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Filed under: Editing •Vendor Blog •

Offline To Online For An HD Project

I thought that for this next article, I would take a look at a growing trend for editors these days, and that is the “One Man Shop”.  What I mean by that is that these days, with systems coming down in price, independent business owners/editors are wearing many hats, and one of those hats is that of the offline/online editor.  Let’s take a look at how an editor can offline a 1080i HD project, and then carry it through to the online.

THE EASY SETUP

The first thing that you must always worry about when offlining your project is how to set it up.  If you make a mistake at this point of the process, you are setting yourself up for a world of hurt later on.  Establishing which Easy Setup is right for you will vary depending on which capture card you are using (Kona, Blackmagic, etc), as they all come with their own specialized Easy Setup’s, depending on what the capture card is capable of doing.  The first and most important thing is to establish what the frame rate of our HD timeline will be, so that we can edit our SD offline in the same frame rate.  Since we are using 1080i as an example, we already know that the frame rate is 29.97 (59.94i), the dimension of the frame is 1920x1080, the frame is anamorphic widescreen (16x9), and we are dealing with an upper field dominant format.  Now, I know that you are probably asking “How does this help me for the offline?”.  There are really two very important details that you need for your offline.  First, that it is 29.97 fps, and second that it is anamorphic widescreen.  Knowing these two items will help you set up your Easy Setup.  Using the Kona 3 as an example, I always recommend that people use the NTCS 8-bit to DV setting, as it can be quickly modified for not only anamorphic widescreen, but for a 23.98 offline as well.

Selecting this Easy Setup will configure your edit system to capture from a standard definition, 29.97 fps VTR in a 4x3 aspect ratio.  To change the aspect ratio of what you are capturing, navigate to FINAL CUT PRO>AUDIO/VIDEO SETTINGS, and I would suggest duplicating not only the “Capture” preset, but the “Sequence” preset as well.

Something to keep in mind is that you are not actually changing the aspect ratio of the clip you are capturing and editing within Final Cut Pro.  All FCP is doing is creating a “simulated” 16x9 anamorphic frame for you to work within.  Assuming you are offlining for a 1080i online, the only thing you need to do in both your new “Sequence Preset” and “Capture Preset”, is to make sure that the “Anamorphic” box is checked.

I would probably recommend making a new preset for SD Anamorphic to make your life much easier.  On the flip side, if you were doing a 23.98 HD offline, you would not only check the “Anamorphic” box, but you would also change the frame rate from 29.97 to 23.98.

It is important to keep in mind that if you are going to be doing a 23.98 HD offline, you will need to capture from a deck that supports a 23.98 T/C output like a Sony F500, or Sony SRW-5500.

Finally, I just want everyone to understand why you need to make your sequence anamorphic.  To be perfectly honest, if you were doing nothing but editing, I’d tell you not to worry about it, and just digitize and edit with letterboxed video.  As an offline editor, it is your job to put absolutely everything into the timeline, so when the online editor takes over, there is no thought required, and no need to ask any questions.  All your supers, graphics and video are positioned correctly within a 16x9 space.  If you don’t work in 16x9 space, when you use the Media Manager to create your HD timeline, all of your supers will be located in the wrong space in the frame, as you have switched from a 4x3 aspect to a 16x9 aspect.  This one reason is why it’s imperative, if you are doing an offline for an HD online, that you work in an anamorphic timeline.

(next page: Your VTR, Editing, and a video tutorial on the off/online process)

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