Comments on: A Media Manager Has Your Back

By: Ben Hickson

Ben Hickson — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 18:01:21 +0000

By the way, a second on Shot Put Pro. I just got off a Red DIT job where and it really does kick ass.

By: Ben Hickson

Ben Hickson — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 18:00:24 +0000

Shane,

Just wondering if you ever got a chance to think about my question above, your Avid/FCP/Cineform workflow?

Thanks,
Ben

By: Shane

Shane — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 16:27:54 +0000

Quentin Brown, yes I use ShotPut Pro. It kicks ass, very simple and extremely fast. ShotPut Pro 3.1.1

By: Quentin Brown

Quentin Brown — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 13:08:14 +0000

Hi Shane, thanks for all the blog posts and taking the time to reply to peoples questions, it’s really generous of you to share your knowledge and experience with everyone especially considering that you are a busy working professional.

I am just curious if you use any data copy verification methods (checksums etc.) when downloading footage onto your 4 drives. As a DIT who has a lot of experience working with the RED I would never do RED without using checksum copying to give an extra level of security and ensure that all 4 copies have full bit for bit data integrity. If you do use something what software is it?

By: Shane

Shane — Wed, 26 May 2010 01:05:40 +0000

Militello, thank you so much for those kind words, yes it has changed everything. I am glad all that is working out. On the RED front, I have not got my hands on the Scarlet for Epic. I am scheduled to test them soon. My plan of attack is film and then 5D. Next episode is next week, which is the final Carnival. You are welcome.

By: Militello

Militello — Tue, 25 May 2010 21:59:49 +0000

Hey Shane,
Truly amazing work by the way. The HDSLR has really changed things.
I have used this workflow for a while now and it seems to give me great results. I take everything into FCP log and transfer. There is now a plugin that will transcode your 5D/7D footage into FCP. The EOS E1 http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArticleAct&articleID=3249 , and do a conversion to PRORES 4444. This is to try and get 4:4:4 color space introduced into the footage. I am finding that it gives just a bit more to play with in post CC. Anyone have any luck with this? I am actually able to edit this off a laptop with internal drive. Plus FCP loves Prores. Back up are done on an 8TB raid array, then put on a firewire bus powered hard drive as well. I personally always like to have a back up that is completely disconnected from a power supply.
Completely unrelated though….
What are your thoughts on RED (one, scarlet, Epic) and how it compares to Canon? Personally I am really liking canon. but I wanted to hear from an expert.
Looking forward to seeing more. Thanks Shane.

By: Shane

Shane — Tue, 04 May 2010 17:16:10 +0000

Stark, The HP Dream-color 24 inch ZX monitor is for lighting and playback. I have also been mounting this monitor on the dolly and operating off of the monitor so that I can continue to view the subtleties of the light and be able to adjust. This monitor you can get refurbished for 1600.00. It holds its calibration for 6-9 months. Where have you ever heard that out of an HD monitor?

By: Stark

Stark — Tue, 04 May 2010 16:23:54 +0000

From the blog:

Shane,
Can you please explain how you set up the 24″ display monitor on the set. Is it just for playback or can it be used like the 7″ Marshall monitor? Also, is there a less expensive alternative to the Apple monitor? (Dell U2410f?) Thanks so much for all of the valuable information.

By: Ben Hickson

Ben Hickson — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 09:25:29 +0000

Shane,

From what I could gather from the post and the replies to comments that you’ve posted, you seem to be using some combination of Avid, Final Cut, and Cineform. How exactly do you use each part? Or what is your shoot-to-deliver workflow?

Above you say something about “RAW mov. file into the Avid and then the Avid automatically converts it to a MXF file.” What is this RAW .mov file? Do you just mean the h.264 .mov files generated by the camera, or are you recording the uncompressed 4:2:2 10bit out of the HDMI into the nanoflash or something like that?

I’m working with the 7d and the T2i. I’m editing in Sony Vegas, simply because I love the render-free environment. It may only play back the Canon .mov files at 20 fps, but at least it plays them back, unlike Final Cut which requires a render. Premiere CS4 is too buggy, and I don’t have access to any other platforms. With Vegas I can do rough cuts on the raw footage then only transcode the shots I need if I’m on a deadline.

If I’m not on a super strict deadline, I let it transcode to Cineform with NeoScene. I love the cineform quality and on my not-that-fast computer it cuts super easy, at full resolution.

So yeah, how exactly is your workflow laid out?

On another note, I love your blog! You are very specific and precise about what you do and how you write, and that is much appreciated. Could you shed a little light on what you do about avoiding aliasing? For example, I just did a project where there was a wide exterior of a suburban neighborhood, and the director wanted the bricks on the houses in focus. Those thousands of tiny horizontal lines just wreaked havoc on my line-skipping sensors haha.

Thanks again for taking the time to help us all out!

By: Shane

Shane — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 05:31:29 +0000

Keiji Iwai, Your blocky clips are because you need to decompress your footage. If you have final cut, go ahead and import the files in Pros Res 4:2:2. This will take the 8 BIT compressed file and decompress it with 10 BIT color and open up all your compressed contrasty and grainy clips. Your CF cards should be Extreme IV UDMA 45MB/s. The camera processes its data at 45MB/s and you need a card that can do the same. You are very welcome. I hope this helps.