Appendix 1

The Filmmaker’s Guide to Final Cut Pro Workfl ow
• Open the OMF as a Pro Tools session using Digi Translator.
• Import the QuickTime movie and guide track into the Pro Tools session. Pro Tools will support
the 23.98 FPS rate.
• Record and import all sound effects, ADR, Foley, and music.
• Edit the sound tracks and create the automated mix.
If you are making a feature, or want to open up more distribution options, you will want to
make stems. Do not mix dialogue, effects, or music in the same tracks.
Copy the 2 pop from Pro Tools track 1 into one effects track and one music track. In export,
every stem needs a 2 pop.
• Export the composite mix with the “bounce to disc” function.
• Mute the effects and music tracks and export the dialogue stem with the bounce-to-disc function.
Do the same for the effects stems and the music stems.
• Create the fi nished HD titles and graphics. Graphics should be made at 1,080 × 1,920 pixels. If
you are using Final Cut Pro titles, and you are up-converting by rendering instead of going tapeto-tape,
they do not need to be redone. They will automatically be rendered at high defi nition in
the HD render.
The fi nishing and up-conversion can follow several workfl ows. All have advantages and disadvantages.
The simplest and most straightforward system is by rendering to HD.
• Take the fi nished project on FireWire drive to an HD online facility.
• They will copy your project onto the facilities high-speed drive array.
• Make a new sequence with HD settings. Copy or drag your sequence (picture only) into this
sequence.
• The new sequence now needs to be rendered. The render is quite long; however, most facilities
do renders after hours at a greatly reduced rate.
• Do some test renders. Often problems come up, don’t dive in and render everything only to fi nd
problems need to be addressed in the standard defi nition before rendering. Often, problems come
up in bright reds. Reds tend to blow out in the HD render. You may need to use the Final Cut Pro
color correction tools to pull down some colors before the HD render. These can be restored after
the render in fi nal color correction.
• If scratch titles and graphics were used in the edit, the fi nished versions are now cut into the
project. Use care to not change the length of the graphic or title, it needs to be a straight
replacement.
• Import the mix into Final Cut Pro, drag it into the new sequence, and line up the 2 pop.
The project is now ready for fi nal color correction. There are several ways to do this, which are discussed
later in this appendix.
Another way to convert the project to HD is tape-to-tape. Panasonic offers recorders, the AJ-HD1700
and AJ-HD3700B, that can input standard defi nition formats while converting and recording to HD.
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