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Other Helpful Tools (continued)

Figure 13.3

Adobe Bridge cataloging software is a great tool for cataloging and organizing all of the media that you’ll use for a project, including video, stills, and audio.

Importing and Transcoding

Now that your source files are named and organized, you can start importing media into your editing application. In Chapter 3, “Digital Video Primer,” we mentioned that most people choose to transcode their camera’s original footage into an intermediate codec for editing. The codec you choose will most likely be based on the software you are using. Final Cut Pro users will choose the Apple ProRes codec (see Figure 13.4), and Media Composer users will choose the Avid DNxHD codec (see Figure 13.5). Although some will argue that one is better than the other, both are excellent and offer a wide range of quality levels, from very low-resolution, or proxy quality, to 4K digital cinema quality.

Figure 13.4

The Media Manager in Final Cut Pro makes it easy to take your camera original files, transcode them to the Apple ProRes codec, and create a new project using the new files. Note that this h.264 footage almost doubles in size when transcoded to ProRes 422.

Typically, you will want to choose a codec that has the same resolution as your camera’s raw media or better. In other words, since you are going to use these files to create your final master at the very end of your editing process, you don’t want to downgrade the image quality of your camera’s original footage when you transcode it. Choosing a codec that’s higher quality than your original files won’t make any improvements but choosing a codec that’s of lesser quality will result in a loss of image quality. When in doubt, choose a higher quality codec. After all, storage drives are relatively cheap.

278 The Digital Filmmaking Handbook, 4E

Figure 13.5

Avid Media Composer lets you select a codec and transcode as you import files into the project for the first time.

If you are not sure how to judge the quality of a codec, remember to compare the following components of a digital video file:

nResolution or image size

nFrame rate

nInterlaced versus progressive scanning

nColor sampling ratio

nBit depth

nData rate

To maintain image quality, each of the above items should be the same as your camera’s original media or better. If you don’t know much about your camera’s original media, open a clip in your editing software and select Clip Info (Media Composer) or Edit > Item Properties > Format in Final Cut Pro (see Figure 13.6).

Figure 13.6

Most editing applications provide detailed information about each video clip. Shown here is the Item Properties window in Apple Final Cut Pro.

Just to make things a little more complicated, you can choose from several different applications to transcode your media. You can use your editing application or you can use a stand-alone encoder such as Apple Compressor, MPEG Streamclip, or Handbrake. Stand-alone compressors can run in the background or on another computer, and sometimes they are faster at compressing media than editing applications. But be aware, not all compressors are equal, and media compressed by different applications can look very different, even though you are transcoding to the same codec. Do some tests before you start, in order to find the compressor that gets the look you like the best and then stick with it.