Cory Johnn
Well-known member
I am in a little bit of a situation and need some guidance.
TLDR is that I am working on a 6 x 1 hour doc series and there are some audio/timecode issues.
I am creative B cam and am using my RED Helium kit, capturing landscapes, timelapses, generic Broll, hopping in with A-cam when possible, etc.
Audio jams with me at the beginning of each day / over lunch and whenever there is downtime.
A-cam is following host, etc.
Show specs require Drop-Frame, and RED doesnt record in Drop-Frame, but A-cam (Sony FS7) and audio are both recording Drop-Frame.
I thought it was interesting how audio (Tentacle Sync 29.97 DF) was able to successfully jam with my camera and allow me to catch TC.
Editors are working in Premiere, and colourists are working in Resolve (I believe).
Here is an email I received from the offline editor:
-------------------------------------------
The situation
RED cameras cannot generate drop-frame timecode.
I discovered this fact on RED's documentation ("RED cameras use non-drop frame timecode") and have not found any information to indicate otherwise (including in the RED Helium manual).
Right now we have mixed timecode for our primary footage: AUDIO & Sony (CAM A) footage recorded in drop-frame, RED (CAM B) footage recorded in non-drop-frame. The RED footage would not sync with AUDIO timecode.
Shooting with mixed timecode required extra steps to prepare the files for editing.
How we're dealing with it
I've spent time developing a workflow to convert the RED footage. The good news is that I've been able to sync the footage from August, September and October using proxy files converted to drop-frame.
The bad news is that we cannot link to the original RED files later because they will not sync. All RED footage must be transcoded into a drop-frame file. These will be the files the online editor will re-link to when she sends out a locked episode for colour grade.
What we need to do next
The next step is to contact the colourist to learn their preferred specifications for the transcoded files. Unfortunately, these transcoded files will not have all the raw data that is in a RED file - this means the colourist must make decisions now for the file type, bitrate and white balance that they need to work with later.
Going forward
You will need to decide if you are satisfied with this workflow for the rest of Season 2.
Conversion will need to be done for all RED footage prior to editing unless you are able to sync to external timecode continuously during capture.
-------------------------------------------
Now, I am a little bummed if there is no solution and I am capturing all this footage with no RAW capabilities, which is a little silly.
Please tell me there is a workaround?
Thanks!
Cory
TLDR is that I am working on a 6 x 1 hour doc series and there are some audio/timecode issues.
I am creative B cam and am using my RED Helium kit, capturing landscapes, timelapses, generic Broll, hopping in with A-cam when possible, etc.
Audio jams with me at the beginning of each day / over lunch and whenever there is downtime.
A-cam is following host, etc.
Show specs require Drop-Frame, and RED doesnt record in Drop-Frame, but A-cam (Sony FS7) and audio are both recording Drop-Frame.
I thought it was interesting how audio (Tentacle Sync 29.97 DF) was able to successfully jam with my camera and allow me to catch TC.
Editors are working in Premiere, and colourists are working in Resolve (I believe).
Here is an email I received from the offline editor:
-------------------------------------------
The situation
RED cameras cannot generate drop-frame timecode.
I discovered this fact on RED's documentation ("RED cameras use non-drop frame timecode") and have not found any information to indicate otherwise (including in the RED Helium manual).
Right now we have mixed timecode for our primary footage: AUDIO & Sony (CAM A) footage recorded in drop-frame, RED (CAM B) footage recorded in non-drop-frame. The RED footage would not sync with AUDIO timecode.
Shooting with mixed timecode required extra steps to prepare the files for editing.
How we're dealing with it
I've spent time developing a workflow to convert the RED footage. The good news is that I've been able to sync the footage from August, September and October using proxy files converted to drop-frame.
The bad news is that we cannot link to the original RED files later because they will not sync. All RED footage must be transcoded into a drop-frame file. These will be the files the online editor will re-link to when she sends out a locked episode for colour grade.
What we need to do next
The next step is to contact the colourist to learn their preferred specifications for the transcoded files. Unfortunately, these transcoded files will not have all the raw data that is in a RED file - this means the colourist must make decisions now for the file type, bitrate and white balance that they need to work with later.
Going forward
You will need to decide if you are satisfied with this workflow for the rest of Season 2.
Conversion will need to be done for all RED footage prior to editing unless you are able to sync to external timecode continuously during capture.
-------------------------------------------
Now, I am a little bummed if there is no solution and I am capturing all this footage with no RAW capabilities, which is a little silly.
Please tell me there is a workaround?
Thanks!
Cory