Appendix 1

Appendix 10: Example Workfl ows
In this case, the project is simply recorded directly to 720p, 1080i, or 1080p. While this process
seems incredibly simple, there are several problems that need to be addressed. Getting the video out
of Final Cut Pro and into one of these recorders is a bit more complicated than simply playing it out
via FireWire.
Find a facility that can make this up-conversion. Each will have different equipment and interfaces
and may, therefore, want to follow a different workfl ow. Some will simply load your project into
their Final Cut Pro and record to tape via Serial Digital Interface (SDI). Others may not even use
Final Cut Pro and want to do the up-conversion from an NTSC tape. This seems odd, yet some of
the best up-conversions have followed this workfl ow, including the fi lm November.
In this case, the project is recorded to an NTSC tape, usually Digibeta. As this is a 29.97 FPS format,
the project can be recorded with 2 : 3 : 3 : 2 advanced cadence or 3 : 2, depending on the needs of
the transfer house. It may seem that taking the project back to 29.97 defeats the reason for
editing in 23.98 in the fi rst place, but it does not. Before reversing, each shot had a different zero
A-frame reference. It is not possible to reverse the edited sequence without causing the edits to
move or the video to become unstable. With the shots reversed to 23.98, the entire edit can be
recorded back to 29.97 with one zero A-frame reference. Now the 29.97 tape can be captured
or transferred in real time at 23.98 with advanced removal and the project is back, frame-for-frame,
to 23.98.
If titles were edited into the original standard defi nition sequence, these have been up-converted
as well. These will look much better if they are replaced with true 1,080 × 1,920 HD titles and
graphics. These can be recorded to HD tape and replaced one at a time with a tape-to-tape edit.
This even works for superimposed titles. If you are using superimposed titles, do not edit in a
scratch or standard defi nition version in the original edit. These will be up-converted and be impossible
to remove or replace.
The project is now ready to add the mixed sound track and color correct. The sound can be recorded
to tape and sunc to the 2 pop with a tape-to-tape edit. Many recorders have eight tracks and support
5.1 surround mixes.
Final color correction should always be done in HD. There is more control in HD and this is the fi nal
step: what you see is what you have. There are many fi ne systems for color correcting HD. Here,
too, many projects will color correct tape-to-tape, going through the project one shot at a time, correcting
and recording to a second tape.
You may feel that these tape-to-tape dubs are costing image quality. After all, the fi nal tape is several
generations down from the shooting tapes. However, this is not the case. These formats are, for all
intents, lossless. You would need to be down scores of generations before seeing loss of quality in
Digibeta or HD.
Film output from this HD tape is simple, but good fi lm-outs are expensive. As the HD project is
recorded at 23.98, the fi lm-out will speed this up to 24 FPS. This will also speed up the audio and
change the sample rate. For digital audio fi lm prints in DTS or SDDS, the sample rate will need to
be converted to keep the sound in sync. This is all part of the fi lm-out process and is handled by the
facility doing the fi lm-out. Depending on their method, they may want to go back to the composite
mix master and perform a pull up.
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