Apple Final Cut Pro 6 - Manual (Page 1648)

Chapter 12 Working with Film and Cinema Tools 165
II
About Burned-in Timecode on Video
Most telecine facilities offer the ability to permanently superimpose, or burn in, edge
code and timecode numbers over your video transfer from film. This is useful whether
or not you have a telecine log file:
 If you have a telecine log file: The burned-in numbers make it easy to verify that the
entries in the database are correct. Additionally, in cases where the video has had a
3:2 pull-down applied, letters are added after the key number to indicate the frame
type. This helps when configuring the reverse telecine process, which removes the
added frames and restores the video to its original film frame rate.
 If you don’t have a telecine log file: The burned-in numbers make it much easier to
manually enter the records in the Cinema Tools database.
If you do not have burned-in numbers, you generally have to use a list that matches up
with hole-punched film frames at the head of each clip.
A consideration regarding using video with burned-in numbers is whether the final
edited video will be shown to others. If not, having the burned-in numbers is very
helpful and they should be included. If it is going to be shown, you may want to have
the telecine facility use a 2.40:1 aspect ratio, which leaves sufficient blank space to
place the numbers without covering up any video. Alternatively, if the edited output is
to be used as a clean master, you can choose to have the burned-in numbers appear
only on the first frame of each clip.
Importing a Telecine Log to Create a Cinema Tools Database
Each time a shot is transferred from film to video during a telecine session, an entry is
made in the telecine log, containing the edge code start number and the corresponding
timecode start number on video. The ending edge code and timecode numbers are also
recorded. When you import a telecine log, Cinema Tools creates a database that tracks
the relationship between video clips in Final Cut Pro and your original film footage. As
you edit, you refine video clip start and end times. At any time, Cinema Tools can use
the information in the database to map a video clip start or end time in Final Cut Pro to
the corresponding edge code of the original film.
Exporting a Film Cut List
In basic terms, a Final Cut Pro sequence is a series of start and end timecode values
from different source tapes. A film sequence is similar: a series of start and end edge
code numbers from various film reels. When you finish editing your sequence in
Final Cut Pro, you need to generate a list of edge code start and end times, known as
a cut list, so that a film negative cutter can match the sequence you created in
Final Cut Pro. As long as you properly created a Cinema Tools database before you
started editing, generating a cut list is easy.