1. Making Movies An introduction to Digital Video, College customs & practices, imovie and Final Cut Pro video editing software

2. What is Digital Video? ?

3. Video that is recorded and transferred digitally

4. What is Digital Video? Video that is recorded and transferred digitally Process is loss less Quality is maintained Non linear editing

5. Digital video is a process where there is no deterioration in the video over time and manipulation. VHS video quality deteriorates quickly when copied or played. Process is loss less

6. Quality is maintained Near broadcast quality of the video can be maintained throughout the process. If quality were measured on a scale of 1 to 10 with Streaming Internet video at 1 Broadcast quality at 10 VHS would be graded as 3 and DV would be 9.7

7. Non linear editing The major advantage of digital video is that it can be edited in a non linear fashion. Shots do not have to be taken sequentially and additional options can be filmed too. It is non destructive and edits can be revisited and changes made.

8. Video Formats There are a wide variety of video formats available. The main ones we will be using are miniDV and VHS.

9. Video Formats Mini DV tapes are the smallest of the video formats. They take and maintain crystal clear images because of the nature of a digital format. Editing enthusiasts benefit from Mini DV as well, since copying between two units is done with no quality loss. That means edited or copied video looks and sounds every bit as good as the original footage. Mini DV tapes are available in 30, 60,63 and 80 minute lengths. Digital camcorders have the highest resolution of all the camcorders, starting at 500 lines. The tapes are very delicate so avoid over use or problems will occur.

10. Video Formats VHS format has been around for a lot of years. It was not as good as Betamax (Japanese) or Philips 2000 (European) but because VHS originated in America it became the most popular. Most home will have a VHS tape deck. Every time a tape is played there is a tiny loss in quality (eventually the tape wears out). In an analogue editing suite the quality of the end product is reduced by the amount of times the tapes are played. The quality of a VHS tape is 225 (MiniDV is 500).

11. Video Formats There are three main TV broadcasting systems in the world PAL (W.Europe) - NTSC (America & Japan) - SECAM (France) The UK tv system is known as PAL (Phase Alternating Line) and plays 25 frames of video per second (FPS)

12. Quality of Format PAL Television Screen Resolution is 625 Lines but not all the lines are used for the picture: Teletext takes up 49 Lines So the picture you actually see is 576 Lines VHS is 225 Lines and MiniDV is 500 Lines

13. Quality of Format Pictures and graphics have to be a specific size in order that they may be imported into a video editing package to avoid distortion To resize an image open a new document in Photoshop at the following sizes: width 768 pixels, height 576, resolution 72 pixels per inch and RGB format Then resize the document to 720 X 576 and save a copy as a PICT file. Why? Because TV pixels are rectangular and computer pixels are square

14. Quality of Format

17. What is Timecode? It is a way of giving every frame of video a unique identity It is measured in hours, minutes, seconds and frames 07:34:27:23 It is used by editing software for locating specific clips

18. Custom & Practice Always begin with a new tape. Using a ‘blacked tape’ can cause problems when batch capturing in Final Cut Pro At the start of recording on a new tape always ‘roll camera’ for about a minute before calling action The tape timecode is not broken if the the tape is stopped or paused Removing, rewinding and reviewing and switching off the camera will affect the tape timecode: to prevent this always leave the tapehead on a recorded part of the tape

19. Custom & Practice Record for a few seconds before and after action On a film shoot students should log the tape as shooting progresses. To keep the MiniDV tape in pristine condition make a VHS copy with timecode burnt in. Use the VHS copy to create a log and an E.D.L Students must provide evidence of logging - make it mandatory by stipulating this in the brief and submit the VHS copy as well as a log of rushes and an E.D.L

20. Why firewire? It is the transfer of data No computer needed Firewire or IEE 1394 = 50 mb/sec Firewire 2 = 100 mb/sec (backwards compatible) DV = 3.6 mb/sec 5 minute of DV = 1 gb of memory

21. Make a VHS copy!

25. 1. Slide the tape into the DV deck and make sure it is rewound. 2. 3 Leads are required: a BNC to phono, and 2 phono-to-phono cables. 3. BNC to phono needs to be plugged into monitor out (bottom left on the back of the DV deck) 4. The 2 phono cables need to go into the audio out left and right sockets. 5. BNC wants to be plugged into the BNC socket in a VHS recorder. The phono’s are plugged into audio out left and right respectively. 6. For a scart plug, plug the BNC into the BNC slot at the back. Plug the two phono’s into left and right. Make sure the scart is set to input. Plug the scart into the input socket in the VHS recorder. 7. Connect the TV to the VHS recorder with either the scart plug or the phono cables as explained above. Switch on the VHS recorder and switch on the TV. Make sure the TV is set to AV. 8. Should see a display if the cables have been plugged in correctly. 9. On the DV deck select the counter TC setting and have the audio out set to CH 1 & 2. Press record on the VHS recorder and make sure it is recording. 10. Press play on the DV deck.

26. On the computer Ideal scenario:- Save your project files on the hard disk Use an external hard drive for video in Use another external hard drive for render files and scratch disks Have a lot of RAM installed