Canon XL H1 + FCP 5 + Same day Edit

[Lowell Oswald]

Hey all,

I'm doing my first big HD(v) wedding video this weekend up in Washington and I need some pointers...

The client has ordered our biggest package, which includes a sameday edit...I will have my G4 powerbook with me and about 4-5 hours to edit it. I need some pointers on setting the best 'workflow' to get this job done in time...


My current settings in FCP 5 are these...

AIC Codec 1080i60

Frame Size: 1440x1080
PIxel Aspect: HD (1440x1080) (16:9 Anamorphic) - it will play on a 4:3 tv, but I want the widescreen bars...
*is this as big as the XL H1 can go in FCP? I thought it could be wider...
Field Dominance: Upper(Odd)
Editing Timebase: 29.97 - will this work with both 60i and 30F? I need to have quality 50% slow motion on the 60i footage..

This will all be edited in HDV then downcoverted to be playable on a SD DVD. (later I'll do a full quality HD file)

Any suggestions/pointers would be great!

Thanks in advance!

[Shannon Rawls]

Everything sounds good. However since you are delivering on SD DVD, don't bother with the AIC codec that day. To create the AIC, it will take 3-4x's longer to capture the footage on your powerbook as it transcodes the HDV to AIC. Since you will be in a hurry and the clock is ticking and your client is waiting, do this:

ON THE DAY OF THE WEDDING - DELIVERING A "SD DVD" MASTER (HD comes later):
1. Make sure you are using RECRUN timecode and properly label each reel in FCP and on the tape itself
2. Capture footage by Downconverting on-the-fly in camera. (turn off scene detection and capture the tapes as a full single hour 13gb file).
3. Cut your 60i DV footage as normal in real time with real-time effects and render your SD final cut
4. Author the DVD. (prep your DVD menu before the wedding)
5. Burn to DVD-R to deliver to client. (never give a client +R dvd's.)

THE VERY NEXT DAY - GEARSHIFTING YOUR SD FOOTAGE TO HD:
1. Simply re-capture your footage to the AIC codec (this will take 3 times as long as the footage is since you're on a powerbook).
2. Your footage will be timecode accurate to the DV footage you previously captured.
3. Simply swap out the DV files with the newly captured HD files and re-render your HD final cut back down to DV. No editing neccessary. This DVD version should look even better then the original DVD.
4. Author the DVD with this new master file.
5. Burn to DVD-R.
6. Render out an HD master of the main movie in HDV format.
7. Capture back to tape and deliver new DVD-R and HDV tape to client. (never give a client +R dvd's.)

My Thoughts:
- You will love the fact that your camera will capture beautiful footage even under the inevitable low-light conditions you will be faced with.
- With the long lens of the XL-H1, you can be way in the back out of sight and yet still capture wonderfully framed shots.
- Since you have a "Same Day Delivery" package, you may want to seriously think about getting a Direct-To-Disk recorder to eliminate uneccessary downtimes for capturing.
- Always wear an all black nice suit.
- Always smile...you'll get more work. People love happy videographers and somehow remember them in the future when they need them.
- Don't get drunk at the reception! *smile*

- ShannonRawls.com

[Lowell Oswald]

Thanks Shannon! I appreciate the quick response!

One thing..

"2. Capture footage by Downconverting on-the-fly in camera. (turn off scene detection and capture the tapes as a full single hour 13gb file)"

I guess I'm just a little slow here, but what should my capture settings be exactly?

I need it spelled out for me so I don't make any mistakes!

Thanks!

[Barlow Elton]

Shannon's workflow makes sense, but remember to shoot 4x3 safe.

Shannon, isn't the downconversion 4x3 DV only? No letterboxing via camera, right?

If so, you need to be prepared to deliver a normal 4x3 SD DVD, which means you should frame conservatively. There are aspect ratio guides you can turn on in the viewfinder for this purpose.

I recently shot a piece in HDV, edited in DVCPROHD, and then downconverted to 4x3 DV for the deliverable. It worked great, but I used a dedicated HD card to work in DVCPROHD. You'll be fine with HDV, just remember to always shoot 4x3 safe.

(if the camera downconversion looks "squashed" it likely means that it's 16x9 DV, so you can simply capture into a 16x9 DV project and work from there.)

[Barlow Elton]

Originally Posted by Lowell Oswald

"2. Capture footage by Downconverting on-the-fly in camera. (turn off scene detection and capture the tapes as a full single hour 13gb file)"

If you shoot a full hour of material and max out the tape, capture it all in one pass.

Mark an in point at, say, 8 to 10 seconds into the tape, and then mark your out point a few seconds before the end of the timecode on the tape. Click on "log clip", give it a name, (like Washington wedding, tape 1) and then right click on the offline clip which you've just logged into your bin. Click "batch capture" and then let the computer/camera do its thing until the entire tape's been captured.

Repeat the process for all your tapes. When you're ready to go HD, recapture into an AIC or HDV Sequence setting and re-render, then output for DVD.

[Lowell Oswald]

I think I've got it working now! Thanks for your help!

[Jared Teter]

So when shooting in HDV with H1 then using the built-in downconversion to SD to you get 16:9 SD footage or 4:3 SD footage? Thanks

[Lowell Oswald]

I downconverted to 16:9 SD footage and it looks great! I haven't tried to do 4:3..

[Jared Teter]

Is it possible to to downconvert to 4:3 using the H1's built in downconversion feature?

[Vincent Rozenberg]

It's not possible to get full frame 4:3 SD. You get the squeezed anamorphic 16:9 - 4:3 if you convert down via the camera.