Editing a feature shot on XH A1... Huge Question here????
by tony ladesich
on
Jul 18, 2008 at 3:54:19 am
Greetings COW BRETHREN!!!
Here is my question…
I am working on a feature that I have shot on XH A1 @ 1080 24p… and now I am starting post production. FCP studio 2
I have spent the past two weeks digitizing 50+ interviews using the camera as a deck over firewire.
The problem is that I have gotten the impression that if I had digitized footage using an HD capture card I might be seeing better looking footage.
(for the record I am a professional shooter and editor who usually shoots Varicam and F900 as well as my own HVX200.
At any rate this is my first really long-term foray into HDV.
Everything is lit well and shot well… yet, now that I am looking the footage from FCP it looks like there is so much compression that there is a wired grain all over almost every shot.
So is it true that if I capture in a different way that I will get better results?
If so, how should I capture? By the way… I am on the verge of getting a blackmagic HD Extreme capture card.
Now the real question… can I edit the film using the existing captures as an off-line and then Batch Capture only the clips I am using in the film for my final online (including color correction). The thought of having to re capture “everything” now makes me sick.
Can anyone help me out on this? I am in semi-uncharted waters here.
For me anyway.
Re: Editing a feature shot on XH A1... Huge Question here???? by David Roth Weiss on Jul 18, 2008 at 6:28:56 am
[tony ladesich]"The problem is that I have gotten the impression that if I had digitized footage using an HD capture card I might be seeing better looking footage."
Nope!!! Firewire capture is HDV native, just wrapping it in a QT. There's no loss when capturing via firewire.
[tony ladesich]"Everything is lit well and shot well� yet, now that I am looking the footage from FCP it looks like there is so much compression that there is a wired grain all over almost every shot."
How are you monitoring? If the answer is that you're simply monitoring "the canvas" on your computer monitor, that's your problem. FCP is optimized to playback in realtime via the canvas, not to show the video at optimal quality. You can change the RT settings to drop the frame rate and to display full quality, but more importantly, you need to monitor via a video monitor, not a computer monitor to truly judge trhe quality of your video.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY â„¢
A forum host of Creative COW's Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
Re: Editing a feature shot on XH A1... Huge Question here???? by tony ladesich on Jul 18, 2008 at 12:32:35 pm
David,
thanks for your response. i am as of this moment viewing footage on my 30 in cinema display... or watching a raw output to my second monitor a 20 in cinema display...
so once i get the HD extreme card i will be viewing on a more proper monitor.
i have been reading alot about the Apple pro res codec...
i have really been bummed out by how the HDV reacts to color correction. would working in ProRes clear that up? or am i trying to expect too much from an inferior format (HDV)?
Re: Editing a feature shot on XH A1... Huge Question here???? by Warren Eig on Jul 18, 2008 at 5:18:05 pm
Actually, I've captured and converted HDV shot with the Canon XL-H1 to ProRes HQ on the fly. One of the advantages is it is now frame based and 10 bit. The 10 Bit won't change your footage, but any color correction, transitions or graphics will be rendered in 10 Bit.
If you stay in HDV, yes you stay native, but you have to re-compress frames (it's a GOP codec) before you output to tape, export to QT movie, etc.
Re: Editing a feature shot on XH A1... Huge Question here???? by David Roth Weiss on Jul 18, 2008 at 6:16:32 pm
Tony,
Since you've already captured you stuff as native HDV, the preferred workflow is to simply edit the HDV as is, then when you're done, switch the QT compressor settings in the Sequence Settings to Pro Res, then color correct.
Persoanlly, I prefer to capture as Pro Res, but if you've already captured everything it's not really a big deal to edit native HDV. Some people swear by it.
David
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW's Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
