Understanding Timecode

Sean McHenry · December 6th, 2004, 10:27 AM

A simple - old school trick - record black to all your blank tapes. For those of you with cameras that break timecode if you stop the record, this will give the tape an original timecode track that will basically be editied over rather than rewritten. We used to do this with Beta as it had the same issues in the begining. Every take had the nasty habit of starting at the same time code...Bad form. But then, there were no NLE systems back then so it was sort of OK.

I know it's head wear but at least you'll know which cut is which on the tape and you will finally be able to batch capture with the rest of us.

As a great side benefit, you can also archive your EDL (edit decision list) and recapture at a later date based on unique tape names and time code points. This means you can toss that footage when you are done with the edit session and still recapture only the same footage you used by calling up that old EDL and dropping in the right tapes when asked to change them by the NLE itself.

Pretty cool when used right.

Sean McHenry

Ian OBrien · December 6th, 2004, 11:08 AM

I filmed my daughters first Nativity play on Friday last week, using
two Mini DV cameras, What I really wanted to do in laymans terms
is use the timecodes from both camera tapes to edit in such a way
that I could change camera angle without any jump in audio!!
this is the first time I have used two cameras at the same time,
and also being reasonably new to DV, have come across various
problems
1) I don't have the correct editing software, so I can't use the
timecode info
2) Audio is naff, could possibly do with shotgun mike!

* Can anyone recommend anything from Pinnacle..( liquid edition?)
another thing, I bought a book today called PRACTICAL DV
FILMMAKING, before I paid for it, I had a browse through and saw
something I thoght was of interest, this book has DID YOU KNOW? Tips on various pages..... To stripe or place a timecode on
your tapes, prior to filming, simply put the cassette in the camera,
keep the lens cap on, press record and let the tape run, recording
over the entire tape, without interruption, its like laying a rail
track for each clip to sit on later.
.....please can anyone explain why?

Sean McHenry · December 7th, 2004, 03:32 PM

please re-read the above note...

You are laying down an initial timecode track and the camera will not rewrite that track. Once it is laid down it will stay there.

On your multicamera edit...

It is possible to "eyeball" the two cameras and lay their tracks on top of one another in the editing software timeline. Take Premiere Pro for example. Place your main camera on track one, your second camera shots on top in track 2. Normally you will only see the uppermost track. You can now toggle on and off the track views.

You leave the video where it is but turn off track two when you want to see the track below, in track one. Now you make splices in the upper, track two and roll in the heads and tails to allow track one to show through where you need it. I know there is a better way of explaining all this but this is really not nearly as hard as everyone thinks.

You can do this with as many cameras as you can have tracks. It will get confusing to try too many this way. That's why various manufacturers of video software, like Avid, provide multicam operation in various versions or even in plugins.

In my opinino, and from the demos I have seen in my time, I would personally stick with Premiere Pro or if you can go the professional route, go Avid Xpress DV or Xpress Pro.

You can download their free version at http://www.avid.com/freedv

Sean

James Emory · December 7th, 2004, 04:38 PM

Sean, I know what you're talking about. Here is yet an easier and more precise way to do it in no time. A flash from a still camera, a slate's sticks or even a hand clap in clear view of each camera will give you perfect sync with any camera. I use a slate's sticks with 2-4 cameras all the time with undetectable results. I am able to go to frame level on the timeline and can match 4 cameras in under 2 minutes.

Assuming all of this is done in Premiere, just follow Sean's method by laying in your video tracks on the timeline. Next, play or scrub the clip until you reach the sync reference and then go frame by frame until you get to the exact frame where the flash occurs, the sticks meet or the hands meet. Do this for all of the different tracks. Next, pick a start point on the timeline and simply slide, not roll, all of the clips back to that common mark on the timeline and from there to the end all of your cameras are in perfect sync with your master audio as well. Now you can start cutting each track as needed and using transitions by now grabbing the track edges and rolling the clips down as you move to the end. You can also preview as you roll the clip in or out. Another neat thing you can do is to move clips vertically in the timeline as long as they are not slid left or right, only rolled in or out on either side for any adjustments.

I always place a locked 1 second black video stop at the end of each video track to prevent accidental sliding of the track as I move down the timeline. The reason for using a stop is to prevent accidental track sliding but also allowing track rolling by not having to lock the entire track. If accidental sliding does occur to one or more tracks, it will result in a train wreck. One more thing I do when doing this is periodically make copies of the project as I progress to have a last known good version in case there was a mistake. It is better than starting all over. Good luck.

Sean McHenry · December 7th, 2004, 07:51 PM

Yep, you can really goof up a project in no time at all if you accidentally slide a clip around, especially if you use unlocked audio and video.

The reason for the old clapper boards was originally to sync the "clap" sound with the image of the clap as in the older days, and still on some sets, the audio may be recorded on gen-locked DAT machines and the video may be film or any video format but they are seperate. To sync them, they use the clapper boards.

You can certainly do the same for video. In fact, the slates are a great way to make sure you have the right take on each camera. It's amazing how a very similar appearing take can be so different.

You can find slates and clapper boards in Markertek, TecNec and B&H among other places...or make your own.

Sean

Phil Holder · December 7th, 2004, 08:59 PM

Hi Glen
As some of the others have said timecode is usefull when working on large projects to identify tapes. It's also usefull in helping to sink up tapes when on multi camera shoots such as Ian was attempting. For single camera work pre stripe the tapes as the others have suggested. For multi camera shoots use time of day timecode on all cameras this will give you a referance point to sink all cameras to when editing. I'm not sure how timecode works in mini dv but with analogue it used to be dropped onto the tape in two different ways, as VITC code (Vertical Interval Timecode) which was placed in the video (seen as white dots at the top of picture) & Longatudinal Timecode which was placed on an audio 3 track. VITC is not much use if doing a lot of video inserts as it wipes the code from the tape, but I think that it is used in a lot of TV stations on server based equiptment for putting TV programs to air etc. Longatudinal timecode was used mainly for linear computer editing or editing on pre striped tapes. I guess it's a more stable and constant referance for the tape machines and computer to wotk with. I'm not an expert but I hope this gives you a moddest idea of what timecode does. Someone else might have a bit more to add.

December 6th, 2004, 10:27 AM	#16
Sean McHenry Trustee Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Hilliard, Ohio Posts: 1,193	A simple - old school trick - record black to all your blank tapes. For those of you with cameras that break timecode if you stop the record, this will give the tape an original timecode track that will basically be editied over rather than rewritten. We used to do this with Beta as it had the same issues in the begining. Every take had the nasty habit of starting at the same time code...Bad form. But then, there were no NLE systems back then so it was sort of OK. I know it's head wear but at least you'll know which cut is which on the tape and you will finally be able to batch capture with the rest of us. As a great side benefit, you can also archive your EDL (edit decision list) and recapture at a later date based on unique tape names and time code points. This means you can toss that footage when you are done with the edit session and still recapture only the same footage you used by calling up that old EDL and dropping in the right tapes when asked to change them by the NLE itself. Pretty cool when used right. Sean McHenry __________________ ‘I don’t know what I’m doing, and I’m shooting on D.V.’ - my hero - David Lynch http://www.DeepBlueEdit.com

December 6th, 2004, 11:08 AM	#17
Ian OBrien Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Manchester England Posts: 27	I filmed my daughters first Nativity play on Friday last week, using two Mini DV cameras, What I really wanted to do in laymans terms is use the timecodes from both camera tapes to edit in such a way that I could change camera angle without any jump in audio!! this is the first time I have used two cameras at the same time, and also being reasonably new to DV, have come across various problems 1) I don't have the correct editing software, so I can't use the timecode info 2) Audio is naff, could possibly do with shotgun mike! * Can anyone recommend anything from Pinnacle..( liquid edition?) another thing, I bought a book today called PRACTICAL DV FILMMAKING, before I paid for it, I had a browse through and saw something I thoght was of interest, this book has DID YOU KNOW? Tips on various pages..... To stripe or place a timecode on your tapes, prior to filming, simply put the cassette in the camera, keep the lens cap on, press record and let the tape run, recording over the entire tape, without interruption, its like laying a rail track for each clip to sit on later. .....please can anyone explain why? __________________ Ian

December 7th, 2004, 03:32 PM	#18
Sean McHenry Trustee Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Hilliard, Ohio Posts: 1,193	please re-read the above note... You are laying down an initial timecode track and the camera will not rewrite that track. Once it is laid down it will stay there. On your multicamera edit... It is possible to "eyeball" the two cameras and lay their tracks on top of one another in the editing software timeline. Take Premiere Pro for example. Place your main camera on track one, your second camera shots on top in track 2. Normally you will only see the uppermost track. You can now toggle on and off the track views. You leave the video where it is but turn off track two when you want to see the track below, in track one. Now you make splices in the upper, track two and roll in the heads and tails to allow track one to show through where you need it. I know there is a better way of explaining all this but this is really not nearly as hard as everyone thinks. You can do this with as many cameras as you can have tracks. It will get confusing to try too many this way. That's why various manufacturers of video software, like Avid, provide multicam operation in various versions or even in plugins. In my opinino, and from the demos I have seen in my time, I would personally stick with Premiere Pro or if you can go the professional route, go Avid Xpress DV or Xpress Pro. You can download their free version at http://www.avid.com/freedv Sean __________________ ‘I don’t know what I’m doing, and I’m shooting on D.V.’ - my hero - David Lynch http://www.DeepBlueEdit.com

December 7th, 2004, 07:51 PM	#20
Sean McHenry Trustee Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Hilliard, Ohio Posts: 1,193	Yep, you can really goof up a project in no time at all if you accidentally slide a clip around, especially if you use unlocked audio and video. The reason for the old clapper boards was originally to sync the "clap" sound with the image of the clap as in the older days, and still on some sets, the audio may be recorded on gen-locked DAT machines and the video may be film or any video format but they are seperate. To sync them, they use the clapper boards. You can certainly do the same for video. In fact, the slates are a great way to make sure you have the right take on each camera. It's amazing how a very similar appearing take can be so different. You can find slates and clapper boards in Markertek, TecNec and B&H among other places...or make your own. Sean __________________ ‘I don’t know what I’m doing, and I’m shooting on D.V.’ - my hero - David Lynch http://www.DeepBlueEdit.com

December 7th, 2004, 08:59 PM	#21
Phil Holder Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Perth Western Australia Posts: 70	Understanding Timecode Hi Glen As some of the others have said timecode is usefull when working on large projects to identify tapes. It's also usefull in helping to sink up tapes when on multi camera shoots such as Ian was attempting. For single camera work pre stripe the tapes as the others have suggested. For multi camera shoots use time of day timecode on all cameras this will give you a referance point to sink all cameras to when editing. I'm not sure how timecode works in mini dv but with analogue it used to be dropped onto the tape in two different ways, as VITC code (Vertical Interval Timecode) which was placed in the video (seen as white dots at the top of picture) & Longatudinal Timecode which was placed on an audio 3 track. VITC is not much use if doing a lot of video inserts as it wipes the code from the tape, but I think that it is used in a lot of TV stations on server based equiptment for putting TV programs to air etc. Longatudinal timecode was used mainly for linear computer editing or editing on pre striped tapes. I guess it's a more stable and constant referance for the tape machines and computer to wotk with. I'm not an expert but I hope this gives you a moddest idea of what timecode does. Someone else might have a bit more to add.

December 7th, 2004, 04:38 PM	#19
James Emory Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Atlanta, Georgia Posts: 1,892	Sean, I know what you're talking about. Here is yet an easier and more precise way to do it in no time. A flash from a still camera, a slate's sticks or even a hand clap in clear view of each camera will give you perfect sync with any camera. I use a slate's sticks with 2-4 cameras all the time with undetectable results. I am able to go to frame level on the timeline and can match 4 cameras in under 2 minutes. Assuming all of this is done in Premiere, just follow Sean's method by laying in your video tracks on the timeline. Next, play or scrub the clip until you reach the sync reference and then go frame by frame until you get to the exact frame where the flash occurs, the sticks meet or the hands meet. Do this for all of the different tracks. Next, pick a start point on the timeline and simply slide, not roll, all of the clips back to that common mark on the timeline and from there to the end all of your cameras are in perfect sync with your master audio as well. Now you can start cutting each track as needed and using transitions by now grabbing the track edges and rolling the clips down as you move to the end. You can also preview as you roll the clip in or out. Another neat thing you can do is to move clips vertically in the timeline as long as they are not slid left or right, only rolled in or out on either side for any adjustments. I always place a locked 1 second black video stop at the end of each video track to prevent accidental sliding of the track as I move down the timeline. The reason for using a stop is to prevent accidental track sliding but also allowing track rolling by not having to lock the entire track. If accidental sliding does occur to one or more tracks, it will result in a train wreck. One more thing I do when doing this is periodically make copies of the project as I progress to have a last known good version in case there was a mistake. It is better than starting all over. Good luck.