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Filed under: Editing •Post Production •Software •Tips •Vendor Channels •Avid •Final Cut Pro •

Burn-in timecode will make your client happy

If you’ve ever had to send out a copy of an edit for client review (and really, what editor doesn’t do this on a very regular basis) then you may have very well been asked to provide a BITC. BITC stands for burn-in timecode and is as old as editing itself. Dylan Reeve noted right after this post went up that in some countries it’s called TCIP for Timecode in Picture. The numbers running on a BITC give the client an exact number to provide back to the editor when commenting on specific points in an edit. That timecode references the master sequence timecode of the edit. Back in the “old days” of editing you often had to output a cut to videotape and then make a dub of that tape using the super-output of the deck. But today’s non-linear editors provide a filter that you can throw on a cut to produce the BITC. Media Composer and Final Cut Pro both have this effect but they operate in a very different way.

There’s two schools of thought on the BITC. One being that it’s essential when sending out edits for review as it’s such an easy way to reference the cut. The other being that those running numbers might encourage extra notes and more changes. IMHO the BITC is essential as it’s such a simple way to communicate with the client about a cut. The information that you can provide in that BITC must also be taken into consideration and depending on your editing application you may have quite a few choices.

Avid Media Composer’s Timecode Burn-In generator

Avid Media Composer, by far, has best tool for applying burn-in timecode to an edit. Besides just being able to display the running code of the sequence itself there’s a ton of other options that can provide useful data, depending on who you might be sending a cut to.

The Timecode Burn-In effect is located in the Generator heading of the Effect Palette.

Avid’s 2008 YouTube video when the effect was introduced.

The Avid Timecode Burn-In tool was introduced a couple of versions ago and is located in the Generator heading of the effects palette.  It takes advantage of Media Composer’s unique ability (at least unique when compared to Final Cut Pro or Premiere Pro) to apply an effect to an empty video layer at the top of a timeline. When it’s time to add BITC just insert a new video track at the top of the timeline and drag the Timecode Burn-In generator to that track. The black (or Filler as it’s really called) can accept pretty much any effect and acts kind of like a null object in the timeline. It accepts the Timecode Burn-In effect and since there’s nothing in this new, empty video track the timecode data shows through referencing the video clips (and their metadata) below. And since the video track runs the length of the timeline you’ve instantly got burn-in for the entire edit.

The Avid Timecode Burn-In applied to empty video track Filler in the timeline.

This ability to apply an effect to Filler in an empty Media Composer track isn’t unique to the timecode generator btw. This technique can be very handy for applying an overall color correction to an edit or adding a letterbox mask to an entire edit.

The above timeline has a color correction, grain, mask and the timecode burn-in all applied to the entire sequence and getting realtime playback.

The Avid timecode generator is also unique in that it’s able to provide a lot more data than just master timecode from an edit sequence. While that’s probably the most popular application of the tool if you dig into the timecode generator controls you’ll see a lot of useful data that can be displayed.

A sampling of the data the Media Composer Timecode Burn-In can display.

The Source Timecode is a handy option that displays a burn-in of the actual source clip timecode of the clips in the timeline. This is great if you want to send over an entire shoot of media for a client to pull selects or work on a paper edit. Media Composer’s ability to apply that timecode generator to the empty filler track in the edit means you don’t have to apply a specific filter clip to each and every master clip in the timeline like you would have to do in Final Cut Pro. While you can add and remove a filter from multiple clips at once in both MC and FCP it’s just faster and easier to add the effect to an empty video track.

One of my favorite things about the Media Composer timecode generator is its ability to show the name of the clip that is in the timeline. Oh how this has come in handy when clients were reviewing footage, especially when there were no slates used on the shoot. It has been useful both when providing an entire shoot of material for review on DVD as well as when providing an offline approval copy of an edit. Couple that with the default file names that come out of the tapeless cameras today and you’ve got a nice system for review and approval. Of course we editors always properly log footage before an edit so our clients don’t have to see files name 4576334 or 254_MVI.MOV right? Right?

The Timecode Burn-In applied and displaying sequence timecode, RED source clip name, source file timecode and a custom note. All this data is generated from one application of the Timecode Burn-In generator

The Effect Editor for the above application of the Timecode-Burn In. Notice there’s one unused display (Display 4) that could still be toggled on.

The Media Composer timecode generator is customizable too in that once it’s applied you can choose the location of all data, as well as size, color, opacity and things like that. It is possible to put too much data onscreen so just be aware of what you are providing and what is really needed by the client so the screen isn’t so cluttered as to be too distracting for proper viewing. You can also choose a display to show metadata from any of the Bin Columns that are available in an Avid bin. While that’s way more data than you ever might want to put on a BITC is really shows the power the tool has to be able to tap into the metadata that exists in the master clips.

And the final point worth noting about the Media Composer Timecode Burn-In generator: it’s a realtime effect. That can be a lot of data that the application has to pull out of the clips if you have a lot of the display options enabled but Media Composer is able to do it, in realtime. Of course if you have a complex, multi-layered, effects heavy edit that you’re placing the timecode generator onto you might have to render certain sections as well as be selective in what video tracks of data the generator will be displaying but that realtime playback can be a lifesaver when the producer asks for quick screener DVD of a two hour movie. If you can playback to a DVD recorder deck then there’s no waiting, often no rendering to get that cut, with BITC, out the door.

Next Up: Final Cut Pro has BITC options as well.

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In FCP I usually throw the Timecode Generator on my aspect ratio matte (just a TIFF image with black letterbox and a transparent middle) which I keep on my top video layer. If working in HD with material intended to be 16:9, then I would think a completely transparent TIFF at 100% of frame size would also work and then you can avoid nesting.

Also, just curious why you prefer the frame offset to using the hour offset first (and then a frame offset for fine tuning if necessary)?

Posted by Evan Schiff  on  08/19  at  03:01 PM

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Oops, now I see you already wrote about the hour offset. Not sure how I missed it. Sorry!

Posted by Evan Schiff  on  08/19  at  04:11 PM

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Good article Scott - I would also add that for Media Composer’s timecode generator it behaves like all other effects in the sense it can be saved to the bin as a preset. I use this to have different styles and metadata easily available to me for the output needed.

Michael

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  08/20  at  08:07 AM

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