Appendix 1

The Filmmaker’s Guide to Final Cut Pro Workfl ow
Figure 3.2 Early Brooks Institute production using pilot tone sync and Nagra 4.2 recorder.
In soft lock, the devices are locked to a sync reference, but each device has its own sync reference.
An early example of this is “crystal sync.” In crystal sync, the audio recorder has an internal crystal
reference generator, which is very accurate. The camera also has an accurate crystal reference generator
that is used to control the speed of the camera. If the two crystal clocks are running at the
same speed, then the audio and picture will be in sync.
But if there are micro errors in one or both of the clocks, the sync will drift. This system will usually
hold sync to within one frame in an hour, which is more than acceptable for production dailies, but
certainly not for holding sync over an entire feature fi lm.
The biggest problem with soft lock is cumulative errors. If every recording, transfer, or capture
introduces an error of one-tenth of a frame, the shot may end up drifting in and out of sync.
Best-practice workfl ow, therefore, allows soft lock when necessary or sometimes even just for convenience,
while understanding its limitations. And, hard lock whenever it is possible and always
when it is necessary.
Smart Slate
Time code can be locked to a slate and the time code numbers photographed on fi lm from the slate
In most cases, the slate will have its own time code generator (smart slate), which can be synced to
the generator in the recorder. Often, the time-of-day time code is used as a reference, or the generator
can simply “free run” throughout the day. All recorders, video cameras, and slates to be used for the
day are synchronized at the start of the day by connecting them with a cable and “jamming,” which
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