Apple Cinema Tools 3 - Manual (Page 8)

8 Preface An Introduction to Cinema Tools
Editing Film Digitally
Computer technology is changing the film-creation process. Most feature-length films
are now edited digitally, using sophisticated and expensive nonlinear editors designed
for that specific purpose. Until recently, this sort of tool has not been available to
filmmakers on a limited budget.
Cinema Tools provides Final Cut Pro with the functionality of systems costing many
times more at a price that all filmmakers can afford. For filmmakers shooting with
35mm or 16mm film who want to edit digitally and finish on film, Cinema Tools allows
you to edit video transfers from your film using Final Cut Pro, then generate an
accurate cut list that can be used to finish the film.
How Does Cinema Tools Help You Edit Your Film?
For many, film still provides the optimum medium for capturing images. And, if your
goal is a theatrical release or a showing at a film festival, you may need to provide the
final movie on film. Using Final Cut Pro with Cinema Tools does not change the process
of exposing the film in the camera or projecting the final movie in a theater—it’s the
part in between that takes advantage of the advances in technology.
Editing film has traditionally involved the cutting and splicing together of a film
workprint, a process that is time consuming and tends to discourage experimenting
with alternate scene versions. Transferring the film to video makes it possible to use a
nonlinear editor (NLE) to edit your project. The flexible nature of an NLE makes it easy
to put together each scene and gives you the ability to try different edits. The final
edited video is generally not used—the edit decisions you make are the real goal. They
provide the information needed to cut and splice (conform) the original camera
negative into the final movie. The challenge is in matching the timecode of the video
edits with the key numbers of the film negative so that a negative cutter can accurately
create a film-based version of the edit.
This is where Cinema Tools comes in. Cinema Tools tracks the relationship between the
original camera negative and the video transfer. Once you are finished editing with
Final Cut Pro, you can use Cinema Tools to generate a cut list based on the edits you
made. Armed with this list, a negative cutter can transform the original camera
negative into the final film.
Shoot film
Convert film
to video
Conform
original camera
negative
Edit in Final Cut Pro
with Cinema Tools
Cut list
Original camera negative
Create
release
print
UP01101.Book Page 8 Thursday, March 10, 2005 3:16 PM