Red on-set DIT workflow

[Josh Ethier]

Sorry if this is in the wrong forum guys, seemed like a good spot.

I'm working on a horror feature that was shot on two Red One's, and the producers are talking about going back to Mississippi to shoot pick-ups and a few extra scenes. Up until now I was just the assistant editor, but my boss seems to think I can handle any job they want to throw at me, so now I might be the on-set DIT for reshoots. I've worked P2 workflows before, 7D workflows, but as far as an on-set DIT is concerned, never with the Red.

I just wanted to know if there's a particular workflow that's traditionally used, what to look out for, things of that nature. I truly appreciate any help.

 

[Kaku Ito]

Are you taking a Mac Book Pro?

 

[Josh Ethier]

Yes, bringing a macbook pro with an eSata card.

 

[Conrad Hunziker]

Having the eSATA card is half the battle with the MBP. You should have discrete connections to each source/destination, which means no firewire sharing. So by using the FW bus for the source, then 2 destinations with the eSATA, you are creating the best & fastest route for your data with the tools at hand.

Please keep in mind that the role of the DIT is more than just backing up data. It is also creating looks for the camera, working with the DP to set exposures, adjusting menus/settings on the camera and much more.

 

[Dustin Cross]

The Sonnet eSATA Pro Express34 cards are great for on set stuff with Macbook Pro.

It is really good idea to use software like R3D Data Manager to copy the footage, but I have done 1000's of hours of footage with just drag and drop with no problems. If you are not super comfortable with tech, then something like R3D Data Manager is the way to go.

I just got a Sonnet Qio, which has CF card reader, eSATA ports, SxS card reader, pretty much everything you could need and connects to a Macbook Pro. I have only testing it in the office and it seems great, but I have heard people having problems with them.

make multiple copies of the footage and open it in RedcineX and look through every clip before you erase any any media. It is good to play all the footage, but I never have time to play all the footage and usually fast forward through everything or scrub. The main thing to make sure you look at every clip before you erase the media.

Once I have verified the media, I typically delete everything on the media, but don't empty my trash. Then I send the card or drive back to set. Depending on how much media we are using I don't know what number this card is going to be, so I can't label it. The reason for deleting is when they put the card in the camera it gives them an error that this media needs to be formatted. That is one check to make sure they don't record over something. If the card doesn't say it needs to be formatted, then I haven't downloaded it yet.

Hopefully that helps get you started.


Dusty
Local 600 DIT

 

[RivaiC]

Is there any hardware that can do backup without the need of Macbook or PC laptop ? Sometime the location doesnt permit such luxury. I remember there is one but cant remember the name, it seems popular at first but nobody mentioned it now.

 

[joe hedge]

Is there any hardware that can do backup without the need of Macbook or PC laptop ? Sometime the location doesnt permit such luxury. I remember there is one but cant remember the name, it seems popular at first but nobody mentioned it now.

Not really, you pretty much need A/C power and a laptop...

A few things I'm not seeing mentioned here are choice of drives used for back-up, G-Tech drives are the industry standard as of right now for just basic on-set back-up, and exercise extreme caution what you plug into on-set for A/C power. Spikes and surges in electricity will fry those drives, do not plug into anything G&E is using (assuming you don't have a UPS). Also don't let the AC's plug the Red battery charger into the same circuit the drives are on. If you're shooting in an old house with cloth wiring and no generator, do the downloading someplace else.

Make sure they've got proxies turned on in the camera (System Main>Project>QT Proxies)

Also, either R3D Data Manager or ShotPut Pro is mandatory, dragging and dropping raw camera files is inviting disaster.

Write labels on the media saying "OK to reformat" after you've copied and confirmed it.

Use a separate drive for transcoding, do not transcode to the same drive(s) the R3D's are on.

Don't fill the drives up past 80%.

Drag through every camera file to make sure it copied correctly, especially when copying CF cards.

On day 1, check the external sound files from the sound guy in FCP for frame rate and sample rate, and that they match the frame rate of the camera and aren't drifting out of sync with picture.

Check the shots for focus, and look for stuff the director/DP might have missed that might be cause for re-shooting the scene (boom/people/c-stands/whatever in shot).

All this relates to just basic on-set data wrangling, actual DIT'ing is a whole other can of worms

 

[David (dudi) Namir]

Take UPS with you.

 

[RivaiC]

Try to remember back, i was talking about nexto DI. Nobody is talking about it anymore around here

 

[Simon Blackledge]

tell him to put his hand in his pocket and get a DIT.

saving money and risking his rushes.. urgh..


s

 

[Josh Ethier]

Thanks guys, much appreciated. We'll see if I even get to fly down and do it, the productions been a little wavy on things like this in the past.