Post Production Hold Up

This blog will be very technical and very few people will enjoy the minutiae of computer and video editing detail, so I apologize in advance for boring the pants off of several readers.

I just finished a shoot for my next feature and we shot on the RED ONE camera, a video camera that shoots incredibly film like images. It has a 35mm sensor, so the depth of field and lenses are exactly the same are shooting on 35mm film. Combine that with the frames being 4096x2160 at 24 frames per second, and we have a diverse camera.



Greg Sabo owns a RED camera now and wanted to have some more freedom than the TV spots are affording him, and I traded some website work for the chance to use it on my project. He shot some test footage over a month ago so I could test the most basic workflow for how I would edit footage from the camera.

I tested this pipeline on my basic PC at home. Luckily Adobe had a link to a 47 minute instructional video on how to use CS4 and the RED because it showed several cool tricks. The coolest of these was how to turn the source and timeline monitor resolutions down to ½, ¼, or 1/8 resolution so that editing was manageable, even on this computer.



I am on a PC and I use Adobe Premiere Pro and the Creative Suite (CS) packages. I’m on CS3, but in order to edit RED, I needed to upgrade to CS4 and Premiere Pro CS4. I hadn’t wanted to spend the $$$ on that yet, but it was a necessity. Now the RED plug in for Premiere Pro CS4 requires a 4.1 upgrade, and they are on version 1.7 of the RED plug in.

At work, I have a much faster, better computer with the Matrox RTx2 video editing card in it. This allows me to monitor my timelines, including 1280x720 HD and 1920x1080 HD, on a TV or an HD monitor. We just got a 32” HDTV here at work, but it’s a 720P, so I can’t view 1920x1080 timelines on it.

I’ve made the decision to downres the 4K footage to both 1920x1080 HD and 1280x720 HD. I will edit with the 720P files so I can see them on the 32” monitor. I learned a lesson on my earlier short RELATIONSHIP CARD that seeing things on a high resolution monitor makes a significant difference if people will see it that way. Being able to see and correct mistakes, or details that you want to affect, the bigger the better, and that means resolution too.



I do want to have a full 1080P version of this project too. So I have 2 folders, one for the 720P Matrox AVI files and another for the 1080P. All of the files names exactly match the R3D files in the other folder. This will allow me to later conform the 4K files to match the HD edit I do. I can create the EDL (Edit Decision List) and just change the *.avi to *.R3d and I’ll have my exact edit done in the original RED raw files.

As we’ve started to export the HD files, I discovered that it takes a really long time. About 45 minutes per 1 minute of RED. That means the first 3rd of my raw footage will take approximately 36 hours to render. I setup a sequence as a 4K RED sequence, then export to the Matrox HD files.

The hypothesis I’m working with is that the RED color correction I’m using is adding to this render time. Right now, I’m still waiting on this first 3rd, all the exterior shots with no sync sound, to finish rendering before using any of the interior footage and sound and exporting those already synched.



Because the images from the RED camera are “raw”, as in it’s the raw data straight off the chip; you have a much more broad range of control over the image (like a film negative in the telecine). This also means you pretty much HAVE to affect the images a little to get a balanced look. For the exteriors, shot at high noon on a sunny August day, I had to bring the levels down since they appeared blown out, but really weren’t. I changed it from the RED COLOR SPACE/CONTRAST to the REC.709 and that seemed to match what we were seeing on the monitor during the shoot pretty close by itself.

Adobe Premiere has a plug in with the RED software that acts the same as the REDCINE software that is separate. This acts as a filter within Premiere. Once you affect the colors using this, it treats the file everywhere in Premiere as if it is natively that color/contrast without affecting the source file or creating a temporary file or needing rendering.



Something's funky in that I have a message that clearly states "No Matrox Acceleration", which means the extra GPU chip on the Matrox card is NOT being used at all, when it should/could.

As soon as this next file finishes rendering, I'm going to upgrade the drivers for my video card and the Matrox (with a slight 4.0.1 to 4.1 version upgrade) that may solve a lot of the render time issues.

I solved the long time render issues. If I make the timeline a Matrox 720 or 1080, then scale the footage down in Premiere BEFORE the render, instead of IN the render, it went from a 45 minute render down to 3.75 minutes. And it will still BATCH process. The only difference is I have to make 2 separate timelines, one for 1080 and one for 720P, which is only a few seconds longer to cut & paste with 2 clicks of Ye Olde Mouse.

All this techie talk means is that I can edit as early as Saturday instead of next Wednesday...The Rossman is happy.

The Man-gina Chronicles

Last night’s shoot went great. That’s 2 in a row where things were pretty much spot on. We shot in my parent’s house and that was odd because there are pictures of me from all ages all over the house, so it was like a “Ross Museum” or more akin to freak show as people tried to figure out where the svelte good looking teenager disappeared into the fat hairy guy who must have eaten him.





Because of the rush nature of putting this together, I did not get to rehearse and that does bother me. I very much prefer to work for at least an hour or two with actors without a crew standing by or working so we can build some kind of rapport, and work without a net. There needs to be an environment of trust so that when we talk about things I like or not like, and what they prefer and want to try, we can experiment and talk without it being under pressure or with an audience. I don’t want an actor to be self conscious if I tell them I don’t like something they are trying because with 10-12 people watching it might seem like I’m shooting them down and embarrassing them. Similarly, I don’t want to have an argument if they don’t like the way I want a line to be read and we’re in the thick of the shoot with me behind the dolly, camera, and bank of monitors.







Now for this shoot, we shot with the Sony Z1U. Since I have Cineform’s ASPECT HD codec, I read up on it and they recommended shooting in the European PAL format of 25CF (cine-frame) mode. This is a Sony workaround to get the “film” like image, they shoot in an HD PAL format into a 50i image, and my software can extrapolate the 25 progressive frames from it and converts it down to 24 frames per second, but then re-works the audio so that it keeps the pitch normal without slowing it down too. It’s all very technical and makes sense to me. If you’re reading this and feel dumb, that’s okay. Maybe you are, or at least you aren’t as super-duper intelligent like me. Or maybe if you watch Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica and the techno babble makes perfect sense to you, we can be friends. It’s a miracle I have a girlfriend, and if I have to tell you that the last 2-3 sentences contained incredible amounts of sarcasm, then you are in fact dumb and that’s not a facetious stab.







What is cool for me about working on some shorts again is trying out several HD camera makes and models. As I gear up for 3 features later on, I want to have some firsthand experience with several cameras and see how they edit, handle color correction, effects, etc. Before I shoot on another feature, I will have seen how these cameras’ footage looks projected too. All of this combines to make more informed decisions about what to shoot the features with when the money is on the line. Shorts can serve a VERY important piece of the process and be multi-beneficial if you use your noggin.







I am proud of John’s sister Joanne Fromes who is doing well with her first few projects as a director. Again, My Sexy Fiancé Veronica ™ had to work, and there is some tension over the amount of time I spend with this young nubile girl. The editing sessions will begin tomorrow and she’ll see that not many hot young chicks are into hoggin’ it with the biggies. It’s very weird to not be the director on these pieces and just a co-writer and producer. I’m having a blast anyway. Maybe I’ll stop directing and only produce. And maybe it will rain beer.







I’m still waiting for this PAL 50i conversion to 23.976 Progressive frames to finish conforming the .M2T files to .AVI. I’m telling you, if that sounds like Chinese to you, then you need to get busy studying CODECS. Your first assignment? Tell me what CODEC stands for!





Peace and B WILD,

Peter John Ross

coup d'etat de resistance

I am producing a new piece next week. To help out a first time female director has many levels of appeal to me. It’s the whole big brotherly fraternal aspect, plus the philanthropic endeavor. I want to see more great pieces come from Columbus in terms of film. The bar has been raised and I want to see it met and surpassed.



We’re shooting on the Panasonic HVX200A with the P2 cards. I like the look of the Panasonic cinegamma style color curves. I would never say “film like”, but I can say that it is aesthetically pleasing and doesn’t look like video, which is good. The clean codec also merits mentioning, as it is a lot less compressed than HDV with its MPEG2 evils. I have worked with this material before, but I have never edited with these file types. The HVX200A is a tapeless format and everything records to a memory P2 card. You put that card into the PCMCIA slot of a laptop, then transfer it off the card to your hard drives and start editing. We’ll have someone on set to offload cards and copy footage at all times. It’s not unlike loading and unloading film magazines with the film shoots, only less potentially fatal to the source footage (unless you delete something or fail to copy something).

I did a test ahead of time to make sure this will work with my systems. This entailed getting some basic footage and converting it to the Aspect HD codec I use at home. I needed a driver to read the P2 cards first. Then I needed a P2 reader software so I could read the native *.MXF files that the video and audio is recorded to. Once I got both of those installed, it was effortless to get editable AVI’s and the quality is astoundingly good. The HVX200A has a better low light image than its predecessor.



Continuing on a thread from one of my last blog entries, I find that my interests in filmmaking are shifting a little. I’m not as into comedy as I once was. The appeal of drama and performance from actors captivates me. Not to say I’ll abandon the funnier material, especially in light of recent successes in regards to UNCLE PETE’S PLAY TIME, but I digress. Yet again, a trip to Ohio from George equates to another rush to shoot a short with George. I want to take my time and be a little more precise in the things I produce, but George is too good not to take advantage of using as an actor. He’s especially good at fleshing out ideas.

I have another short script/story that has been brewing for over a year. I had a great setup, but no payoff, at least not one that equates the layup. Brainstorming with George, I stumbled on the answer. Sometimes the pressure of time squeezes out the best ideas. It’s hard to find people who “get it” in terms of brainstorming. I liken it to the process of writing on Television. It’s a flurry of “no, that’s not right” until you get those nuggets of gold. You know its right when you hear it. There is no other rhyme or reason. In this case, it was several of George ideas that were NOT right that I found the right ending to the piece. Collaboration isn’t an exact science I guess.

Inspiration comes from life and the bizarre nooks and cranny of the brain. The kernel of the idea of this short is over 11 years old from when I was working at Banc One Securities Corp ™. In conversation with a girl who was one of the few that I actually liked, she said things about her relationship that struck me as odd. The key is to not be inhibited by the realities. This is a work of fiction solely “based” on this discourse, and I’m not making a documentary, so I’m not obligated to any truth other than the truth of the human condition. I like to take real events, conversations, etc. and nudge them into a workable fiction that says something I want to say about life, the world, people, or anything else that tickles my fancy.

I find that when I right outlines, just to get the ideas “on paper” (in a virtual Microsoft Word ® sense) that I start very vague and by the end I always get more detailed and include exact dialogue in quotes et al. Then I go back and start filling in more dialogue at the beginning and the next thing I know, I already have an entire first draft. It’s a process of cracking the writer’s block and getting the flow going. Once the characters start talking, I feel more like I’m transcribing not writing. That is the BEST feeling. When characters develop an actual voice and speech patterns all their own, plus saying things or doing things you had not pre-conceived; that is the shiznet, if you can excuse my colloquialism and pseudo nomenclature.



My cats are still being defiant as ever. The Might “V” has utterly destroyed the colored mice toys in record time. He has taken to bringing their slobbering remains into my bed in the morning. “V” will proceed to flip the item in the air, then jump around the bed to catch it and tear it apart…. On my legs, on my arms, and on my head. He is a demon, but he’s my pet demon and it’s so hard to be mad at him. I did eject both cats and My Sexy Fiancé Veronica ™ from the bed the other morning so I could get another hour’s sleep. Shock and awe ensued as I denied any desire for Spoons in favor of the almighty shut eye.

What more can I say? Time to boogie on down the road.


Peace and love and good happiness stuff as Steve Vai used to say…
Peter John Ross
Of Rossdonia Farms
“Fresh Manure with French Fries”