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"Modern" Flatbed Cutting Workflow?


Marc Roessler

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Hi Guys,

 

some still like to use a flatbed - one example is Christopher Nolan (Memento, Insomnia, Prestige).

So what's the workflow that is used for that nowadays?

 

No problem at all for image: workprint, workprint cut, Neg Cut according to workprint, contact print/telecine/scan - just like in the old days.

 

But what about audio?

Okay, you can cut the original sound on magnetic tape traditionally. But this only works as a reference if you dub the movie (you won't go back from magnetic to digital, right?).

 

I suppose you can use inked on timecode on the edge of the work print.. But you'll have to manually sync this back to the original some way. So how does the workflow continue from here? And how do you set the inked on timecode anyway.. manually reading the timecode slate? Or by using the Keycode written to the edge of the negative by the camera? What if you don't have any timecode slate?

 

Greetings,

Marc

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  • 2 months later...
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What if you don't have any timecode slate?

There you are at the very point. Work with a flatbed editor is pre-timecode work. You synchronize and edit picture and sound on the table. Each finished reel bears a leader and the last frame of the leader is Zero. The machines are zeroed prior to the transfer and then you get everything in sync on hard disc or tape or whatever.

 

The timecode is a machine-readible feature. It's senseless to look at it. You always edit by what a film is, a series of frames with a first one and a last one.

 

For the rest I recommend The Technique of the Film Cutting Room by Ernest Walter, Focal Press, ISBN 0 240 50657 X.

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