As such, the “apply filter as you go” method works well in the spot editorial world. In reality, their exposure to the uncorrected images was less frequent than you might think. Like most commercial sessions, I would usually have several versions roughed in before the client really started to review anything. If the shot looked a little dark (compared with a “standard” setting), I would quickly brighten it as I went along. One advantage to using the color correction filter instead of a proper LUT, is that this allowed me to subjectively tweak a shot for the client, without adding another filter. Since the client was aware of how much better the image would look after grading – and because in the past they had participated in film transfer and color correction sessions – seeing the flat Log-C image didn’t pose a problem.įrom my standpoint, it was simply a matter of creating a basic setting and then quickly pasting that filter to clips as I edited them to the timeline. On this 12-core Mac Pro, ProRes 4444 clips (with an unrendered color correction filter applied) played smoothly and with full video quality on a ProRes HQ timeline. I’ve mentioned various approaches to LUTs (color look-up tables), but on this project I used the standard FCP color correction filter to change the image from its flat Log-C appearance to a more pleasing Rec 709 look. Since these spots wouldn’t go through the standard offline-online workflow, it was up to me as the editor to create the “dailies”. It’s ARRI’s unique way of squeezing a huge dynamic range into the ALEXA’s recorded signal, but it means editors need to understand how to deal with it. Both of these are bogus and the QuickTime files work perfectly well in FCP, so when you encounter such messages, simply click “continue” and proceed.Īs I’ve discussed in numerous posts, one of the mixed blessings of the camera is the Log-C profile. When you import these files into FCP, you frequently run into two error prompts: the “media isn’t optimized” message and the “file attributes don’t match” message. It’s worth noting that the QuickTime files written by the ARRI ALEXA somehow differ from what FCP expects to see. Instead of using the Silverstack-generated XML, I decided to use the camera-generated XML files, which meant only going through the reconnect dialogue once per card. Unfortunately by using the Silverstack XML, it meant I had to start the reconnect routine every few clips, since this new XML would bridge information across various cards. Normally, in this case, once you reconnect the first file, the rest in a similar path will also relink. FCP wouldn’t automatically relink the imported XML master clips to the corresponding media. Copying the backed-up camera files to the SAN changes the file path. In general, this concept worked, but I ran into problems with how Final Cut Pro reconnects media files. Since the week-long production covered several different spots, the hope was to organize files according to commercial and scene. Silverstack lets you review and organize the footage and write a new XML file based on this organization. On location, the data wrangler used the Pomfort Silverstack ARRI Set application to offload, back-up and organize files from the SxS cards to hard drive. The double-system sound was mainly as a back-up, since the audio was also tethered to the ALEXA, which records two tracks of high-quality sound. The only conversion involved was to get the 5D files into ProRes, using my standard workflow. Phillips shot with two ALEXAs and a Canon 5D, plus double-system sound. I was cutting these at TinMen, a local production company, on a fast 12-core Mac Pro connected to a Fibre Channel SAN, so there was no slowdown working with the ProRes 4444 files. The beauty of ALEXA is that you can take the Apple ProRes QuickTime camera files straight into edit without any transcoding delays. Although we mastered in 1080p/23.98, delivery formats included 720p versions for the web and cinema, along with reformatted spots in 14×9 SD for broadcast. This gave us the opportunity to cut and finish in HD. The new spots featured celebrity chef Curtis Stone and instead of film, Director/DP Toby Phillips opted to produce the spots using the ARRI ALEXA. I’ve worked with this client, agency and director for a number of years and all previous projects had been photographed on 35mm, transferred to Digital Betacam and followed a common, standard definition post workflow. Upon my return from NAB, I dove straight into post on a set of regional commercials for Hy-Vee, a Midwest grocer.
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