Problem is that FCP doesn't seem to offer a 12bit audio capture... its either 8bit or 16bit.

So, should I set it to

8bit, 32kHz?

or 16bit, 32kHz?

or 8 bit, 48kHz?

or 16bit, 48kHz (my original setting)

Thanks!

Adrian

I think Quicktime has 12 bit options. Import and then change the the bit rate and export the clip. Then drop on the timeline. there may be an easier way but that will get it done.

Jeff

Alright, I took a look at the video but because I was sitting in class I had to watch it without sound. Here are my opinions:

Good:

Nice framing on most of the shots.

Generally smooth and pleasing camera movements.

You have obviously shot video before. I see many of the same shots we use for wedding videos in this piece. The strength of this piece rests with the camera placement and movement in my opinion.

. . . of course, it may have excellent sound. I wouldn't know. :P

Needs work:

Lighting! Often the lighting switches from bright to dim, making the cuts seem awkward and disjointed. In some of the early shots people are brightly lit perpendicular to the camera but dim elsewhere (It looks like you used ONLY a camera mounted light on some of the indoor shots).

Stylistically I think you over-used quick-cuts on scenes with continous motion. By this I mean when we see the car backing out of the driveway you make a quick cut to it peeling away down the street (efectively shortening the length of the shot). You do this several times throughout the video and visually it wasn't working for me.

The shot of the two people kissing from below (shooting upward) didn't fit with the rest of the scene (opinion).

Overall I'm impressed with the amount of work you put into this short piece. I'd be interested in hearing how many days (weeks?) it took you to complete this. Good job!

-Dan Ballmer

I just checked and Quicktime has the same options as FCP (FCP is powered by quicktime anyway), which is 8bit and 16bit. Any ideas? I'm sure you guys out there capture 4 channel audio once in a while, how would you go about this?

this thing is really giving me a headache...

Adrian

When you export the file do it as 16 bit. Make all your audio match. You may be able to just render in FCP. It may convert it to 16bit in the render.

Jeff

Reply to Dan
 

Dan,

thanks so much for your review.
I think (hope) that you'll find that the pacing of the cuts works with the music. Please let me know when you've heard it with the music. I agree with the inconsistency of lighting, it was really tough getting the cameras to match because I was shooting at fairly extreme shutter speeds. One camera was at 1/30th and the other at 1/2000th (it was an experiment).

The couple are friends that are getting married. The video is basically to get people excited about the wedding, and then to show at their reception. So the sickening "kissing" shots were needed to establish their romance (and get 'oohs and ahs' out of friends and family).

Details:
A crew of 4, (3 camerapersons and a director/assistant).
Sony Cameras, Bogen Tripods and MonoPods.
We scripted in 2hrs on a Monday, shot for 8hrs (including scouting, blocking and rehersal) on a Wednesday, and edited for 6hrs on Thursday with an Apple 733mhz G4 with 512mb of Ram, running Final Cut Pro 3.0.

If we had more time, I'd do more color correction, narration, and cool titles. But we wanted to get this done with as little effort as possible.

Thanks again for the input, it really helps.

- Chip

How do I...
 

How do I extract just sound from a video which I captured on FCP to the timeline?

One simple way is to drag the clip into the timeline, then turn off the linked selection under the sequence menu. Delete the video portion of the clip, and then turn the linked selection back on. Knowing FCP there are probably 3 or 4 other ways to do this.

Barry

"GreenRubberPlant",
Aside from the FCP manuals (which are pretty thorough) there are several 3rd party instructional books on FCP available which could enhance your understanding, and enjoyment, of FCP. Take a look at our "Read About It" forum on this board.

The easiest way I have found is to go to "Export" under he FILE menu and export as "Quicktime". After you do that you will get a menu with more choices. Choose "Save Movie as AIFF". From there you can choose stereo or a mono mixdown and the such. Pretty easy. I do it all the time when readying 6 track mixes which will be turned into Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks by DVD Studio Pro.

EDIT: Ooops I just re-read your question... it appears I mis-understood. Here is a simple way to do what you like. Lock the video tracks on the timeline and drag the movie to the audio timeline. Sometimes FCP will automaticaly create a new track for the video, sometimes not. If it does, lock the audio tracks you just placed and delete the video tracks like mentioned above.

I also just grabbed one of the 1 gig dual machines. Luckily I have a friend at Apple in Cupertino who got me in on the "friends and family" deal that they offer. I can't believe how cool it is. I'm a receint convert and I still haven't fully made the switch (I'm on my PC now...)
I have yet to add more RAM. I will, trust me. I just need to recover from the price of the machine. I did however add 2 Hard Drives. The machine came with 80 stock. I had a IBM Deskstar 120 GHz and a IBM Deskstar 40 Ghz. Both run at 7200 rpm's. This is what you want. 5400 rpm's is ok, 7200 is better, 10,000 is best. I went with the 7200 and have been super happy. I keep all my OS stuff on the 80, all my music on the 40 and all my video on the 120. One thing to remember, Hard drives are not platform specific. They don't care what type of machine they're in. Just make sure it's an ATA100 drive and IBM, Seagate, whatever will snap right in. There are instructions in the apple manual that fully explain how to hook them up. Apple has made it pretty easy for the DIYer. You want the drive that came in the machine to be the "Master" and the additional drives to be the "Slaves" The guys at the computer store should be able to tell you how to configure the drive to be a slave drive.
As far as RAM goes, a monkey could do it. There is nothing easier, so don't be intimidated. Don't forget to buy a "FireWire" when you buy the computer. It doesn't come with one. Otherwise, you'll have a machine and a camera and no way to hook them together.
Man, I got to tell you, I love this new Mac and OSX is a beautiful thing!

BTW, I was at the apple store and they told me that on the apple, it compresses the video in a way that will enable it to store 12 minutes of miniDV video on 1 gig. I have found this to be the case. Just so you know.

Also, the apple stores out here in the SF Bay area offer free iMovie and FCP III classes. You might look into that.

Have fun
-Kyle

Spec sounds fine except for the monitor. Spend the extra cash and get yourself at least a 19".
My old Apple 20" ColorSync died a few months back which I replaced reluctantly with a 19" Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 920. (a previous model which is replaced by the current, better looking range I believe.)

I run the monitor at the same resolution (1280x1024) as I did on my old one so the changes wasn't so dramatic. But I do highly recommend the largest size you can afford. So from experience I would say a 19" is the bare minimum for editing.

Back to the Future Digital Effects?
 

Im doing a BTTF spoof, and I have After Effects 5.5. Im very inexperienced with After Effects, and thus, am asking if anyone has any suggestions how to make the car spark and shoot lightning. Will AE do this, or is another program better? Im running FCP 2 on a G4 as well, if this helps. Any help is appreciated...

Yes, After Effects can accomplish this for you in any of several ways. Offhand, I would first look for a stock clip of sparks (such as from a grinding wheel) shot against a black background that you can convert to an alpha channel for compositing. Compositing the sparks clip over your main clip in AE would basically accomplish your goal.

Ok, I'll look around for some stock footage. Thanks.

Seeing Through The Titles
 

Hello to all,

Can anyone here give a brief explanation on how to make titles that haveclips inside them or something of the sort. I believe I saw an article in a magazine on how to do this but I cannot remember where I saw it.

Any knowledge would be usefull.

Hard Drive Brands - Some Better Than Others?
 

Ok, I'm looking to purchase a second hard drive for my Mac. I'll probably end up buying an 80 gig drive....can't quite afford a 120 right now.

Are certain brands better than others? I'm looking at IBM, Seagate, Western Digital and Maxtor. They all seem to have somewhat comparable prices.

I'd love to hear both the good and bad about anyone's experiences with any of these brands.

Thanks.

I have used Maxtor drives for years and never had one fail. There is a bundle available in some stores that gets you a Ata133 pci interface card free with an 80 gig harddrive.

Someone posted a note about manufacturing flaws on IBM hardrives a few weeks ago on DVINFO but i cant remember who it was.

These days, hard drive problems tend to occur according to a specific model rather than by a brand. As Marc alluded earlier, the IBM DeskStar 75Gb turned up a high failure rate approximately a year ago. (I have one in an older Mac and have had no trouble with it.) I think that IBM has since pulled that particular model and replaced it with an 80Gb model.

In general you'll be just fine with nearly any name brand such as IBM, Maxtor, Western Digital, et.al. Look for a spin rate of 7200 rpm which is ideal for digital video.

Yes, Bill Markel posed the same question earlier this year and Rik Sanchez provided a very good solution in the following thread:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1875&highlight=title

I bought a 120 (115) gb IBM deskstar a month ago and it has served me just fine.

Very basically it can be down by creating a matt or a mask over the top of your video. It can be tricky and takes some time to get the first one sorted but after that's it's a relitively simple compost.

Cross-dissolve duration problem
 

Anyone have an idea on how to get around a problem I'm having?

I made a JPEG file with the name of my film company on a black background and imported that into FCP. Then I sandwiched it in between two black slates so that I could slowly cross dissolve from and to black. I set the first dissolve duration at 02:30...then went to the second dissolve to set it as the same....but it won't let me! It's set really short...00:29...and won't let me increase it.

Any ideas?

Just to let you know...I left ample slate on both sides to trim the side opposite the dissolve...so having enough room shouldn't be a problem. Same with the JPEG itself, I left it intentionally long to allow the long cross-dissolve on both sides...and plan on trimming from the middle when I'm done fixing the dissolves on each end.

Thanks guys. As always, I appreciate the advice and info!

josh,
LaCie is not a hard drive manufacturer. They package others' drives and resell, generally external kits.

I would agree with Mathew and avoid that deal.

I just found another company with pretty much the same deal...only this one is $40 more. These are actual retailers selling FCP 3.0 upgrade version with version 1.2.5 and a serial number.

I first noticed it in an ad in the back of Macworld magazine and this second one I found while looking at eBay as Matthew suggested.

I sent an email to one of the stores asking if there was any catch. I'll let you know what their reply is.

I'm still leery of this deal. But, it's got me rather curious.

Calibration Unnecessary When Shooting In DV???
 

Is it true that when editing footage shot on DV (in FCP 3) there is no need to calibrate using the Color Bars &/or tone? It seems like that is what the FCP 3 users manual is saying.

And could someone explain the difference between a dropped frame versus a timecode break.

PS
Thanks to everyone at this site for all their help! I just got a Dual 1.25GHz Mac & I couldn't be happier!
Erik

Well, re. callibration thats a hotly debated issue =) I prefere to shoot and adjust the image based on a waveform monitor. This gives me a hands down direct feedback on what range i have in the image and where my blacks & whites are. This way i can look at the monitor just for the composition of the shot and dont worry about wether or not its calibrated or not.

As for difference between a time-code break and a dropped frame its as follows. A dropped frame is when it cannot handle either the digitizing or the transfer of the image stream so it has to skip one or more frames in order to catch up in the timing. A time code break is when the timecode is messed up on the tape. Usually because someone stopped the recording and rewinding back/forth and started up outside the existing time-code. so it is reset to 0 again.

This btw is the reason to why you "stripe" tapes. It means putting a consistent timecode track all over the tape. So no matter how you mess around with the tape, whenever you press record, it always has a running timecode. It makes the editors work a LOT easier.

/Henrik

The Apple Store for Education Individuals
 

If you are enrolled in school, teaching school, or know someone who falls into either of those categories, you can get FCP 3.0 from http://www.apple.com/education/ for $299.00.

This is a full version, but Apple definately does not approve of any commercial use of these educational licenses. Fantastic deal if your uses will be personal, though. Let your conscience be your guide.

lyd

So, here's the reply I received from the company selling v. 1.2.5 with the v. 3.0 upgrade:

"Imagine you purchased Final cut pro 1.2.5 back when it came out in the
mid
90's. Now its 2002 and you want to finally upgrade to the newest
version of
final cut pro. You would obviously buy the upgrade because you already
have
an older version.... This is the same situation only you are buying
both at
the same time.


The Final Cut pro 1.2.5 is a CD only version that has a valid serial
number
from apple and it is new and never been registered. The 3.0 upgrade is
the
retail boxed and sealed version as if you would have bought it from a
retail
store..."

Any thoughts ??

still sounds a little shady to me!
why would they be offering just the CD of FCP1 and not the whole package?
if it were a sealed retail version then it would probably be an all right deal.if your serious enuff about your editing then why not just drop that cash down for the full FCP3 from Apple? they have a nice little loan option too!

Mike,
I would also avoid this "deal". It's some type of pirate scheme that should not be supported. What is your recourse if you're stung by this offer? FCP is already a great bargain and Apple deserves the little bit it makes from this great product. If your budget is very tight consider taking-up Apple's financing program as Matthew suggested.

In the end, it's -your- money Mike.

Hi Guys,

Yeah, I agree with you, seems very shady to me. I have no intention of going with this deal...like you said Ken, if there is some type of problem I'm out of $549 . . . that's half the price of legal FCP from Apple.

I just found it very interesting that this is the second shop I've seen doing this....one has an ad right in the back of Macworld magazine.

So, I'll keep saving up my cash and purchase the real thing down the road.

As always thanks for all your opinions!

Do the right thing...
 

I absolutely do not encourage the practice of purchasing software in this manner as described above. Also, in general, I would only purchase from an authorized dealer, this way you are covered in support.

Final Cut Pro is a defacto editing tool and it deserves the price tag that Apple asaks for it. Sit back for a minute and review just how powerful this software is and you will understand its' value. The $995 price tag is very reasonable considering what you can achieve with this software.

Also, in general, we on this forum do not endorse the outlets where you can buy software in this fashion.

Happy filmmaking,

NDF & DF Capturing/Editing Questions
 

If video is shot in NDF mode should it be captured into FCP 3 using the NDF or DF setting? And should video be shot in DF or NDF mode in general (on an NTSC PD150)?

Thanks,
Erik

What is the intended use of the finsihed product, broadcast, web, VHS distribution or DVD? DF is required for broadcast and DVD. If for web etc. NDF is fine. The easiest way is to do everything in DF and you'll have no worries. Just capture in DF if your work is for broadcast. The timecode numbering won't match but that shouldn't be a big deal unless your working from an EDl.

Jeff

Quicktime Question
 

Hi there.
just read the post about IMovie and it brought up an issue i have.
I need to transfer a DV Promo to CD.
It needs to be as big and as best quality i can sqeeze onto the 600 or so meg.
It also needs to be compatible with most Operating systems as i never know on what machines with what os it will be viewed on.
Can I author the cd in quicktime pro which i have and what is the best codec for highest compatibility i notice there are a few in the file menu under export.
What codec will play on any media player for example.
I also would like to embed a player that runs automatically on any machine if thats possible to do.
I have the technology but am totally unsure how to do this and the only quote for it was 400 euors which i am reluctant to pay if it is as easy as exporting the captured dv from imovie with quicktime.
if any one can shed some light it will save my budget and improve my marketing no end.

The website which contains said movie "The Three Sisters" is at
http://standstill.va.com.au
cheers bb

Quicktime and Real are the only major players to have cross-compatible offerings, and these days I'd definitely prefer Quicktime.

You can download the standalone Quicktime installer (so the client won't need a Net download) for Mac and Windows at:

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/standalone/

You've got a tough nut to crack. Quicktime offers the highest picture quality but only has something like a 13% market share (in these players etc). People don't like to download and/or do installs. It's a PC world (hard for me to say as a diehard Mac user) but for maximum compatability you should consider another a program such as Real (it's only in Beta for OS X at this time) or Widows Media Player. Neither offer the quality of Quicktime but your media will probably be seen by a wider audience.

Jeff