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Filed under: Cameras •Post Production •

RED Workflow Redux

When In Doubt, Steal from the Proxies

(UPDATE: Deanan of RED informs me offline that as of 9/2/08 RedRushes DOES now transcode audio. I installed RedRushes on 8/31/08. Missed it by -that- much…)

The RED creates Quicktime “proxies” when it generates a raw R3D clip, and those proxies are great for looking at performances using the Quicktime player. I haven’t been able to use them to do rough cuts as they don’t work well for me in FCP. I was able to drag them into the timeline but once they were rendered the image shifted left by 50% and the right side of the frame was filled with flat green. And Final Cut’s log and transfer function works fine for rough cuts but I wanted to create something that I could color grade reasonably well, and log-and-transferred footage does NOT look that great.

The solution seemed to be to render the selected takes and then match them with their proxies on the timeline, using the rendered ProRes clips for picture and the proxies for audio. I dragged the entire ProRes-rendered take onto the timeline, placing it on video track 2, and then put the proxy—with its audio tracks—directly below it on video track 1. By bringing in the entire take in both forms, and lining them up with each other on the timeline, the audio was instantly in sync, which was confirmed by rolling through and checking the slate. From there I’d shorten the shot to what I needed and drop it into the edit.

Here you can see the top video layer, a ProResHQ version of the clip rendered through RedRushes, hiding a bottom video layer, which is the “P”-sized proxy of the same shot. The proxy’s soundtrack lies on the first two audio channels with music on tracks three and four.

The proxy video track is tied to the audio such that if one moves the other moves with it. The ProRes track is not linked that way, so in order to retain an easy reference for re-syncing if the tracks slipped I left the proxy video track in place so that I could re-sync the picture and audio tracks by comparing the ProRes slate to the slate on the proxy track. (I’m sure there are much easier, elegant and professional ways to do this, but I’m an accidental editor and I hate reading manuals.)

I disabled the proxy’s video track so that it wouldn’t appear during transitions or dissolves.

I wouldn’t recommend doing this for a lengthy feature but for a couple of :30 spots it worked just fine. I’m interested in checking out Adobe Premiere’s newly-announced ability to natively edit with R3D files; that would have made my life very easy indeed.

I’m sure there are lots of post professionals shoving pins into their eyes after reading this article, but hey—one of the promises of the RED was to bring high-quality raw HD to the masses, and now the masses are trying to figure out what to do with it. And once a mass is set in motion it takes some effort to stop it.

A note on slating: as with P2 footage, it is immensely helpful to have the slate in the frame when the camera first rolls. That first frame becomes the thumbnail for your clip, and it’s handy to have the scene and take number sitting right there in your bin.

Here you can see a couple of clips paired with their proxies. (The proxies have the little “speaker” icon in the corner, indicating they contain audio tracks.)

I can’t reveal what these spots are about until they start airing, but once they do I’ll post a couple of articles about how I shot them and colored them. Stay tuned!

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Thanks for the report, Art. But surely you mean *low* signal-to-noise ratio on reduser.net? Or has it suddenly become a fast and efficient way to find out what you need?  [grin]

Posted by Adam Wilt  on  09/14  at  12:42 AM

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Yes, thank you, Adam. I made the change. I must’ve been crazy to write that. Crazy! Reduser.net is a great resource as long as you have infinite amounts of time.

By the way, Deanan of RED tells me that as of 9/2 RedRushes does transcode sound. I checked; I downloaded it on 8/31. Argh! The article has been updated to note the new audio capability.

Posted by Art Adams  on  09/14  at  11:02 AM

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At the LAFCPUG Supermeet at IBC yesterday, Apple demo-ed RED support in FCP for the upcoming update.

FCP will be able to work with the RED files directly. It will allow you to create 2K projects using 4K RED footage.

Log and Transfer will rewrap the 4K R3D in a QT (no transcode) and preserve all metadata (as well as what you add). On the (2K) timeline FCP will do on-the-fly downrez.

When you send a timeline into Color all RAW parameters are available in the Primary Room in a “Red” tab. There you can edit the RAW parameter like WB, exposure, etc.

Should be something to look forward to…

George/

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  09/15  at  06:01 AM

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I wonder, will that be FCP 6.0.5, or FCP 6.1… or FCP 7.0? Did the Apple folks give any hints? (I know, I know: “Apple does not comment on unannounced products”, but still…)

Posted by Adam Wilt  on  09/15  at  10:07 AM

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As I understood it’s the next FCS point release, so 6.0.5 I suppose. It seemed pretty much “finished” to me. It was the only new feature demo-ed.

George/

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  09/15  at  02:44 PM

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I have found that Redrushes, even at a half resolution, renders moves at a snails pace.  25 hours of render time for 2 hours worth of footage.  The log and transfer window within Final Cut does the rendering for about an hours worth of footage in 4 hours time.  Soooo much faster.  And the color is identical to what was shot whereas Redrushes washes out that color.  So, I don’t understand why you would use this program?

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  04/27  at  10:30 AM

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“I don’t understand why you would use this program?”

Sure, it’s slow, but it allows you to change the gamma space and color space settings of the imported clips, which FCP will not (see http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/apple/story/redfcp_native_redcode_importing/). If you prefer to use ProRes as an online format (as opposed, say, to using ProRes offlines, then conforming REDCODE in Color), the RED Alert! / REDrushes combo gives you much better control over the conversion process.

It also has the advantage of being free and unlicensed. You can set up a conversion workstation or two and have REDrushes grind through your clips while your editing system remains free to run FCP for editing tasks.

That’s not to say it’s a better way to go than FCP’s Log & Capture; it’s just different. Different workflows for different needs, that’s all.

Posted by Adam Wilt  on  04/27  at  12:34 PM

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