Thursday, February 23, 2017

COMPARING AVID MC, PPRo & FCPX

Good article showing the pluses and minuses of each software package. The article came out in 2014 and there are new features for each NLE (i.e. FCPX is at ver 10.3, MC now supports 4K, etc) but well worth reading.

COMPARE AVID, PPRO AND FCPX

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

COLOR SPACE IN TWO EASY TO UNDERSTAND GRAPHS

Rec 709 is 2K 1080p (this is what the cameras at The Rock currently use and is the GOLD triangle in the color swatch graphic). Rec 2020 is UHD (Ultra Hi Def) 8K (and is the BLACK triangle in the color swatch graphic)

Its easy to see the difference - bigger color space means more options for shooting and color grading!

Monday, February 20, 2017

EDITING A MOVIE TRAILER

This checklist is a good start on editing movies trailers - but as en editor who has cut several trailers, I know they left one thing out. See if you can guess what it is.


1
CREATE PAPER CUT

Paper cut the trailer using lines from your dialogue breakdown. •

2
PLACE THE MOMENTS

Determine where your favorite moments will go (ideal places are the beginning and the end). •

3
RESEARCH MUSIC

Research music, pulling a variety of act 1 opening cues, act 2 mid-tempo cues and act 3 big energy cues. •

4
TEST MUSIC

Test your music options against a rough picture montage, then choose 2-3 cues for the trailer. •



ROUGH STRUCTURE

1
CREATE TIMELINE
Create a timeline and mark your desired duration using markers (2:30 for a full trailer).
2
CUT IN ANCHORS
Cut in your anchor points like logos, main title, narration and graphics.
3
CUT DIALOGUE
Drop in your dialogue according to your paper cut. Mix it up to -8dB. Add EQ and compressors as needed.
4
ROUGH OUT MUSIC
Cut in your music. Plan where each act will begin and end and edit the cues accordingly.
Match the tone of the music to the mood you’re trying to create in each section.
5
SHIFT LINES
Shift around lines to complement the rhythm of various music cues.
6
ADD KEY VISUALS
Add key visuals like scares, explosions and set-piece moments. No need to fine-tune yet.
Just slug them in where they need to land.


SOUND DESIGN

1
PLAN SOUND DESIGN
Listen to the cut with only dialogue, narration and music. Imagine which areas could be accented
and enhanced with sound. Think of it like composing a song.
2
ADD IMPACTS
Add whooshes and hits to accent graphics and moments of impact.
3
ADJUST STOPS & STARTS
Use cymbals, suckbacks and reverb to start and stop sections of the music as needed.
4
ACCENT DOWNBEATS
Add hits to main downbeats in your act 3 cue to build momentum in the back-end.
5
ADD RISES
Add rises to build intensity into small and large climaxes.
6
POLISH AUDIO
Polish and tighten everything audio-related. If you close your eyes and listen, the trailer should almost
sound complete, despite the missing picture.

“Listen to the cut with only dialogue, narration and music.
Imagine which areas could be accented and enhanced with sound.”

FILLING IN PICTURE

1 ADD SEE-AND-SAY PICTURE
Add all see-and-say picture (establishing shots, described places, people, objects etc). •
2 ADD CONNECTING SHOTS
Add connecting shots between key moments. Try to create a logical flow of imagery between sections.
Use favorite shots from your visual breakdown. •
3 MONTAGE
Create your act 3 montage(s). •
4 REFINE PICTURE
Rearrange, re-time and re-adjust all picture until it flows with the music and tracks logically.
Don’t be too random. Tell mini-stories with each 3-4 shot sequence. •

AUDIO MIXING & SOUND LAYERING

KEYFRAME MUSIC

1 Use audio keyframes to dip music under dialogue. 6 to 10dB decreases should carve it out nicely. •
2 LAYER FOLEY & SFX
Layer additional foley, effects and sound design as needed to fill out your mix and create audio interest •
(drones, wind, misc ambiance, reverses, etc).
3 REDUCE POPPING
Add at least 1-frame dissolves on the edges of all clips to prevent popping. •
4 ADJUST GLOBAL MIX
Make global mix adjustments to avoid peaking. Shoot for -8dB as a goal •
5 POLISH, POLISH, POLISH
Go through the cut and polish every single moment, down to the frame. Finally, once you’ve got it perfect… •
polish it one more time.

“Re-adjust all picture until
it flows with the music.
Tell mini-stores with each
3-4 shot sequence.”
“Layer foley, effects
and sound design to
fill out your mix and
create audio interest.”