The latest music video I edited (under the direction of Mark Becker) is now up on YouTube!  Check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=346_vQcLjdU

Congrats to the band La Strada for their newest album “New Home.”

You can read more about “New Home” here: http://www.ernestjenning.com/band_lastrada.htm

or check out La Strada on  MySpace:
http://www.myspace.com/lastradanyc

From keeping your master safely away from the cutting room, to needing cramming those extra shots on a portable drive for a mobile edit, there are a number of reasons one might want to cut at “offline quality” whilst cutting P2 in Final Cut Pro.

One of my largest gripes with FCP is the bullish slow down encountered when cutting with large amounts of footage in your browser (read: unscripted documentary).  The larger the files, the more system resources FCP eats up attempting to manage it all.  This means when you access bins or load clips in the source viewer you’re going to be waiting.  By creating proxy footage you can alleviate some of the stress on your NLE system and speed up your editing.

Due to the possibly confusing nature of the term ‘offline’ (as it refers to low-resolution media and media that has gone missing from it’s pointer), I will refer to the new media that we’re creating as “proxy” footage.

PLEASE NOTE: I will be using my own person version of media management when it comes to this demo.  Here’s a brief explanation of my personal system:

To manage Media I create a master folder for each project, this becomes the ‘project folder.’  This folder acts as an all-encompassing living space for all the elements that are related to your cutting project.

I tend to create six folders inside the project folder.  My project directory looks something like this:

PROJECT.NAME { 1.Cuts, 2.Materials, 3.Sound, 4.Working 5.Exports 6.Docs }

The cuts folder contains all the projects related to the edit.  The materials folder contains all the media that you add to your browser (I capture footage in a general capture bin and move the media using the finder).  Sound is where I keep audio files and mixes.  Exports contain exported QT’s and OMFs.  Docs is where I keep scripts, notes etc.  The working folder is a catch-all for incomplete files that are under construction (any files that are proxy I keep the materials folders, and just switch out media without changing names so that FCP automatically updates).

Assuming you have all your media in your “Materials” folders.  To begin, I create a new folder within the Materials folder called “Proxy.”  This will be the home of your new proxy media.

If you have already created a project to log your footage, you’ll want to keep all the logging meta-data  you have generated.  In order to maintain this information, you will need to use FCP’s Media Management tool to create an offline (read: proxy) project with the proper settings.

With nothing selected in your browser, select FILE > MEDIA MANAGER to bring up the Media Manager window.  Under the “MEDIA:” drop-down option and select “Create offline.”  This will grey out most options.  Now under “Set sequences to:” option scroll through the list and select “Apple ProRes 422 (Proxy) 960×720” with the frame rate that matches your project.  Make sure that “Base media file names on:” to “existing file names.”  And click ok.  It will ask you where you want to save your project (1.Cuts folder).  I normally append the word “proxy.”

Next, we’re going to load compressor.

First, create a new custom DESTINATION.  Set the PATH to your MATERIALS/PROXY folder and make sure that under “output filename template: simply says “Source Media Name.”  THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT.  If you change this, and append anything to the proxy file name you will be unable to relink back to your online media.

Next, under settings, create a new QUICKTIME MOVIE setting.  Under encoder settings / video and select “Apple ProRes 422 (Proxy) and set the Frame rate to “current.”  Under the geometry settings, change the frame size to “50% of source.”

Now apply the setting and the destination to all the files in the compressor window and select “submit.”

Go grab some food, coffee, etc.  Depending on how much footage you have this could be a while.  (Note, this process is best if done at the beginning of a project, think of how you’d import footage into avid at an offline resolution.  You can also, selectively convert footage if you’re in a situation where you only need to worry sections of your timeline.)

Now to reconnect / relink the clips to the proxy media.  In FCP select the bins and select FILE > RECONNECT and navigate to the PROXY folder inside MATERIALS and select the first clip.  Final Cut will now automatically reconnect the media files and you’re ready to edit!

When it comes time to prepare an online (full resolution version) of your final edit.  Use the Media Manager only now under the “Set sequences to:” select the full resolution and create a new project entitled PROJECTNAME (online).  Using the RECONNECT tool, select the full resolution clip.

Happy cutting.

“Alex
Just select all the clips, then choose Modify > Make Multiclip Sequnece …
Leave all settings at default and press OK. That’ll create a Bin of multiclips and a Sequence
Open the new sequence and you should find all those source clips laid out chronologically according to their source timecode with sequence timecode to match. Magical
Best, Andy ( andymees at gmail dot com)”

Thanks Andy!!! You have saved the day!

Thought I’d share! Happy cutting!
Had to share!

"Have you ever received an error telling you to BUY something?!"

As some of you know, I’ve recently been editing a commercial video for Samsung’s latest line of BluRay players.  As part of the promotion Fort Productions (www.fortproductions.com) has produced a short film designed to show off the astonishing quality of the Samsung BluRay technology.

After a lightening fast edit, I prepared the sequence for mix.  When Chris, our very talented sound recordest / editor / engineer (yes folks he knows it ALL!), attempted to open the natively 23.976 fps timeline we encountered an error unlike anything either of us have ever seen: An error telling us not only that a feature wasn’t available but that we had to BUY a very specific upgrade if we wanted that feature!

What? I mean really?

Wait, please, allow me to provide some context.  Chris is editing on a Hardware Dependent ProTools 6; G4, OS X 10.3.9 (Chris correct me if I’m wrong on the tech details!).  A little out-dated? Given, yes.  YET, some of the greatest music of the late 90’s was cut on this system.  Besides, if Jaws, The Godfather II  and Star Wars was in stereo, who really needs HD surround sound?

The closest encounter I’ve experienced to such droll was Avid informing me to update my Dongle to run Media Composer on OS X Leopard.  But that’s an upgrade path. Review the statements made about the hardware; THERE IS NO UPGRADE PATH.  ProTools 6 is locked in to a very specific system and I believe is technically EOL according to Avid.  The Sync I/O the error is requesting an upgrade to?  I couldn’t even find a working one on eBay for this version of ProTools.  Ouch.

Of course, being the nerd that I am, how could I not offer a solution to the problem?

We walked the fine line of 24fps timebase.  Yup.  Commercial work is so short that we found that sync was not affected in any significant way.

:: BUT :: I know that this won’t help all of you out there.  The next best solution: if you have access to Apple’s Cinema Tools you can open the *.wav / *.aiff and conform the sound file to 23.976 ; allowing a perfect sync match.  Neato huh?

Okay, off to finish the new website upload!

Keep on the look out, as a new Demo Reel and over-all website changes will be happening soon!  Very exciting stuff coming down the line!

I have installed After Effects CS3 and had o.k. luck with it.  It operates in the same way that 6.0 did :: it works, just really unstable when preforming particular featuers (such as frame paint).  I’m going to see if I need to upgrade the current version of CS3, or if Adobe is just telling everyone to go to CS4.

I’ll try to nail down some of these issues in more detail as AFX works comes rolling in. It is a little difficult to isolate the issues whilst just playing around.

That being said, I have yet to experience the system-wide crash caused by Photoshop.

I have installed After Effects CS3 and had o.k. luck with it.  It operates in the same way that 6.0 did :: it works, just really unstable when preforming particular featuers (such as frame paint).  I’m going to see if I need to upgrade the current version of CS3, or if Adobe is just telling everyone to go to CS4.

I’ll try to nail down some of these issues in more detail as AFX works comes rolling in. It is a little difficult to isolate the issues whilst just playing around.

That being said, I have yet to experience the system-wide crash caused by Photoshop.

Keep those fingers crossed…

Wish me luck, I'm gonna need it!

—
Peter Haas
+ 01 646 468 6743
www.peterjhaas.com