Apple Color 1.0 User Manual
Page 51
Chapter 2
Color Correction Workflows
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The following steps break this process down more explicitly.
Step 1:
Shoot film
Ideally, you should do some tests before principal photography to see how the film
scanner to Color to film recorder pipeline works with your choice of film formats and
stocks. It’s always best to consult with the film lab you’ll be working with in advance to
get as much information as possible.
Step 2:
Scan all film as 2K DPX image sequences
Depending on how the shoot was conducted, you could opt to do a best-light datacine
of just the selects, or of all of the camera negative, if you can afford it. The scanned 2K
digital source media should be saved as DPX or Cineon image sequences.
To track the correspondence between the original still frames and the offline
QuickTime files that you’ll create for editing, you should ask for the following:
 A non-drop frame timecode conversion of each frame’s number (used in that frame’s
file name) be saved within the header of each scanned image.
 It can also help organize all of the scanned frames into separate directories, saving all
the frames from each roll of negative to separate directories (named by roll).
Step 3:
Convert the DPX image sequences to offline-resolution QuickTime files
Create offline-resolution duplicates of the source media in whatever format is most
suitable for your editing system. Then, archive the original source media as safely as
possible.
When you convert the DPX files to offline QuickTime files:
 The roll number of each image sequence should be used as the reel number for each
.mov file.
 The timecode values stored in the header of each frame file should be used as the
timecode for each .mov file.
You can use Color to perform this downconversion by creating a new project with the
Render File Type set to QuickTime, and the Export Codec set to the codec you want to
use. Then, simply edit all the shots you want to convert into the Timeline, add them to
the Render Queue, and click Start Render. For more information, see “
Cineon and DPX Image Sequences to QuickTime
∏
Tip: If you downconvert to a compressed high definition format, such as Apple ProRes
422 or Apple ProRes 422 (HQ), you can offline your project on an inexpensively
equipped computer system, and still be able to output and project it at a resolution
suitable for high-quality client and audience screenings during the editorial process.
Step 4:
Do the offline edit in Final Cut Pro
Edit your project in Final Cut Pro, being careful not to alter the timecode or duration of
the offline shots in any way.