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  MANGANMEDIA 

Stage 1: Planning

 

Planning is where you choose your basic workflow, such as offline and online editing (for projects with a lot of media) or editing the uncompressed footage (for shorter projects with quick turnaround times); choose input and output formats; and plan for equipment requirements (such as hard disk space), timecode and sync requirements, effects shots and color correction, audio mixing requirements, and so on.

Planning for post-production primarily means preparing for each of the upcoming post-production phases: choosing input and output formats; acquiring your original footage, music, and graphics; deciding on a logging and capturing method; choosing an editing strategy; and planning the scope of effects you will be adding so you can determine how much time and support you will need to dedicate to them.

 

Stage 2: Setting Up

 

In this phase, you set up your editing system by installing and connecting the hardware you need, as well as configuring your software. For example, before logging and ingesting, you need to connect your computer either to the video and audio from your camcorder or VTR (video tape recorder) or to a device containing your file-based media. You also need to make sure that the correct presets are chosen within Final Cut Pro, so that Final Cut Pro knows what video and audio formats you are capturing and what kind of device control you’re using. (Device control allows Final Cut Pro to remotely control video and audio devices.)

Depending on the format and device you are using, setup can be fairly simple (as it is with DV formats) or more complex. For example, if you are working with an uncompressed video format, you need to install a third-party video interface in your computer, as well as a serial port adapter to communicate with the deck.

 

 

Stage 3: Ingesting

 

Ingesting is a general term for capturing, transferring, or importing video, audio, still images, and metadata to your computer’s hard disk, which creates media files. You can ingest media files at any time, although most footage should be ingested before you start editing.

Logging is the process of identifying which shots you want to ingest for editing. While you log, you can add scene and shot descriptions, logging notes, and markers. Logging also helps you become familiar with your footage before you begin editing.

The order in which you log and ingest your footage is up to you. There are several possible workflows, depending upon your work style, the needs of your project, and the availability of footage. You can log all or most clips before batch ingesting them (in an automated way), or you can log and then ingest each clip individually. You can also log clips after ingesting your footage to a hard disk.

For more information, see Overview of Capturing Tape-Based Media, Overview of Transferring File-Based Media, and  Importing Media Files into Your Project.

 

Stage 4: Editing

 

The editing process involves taking the video and audio you’ve captured, along with any music or graphics you’ve imported, and arranging these raw materials into a final edited sequence of clips. Most editors start with a rough cut, where they quickly arrange all of the clips for a movie in sequence. Once that’s finished, they work on fine-tuning, subtly adjusting the edit points between clips and refining the pacing of each cut. Basic audio editing and synchronizing are also part of this process, as well as adding transitions, such as fades and dissolves.

Often, the type of project you’re working on determines your method of editing. For example, documentary editing, in which the script often evolves in parallel with the editing, is quite different from commercial television and film editing, in which there is already a finished script to provide an order for clips.

 

Stage 5: Mixing Audio

 

 your movie is edited and the picture is “locked,” meaning the duration of the movie is fixed and you no longer intend to change any of the edits, you can begin working more extensively on your audio. This involves:

• Cleaning up the dialogue with more detailed audio editing, balancing audio levels, and applying equalization

• Adding sound effects, music, and voiceover on additional audio tracks in the sequence

• Mixing the levels of all the different clips together to create a balanced sound mix
   

 

Note: You can also sweeten your audio with another audio application, perhaps even at another facility. 

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Stage 6: Adding Effects

 

Creating effects tends to be more time-consuming than cuts-only editing, so it’s good to focus on basic edits first and work on effects when the timing of your project is finalized. Effects are any enhancements you want to make to your footage, such as color correction, special transitions, animation, still or motion graphics, multilayered images (compositing), and titles. Final Cut Pro has a wide variety of video and audio filters, each with parameters that you can keyframe to adjust over time in your sequence. You can also create professional titles and motion graphics in Motion.

 

 

Stage 7: Finishing and Outputting

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Once editing is finished, effects are added, and the final audio mix is complete, you can output your movie to videotape or export your sequence to Compressor or send it to Color for finishing. You can also use Share to quickly create and deliver output media files in iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, MobileMe, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, and YouTube formats.