Appendix 1

The Filmmaker’s Guide to Final Cut Pro Workfl ow
Telecine logs come in several formats, FLX, TLC fl ex, FTL and others. Final Cut Pro and Cinema
Tools work with these three formats.
Take-by-Take
If fi lm is telecined on a take-by-take basis, a telecine log can be created. The fi lm can be transferred
as whole rolls and a database can be still created after the fact from scratch, but it’s much easier
when done in telecine. While slower and therefore more expensive, take-by-take telecine also allows
for syncing time code-referenced sound as part of telecine. Even if you are not planning to go back
to the fi lm negative, if you create a database, then this option is still open. And the database can be
used to batch capture and as a cutting log, saving time and work.
Another advantage of take-by-take transfer is color correction. Each scene is adjusted for color and
exposure and the scene and take information entered into the telecine log. If the camera roll is transferred
in one pass, there is no way to create a log or do anything other than fi nding the best light for
the entire roll.
Window Burns
Any work copies on video should be recorded with one or more window burns. The window burn
is a great way to check time codes against the original accuracy of the pull down and especially the
reverse telecine. The most common format of window burn places the video time code in a window
on the lower left, edge code in a window on the lower right, and audio time code, if any, in a window
in the upper left or directly above the video time code. This is normally used only on work copies;
you would never want these windows on the fi nished project.
If you pulled “selects,” in other words, the best takes, and had the lab print them for screening dailies,
they cut the best takes out of the original camera rolls so there are splices in the rolls of negative
you are telecining. It is critical that the telecine operator knows the negative has been cut and to look
out for splices. Splices affect the key code information and can cause major problems later if they
are not noticed in telecine. (See the following section on deconstructing several fi lm workfl ows for
the fi lm Lost Hope and More.) Also, if you are using short ends and, for some reason your negative
was rewound before exposure, the key codes will be on the wrong side of the negative and they will
run in descending order. The bar code reader on the telecine machine cannot read the bar code backwards
and you will get no key code information. To fi nd out if the fi lm was rewound, develop a short
test strip. Rewinding the fi lm again before exposure can solve this problem.
Creating and Working with the Cinema Tools Database
The telecine logs are usually delivered on a 3.25 inch fl oppy disc. Someday telecine may join the
twenty-fi rst century and deliver these logs on nonarchaic media; in the meantime, the hardest part
of working with the database is fi nding a computer that can copy the fi le onto your computer or portable
drive. Ask before the telecine if they can burn the log to a CD. Some places can. You can also
often get them to e-mail it to you. Either way, also get the mini fl oppies as a backup.
Before doing anything with the telecine log, make a backup copy. Never work with the original.
Cinema Tools writes directly to the drive all the time. There is no undo. The telecine log can be
opened in Cinema Tools.
6