note above.

• Daily Roll field: (If you intend to create a cut list or change list for a film-based project, one of the film roll fields must be completed.) If editing material from daily rolls, enter the identifier given to the daily roll from which this source clip originated.

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• Key fields: (If you intend to create a cut list or change list for a film-based project, these fields or the ink number fields are required.) The first field should contain the key prefix that is constant throughout a roll of film. For example, for the key number KJ 29 1010 5867+07, the key prefix is “KJ 29 1010,” which you enter as “KJ291010.” You can enter up to eight characters (including spaces, although most often you will be skipping the spaces, as in this example). In the second field, enter the second part of the key number—the frame number—for the first frame of the clip. For example, for the key number KJ 29 1010 5867+07, the frame number is “5867+07.” The frame number identifies each foot or half foot within the reel, plus the frame count number. If you know the key number for another part of the clip, the Identify feature can determine and enter the key number (Key fields) for the first frame of your clip. See Calculating

Edge Code and Timecode Numbers for more information.

• Ink fields: (If you intend to create a cut list or change list for a film-based project, these fields or the Key fields are required.) In the first field enter the prefix number, and in the second field enter the frame number. For example, in the ink number 123 4567+08, the prefix is “123” and the frame number is “4567+08,” indicating that the frame occurs at 4567 feet and 8 frames.

• TK Speedpop-up menu: This pop-up menu gives you the option of individually specifying the telecine transfer film speed for each database record. If the database record was created from a telecine log, this setting should already be correct and there should be no need to change it. If you are creating the database manually, the setting in this pop-up menu should reflect the telecine film speed setting you chose when you set your project defaults. See Settings in the New Database Dialog for more information.

• Film Std pop-up menu: This pop-up menu gives you the option of individually specifying the film standard for each database record. If the database record was created from a telecine log, this setting should already be correct and there should be no need to change it. If you are creating the database manually, the setting in this pop-up menu should reflect the setting you chose in the New Database dialog.

For clips that are in reverse direction, you can specify a reverse direction for the film standard by choosing either the 35.4p.rev (for 4-perf 35mm) or 16.20.rev (for 16mm-20) item. Reverse-direction film is film that has key numbers going in a descending rather than an ascending order. You’ll see this when, for example, film has been shot in reverse, or when a film roll was loaded into the camera “tails out,” so that the key numbers are in reverse order. See Settings in the New Database Dialog for more information.

For clips that use the 3-perf 35mm standard, you choose the perforation offset of the key number. This offset (3-perf•1, 3-perf•2, or 3-perf•3) refers to the relationship of the perforation marked with the symbol “•” and the film frame at that point. See 3-Perf

35mm Offsets for more information.

Note: Reverse-direction 3-perf 35mm film is not supported.

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Video Settings

The following settings relate specifically to the video clips.

• Video Reel field: (Unless all the clips you will be editing are connected to the database, this field is required if you intend to create a cut list or change list or audio EDL.) Enter the identifier of the video reel that contains this take. This field is essential for creating an accurate cut list or change list. When you connect a clip to a database record that does not yet contain the reel identifier, Cinema Tools looks for this information in the clip file and automatically enters it in the database record. Make sure you enter the exact, correct identifier here, so that the database record can be properly matched to the shot after you digitally edit your program. For example, “001” is not the same as “0001.”

Important: When connecting DPX image sequences to a database, Cinema Tools uses

the name of the folder containing the DPX image sequence files as the video reel name. This folder name should not be changed during a DI project.

• Video Timecode field: (Unless all the clips you will be editing are connected to the database, this field is required if you intend to create a cut list or change list or audio EDL.) Enter the timecode number of the video frame that represents the first frame of the clip. The relationship between the key numbers and the timecode is established when the film is transferred to video, and this information is usually entered automatically when you create the database from a telecine log. When you connect a clip to a database record that does not yet contain the clip timecode, Cinema Tools looks for this information in the clip file and automatically enters it in the database record. You can also determine the timecode value for this field by looking at the first frame of the clip, provided that both the key number and the timecode are burned in to the video.

Tip: If you enter the video reel and timecode information in the Detail View window, you can use the database to locate source material on the videotape while you are editing. For example, if you are editing a clip and there is something in the clip that you are unsure about because you can’t see it clearly, you may want to view it on the videotape because the video is of higher quality. You can check the clip’s database record to find which video reel contains the material and the timecode location on the reel.

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• Video Duration field: (Unless all the clips you will be editing are connected to the database, this field is required if you intend to create a cut list or change list or audio EDL.) Enter the timecode duration of the source clip. The value for this field can come from a telecine log. If you connect a clip to a database record that does not yet contain the clip timecode duration, Cinema Tools looks for this information in the clip file and automatically enters it in the database record. Because duration is expressed as hours, minutes, seconds, and frames, you might find it more informative than the length of the film expressed as feet and frames. The timecode duration is significant if you intend to perform a batch capture, or if you will be creating a cut list or change list by matching the edited program back to the video reel and timecode.

• Video TC Rate pop-up menu: This pop-up menu displays the default video timecode rate that you chose when you created the database, or the format that was indicated by the telecine log you imported to create the database. The lab that transfers your film to video can tell you which kind of video timecode is recorded on the videotape. See Settings in the New Database Dialog for more information.

Sound Settings

The following settings relate specifically to the audio clips.

• Sound Roll field: (Required if you intend to create an audio EDL.) Enter the sound roll name.

• Sound Timecodefield: (Required if you intend to create an audio EDL.) Enter the starting audio timecode number for the clip. The audio timecode standard can be different from the video timecode standard.

• Sound TC Rate field: (Required if you intend to create an audio EDL.) Enter the type of timecode used on your production sound rolls.

Clip Button and Settings

The following apply specifically to the clip linked to this record.

• Take Notes field: Enter any notes you want to include about the source clip.

• Clip thumbnail: The thumbnail display shows the poster frame of the connected clip.

Additionally, placing the pointer over the thumbnail display shows a tooltip with the clip’s location. This can be especially useful if the clip is missing because it lets you know where Cinema Tools thinks the clip should be.

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See Choosing a Different Poster Frame for a Clip for more information about the poster frame.

• Connect Clip/Open Clip button: If a clip has not been connected to the database record, this button is labeled Connect Clip. If a clip has already been connected, the button is labeled Open Clip.

• Click Connect Clip to select a source clip to connect to this record. When you select

a clip, it is connected to the database record, and the first frame of the clip appears in the box below the Connect Clip/Open Clip button.

• Click Open Clip to open a Clip window for the connected clip. If the related clip is

not found, a dialog opens so that you can select the correct clip.

• Press the Command key to change Open Clip to Disconnect Clip. Click Disconnect

Clip to disconnect the clip from the database record.

About the List View Window

The List View window displays a list of database records in the open database. It might show a complete list of all database records, or, if you use the Find feature, it might show only those records that are found (the “found set”). The List View and Detail View windows appear whenever you open a database.

To view the List View window

Do one of the following:

Choose Window > List View (or press Command-1).

Drag the Detail View window to a different screen position.

Click the List View window to bring it to the front.

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The Show All and Find buttons allow you quickly either to show all of the records in the open database (click Show All) or to show a specific set of records by using the Find dialog (click Find). See Finding and Opening Database Records for information about using the Find button.

The pop-up menu at the top-left corner of the window lets you choose the display mode, determining the type of information that appears. See Settings in the List View Window for details about the different display modes and how to use the columns to select records to work with.

By default, the columns in the List View window are sorted by the Slate value, in ascending order. You can sort the data based on any displayed column by clicking the column’s name. The name changes color to indicate it is controlling the sort, and an arrow appears to show the sort direction. An arrow pointing up indicates an ascending sort order, and an arrow pointing down indicates a descendingorder. Click thecolumn’s nameto change the sort direction.

Sorting the columns can make it easy to locate records with missing items. For example, clicking the Cam Roll column name groups together all records without an entry in that field and places them at the top or bottom of the list, depending on the arrow’s direction.

You can also locate a record using a specific key number or timecode number by sorting the columns. For example, clicking the Keycode column name puts the records in order based ontheir key numbers. You can then scroll through the list and locate a record using a specific film frame.

Settings in the List View Window

The List View window shows a set of columns based on the display mode you choose in the pop-up menu at the top-left corner of the window.

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List View Window Controls

The following controls along the top of the List View window determine the columns that appear and allow you to choose the records that are shown.

• Display mode pop-up menu: Use this pop-up menu to configure the List View window to show the columns most useful to you.

• Keycode: Displays information about the film, including key numbers and rolls.

• Video: Displays video timecode and reel information.

• Sound: Displays audio timecode and sound roll information.

• Ink Numbers: Displays information about the workprint, including ink numbers and

daily rolls.

• Show All: Click this button to show all of the records in the current database.

• Find: Click this button to open the Find dialog. You can use the Find dialog to choose which records appear in the List View window. See Settings in the Find Dialog for more information.

List View Window Columns

The following columns can appear in the List View window, depending on the the display mode you choose.

• Columns that appear in all display modes: The following columns appear in all display modes:

• Slate: A combination of the Scene and Take fields, separated by a hyphen

• Clip: The name of the clip connected to each database record

• Keycode display mode columns: The following columns appear in the Keycode display mode:

• Lab Roll: The value entered in the Lab Roll field (in the Detail View window)

• Cam Roll: The value entered in the Cam Roll field

• Keycode: The value entered in the Key field

• Video display mode columns: The following columns appear in the Video display mode:

• Reel: The value entered in the Video Reel field

• Timecode: The value entered in the Video Timecode field

• Sound displaymode columns: The following columns appear in the Sound display mode:

• Roll: The value entered in the Sound Roll field

• Timecode: The value entered in the Sound Timecode field

• Ink Numbers display mode columns: The following columns appear in the Ink Numbers display mode:

• Lab Roll: The value entered in the Lab Roll field

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• Daily Roll: The value entered in the Daily Roll field

Previous Record and Next Record buttons

• Ink Number: The value entered in the Ink field

Finding and Opening Database Records

You typically open database records in the Detail View window by selecting the record in the List View window. The set of records displayed in the List View window is often referred to as the found set, because you use the Find command to specify which records are listed there.

Note: You can select only one record at a time.

To select a database record in the List View window

Do one of the following:

Click any displayed record.

Double-click a record to have its clip open in the Clip window.

Use the keyboard’s Up Arrow key to select the record before the currently selected one.

Use the keyboard’s Down Arrow key to select the record after the currently selected one.

Use the keyboard’s Page Up key to jump up one page of records in the list.

Use the keyboard’s Page Down key to jump down one page of records in the list.

Once you have selected a record, it stays selected as you change the display mode.

Important: You cannot change the settings in any of the records in the List View window.

Use the Detail View window to make changes.

To display specific records in the List View window

Use the Find dialog.

See the instructions for using the Find command (below) for details.

To navigate through records within the Detail View window

Click the Previous Record and Next Record buttons.

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To find a key number

In the List View window, choose Keycode from the pop-up menu, then click the Keycode

column heading to sort by key number.

See About the List View Window for more details.

To use the Find command to find records in the open database

1 Open the Find dialog by doing one of the following:

• Choose Database > Find (or press Command-F).

• Click the Find button in the List View window.

2 Configure the settings and click Find Records.

See Settings in the Find Dialog for more information.

Alternatively, you canclick Show All Records if you want to see all of the database records.

Settings in the Find Dialog

The settings in the Find dialog make it easy to find specific records based on their Scene and Take values.

The Find dialog contains the following settings:

• Scene and Take: The values you enter in the Scene and Take fields depend on what you want to do:

• Tofind all therecords in the open database: Leave the Scene and Take fields blank and

click Show All Records.

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• To find all the records for a particular scene or shot: Enter the identifier for that scene

or shot in the Scene field, leave the Take field blank, then click the Find Records button. (The Take field is disabled unless you select the “Show only exact matches” checkbox.) For example, if you enter “1” in the Scene field and then click Find Records, Cinema Tools finds all records associated with scene 1, including the shots 1, 1A, 1B, 1C, and so on. If you enter “1A” in the Scene field, only the records for shot 1A are found.

• Tofind therecord for aspecific sceneand take: Select “Show only exact matches,” enter

the scene and take identifiers in the Scene and Take fields, then click Find Records.

See Scene, Shot, and Take Number Details for more information.

• Results: Choose one of the following from the Results pop-up menu:

• Replace Current Found Records: Found records replace the records displayed in the

List View window.

• Add to Current Found Records: Found records are added to the set in the List View

window. The Add to Current Found Records option is useful when you want to find records for more than one scene, but not for all scenes. For example, to see only the records for scenes 5 and 6, choose Replace Current Found Records, enter “5” in the Scene field, then click Find Records. Then, choose Add to Current Found Records, enter “6” in the Scene field, and click Find Records. Only the records for scenes 5 and 6 appear in the List View window.

• Show only exact matches: Select this checkbox to find a specific record that matches the Scene and Take field entries.

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Scene, Shot, and Take Number Details

The way Cinema Tools interprets scene numbers can lead to unexpected results when using the Find dialog.

Cinema Tools looks at a scene number as having up to four parts:

• Prefix: This is an optional set of one or more letters in front of the scene number, usually used to indicate a new, unique scene added to the script. For example, the “A” in scene A54C-3. Prefixes don’t always indicate unique scenes, however—the actual letters used in the prefix control how they affect using the Find dialog. Prefixes using the letters A, B, C, and D are treated as indicating unique scenes. Prefixes using any of the other letters are not treated as indicating unique scenes.

• Scene number: This is the first set of numbers. Depending on the prefix, it might be the entire scene number, although with some prefixes (A,B, C, or D), the prefix becomes part of the scene number. For example, in the A54C-3 example the scene is “A54.” In the example E54C-3, the scene is “54.”

• Suffix: This is a set of one or more letters after the scene number, indicating the shot for the scene. For example, the “C” in scene A54C-3.

• Take number: This is the number after the suffix (shot indicator) that identifies a specific take. Usually it is preceded by a hyphen (which you don’t enter in the Find dialog). For example, the “3” in scene A54C-3.

The tricky part is determining whether the prefix indicates a unique scene or not. Prefixes using letters from A to D are treated as referring to unique scenes. Prefixes using letters from E to Z are treated as being modifiers to the scene number, but not unique scenes.

For example, if you use the Find dialog to search for scene 54, it will find 54, G54, and K54 (all are considered to be scene 54) but will not find A54, B54, C54, or D54 (which are all considered to be different scenes from scene 54).

Suffixes indicate shots that are part of the scene. If you search for scene 54, you will find all shots for scene 54, such as 54A and 54F, but not B54A, because the prefix makes this a different scene.

Take numbers are related to specific shots, which in turn are related to specific scenes. If you search for scene 54, you will find all shots and takes for that scene.

If you enter “54A” in the Find dialog’s Scene field, you will find only those records for shot A of scene 54; you will not find records for scene 54B.

Entering a number in the Take field will find only shots using that take. For example, entering “54A” in the Scene field and “3” in the Take field will find only record 54A-3. Entering “54” in the Scene field (with no shot specified) and “3” in the Take field will find any records for scene 54 that have a take 3, such as 54A-3 and 54D-3.

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Backing Up, Copying, Renaming, and Locking Databases

As is the case with all important data, it is wise to store backup copies of your Cinema Tools database files and to lock the database files if you want to make sure they are not modified or deleted. Do this by using any of the standard desktop methods for copying and locking files. You can back up your files on your computer’s hard disk or on separate removable media. If you are going to lock a database file, make sure that the database is closed before you lock it.

You can also use any standard desktop method to rename a database file. Changing a database filename (as opposed to a source clip filename) does not affect the content of the database or any of the database functions.

Important: Changing a source clip filename (by editing it in the Finder) is not

recommended because it breaks the link between the source clip and the database. However, you can reconnect clips to the database using the Reconnect command.

About the Clip Window

You use the Clip window to play the selected clip, identify the timecode and key number of a specific frame, view general information about the clip, and process it with the Reverse Telecine and Conform features.

To open the Clip window

Do one of the following:

Choose File > Open Clip (or press Command-O), locate a clip, then click Choose.

Click Open Clip in the Detail View window (if a clip is connected to the current record).

Click Connect Clip in the Detail View window, then select a clip (if one has not already

been connected to the record).

Drag one or more (up to 20 total) clips from a Finder window to the Cinema Tools

application icon. A Clip window opens for each clip.

Note: If you drag a folder containing clips to the Cinema Tools icon, a new database is created. See Creating a New Database Using Cinema Tools for more information.

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You can have multiple Clip windows open at one time. They are dynamically added to and removed from the Window menu as you open and close them.

See Settings in the Clip Window for information about the buttons and settings in the Clip window.

Settings in the Clip Window

You can play the clip by clicking the Play button (the triangle to the left of the timeline) or by pressing the Space bar. To play the clip using the Space bar, you must make sure that an Identify pane text field is not currently selected—you can press the Tab key as needed or click the Analysis button to deselect the text fields.

Important: Depending on your computer, high-resolution video, such as 2K media, may

not play back smoothly.

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If the clip has audio, you can control the volume by clicking the speaker icon next to the Play button and then dragging the volume slider. You can also drag the playhead to scroll through the clip. You can click the left arrow and right arrow buttons at the right side of the timeline or press your keyboard’s Left Arrow and Right Arrow keys to step through the clip one frame at a time.

Most ofthe buttons along the bottom of thewindow open additional windows or dialogs and are also available as commands in the Clip menu. The two buttons in the upper-right corner determine what information is shown on the right side of the window.

Buttons Along the Bottom of the Window

• Set Poster Frame: Assigns the currently displayed frame to the Detail View window’s thumbnail display.

• Disconnect Clip: The Disconnect Clip button changes depending on whether the current clip is connected to the database. With a clip connected (as shown above), the button is labeled Disconnect Clip. Click Disconnect Clip to disconnect the clip from the database.

• Enter in Database: If the current clip is not connected to the database, the Disconnect Clip button is labeled Enter in Database. Click Enter in Database to open a dialog where you can connect the clip to an existing record or a new record by entering scene and take values.

• Reverse Telecine: Opens the Reverse Telecine dialog.

• Conform: Opens the Conform Clip dialog.

• Previous Clip and Next Clip buttons (arrows): The left and right arrows in the lower-right corner of the Clip window make it easy to switch to the previous or next record (as currently sorted and displayed in the List View window) that has a clip assigned to it.

Note: These buttons are active only when the current clip is linked to a record in the current database and that record is part of the List View window’s found set. Additionally, one of these buttons is dimmed if there isn’t a previous or next clip.

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Buttons in the Upper-Right Corner

• Identify: Click to show the Identify pane, which displays the clip’s information from the Cinema Tools database it is connected to. You can use the Identify pane to enter film and timecode information in the database or to get information about the frame that is currently displayed in the Clip window. Additionally, the settings update to show the information for each frame as you move through a clip. See Using the Identify Feature

to Calculate Database Information for more informationabout using the Identify feature.

• Analysis: Click to show the Analysis pane, which displays the clip’s file information. This information includes both file specifics (name and size, where it is located, and when it was created) and content specifics (duration, frame rate, frame size, and compression type used).

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Accessing Information About a Source Clip

Click the Analysis button to display the Analysis pane.

The Analysis pane of the Clip window gives you access to specific information about a source clip.

The Analysis pane displays the full path (location) and name of the file, along with its size and dates of creation and modification. You can also see the duration of the movie contained in the clip.

Information is also listed for each track in a clip:

• For video tracks: You see the frame size and frame rate, the compressor used and the compression quality, the average data rate, and whether it is a self-contained or reference media file. See The Difference Between Self-Contained and Reference Media

Files for more information.

• For audio tracks: You see the sample rate and the number of channels for up to two tracks.

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Entering and Modifying Database Information

Once you have created and configured your Cinema Tools database, you are ready to start entering information.

This chapter covers the following:

• About Working with Database Information (p. 85)

• Importing Database Information (p. 86)

• Entering Database Information Manually (p. 91)

• Using the Identify Feature to Calculate Database Information (p. 96)

• Deleting a Database Record (p. 98)

• Choosing a Different Poster Frame for a Clip (p. 98)

• Changing the Default Database Settings (p. 99)

• Changing All Reel or Roll Identifiers (p. 100)

• Verifying and Correcting Edge Code and Timecode Numbers (p. 101)

About Working with Database Information

As described in Deciding How You Should Create the Database, there are two basic approaches to creating your project database:

• You can generate the database by importing a telecine log, ALE file, or Final Cut Pro batch capture list.

• You can enter information manually or by dragging a folder of clips to the Cinema Tools application icon.

See Importing Database Information for information about the different methods you can use to import information into your database.

Even if you do generate a database with a telecine log, you may want to make modifications and additions to the database records at a later time. You can do this by using the Detail View window or the Clip window. (In the Clip window, you can only modify existing database records.) See Entering Database Information Manually for more information. Also see Using the Identify Feature to Calculate Database Information for details about how to determine various types of database information.

You can modify any information in the database by editing settings in the Detail View window and the Identify pane of the Clip window. Some of the calculations you make using the Identify feature update preexisting information, modifying the database automatically. See the following for more information:

• Deleting a Database Record

• Choosing a Different Poster Frame for a Clip

• Changing the Default Database Settings

• Changing All Reel or Roll Identifiers

Also see Verifying and Correcting Edge Code and Timecode Numbers for details about how to ensure that you have correct values in your database.

Important: Before you can enter information in the database, you need to have an existing

database. See Creating and Configuring a New Database for details about creating a new, empty database.

Importing Database Information

You can create a database by importing information from a telecine log or ALE file, a Final Cut Pro batch capture list, or an existing Cinema Tools database.

Importing Database Information from a Telecine Log or ALE File

You can enter information in the database by importing the telecine log from the film-to-video transfer.

Cinema Tools currently supports the following telecine logs:

• ATN log files from Aaton

• FLX (Film Log EDL Exchange, commonly known as FLEx) log files from TLC (Time Logic Controller software)

• Film Transfer List (FTL) log files from Evertz

• Avid Log Exchange (ALE) files (not technically telecine logs, but contain similar information for your database)

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You can import telecine log files using either Cinema Tools or Final Cut Pro. See Importing

Telecine Logs Using Cinema Tools and Importing Telecine Logs Using Final Cut Pro for

more information.

Assigning Camera Letters

Whether you import the telecine log file using Cinema Tools or Final Cut Pro, you have the option of having Cinema Tools dynamically assign a camera letter to all records that are imported. The camera letter uses the first letter of the camera roll value and is appended to the take entry of each record.

This is useful in those cases where multiple cameras were used for each take, with the letters making it easy to distinguish between the clips from different cameras. Additionally, if you set up a multiclip in Final Cut Pro, the camera letters are used to create the different angles.

Importing Telecine Logs Using Cinema Tools

To import a telecine log into Cinema Tools, you must first have a database open. The database can be an existing one to which you want to add new records, or it can be a new one with no records.

To import a telecine log using Cinema Tools

1 Do one of the following:

• Open an existing Cinema Tools database. See Opening an Existing Database for more information.

• Create a new Cinema Tools database. See Creating and Configuring a New Database for more information.

2 Import the telecine log file by choosing File > Import > Telecine Log (or pressing

Command-L).

3 In the dialog that appears, select the telecine log or ALE file.

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4 To assign a camera letter to the imported records, select the “Append a camera letter”

checkbox (the camera letter is dynamically determined by the first letter of the camera roll value, if present, and is appended to the Take entry of each record).

5 Click Open.

The data in the log is entered in the open database, and each new record is displayed in the List View window.

When Cinema Tools has finished creating the records from a telecine log, it tells you how many events there were in the log and how many of those events were imported into the database. Sometimes events in a telecine log refer to edits in which no film was transferred. For those events, no record is created in the database.

After the records have been imported, you can export a batch capture list from Cinema Tools that you can import into Final Cut Pro to automate the clip capture process. See Generating a Batch Capture List from Cinema Tools for more information.

Importing Telecine Logs Using Final Cut Pro

When you import a telecine log using Final Cut Pro, you choose whether you want to import it into an existing Cinema Tools database or whether a new database should be created.

When records are added to the selected Cinema Tools database, each record creates an offline clip in the Final Cut Pro Browser so that the clips can be batch captured. Each of these clips also has the film-related information contained in the log file added to it.

To import a telecine log using Final Cut Pro

1 Create a new project or open an existing project.

This project will contain the offline clips created when the telecine log file is imported.

2 Select the project in the Browser.

3 Choose File > Import > Cinema Tools Telecine Log.

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The Import a Cinema Tools Telecine Log dialog appears.

Select the telecine log file to import.

Choose to either create a new database or import the file into an existing database.

Choose a camera letter to append to the imported takes (if needed).

Lists the currently selected database.

4 Use the top half of the dialog to select the telecine log file to import.

5 To assign a camera letter to the imported records, select the “Append a camera letter”

checkbox (the camera letter is dynamically determined by the first letter of the camera roll value, if present, and is appended to the Take entry of each record).

6 Do one of the following:

• To create a new Cinema Tools database to import the telecine log file into: Click New Database. This opens a new dialog where you can enter a name and location for the database, as well as configure its default settings. See Settings in the New Database

Dialog for information about these settings. Click Save when finished.

• To open a dialog where you can select an existing database to import the telecine log file records into: Click Choose Database. Click Open when finished.

The selected database, whether new or previously existing, is listed in the Database field of the Import a Cinema Tools Telecine Log dialog.

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7 Click Open to import the selected telecine log file into the selected Cinema Tools database.

After the records have been imported and the offline clips have been added to the Browser, you can use Final Cut Pro to batch capture the clips. See the Final Cut Pro documentation for information about batch capturing clips.

Importing Database Information from a Batch Capture List

You may want to create database records by importing a Final Cut Pro batch capture list if:

• You don’t have a telecine log or Avid Log Exchange (ALE) file

• You have already batch captured the clips you want into Final Cut Pro and you want database records to be created for those source clips instead of the takes listed in your telecine log

Creating database records from a Final Cut Pro batch capture list is not ideal because you lose the advantages of using a telecine log or ALE file to build your database. For example, a Final Cut Pro batch capture list does not contain the key number and camera or lab roll information that would be imported from a telecine log. See Advantages of Using a

Telecine Log or ALE File for more information.

Tip: In most cases, instead of exporting a Final Cut Pro batch capture list and importing it into a Cinema Tools database, you should use the Final Cut Pro Synchronize with Cinema Tools feature. See Synchronizing Final Cut Pro Clips with Cinema Tools for more information.

To import database information from a Final Cut Pro batch capture list

1 Make sure that a Cinema Tools database is open.

2 In Cinema Tools, choose File > Import > Final Cut Pro Batch List.

3 In the dialog that appears, select the batch capture list you exported from Final Cut Pro.

4 Click Open to import the batch capture list.

The data in the batch capture list is used to create database records.

Note: The source clips are not yet connected to database records. You still need to use the Connect Clips command to connect them. See Using the Connect Clips Command for more information.

5 In each database record, enter the edge code number information and film roll identifier.

(These items are required to create a cut list or change list.)

Note: Because a Final Cut Pro batch capture list includes everything in the Final Cut Pro Browser, it may include clips or sequences that you don’t want. For this reason, you should delete any database records you don’t need. See Deleting a Database Record for more information.

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Importing an Existing Cinema Tools Database

One Cinema Tools database can be imported into another Cinema Tools database. There are a few reasons why you might want to do this:

• You may want to create separate databases for organization and archiving purposes and then bring them all together in a master database. For example, you might want to create separate databases for your dailies. If you want to manage your dailies by creating a date-named database for each of the dailies, you can import the telecine log for that daily session, export a batch capture list, capture the clips, and use the Cinema Tools Connect Clips command to connect all the clips to that date-named database file. Then, you can import that database file into a master database that contains all of the daily databases.

• You may need to correct a database that has incorrect project defaults. To do this, you create a new, empty database with the correct defaults and then import your original database file into the new one.

To import one database file into another

1 Open the database into which you want to import another database file by choosing

Database > Open Database (or pressing Command-Shift-O) and then selecting the database in the dialog.

2 Choose File > Import > Database.

3 In the dialog that appears, select the database you want to import.

Entering Database Information Manually

You can use the Detail View window to manually edit database records. Before you can edit information in a database, you need to create database records.

Note: If a database record has already been created for a clip, you can also use the Identify pane of the Clip window to enter information. See Using the Identify Feature to Calculate

Database Information for details.

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Understanding the Relationship Between Scenes, Shots, and Takes

Scene 1

Shot 1A

Shot 1

Shot 1B

Take 1

Take 2

Take 4

Take 2

Take 3

Take 5

Slate 1-1

Slate 1-2

Slate 1-4

Slate 1A-2

Slate 1A-3

Slate 1B-5

To enter scene, shot, and take information in the database, you first need to know how scenes, shots, and takes are understood by the database.

A motion picture production is composed of a series of scenes, and each scene is typically composed of a number of shots or angles. A shot is a continuous film recording that does not have any cuts. In shooting the film, there may be a number of takes for each shot, so a take is a version of a shot. There can be many shots for each scene. The diagram below shows an example of the relationship between scenes, shots, and takes as they might exist in a Cinema Tools database.

Creating a New Database Record

You must create database records if you are manually entering database information.

To create a new, empty database record

1 Do one of the following:

• Choose Database > New Record (or press Command-N).

• Click New Record in the Detail View window.

2 In the dialog that appears, either enter identifiers for the scene and take or leave these

fields blank, then click OK. See Using Scene, Shot, and Take Identifiers for more information.

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Note: You don’t have to enter anything in the Scene and Take fields in order to use Cinema Tools to match your digital edits back to your original camera negative. You can leave these fields blank or enter their values later. Also keep in mind that the scene and take entries are used to create the clip names if you export a batch capture list. See

Generating a Batch Capture List from Cinema Tools for more information.

The Detail View window appears after you click OK.

To create new database records with connected clips

Do one of the following:

Choose File > Import > Files, choose one or more media files to import in the dialog that

appears, then click Open.

Choose File > Import > Folders, choose one or more folders that contain media files you

want to create database records from, then click Open.

Drag one or more media files or folders from a Finder window to the Cinema Tools List

View window.

Note: You cannot drag a mix of media files and folders to the List View window.

A dialog appears that tells how many new records were created. Each record includes the video reel, video timecode, clip duration, and timecode rate settings from its connected clip.

Note: New records are not created for any clips that are already connected to other records in this database.

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Using Scene, Shot, and Take Identifiers

An identifier can be any combination of numbers and letters (up to 15 characters).

• Take identifier: If the source clip associated with a database record contains more than one take, you can think of the take identifier as a source subclip identifier. If the source clip associated with a database record contains just one take, you can think of the take identifier as a source clip identifier.

• Scene identifier: The identifier you enter in the Scene field actually identifies both the scene and the shot (camera position) for the clip. For the Scene identifier, most people enter the number or letter combination that appears in the Scene field on the slate. The typical method for identifying scenes and shots is to use a number for the scene and add a letter to specify the shot in the scene. So when a slate says “Scene 12B,” it is referring to shot B in scene 12. You see this reflected in the Detail View window; the first number you enter in the Scene field appears next to the word “Scene” in the Detail View window. Next to the word “Shot,” both the number and the letter appear.

For example, if you enter “1D” in the Scene field, you see the following at the top-left corner of the Detail View window:

• “1” next to the word “Scene”

• “1D” next to the word “Shot”

Tip: In the Scene field, you can enter a letter (A through D) before the first number, and the letter will be part of the scene identifier. Adding a letter to the beginning of a scene identifier is a useful naming scheme when you need to add a scene in the middle of an existing series of scenes. For example, between scene 1 and scene 2 you could add a scene named A2, so the new order would be scene 1, scene A2, scene 2, scene 3, and so on. Adding other letters (E through Z) does not add a new scene. For example, scene G2 is the same as scene 2. See Scene, Shot, and Take Number Details for more information.

About the Descriptive Scene and Shot Data

All the shots for a scene are related to that scene, and all the source clips for a shot are related to that shot. Because the database remembers these relationships, you only need to enter the descriptive data for each scene and shot once.

When you enter or change the descriptive data for a scene, that same data appears for all the other shots associated with that scene, both in existing database records and any records you create later that have the same scene identifier. Similarly, any descriptive data you enter for a shot appears in existing database records with the same shot identifier.

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In the example below, all records for scene A54 will have the same descriptive text (“Outside”) and page numbers (146 to 167). All takes for this shot (A54J) will have the same descriptive text (“Left” in this example) and page numbers (148 to 155). Each take for that shot will also have a unique Take Notes entry.

Entering Information in a Database Record

Once you have created a database record, you can enter the information about its clip.

To enter information in a database record

1 Make surethe record is displayed in the Detail View window. (If necessary, click therecord

in the List View window to open it in the Detail View window.)

See Finding and Opening Database Records for more information.

2 Enter information and settings in the Detail View window.

Settings in the Detail View Window describes all the settings and specifies which ones

are required if you plan to use the database to generate cut lists or change lists.

You can press the Tab key to navigate from one field or setting to another.

Tip: When you connect a clip to a database record and the record does not yet contain the clip timecode, reel, and timecode duration, Cinema Tools looks for this information in the clip file and automatically enters it in the database record.

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If you know the edge code or timecode number for another frame in a clip, the Identify feature can help you determine the correct timecode or edge code number for the first frame of a clip. See Using the Identify Feature to Calculate Database Information for details.

3 Click Save.

Until you save, data in the Detail View window is not entered in the database. You can choose Database > Revert Record (or press Command-R)to revert tothe last saved version of the record.

Using the Identify Feature to Calculate Database Information

You can use the Clip window’s Identify feature to determine the key number, ink number, or timecode values for clips in the database. The database requires these values for the first frame of the clip, but you might not have them if you aren’t creating database records from a telecine log or if your clips lack window burn.

Note the following requirements for using the Identify feature to determine or verify edge code or timecode values:

• You need to know a key number, ink number, or timecode value for at least one frame in the clip.

• The clip needs to have a database record.

• The key number-to-timecode relationship must be continuous. See Is Your Edge Code

Number-to-Timecode RelationshipContinuous or Noncontinuous? for more information.

Keep in mind that with the Identify feature, the Key, Ink, Video Timecode, and Sound Timecode fields should always reflect the values of the frame currentlydisplayed in the Clip window, whereas in the Detail View window these fields are associated with the first frame of the clip. The Identify feature will, however, calculate and enter the first-frame values you see in the Detail View window.

Calculating Edge Code and Timecode Numbers

If you know the edge code (key number or ink number) and timecode values for any frame in a clip, you can use the Identify feature to determine these values for the first frame of the clip, and that information is automatically entered in the database.

This feature is especially useful if you are working with video that does not have window burn, because without window burn you have to track the timecode and edge code by physically marking one frame in each clip. If the frame that is marked is not the very first frame of the clip, the Identify feature can calculate what the values are for the first frame, and those values are automatically entered in the database.

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To enter the edge code and timecode values in the database

Enter the key number or ink number for the marked frame.

Enter the video timecode value for the marked frame.

1 If it isn’t already open, open the clip in the Clip window in one of the following ways:

• Choose File > Open Clip (or press Command-O) and use the dialog to select the clip.

• Click Open Clip in the Detail View window of the clip’s database record.

2 Click Identify in the Clip window to display the settings for the current frame.

3 Locate the marked frame in the clip playback area.

Tip: Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move forward and backward frame by frame.

The Identify settings update to show the information for each frame as you move through a clip, so you can locate the marked frame.

4 Enter the edge code and timecode values for the marked frame (the frame showing in

the Clip window) in the appropriate fields.

Note: You may be using ink numbers instead of key numbers, or vice versa. If so, you can leave the field you aren’t using blank.

Note: If you decide you want to reset the values to what they were when you opened the clip in the window, click Revert.

5 When identifying a 3-perf 35mm clip, you must also choose the offset (3-perf•1, 3-perf•2,

or 3-perf•3) from the Film Std pop-up menu.

Note: You should not need to change the Film Std setting if you are using any of the other film formats.

6 Click Save.

The clip’s database record is immediately updated with the values for the first frame of the clip. Additionally, the clip’s duration is calculated and entered.

97Chapter 6 Entering and Modifying Database Information

About Modifying Data with the Identify Feature

You can use the Identify feature for a clip only if a database record has been created for that clip. The Clip window’s Identify pane includes fields and pop-up menus for settings that also appear in the Detail View window. You can modify these settings with the Identify feature, but keep the following important facts in mind:

• The Identify pane’s Key, Ink, Video Timecode, and Sound Timecode fields should always reflect the values of the frame currently displayed in the Clip window, whereas in the Detail View window these fields are associated with the first frame of the clip. Therefore, what you see or enter in the Identify pane of the Clip window could be different from what you see or enter in the Detail View window. See Using the Identify Feature to

Calculate Database Information for details.

• The Identify feature can track the key numbers only if the key number-to-timecode relationship is continuous, as it is with most camera-roll transfers. See Is Your Edge

Code Number-to-Timecode Relationship Continuous or Noncontinuous? for more

information.

If you changed the values in the window and want to go back to previous values, click Revert instead of Save. After you click Save, the database record is updated, and these changes are reflected in the Detail View window.

Deleting a Database Record

You may find that you have records that you no longer need. You can delete them from a database.

Note: Be careful when you delete a database record, because there is no way to undo this command.

To delete a database record

1 Open the database record in the Detail View window, or select it in the List View window.

2 Choose Database > Delete Record (or press Command-Delete).

Note: When you delete a database record that is connected to a source media file, you don’t delete the file from your hard disk. You delete only the database record.

Choosing a Different Poster Frame for a Clip

By default, when you connect a clip to a database record, a small picture of the first frame of the clip appears in the Detail View window. This picture is called the poster frame. You can choose to display a different frame of the clip if the first frame of the clip is hard to recognize, as with black frames.

98 Chapter 6 Entering and Modifying Database Information

The default clip poster frame does not appear in the Detail View window until after:

You can drag the playhead to locate and display the frame you want to use as the clip poster frame.

Click the Set Poster Frame button to have the current frame appear as the thumbnail image in the Detail View window.

• The clip has been connected to a database record

• The clip has been opened in the Clip window

To choose a new poster frame for a clip

1 If it isn’t already open, open the clip in the Clip window in one of the following ways:

• Choose File > Open Clip (or press Command-O) and use the dialog to select the clip.

• Click Open Clip in the Detail View window of the clip’s database record.

2 In the clip playback area, locate the frame you want to use as the poster frame.

Tip: Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move forward and backward frame by frame.

3 Click Set Poster Frame when the clip playback area displays the frame you want to use.

The new poster frame appears in the Detail View window of the clip.

Note: Regardless of the poster frame you set, the Clip window always opens to the first frame of the clip.

Changing the Default Database Settings

Although you cannot directly change a database’s default settings, you can get the same effect by creating a new database with the proper settings and importing the original database into it.

99Chapter 6 Entering and Modifying Database Information

To change the default settings for a database

Choose the type of reel or roll.

Enter the old and new identifiers.

Create a new database with the default settings you want, then import your original

database into the new one. See Importing an Existing Cinema Tools Database for more information.

Changing All Reel or Roll Identifiers

There may be times when you want to change all occurrences of a reel or roll identifier in a database. For example, you might need to change a reel identifier that is not EDL-compatible to one that is EDL-compatible. Or, you might need to change the reel or roll identifier in a database to match identifiers that are actually used in an EDL or to correct situations where reel identifiers are not exact matches, such as “0001” and “001.”

Note: If you will be exporting a batch capture list from the database, it’s best to make the reel or roll identifier changes before exporting the list.

To change all instances of a reel or roll name in a database

1 Click the Show All button in the List View window to make sure that all of the database

records are listed in the List View window.

2 Choose Database > Change Reel.

3 Make the following settings in the Change Reel dialog:

• Choose the type of roll or reel.

• In the From field, enter the identifier that you want to change.

• In the To field, enter the new identifier.

4 Click OK.

After you click OK, all records displayed in the List View window are searched, and each time the roll or reel identifier that you want to change is found, it is replaced by the new identifier.

100 Chapter 6 Entering and Modifying Database Information

Apple Cinema Tools 4 User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Contents

Welcome to Cinema Tools

About Cinema Tools

About the Cinema Tools Documentation

Additional Resources

An Overview of Using Cinema Tools

Editing Film Digitally

How Does Cinema Tools Help You Edit Your Film?

What Cinema Tools Does

About the Digital Intermediate Process

Why 24p Video?

Working with 24p Sources

Offline and Online Editing

Creating the Cinema Tools Database

How the Database Works

A Detailed or Simple Database?

Importing Telecine Logs

Manually Entering Database Records

Capturing the Source Clips with Final Cut Pro

Recompressing the Captured Files

Capturing Tactics

Device Control

Camera-Roll Transfers

Scene-and-Take Transfers

Finishing with High-Quality Video

Preparing the Clips for Editing

Reverse Telecine

Conform

Creating Cut Lists and Other Lists with Cinema Tools

How Much Can Be Done from Final Cut Pro?

Before You Begin Your Film Project

An Introduction to Film Projects

Before You Shoot Your Film

Which Film to Use?

Transferring Film to Video

Telecines

Transfer Techniques That Are Not Recommended

Film Chains

Recording a Projected Image with a Camcorder

How Much Should You Transfer?

Camera-Roll Transfers

Scene-and-Take Transfers

Frame Rate Basics

Working with NTSC Video

Working with PAL Video

24 @ 25 Method

24 & 1 Method

Working with 24p Video

Timecode Considerations

General Timecode Tips

About NTSC Timecode

What Happens to the Timecode After Using Reverse Telecine?

What Happens to the Timecode After Using Conform?

Audio Considerations

Choosing a Sound Recorder

Choosing an Audio Timecode Format

Mixing the Final Audio

Finishing the Audio with Final Cut Pro

Exporting Audio EDLs

Synchronizing the Audio with the Video

Synchronization Basics

Synchronizing During the Telecine Transfer

Synchronizing in Final Cut Pro

Working in Final Cut Pro

Setting the Editing Timebase for Sequences

Outputting to Videotape When Editing at 24 fps

Using Effects

Cinema Tools Workflows

Basic Film Workflow Steps

Film Workflow Examples

If You Used Scene-and-Take Transfers

Workflow for a Scene-and-Take Transfer with a Telecine Log

Workflow for a Scene-and-Take Transfer Without a Telecine Log

If You Used Camera-Roll Transfers

Clip-Based Workflow for a Camera-Roll Transfer

Timecode-Based Workflow for a Camera-Roll Transfer