The Online Session: What does it mean?

How do you prepare the sequence?

Assembling the final master is referred to by several terms: online, up-rez, conform, and perhaps some others. Each refers to the same thing while implying slightly different nuances to the process. “Online” refers to the process of creating something that would “go online,” or, over the air. “Up-rez” is shorthand for “reditigize in higher resolution,” and opposes the sister task of digitizing clips in low resolution for rough cut purposes. “Conform” refers to the process of rebuilding the approved rough cut exactly the same way except using final quality sources at master quality resolution so that it “conforms to the original”.

The skills needed in an online session are distinctly different from those used in editing a rough cut, though the tool – Final Cut Pro – is the same. Your goal in creating a good master is much like someone who does mastering for CDs or records. They aren’t part of the creative process, but they serve to present the creative in its best possible form. It is both quality control and engineering, to a degree. Here is an outline of the online tasks:

• Assemble all of the final quality elements to check for errors, glitches or omissions.
• Build a sequence in the correct format for output.
• Match the final assembly against the approved rough cut to be sure they are identical.
• Check for compliance to format color gamut, i.e. NTSC, PAL, HD
• Check audio sync of final mix to rough cut reference and for correct master audio level.
• Output to a properly formatted master tape.
• Check the master.
• (Optional) Create a digital file master from which all compressed masters are made.

As I had mentioned earlier, there are some projects that permit you to edit the rough cut in the same resolution as the master, and others that require a low resolution rough cut followed by a conform session. If your project is like the latter, skip the procedures that refer to Media Manager, creating a new project, and re-digitizing. If your approved rough cut was made in low resolution or with dailies rather than an OCN Transfer Master, then follow the re-digitizing procedures. The following text assumes you will need to re-digitize. Here are the steps:

• Create a new sequence that will be Media Managed to another project name.
• Manage old media to keep audio, if necessary, and re-digitize new video.
• Re-digitize the offline video clips using the OCN Transfer Master tape.
• Check the new sequence against the old rough cut for accuracy.

To begin, you must first duplicate your final approved master, change the sequence start time to 00:58:50:00, cut in bars/tone/slate, and place the first frame of program at 1:00:00:00. (For the sake of demonstration, this example refers to non-drop frame timecode. Use the timecode format that is appropriate for your project). The reason behind this sequence structure is that every master must have at least one minutes of bars and tone, followed by a slate, two seconds of black, then the program starting at exactly 1:00:00:00. It isn’t a legal issue, but more of a practical one. For example, even though we are in the digital age where data transfers of video maintain picture integrity, it is still necessary for broadcast engineers to be able to refer to SMPTE color bars and -20 digital reference tone so that the quality of the master can be checked against benchmark standards. Second, in the analog world (and there is still plenty of it left), a digital master will need to be dubbed to an analog format for playback on-air, and the bars and tone will provide an analog reference through vectorscopes and mixing boards. One minute of bars and tone is usually sufficient for an engineer to align their equipment and check the signals.

There is another CYA reason as well. If the master is inserted into a VTR and is then somehow damaged, with one minute of bars and tone at the head instead of program, it may still be possible for the master to be cloned to another tape without affecting the program. This saves time and money – two very precious commidities in the real world.

One you have formatted the sequence, you will now need to use FCPs Media Manager to process the sequence into a format that will allow you to re-digitize without affecting the original media. (In the Avid world, this is accomplished with either Consolidate or Decompose commands, and I have to admit that Avid’s methods are superior to Final Cut Pro’s). Your goal here is to:

• Create a new “sister” FCP project for the sole purpose of creating your final master.
• Process the sequence so that the clips used in the approved rough cut are truncated to only what was actually used, plus some head and tail trim.
• Re-assign the clip’s reel IDs to the new OCN Transfer Master.
• Locate the old copied media and delete it so that you can re-digitize the clips with final quality sources.

Select your newly formatted sequence and right-click, or select Media Manager from the File pulldown menu. You can target the media destination to your current media drive, but create a new folder for it to avoid clipname conflicts with the original media. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you examine a tutorial on how to use Media Manager to perform this function properly. Look for a section about how to “offline/online”.

(Note: there are many ways to perform this task to achieve the same results as I have listed above. You can do it any way that works for you so long as you end up with a sequence that is accurate to the original, includes clips that are truncated properly, and the clips are associated with the master sequence. Feel free to experiment.)

Once the process is completed, save and close out the original FCP project so that you only have the new project to work with. Open the new bin with the newly created clips and separate out any clips that are NOT from a digitized source, such as titles, AfterEffects rendered effects, stills, etc. Put them in another bin so all that is remaining are clips that came from your dailies. Select one of clips, type in a new Reel name for your OCN Transfer Master (press Enter), then select all of the remaining clips, right-click or CTRL-click over the Reel name of one the clips and assign them the same OCN tranfer Master reel name. Save your project. Then, select all of the video clips again, right-click or CTRL-click, and select Make Clip Offline. Choose Delete Media (do not delete the clips, only the media!).

You now have a bin of clips ready to recapture from your OCN Transfer Master. Next, use the Easy Setup to set the presets for the resolution you will be working in for mastering. Select all of the clips and recapture according to the new online presets. If you have any alternate passes on your OCN Transfer Master, you will need to log and capture those clips manually. When the recapture is complete, select your master sequence and select Reconnect Media, and target the search to the location of your newly digitized media.

Note for working in HD: if you offlined in SD and are now onlining in HD, you have presumably taken into account the possible frame rate difference between the two formats and have planned accordingly. If not, such as offlining in 29.97 and then onlining in 23.98, you screwed up. Sorry, no other way to say it. You can try redigitizing from your HD source using 29.97 timecode reference at 23.98fps playback, but it will be highly inaccurate if not impossible. These workflow details should be worked out in the pre-production phase. Now, with the ability of FCP to offline in compressed HD formats, you should be able to work offline in HD formats at native frame dimensions and frame rates so that the conform process is simple.

Video Demo: Media Manage for online re-capture

Next, you need to check for accuracy against your original approved rough cut. You can do this a couple of ways. The first method requires retrieving the original approved rough cut from the original project and loading it into the Viewer monitor, and loading the master sequence into the Canvas monitor. Park the playbar on frame one of each sequence’s program, then select the Gang function in either of the monitors. Go through each scene clip by clip and compare the master to the rough cut. It is not unusual to find a scene that is a frame or two out of sync in the master. But before you slip any clips in your master, be sure that the sync issue isn’t because of a difference in the 3:2 pulldown cadence from one source versus the other. If you are confident that a clip needs to be slipped, use the Slip tool. The Slip tool allows you to move the sync of a clip forward or backwards without trimming or sliding the clip, thus not affecting the clips adjacent to it.

Another method is to paste the clips from the rough cut on a top video layer and disable/enable the clip, or delete/undelete the clip to reveal the video of the clip beneath it. Any clips out of sync can be slipped using the same method as above. Once the old and new clips are in sync, delete the old clip. Which method you chose will probably depend upon the complexity or length of your master sequence.

If you have any imported graphics, stills or alternate scenes to cut in, do so using the Replace Edit function. Replace Edit is one of those functions that many editors barely know about even though it is in front of their faces every day. Learn to use it and it will change your outlook on editing permanently. This is one of those opportunities. Remember, however, that if you use Replace Edit to replace a clip, the Filter and Motion effects ARE NOT retained. In this situation, I clone the original clip on an upper video layer, execute the Replace Edit, then copy/paste the old Filters and Motion effects (Paste Attributes) onto the new clip, delete the old clip, then drag down the new clip. You can try Replace Content on your old clip, but good luck!