Apple Final Cut Pro 7 - Manual (Page 1647)

About Burned-in Timecode on Video
Most telecine facilities offer the ability to permanently superimpose, or burn in, edge code
and timecode numbers over your video transfer from film. This is useful whether or not
you have a telecine log file:
• If you have a telecine log file: The burned-in numbers make it easy to verify that the
entries in the database are correct. Additionally, in cases where the video has had a 3:2
pull-down applied, letters are added after the key number to indicate the frame type.
This helps when configuring the reverse telecine process, which removes the added
frames and restores the video to its original film frame rate.
• If you don’t have a telecine log file: The burned-in numbers make it much easier to
manually enter the records in the Cinema Tools database.
If you do not have burned-in numbers, you generally have to use a list that matches up
with hole-punched film frames at the head of each clip.
A consideration regarding using video with burned-in numbers is whether the final edited
video will be shown to others. If not, having the burned-in numbers is very helpful and
they should be included. If it is going to be shown, you may want to have the telecine
facility use a 2.40:1 aspect ratio, which leaves sufficient blank space to place the numbers
without covering up any video. Alternatively, if the edited output is to be used as a clean
master, you can choose to have the burned-in numbers appear only on the first frame
of each clip.
Importing a Telecine Log to Create a Cinema Tools Database
Each time a shot is transferred from film to video during a telecine session, an entry is
made in the telecine log, containing the edge code start number and the corresponding
timecode start number on video. The ending edge code and timecode numbers are also
recorded. When you import a telecine log, Cinema Tools creates a database that tracks
the relationship between video clips in Final Cut Pro and your original film footage. As
you edit, you refine video clip start and end times. At any time, Cinema Tools can use the
information in the database to map a video clip start or end time in Final Cut Pro to the
corresponding edge code of the original film.
Exporting a Film Cut List
In basic terms, a Final Cut Pro sequence is a series of start and end timecode values from
different source tapes. A film sequence is similar: a series of start and end edge code
numbers from various film reels. When you finish editing your sequence in Final Cut Pro,
you need to generate a list of edge code start and end times, known as a cut list, so that
a film negative cutter can match the sequence you created in Final Cut Pro. As long as
you properly created a Cinema Tools database before you started editing, generating a
cut list is easy.
1647 Chapter 99 Working with Film and Cinema Tools