Creative Planet's Digital Production BuZZ

Tips and Tricks Newsletter -- March 31, 2008

For the best source of industry BuZZ, Creative Planet's Digital Production BuZZ has more shows, more news, and more guests than any other industry show or podcast.

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In this issue:

• Avid: One-click match framing
• Avid: Painless media moving
• Final Cut Pro: Center-cutting HD media
• Premier Pro: Working with Clip Notes
• Final Cut Pro: A faster way to import files
• After Effects: Create rotating door effect
• Distribution: Report from the Hong Kong Filmart
• FREE GOODIES
  

This Week on the Digital Production BuZZ

Avid: One-Click Match Framing

Doing a match frame is easy -- provided you have only one track. But things get more complicated when you have more than one track of video or audio. Steve suggests a fast tip that can make your life a LOT easier!

Leave the playhead in the spot you want to match and right click the track number (in the patching area) that you want to match and choose Matchframe from the contextual menu. It's an extra click, but at least you don't have to deselect and reselect your tracks.

A similar technique is if you want to mark a clip that is in a sequence and you have multiple tracks enabled/selected, but you want to mark a small clip, you can choose Alt > Mark Clip (Mark clip while holding down Alt on a PC or Option on a Mac) to mark the nearest transition points on any track. Sometimes this does not do what you want (to mark a specific clip), because it simply finds the closest transition backwards from the playhead on any track as an in point and the closest transition forward from the playhead for an outpoint. But often, that does get you the proper "mark clip" without having to select the specific track that the clip is on.

Avid: Painless Media Moving

Here's a question from David on the best way to move media:

So, I got a Firewire drive today full of media and needed to move the media and the project onto our little Unity Lanshare. Now, as many of you probably know, on Unity there is are not only now separate folders for "Avid MediaFiles" and "OMFI MediaFiles", but there are also subfolders for each machine on the network (each subfolder has it's own media database) inside of those folders. That means that, for our small network of three Avids, there are 6 potential places for different kinds of media to go. OK, that isn't really that confusing to me, but I was trying to explain this to my poor assistant today and she was just totally befuddled. And, I can kind of understand that because it is a confusing jumble of folders to somebody who hasn't been slinging Avid media around for a long time.

So, my question is: is there a simpler way to do this? What happens if you just put media at the "root" level of, say, the OMFI Mediafiles folder? Does Unity hate that? Does everything get messed up when multiple people are accessing the files? Is there some utility that makes this easier? We have a lot of drives coming to us from different producers and we need to get them on that Lanshare the easiest way, hopefully in a way that's easy enough for somebody other than me to do it!

Robert provided the solution:

The simplest way to do this without mucking around with desktop level copies is this:

Mount the firewire drive on an edit system and consolidate the footage from the firewire drive to LABShare workspace.

The Avid will put the files where it wants them and maintain the proper links to your clip metadata.

Final Cut Pro: Center-Cutting HD to SD

Tim was asking:

I have an interview that I shot yesterday in DVCPRO HD (720p60) and I need to center-cut and down convert part of it to SD (to intercut with DV). I know that it has been said that it is best to use compressor for this, but does anyone have any recipe or other advice about doing so they can offer? I could just drop this in the timeline and size appropriately, but I have noticed that the 60p stuff tends to look a little flickery when mixed with DV in a SD timeline. I'm not sure exactly what it going on with that, but wanted to see if anyone has any helpful tips to offer.

Diego suggests:

Actually, the flickering might have to do with the fact that the HD footage is progressive and the SD is not. I've had very good results on footage shot with a Varicam with the following somewhat involved process. If your camera did not shoot 60 fps ignore what follows:

[Using Final Cut Pro] extract all 60 frames with the frame rate converter. You now have 50% slow motion. Place it in the time line as needed and speed it up to 200%. It will now be 30 fps (29.97, I know) interlaced, look good and play smoothly.

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Font Tip for Mac Leopard Users

This tip is courtesy of Typography.com:

QuickLook is one of the new, lesser-known features of Mac OS X 10.5 ("Leopard"). This useful Finder tool allows you to preview collections of files at a glance. While this is most used for viewing images, it is also immensely useful for fonts as well, as it allows both fonts and families to be easily examined in detail without ever leaving the Finder.

To make it work, in the Finder, select a bunch of fonts and hit the space bar. Shown here is the result for Archer; clicking any individual style reveals the core character set for that font, along with buttons for paging through the collection one font at a time. There's even a slideshow mode, and animation when switching between modes.

Growing Your Business

One of the challenges we all face is figuring out how to grow our business. Based on a series of web seminars, Larry Jordan & Associates has developed a new training title called: "Growing Your Business."

These three 30-minute movies, available on a CD or three separate downloads, are specifically designed for a free-lance or small business editor to help you:

1) Understand your strengths and weaknesses
2) Manage clients, time, expectations and money
3) Improve your job hunting skills
4) Increase the effectiveness of your marketing
5) Improve your sales and negotiating techniques.

This title is designed to jump-start your thinking and give you specific techniques you can put to use today. If surviving in today's challenging world is important to you - Growing Your Business can help.

Click here to learn more about the CD version.

Click here to learn more about the download version (3-parts).

Premiere Pro: Working with Clip Notes

by Steve Oakley (www.practicali.com)

Sooner or later in the editing process, you'll need to pass a copy of the work in progress to your client. To make this easier, Premiere Pro has the Clip Notes feature. What this does is embed a video clip into a PDF file that the client can review. Not only can that client simply play the video, but they can create notes on specific frames, export the file with the notes, and send it  back. When you get this file back, it can be imported as markers with notes on the Premiere Pro timeline.

1. Mark a range  (preferably) on a timeline and then go to File > Export > Adobe Clip Notes

2. A window will open with a variety of settings. Based on your own Internet bandwidth and the client's, pick a compression setting, video type ( QT or WMV ), size as appropriate. You can also elect to password protect the file ( on the Clip Notes tab ), add your own notes, and add an email address.

3. Export and send to client via email, FTP, or HTTP link. On the Others Tab, you can set up a direct FTP of the file to your server.

4. On the client end, they open the file with Acrobat Reader. They can enter their name, play the clip and  create notes. When done, they perform an Export XFDF file. This will be a small file which can easily be emailed.

5. On your side, first be sure the correct timeline is open which matches to the Clip Notes file you exported and sent. Go to File->Import Clips Notes Comments and import the XFDF file into Premiere Pro.
    

7. After importing the XFDF file, it will show up as timeline markers with comments attached.

Now one problem you might encounter is that the client wants changes which affect the overall program length, and therefore the position of makers after than change won't be right. The solution is very simple, but not obvious: Work backwards!

Start at the end of the program, and make the needed changes. Since the next change you'll make is always sooner or prior to the last change made, its always in the right place. Amazingly simple idea that also works even for hand-written notes from a timecode burn, but now applied to a paperless digital editing workflow.

Final Cut Pro: A Faster Way to Import Files

by Larry Jordan (www.larryjordan.biz)

Do you need to import some files into Final Cut, but maybe, like me, you are trying to do too much at once and you've got Photoshop, Preview, Mail, Firefox and, of course, Final Cut all open at once.

Well, select and drag the files from the Finder window you want and whilst you are holding down the mouse button, press Command+Tab repeatedly until Final Cut is highlighted, or move the cursor over the Final Cut icon. Let go of the Command key (whilst still holding the mouse button) and hey presto! You can now drag the files into the Browser.

You could also drag the files straight into the sequence you're working on, but I think it's better to put them in the Browser first. This way you can see all the appropriate information about them and organize them with the other files.

What's the advantage of this Command-Tab technique over File > Import > Files (Command+I)? Well, first, it's faster. However, the most compelling reason for me is that you can directly import the files into a specific bin, which you cannot do using the Import function. If you want to open a bin that is closed, hold the files over the bin for a few seconds and in true "spring-loaded-folder" style, the bin will open.

This shortcut can be used with any application - it's system-wide. One last thing, should you wish you can drag these files into the Viewer in FCP. If you have dragged more than one file, the Recent Items button allows you to see the others you have dragged.

[Thanks to John Gallagher, who first suggested this tip!]

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After Effects: Creating a Rotating Door Effect

By Rob Birnholz (www.absolutemotion.com)

In the last issue of Tips and Tricks, I showed an example of using a null to rotate multiple objects around a shared anchor point. Pretty basic, yes, but like all techniques the simple stuff forms the basis for the really cool stuff.

This time out we’ll take the same concept but apply it in 3D, which opens up a world of possibilities. Let’s start with a 3D variation on the windmill exercise. Instead of a windmill (or propeller), we’ll create a revolving door.

Step 1: First, we need some basic artwork for one of our door panels, so I quickly drew something up in Photoshop and imported it into an new After Effects project.

In After Effects, create a new comp (720 x 480, 10 seconds, is fine). Add the door panel as a layer. Like in the windmill exercise, we need to reposition the anchor point to the axis we want the door to rotate around-- in this case the inside edge on the left.

Since we want our door to rotate in 3D, now is the time to enable the 3D check box for this layer.

If we were to stop now, you could swing this door open and closed by adjusting the Y rotation value. Very handy for swinging doors, opening book covers or anything else that requires a layer to swing open while hinged to another surface.

But a single door is not enough for us, is it? We want more! Time to move on to...

Step 2: Duplicate the door panel layer two times (for a total of three doors). Like the windmill, we’ll offset the layers, but this time in 3D.

Rotate the two new doors on the Y axis to 120º and 240º each.

The key to making everything work is by connecting ALL the doors to a single null, which “drives” the rotation of all layers parented to it. So create a new null layer, and check it’s 3D enabled box. Using the pick whip, link all three of your door layers to the null. Again, this is the same thing we did last time, but in this version we’ll be rotating in 3D space.

Step 3: Reveal the rotation parameters for your Null layer (keyframe shortcut: r), and around the one second mark set a keyframe for the Y rotation.

About three seconds later, scrub the Y rotation value to around -1 x -90. See what’s happening? Your doors are swinging around together.

Step 4: Finishing touches

I know this seems simple, but the applications of this technique are limitless. For instance, in short order I can keyframe a few door spins and drop this entire comp into another comp with say, a photo of a storefront. Add a camera, fly through the door, and in just minutes create a compelling 3D animation.

Download this project (or click the rendered QuickTime movie), play with it, and see for yourself.

Have fun!

Click here to download the project files Rob worked with in this tutorial.

Click here to view the finished movie that illustrates what Rob created.

 Distribution: Hong Kong Filmart

by Stacey Parks (www.filmspecific.com)

(Here's a piece I wrote on the Hong Kong Filmart which happened last week.)

Believe it or not one of my favorite regional Film Markets  just wrapped up. It's the Hong Kong Filmart, and it has come a long way since it's humble beginnings 6 or 7 years ago. The exhibitors hall is now packed with Sales Companies from all over the world (not just Asia) and buyers are snapping up Asian movies for distribution in the U.S and Europe. Just yesterday, in the biggest deal of the market so far, Harvey Weinstein signed an output deal with Hong Kong's Sundream Motion Pictures. So be on the look-out for Asian cinema coming to a theater near you!

Seriously, I'm happy to see global film trading on such a grand scale. When I was at Filmart a few years ago, I didn't do as much 'business' (ie: selling films) as I did schmoozing with my Asian buyers (had some amazing Cantonese dinners by the way!). Film Distribution in Asia is truly built on relationships (perhaps more than in any other region of the world in my opinion). For example, the distributors I did business with early on in my career, have become friends at this point, and continue to buy from me again and again, almost REGARDLESS of what I'm selling. It's pretty incredible!

So yes, distribution is a relationship business, and particularly outside of the U.S. When looking for distribution for your films in Asia, it is often best to work through a Sales Agent since they have spent their careers building relationships with these buyers (just like I did). Therefore, you can either leverage their expertise and relationships in this region, OR you can wing it on your own. If you've already been down the road of working with a Sales Agent, and it wasn't successful, or you just feel like side-stepping the middle man, I have put together my top picks from the Hong Kong Filmart Buyers List, along with some Guidelines on reaching out to foreign buyers directly, to get you going. Click here to read it.

In the future, I would love to see filmmakers exhibit at Filmart. I think for filmmakers with the right type of product, it could be a great place to start building relationships with these buyers. The reason why is because they are a little more relaxed on their 'home turf' and the market in general is much more low key than AFM or Cannes. So if Asia is in your strategic plan for distribution, consider heading over there next year.

Oh, and did I mention that the costs to exhibit at regional markets like this are a fraction of what it is at AFM or Cannes?

Stacey Parks is the author of the “Inside Guide To Independent Film Distribution” (Focal Press), a comprehensive educational program for filmmakers and producers dedicated to film distribution and the marketplace. You can join her film distribution community and register for her free weekly distribution tips at www.FilmSpecific.com, and www.IndependentFilmBlog.com.