Apple Cinema Tools 3 - Manual (Page 21)

Chapter 1 Before You Begin Your Project 21
How Much Should You Transfer?
Deciding how much of your film to transfer to video depends on a number of issues,
probably the biggest one being cost. The amount of time the telecine operator spends
on the transfer determines the cost. Whether it is more efficient to transfer entire rolls
of film (a “camera-roll” transfer), including bad takes and scenes that won’t be used, or
to spend time locating specific takes and transferring only the useful ones (a “scene-
and-take” transfer) needs to be determined before starting.
Camera-Roll Transfers
Cinema Tools uses a database to track the relationship between the film key numbers
and the video and audio timecodes. The database is designed to have a record for each
camera take, but this is not required. If you transfer an entire roll of film continuously to
videotape, Cinema Tools only needs one record to establish the relationship between
the key numbers and the video timecode. All edits using any portion of that single
large clip can be accurately matched to the original camera negative’s key numbers. A
drawback to this transfer method is the large file sizes, especially if there are significant
chunks of footage that are not going to be used.
Additionally, because of the way it is recorded, audio is difficult to synchronize at the
telecine during a camera-roll transfer. During a production, the audio recorder typically
starts recording before film starts rolling, and ends after filming has stopped. You also
will often shoot some film without sound (known as MOS shots). This means you
cannot establish audio sync at the start of the film roll and expect it to be maintained
throughout the roll. Instead, each clip needs to be synced individually. The
Cinema Tools database includes provisions for tracking the original production sound
reels and timecode.
Once captured, it is possible to break a single large clip into smaller ones, allowing you
to delete the excess video. Even with multiple clips, it is possible for Cinema Tools to
generate a complete cut list with only one database record. Another approach is to
manually add additional records for each clip, allowing you to take advantage of
Cinema Tools’ extensive database capabilities. See “
Create the Cinema Tools database ”
on page 33 for a detailed discussion of these choices.
UP01101.Book Page 21 Thursday, March 10, 2005 3:16 PM