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As someone with almost 15 years of experience in post production my advice is that unless you have serious bugs or other software issues, changing program versions mid-project is an extremely bad idea. Patches are one thing, but jumping up a full version and expecting your existing project to work flawlessly is very risky, regardless of the editing platform. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" very much applies in these cases.
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Aug 21, 2013 05:42
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RaoulDuke12 posted:Do people actually hire assistant editors any more, or should I just expect all my projects from this point forward to be a hard drive with 2000+ unlabeled, untranscoded, unsynced shots? Depends on the budget, I guess. Anything bigger than super low budget MOWs or direct to VOD features would have an assistant, at least in the city I work in. I have heard of a few shows releasing the assistant between production and final lock, though. Where are you working out of? Not hiring an assistant editor on a show with that kind of footage load is just going to cost the production twice as much time and money in the end, not to mention your sanity. Don't trust your producers.
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Aug 24, 2013 03:17
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Let me tell you about the full release version of Premiere we used in film school in the late 90s (I think it was v3) that caused every sequence, regardless of resolution or frame rate, to drift out of sync after 5-6 minutes. How does something like that make it through beta testing?  I have had a distrust of Adobe editing software ever since. Things like this don't really surprise me.
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Sep 4, 2013 21:48
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ElectricBlizzard posted:I haven't been following this thread for a while, so sorry if i missed it somewewhere. Videocopilot.net has some good, free basic training.
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Oct 10, 2013 23:55
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I've said it before in this thread - the first rule of working with NLE software is never, ever update your operating system, even incrementally (e.g. OSX 10.7 to 10.8, etc.), until you are sure it works with the new version. Programs like Avid and Premiere will have a qualified specs list for the software somewhere on their websites. Of course, if you're using an end-of-life'd piece of software like FCP 7, you're poo poo out of luck
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Oct 31, 2013 19:15
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No idea, but I would think that the new version of Compressor that is bundled with FCPX or sold separately on the app store is more likely to be fixed than the version that was bundled with FCP7.
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Oct 31, 2013 20:34
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Make sure you have Qmaster installed and set up properly and your renders will go much faster through Compressor. Having your source media on a different drive than where you are rendering your QuickTime to will help too.
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Jan 16, 2014 20:49
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I don't notice VFX plugins at all, but goddamn do canned sound effects take me right out of whatever I'm watching. There's one door creak in particular that was used in Daggerfall (I think) that is used all the time on TV shows and it drives me loving nuts. Fake edit: Hahahah it was Daggerfall! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1G7UaywkZY
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Jan 24, 2014 07:41
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AlliedBiscuit posted:Well I should also make the point that I won't only be working in FCP7 (it's still the standard for a number of my clients) but also plan to be using Media Composer, FCPX, and a decent amount of After Effects as well. I've considered iMacs but been hesitant for exactly the reasons the Lion points out. I actually don't work from home that much anymore, which is why the laptop has been fine for the smattering of jobs I've done the last few years. But to expand my home work capabilities it seems pretty obvious I should go for something that will last me a long time. Thanks for the advice, everyone. If you are working with Media Composer make sure that your machine is on the qualified systems list. If it isn't, you may have technical issues that Avid will not help you with as you are not working on a tested system. As far as I know the new Mac Pros are not qualified yet, you'll need a 3rd party breakout box to run a Mojo or Nitris, and if the machine is running Mavericks then Composer may not work at all. I would suggest looking into a pre-2013 Mac Pro if you can find a good deal on one. You'll have actual, honest-to-god expansion slots, upgradeable RAM, space for extra drive bays, and a few more (albeit limited) video card options. If you can find a dual 6-core mid-2012 model and jack up the machine with a SSD boot drive and a bunch of RAM and you'll have a reasonably powerful system.
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Mar 6, 2014 19:46
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1st AD posted:MC7 is qualified for the new Mac Pro, so I have to assume Mavericks is okay since I doubt it will ship with Mountain Lion. Ah, ok I'm not up to speed, then. It wasn't qualified the last time I checked.
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Mar 6, 2014 20:40
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I've been interested in checking the new Lightworks out. I'm an Avid guy but worked on a feature film in 2003/2004 that used the Lightworks Touch. What took me a few years to learn on the Avid took me a few weeks on Lightworks, very intuitive machine for editing. Unfortunately, the numbers that went into the machine were not the numbers that came out of the machine, which is not a good thing when you're doing a neg cut. The company that owned the software went out of business shortly after we finished the film and I've never used it again.
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Apr 4, 2014 07:00
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As far as my usage of the term goes, dual mono IS stereo - 2 channels of audio panned left & right. Maybe your audio isn't panned properly? When you reimport the QuickTime into FCP, do the levels on the audio meters rise and fall EXACTLY the same, or are there slight variations? Regardless, they need to explain the problem to you better or find someone on their tech side who can. You are the client and if they can't give you proper delivery specs or explain what the problem is, you should find another vendor.
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May 1, 2014 16:48
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There was also a number of RED Epic firmware revisions that caused picture drift when shooting with HDRx, but this is a pretty obscure issue.
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Jun 12, 2014 02:28
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Coincidentally, Wave Agent is exactly what I used to modify the sound files when I got hosed with that RED Epic firmware revision while still managing to keep all the sound file metadata that I needed (3rd party re-rendering software tends to blow this stuff away). I did the math on a clip to figure out the percentage it was drifting at, then applied that to the sample rate in Wave Agent (something like from 48khz to 47.8??khz) and imported into Avid MediaComposer. Worked like a charm, but was still a pain in the rear end to have to apply to 50-60 files a day for 40 loving days of dailies.
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Jun 12, 2014 21:05
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I'm not a big Premiere fan and I still use Compressor with QMaster to render my 10-20 GBs of Quicktiemes a day. Does this make me a bad person?
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Jul 10, 2014 18:05
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Panda Time posted:Any codec recommendations for VHS transfers? According to this footage calculator, ProRes 422 LT NTSC is half the size of NTSC DVCPRO50.
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Jul 30, 2014 23:28
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powderific posted:Does anyone have a tape backup program they like? We're doing some major upgrades to our backup systems, but the last thing I used extensively was Retrospect six years and several versions ago and it looks like the Mac version is even more garbage than what I had on windows back then. Someone recommended BRU server but it's hard to get a sense of the program from their rear end website. The Cache-A systems are used pretty extensively in studio post production but they're quite expensive and they use their own proprietary hardware, so it may not be for you if you're not interested in upgrading your decks. I used Bru for long term archival around 3-4 years ago. I'm not super good with command line poo poo, so I just used the OSX interface and it seemed pretty easy to use. Never had to unarchive anything off it, though. We did have an Ultrium-5 decks I had to RMA twice in the span of three weeks, but I don't think Bru had anything to do with it.
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Nov 25, 2014 08:50
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1st AD posted:You can actually download DNxHD standalone without Media Composer. Link here
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Dec 1, 2014 04:17
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RaoulDuke12 posted:1. Learn color theory and how to read scopes. You should be able to color correct a simple shot without really looking at it if you know how to read scopes. 4b. Move to LA or Vancouver and spend the rest of your life languishing in the vault of a post-production facility, colour timing dailies on an overnight shift so you never see the sun again, knowing full well that either: i) all your work will be thrown away and never seen again once the film hits the conform stage where the creatives will completely change the look of the film or ii) the DP will leave 95% of your timing in place and take all of the credit (if he even bothers to show up to the timing session)
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May 8, 2015 03:07
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I just had a director friend ask me to sort him out with a top of the line Mac Pro so he can edit with Premiere (kill me) at home. The machine and storage are the easy parts, but does anyone have any experience with the 2013 Mac Pros and non-Thunderbolt displays? He wants to use his existing DVI and HDMI monitors for a three screen setup, but I'm reading conflicting information from Apple if you can use more than 2 (multiple Thunderbolt monitors are fine, obviously). One source wrote that you can connect one HDMI monitor to the third bus, then a DVI monitor to both bus 1 and 2 each as long as you use powered dual-link mini display port cables. Can anybody confirm?
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May 26, 2015 18:44
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.jpg posted:Are there any recommended resources for learning to use After Effects? I've kind of self-taught myself a fair bit but I feel like I'm missing some fundamentals and a whole lot more advanced stuff. Our organization has starting using Lynda.com for editing and VFX software classes and it's pretty good. You even get a shiny certificate of completion when you finish the course. Our local (Vancouver) library actually has accounts set up at the main branch you can use for free, too. I've also heard good things about Video Co-pilot, but haven't watched any of their stuff.
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Jul 7, 2015 17:44
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On that tangent, I've had a number of A-list film editors give me the same advice over the years: always be willing to walk if the client doesn't want to pay your rate. You have to be able to say "Ok, thanks but no thanks" and walk away. And you have to do it. If you're not willing to follow through, then it's a bluff, and bluffs have no power if you're called on them. Also, this is a good video to watch for any self-employed contractor-type: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVkLVRt6c1U
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Jul 10, 2015 21:12
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powderific posted:We have a raid 5 array of 5 4tb disks direct attached to our edit system for working files, a Synology NAS with a 6x4tb Raid 5 array for local replication, and then an LTO-6 drive for offsite backup and archiving. I dunno how I feel about the LTO-6 drive. On one hand, we could have just bought a whole third array to cart offsite for the same money. On the other hand, once we start running out of storage it'll be easy and cheap to archive files to a couple tape copies and then remove from our main arrays. Probably half of our storage right now could be safely archived to tapes and we'd probably never look at it again. I think long term it'll work out to be for the best, but it's a hell of an investment in the beginning. The lifespan of your backups is the key thing to think about. A RAID array with platter drives has a much shorter lifespan than an LTO tape sitting on the shelf. Additionally, will you still be able to get those 4TB platter drives 10 years from now if you fire up the array and one of the drives craps out? Will computers still be available with eSATA/USB 3.0/etc ports to connect the array to? Granted, LTO hardware has some of those issues too, but it's designed and planned for long term storage and backwards compatibility so it's more future-proof than drives & arrays for sure.
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Jul 19, 2015 00:07
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WebDog posted:The Quicktime gamma shift is an annoying bugbear. There's some explanation on what is going on here but there doesn't seem to be an easy solution that fits every system. We used to fix this in Quicktime by installing a pro app like FCP or Compressor, which would magically make an option in Quicktime Player preferences called "Enable Final Cut Studio Compatibility" visible. It forces QT Player to not use colorsync, but instead read source colors with 2.2. gamma and display them in a color space with 1.8 gamma. However, it looks like installing newer versions of FCPX and Compressor (v.4+) don't make this option appear any more.
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Jul 22, 2015 17:40
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Dirk the Average posted:It's not a troll. I'm savvy enough to do minor editing of videos for work (rotate/speedup/cut/etc.) but have no concept of the hardware or software requirements otherwise (I use an engineering computer, which is hilarious overkill for the editing being talked about). I'm asking because there are definitely options out there that I am completely ignorant of. Is there a good compilation of information that I could look through or a more appropriate thread to ask this? Yeah, I don't know why anyone would think that question was a troll. Maybe it's the Garbage Dick avatar. 1st AD has good advice. In addition and if you're leaning towards PC, Sony has a low-cost editing suite called Movie Studio. I've never used it myself, but some people like it. Adobe Premiere and FCP X are probably overkill for what you're looking for and will have a very steep learning curve if you're just starting out.
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Oct 21, 2015 20:20
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It never hurts to link this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVkLVRt6c1U
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Jan 10, 2016 06:10
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Going on a rant here... I have heard first-hand that Deadpool was a terrible experience for most of the post team and I'm sure so was Gone Girl. Premiere is a wonderful platform if you are finishing picture and sound on the computer you are editing on, and you have less than 25-ish days of dailies and limited VFX shots coming back into the project. The interface is easy to learn, dragging and dropping is intuitive like Final Cut, the interaction between other Adobe products is awesome, and if you shot 2k or less and are properly set up you can cut native. But like FCP, it's a prosumer product and you will be in a world of poo poo if you are working on a feature-length show:
 Adobe Premiere is a mid-sized sedan with an automatic transmission and Avid Media Composer is an 18-wheeler with twelve gears. The automatic is easy to learn and drive, while the rig takes some training. If you're moving grandma and U-Haul to an old folks home you'll be fine with the automatic, but if you're hauling a shipping container full of steel good luck getting up the hill in mom's Taurus. I really, really wish I could give more specifics and background because I love talking about this stuff and learning from others' experiences, but I would like to avoid doxxing myself. I did not work on Premiere or Gone Girl, but I have worked with crew who worked on them. I am currently working on a feature film cutting on Avid while managing post on a series of short films cutting on Premiere, and would rather eat my own dick than work on a full feature on Premiere. It's not ready for prime time.
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Mar 20, 2016 07:37
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BonoMan posted:Interested in what you mean by this? I'm sure there's something I'm missing, but we have 100tb of shared storage (a fairly standard QNAP with 10gbe to all of our machines) and we store all of our project files on that central storage and work directly from it (4k and 6k projects). ISIS/Unity allows for a single shared project across all users, no moving projects back and forth or dealing with things like media browser to move cuts around. Everyone opens the same project and any user can open any bin another user creates/modifies and can immediately begin working with the cuts or media within (although only one user at a time has write-access and the bin needs to be saved to update server-side). And even in a large project the bins take seconds, not minutes to open (e.g. I worked on a film a few years ago that went for 22 months and we ended up with a 5-6GB Avid project. Yea it was a bit slow, but still only took 10-15 seconds to open or save the largest bins.) I know some of my points can sound nitpicky, but in my case it's the difference between a half-day of work on an Avid to do a proper sound turnover for a screening, or three 16-hour days slogging through workarounds and technical issues to do the same job. I don't know why any production would want to use a tool that impedes us from doing the work quickly and accurately just because it's the shiny new toy. I'M SO loving ANGRY ABOUT PREMIERE RAAAAGH Seriously though, I have no issues with Premiere when used in a smaller production environment. It's working perfectly fine for the short film series I'm supervising. And on a small show it's certainly cheaper than having to purchase Avid I/O breakout gear (Mojo/Nitris/etc.), since Premiere can output full-screen to multiple monitors without extra hardware. Plus, competition is good for the business - when FCP7 was the bee's knees it forced Avid to step up their game. But gently caress being forced to use a tool that keeps me from going home to my family at what should be the end of the day.
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Mar 20, 2016 19:20
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BonoMan posted:This is exactly how we use Premiere. All of our files are on a single shared storage and we can all open up that Premiere file from any of our connected computers and it works just as you describe. WebDog posted:The main slowdown with Premiere is you can't open a project in two places at once so you have to get a bit creative with mapping out how projects are dynamically linked. BonoMan, are you opening a single project that lives server-side on two different computers or are you doing as WebDog described and dynamically linking projects or moving sequences around via media browser? My understanding is that, like WebDog said, you can not open a project in two places at once.
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Mar 21, 2016 02:31
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