ABC's and Baby Steps- RAW to FINISH using FCPX

[Benjamin May]

I work as a physician in real life and often I need to translate medical jargon into layman's terms for my patients. This is what I need now.

I have FCP 7, but it seems I'll need to upgrade to another editing software before my Scarlet arrives, and have to decide between FCPX, Adobe and Avid.

1. What is your step by step work flow from offloading the images from the scarlet to a final product (in color and w sound) using FCPX? I do not have red rocket.

2. What Editing software workflow is the least complicated with RED files?

My apologies for these simple, yet broad questions. I have been reading the forum for awhile and am having a hard time putting a workflow together (and Scarlet arrives within a week)

Thank you!

[Paul Provost]

1. hire a DIT
2. hire an editor
3. hire a colorist
4. hire an audio mixer
or
buy books and learn all the above

[D Fuller]

I work as a physician in real life and often I need to translate medical jargon into layman's terms for my patients. This is what I need now.

Benjamin,
Much of my work is translating the work of scientists for the general public, so I know well where you are coming from. Feel free to PM me if you want some private consulting. But based on your introduction, i'm going to assume that cinematography is not your profession, and because of that, you will want to keep things as straightforward and time-efficient as possible. Also, if you are working with FCP7, you are on a Mac.

I have FCP 7, but it seems I'll need to upgrade to another editing software before my Scarlet arrives, and have to decide between FCPX, Adobe and Avid.

1. What is your step by step work flow from offloading the images from the scarlet to a final product (in color and w sound) using FCPX? I do not have red rocket.

2. What Editing software workflow is the least complicated with RED files?

My apologies for these simple, yet broad questions. I have been reading the forum for awhile and am having a hard time putting a workflow together (and Scarlet arrives within a week)

Thank you!

You are right about this. And although I'm a long-time fan of Avid, I would recommend Adobe Premiere Pro. Here's why: a reasonably recent mac PPro will play and edit Red Epic and Scarlet files with no additional (i.e. Red Rocket) hardware. In fact, it will play almost anything you throw at it: flash files, DSLR files, whatever. You have to reduce the playback resolution to fit your system, but at the end of the edit, it will render full res, beautiful output. I have a Rocket in a Mac workstation, so I know what that does, but I can edit Epic/Scarlet files on my MacBook Pro with no real problem. I just reduce the resolution while I'm working. (and when you start from 4K, working at 1/4 or 1/8 resolution is not an awful sacrifice.)

Additionally, there are good resources for FCP7 users to learn PPro. Keyboard mapping, tutorials tailored to you, etc.

For the moment, it takes a hack to get PPro to play Scarlet/Epic audio, but it's a free hack, and if you got through medical school, you can certainly do it. (It's just moving a bunch of files around in the right sequence.) I know it works; I use it. And it's free (as long as you own PPro).

With PPro, my workflow is:
1. Make a backup copy.
2. Copy the files I want to work with to my RAID (fast disk drives are absolutely essential to working with RED files.)
3. Color-correct in RedCineX Pro
4. Import to PPro.
5. Edit.
6. Render the final.

it really can be that simple. I use RedCine to color-correct because it has better tools for that than Premiere (or at least I like them better) and PPro will read the color-correction metadata from the RCM file that RCX creates.

This is the least-complicated workflow I know of. Without a Rocket, full-quality rendering takes time, but that is true of any system. Just let it render overnight while you sleep.

[D Fuller]

1. hire a DIT
2. hire an editor
3. hire a colorist
4. hire an audio mixer
or
buy books and learn all the above

Paul,

With all due respect, this is nonsense. While it is good advice for the professional world in which you and I work, Benjamin started this thread by saying that he is a physician, not a video professional. Scarlet has opened the Red world to a lot of people who just don't fit the model you are prescribing.

The Red workflow does not need to be that complicated (or expensive).

[Doug Beatty]

Here's a slightly more informative reply:

1) Always start in Redcine-X. Do a search on the forums and read up on it. Read the manual and get comfortable with that app. Think of Redcine as the oven that bakes your R3Ds into DNxHD (AVID) or Quicktime (FCPX) files.

Do your one-light corrections before exporting to give yourself the best image quality before they are baked in. Once transcoded, open up in your NLE of choice and away you go. Render settings and all the technical stuff about rendering in RCX can be found by using your best friend, Google.

(I left off Premiere CS 5.5 because it handles R3Ds natively. It's still good practice to do a grade in RCX and save your metadata before opening up a new project.)

2) CS5.5

If you really are serious about being a Scarlet owner/operator, you'll find a workflow that fits your specific needs without having to ask too many questions because you'll be all over the forums reading and researching what works best for you.

Most importantly of all: have fun!

[D Fuller]

This tutorial might help you to get started: Tutorials-for-Newcomers-to-Premiere-Pro

[William Albertini]

1. hire a DIT
2. hire an editor
3. hire a colorist
4. hire an audio mixer
or
buy books and learn all the above

Really? This kind of snark serves no useful purpose...

[Benjamin May]

Thanks much, Mr. Fuller and Mr. Beatty- this is exactly what I needed to get started! Cheers!

[Marc Wielage]

1. hire a DIT... 2. hire an editor... 3. hire a colorist... 4. hire an audio mixer

Paul, I like the way you think! And I would add, "hire a post supervisor, because they can save you time and money.

Sometimes, stuff like this is kind of like, "I'm thinking of putting a pool in my backyard. Can somebody teach me plumbing, how to excavate, how to deal with concrete, how to get permits, and actually construct the pool? I'd like to get it done by this weekend, because my relatives are coming in from out of town."

Given that the o.p. is a physician, maybe I could make a more apt comparison: "I'm thinking of taking out my own appendix. Can you offer me some tips on where I can buy good scalpels, how to numb the area, where to make the incision, and how to stitch myself back up?" I had some minor hand surgery a few months back, which took the doctor a total of about 2 minutes. I joked with him, saying, "wow, a couple of grand for that? You have a great job." He grinned and answered, "I get paid $2000 because I know where not to cut." I got it.

[Edward Blythe]

Yes but you have to start somewhere. And the process is surely not as difficult as surgery!

One thing I'd add Ben - film is a learn-by-doing thing. Get in there and muck about, you'll make pretty quick progress and figure out the things that stump you on paper. And all the high-end stuff that the gentlemen above are leaning towards... You can get to that if you so desire. Or hire folks who'll pave the way.