A little help at the end...

[Jeremy Walton]

Posted this in the Avid Forum with no response, hopefully someone over here can help...

Hello,
So I'm about to finish my first feature. Low budget. Except for my colorist and few VFX artist it's just me. I had planned on finishing everything in resolve, but with Avid being able to handle higher than HD quality I thought I might change the workflow. I would love to spend time messing with everything but I don't have that luxury. Here's my issues, any help will be appreciated...

- in resolve I have 5k footage, 2k footage for the VFX, and a handful of HD footage. After the color grade I still have to put a final 2.4:1 mask over the entire project and some of the HD surveillance footage needs scan lines added. I was going to do all this in resolve, but it would be a lot better doing it in Avid. This way its back at my workstation and I don't have to make appointments to go see my colorist, especially when it comes to film festivals and I need specific exports for screeners. So when he's done how should I go about getting the project back into AVID? I plan on having a master 2k. Some festival require a DCP. Others, HDCAM. Should he send me a 2k file? A DPX file? Prores file? DNXHR 444?This will downrez my 5k footage and uprez my HD footage. Or should he send it over as is if possible and let avid to the downrez and uprez when I need to export? I don't know the best way to do this. But if its in Avid I can do all the work and not rely on my colorist so much since he's pretty busy.
- my second issue is what do post houses usually want? I understand a DCP is a big process but what about HDCAM. Years ago when I had a friend who worked at a post house and would do me a favor, he would open up my AVID project that was connected to a HDCAM deck, press play on the timeline and it would burn directly to the HDCAM tape. What should I expect to deliver to the post house? I'm also having a 5.1 mix. I know thats for HDCAM SR, but that all depends on the festival, I just want to make sure I have all areas covered. Thanks!

 

[Paul Sage]

If you plan to finish everything in Avid at 2K, then just have him give you un-matted 2K DNXHR 444 in reels out of Resolve. (if your worried about compression, if not go lower).

Once you are done in Avid, kick out a longplay of the feature in 2k Prores444 or DNXHR 444 (matted or un-matted, but have a framing chart for 2.40 in the SMPTE leader) whatever the facility who is making the DCP and HDSR request. They can size it properly for the DCP or HDSR from there (clipster does this live without rendering).

 

[Jeremy Walton]

Thanks for the reply. What does "in reels" mean. Not familiar with that term. A concern I have is if I export a 2k DNXHR 444 out and bring that into avid it will be 1 video clip. I can't make any alterations to transitions, etc. How do I get the current project timeline from resolve to avid? From avid to resolve I did an AFF, but I added a lot of media to the current cut, VFX clips, changed stock footage, title, credits. Can I do an AFF from resolve to Avid and open up a brand new project in avid? Thanks.

 

[Paul Sage]

"Reels" are broken up 15-20 minute chunks of your film in order (reel1, reel2, etc...). It's easier to work in reels than in one big massive long timeline when editing and coloring.

If you don't want the dissolves and stuff to be "baked" into your material in Resolve you can ask the colorist to export using the AAF round trip preset for Avid. It will give you uniquely named individual clips for every shot and an AAF to link to. Read up on this workflow if you decide to use it. It's well documented and it will save you time later if you have a grasp of how to do it before you proceed.

 

[Jeremy Walton]

Thanks. I did an AAF to resolve but I wasn't sure about going back to Avid from resolve. Would I just create a new project in Avid for the resolve AAf? In resolve I had mixed media in the time line, 5k, 2k, and HD. If I open a new, let's say 4k, project in Avid, how does it treat the 2k and HD clips? Or do I open a project in the resolution I want to finish in, which would be 2k?

 

[Paul Sage]

New project in Avid at your desired finishing size. When you colorist exports the clips out of Resolve, they will all be scaled to whatever his project is setup to, so make sure that he is working in the size you want to finish in (whatever 2k or 4k aspect you decide). Check out the Avid forums for Re-linking walkthroughs