ENCODING HD VIDEO FOR USE IN FCP

CANON 5D FOOTAGE (and SIMILAR):

• The FCP Plugin is installed in room 403 on all computers!
  
  
• Academic Computing also has an (old) PDF tutorial which exists here.
  It covers several 5D issues from the computer lab that you may want to have.
  
  
• You could also use Magic Bullet Grinder, as it's by far the best, but it isn’t free.
  
  
• OR you can use (for FREE): MPEG Stream Clip.
  
  Here’s a great tutorial on how to encode your 5D footage for use in Final Cut Pro using MPEG Streamclip. Make sure you’re encoding them and sending them to the “encoded5D_pro_res” folder that you’ve made (can be inside “raw_footage” but you may get confused as that’s where your raw 5D card files go).

 

PANASONIC HMC150 Video Camera FOOTAGE (and similar):

STEP 1 > When using a card reader:

• Insert the SD card into your card reader
  
  
• When the external disk has mounted to the hard drive and you see the contents of the SDcard, then you take the ENTIRE “PRIVATE” folder, and move it over to your hard drive. Copy the files over to your hard drive (in a "RAW_footage" > "HMC150" folder) before you do anything else.
  
  
• When copying files from the camera to the computer, be careful to ensure that files are not accidentally overwritten.
  
  
• When you’ve copied the entire PRIVATE folder onto your hard drive, DO NOT rename ANYTHING inside there!! Don’t do anything to that folder (you can rename it from PRIVATE to PRIVATEONE or PRIVATETWO if you’d like, so that when you bring additional footage in from the card, you will not overwrite the PRIVATE file and lose your footage). But beyond that, don’t do anything with the files or folders inside EVER. FCP can only read from a specific file heirarchy of naming conventions...!
  
  
• Ideally you’d have a copy of the raw footage (all inside the PRIVATE folder) on more than one hard drive, just to be safe. Where did you put this RAW footage? In a RAW folder, as mentioned (in a "RAW_footage" > "HMC150" folder), inside a folder for your documentary_project (no spaces / only underscores).
  
  
• Move on to STEP 2, below...
  
  
  

STEP 1 > When connecting directly to the camera:

• Insert the SD Memory Card, and move the power switch on the camera to "On."
  
  
• Press the "Mode" button to illuminate the PB lamp, and hold the button down for at least 2 seconds—The PC lamp will flash and the camera will change ot PC mode.
  
  
• Connect the camera to the computer with the USB connection cable (don't ever turn the computer on AFTER the camera is connected to it). When the USB connection cable is not connected, "Check USB Cable" will be displayed on the camera.
  
  
• The contents of the SD Memory card will appear as a removable disk icon on your desktop ("No Name" drive).
  
  
• When the external disk has mounted to the hard drive and you see the contents of the SDcard, then you take the ENTIRE “PRIVATE” folder, and move it over to your hard drive. Copy the files over to your hard drive (in a "RAW_footage" > "HMC150" folder) before you do anything else.
  
  
• When copying files from the camera to the computer, be careful to ensure that files are not accidentally overwritten.
  
  
• When you’ve copied the entire PRIVATE folder onto your hard drive, DO NOT rename ANYTHING inside there!! Don’t do anything to that folder (you can rename it from PRIVATE to PRIVATEONE or PRIVATETWO if you’d like, so that when you bring additional footage in from the card, you will not overwrite the PRIVATE file and lose your footage). But beyond that, don’t do anything with the files or folders inside EVER. FCP can only read from a specific file heirarchy of naming conventions...!
  
  
• Ideally you’d have a copy of the raw footage (all inside the PRIVATE folder) on more than one hard drive, just to be safe. Where did you put this RAW footage? In a RAW folder, as mentioned (in a "RAW_footage" > "HMC150" folder), inside a folder for your documentary_project (no spaces / only underscores).
  
  
• Move on to STEP 2, below...

 

STEP 2 > Encoding:

1. Be sure you have a SCRATCH folder setup in your documentary_project folder (you may want to copy this folder over to each of your group's hard drives so that you all have your encoded video files too, as well as render files, in addition to the raw card files).
   
   
2. Open up Final Cut Pro.
   
   
3. When you open it up, SET THE SCRATCH DISK! This is where the footage files encoded for FCP will go, so make sure that it’s going in the scratch folder of your documentary_project folder!
   
   
4. In FCP, click “Easy Setup” under the FCP file menu at upper left. From the drop-down list, choose "Apple ProRes 422." That is, make sure the format is set to whatever your project is, which most likely is:
   
   > Format: Apple ProRes 422
   > Use: Custom Setup
   
   > This preset will be for 24p video (23.98 fps)
   > 1920 x 1080 size (assuming you shot in 1080 HD)
   > Pixel aspect ratio: Square
   > Audio: 48 kHz / 16-bit
   
   
5. Finally, click “LOG & TRANSFER” from the FCP File menu.
   
   
6. Click the little browse icon at the upper left and browse to your “PRIVATE” folder (whichever private folder you'd like to encode).
   
   
7. You can either set ins and outs here on your footage, OR, until I teach you to do that, just select all the clips in the top and click “Add Selection to Queue (or just drag them to the bottom frame).
   
   
8. They will then start encoding. Wait until they’ve completed before you start working with the files. When they’re complete, they’ll appear in your logging bin in FCP.
   
   
9. When the first one comes in, you’ll want to check out the item properties to make sure it brought your footage in at 1920 x 1080px (if you shot in 1080p) and that the frame rate is 23.98 (it may say 24 here, or it may say 23.98). Sound should be 48khz.