Export Reference Video

For both sound and color turnover you will need to export a Reference Video from Media Composer with the name of the project and timecode burnt in.

Mount your show volume and launch your Media Composer project. Open the”Locked “Sequences” bin. Select your locked sequence and hit Command+D to duplicate the sequence. Then rename the new sequence “Show#_Locked_Refernce_Video”.

Search the Effects Pallet for “Timecode” and you will find the TimeCode Burn in Generator.

Apple the effect to track “V6/Timecode Overlay”.

Using the Effects Editor set Display 1 to Timecode and Display 2 to Sequence Name.

Under the Appearance drop down menu set the font size to 40. Then use the Position X and Y controls to move the bun ins around. Place the Sequence name centered at the top of the screen and the Timecode centered at the bottom of the screen.

You are now ready to export the entire sequence as a quicktime reference video. Select in to out for the whole sequence and activate all tracks.

Then right click bin the record window and select “Export”.

Point the export to the “Video Reference” folder under “Sound” on your show volume. Then check that the name of the export will be correct. Finally select the “Reference Video” preset. Before exporting double check he preset by click “options” and make sure the settings are exactly as shown in the example below.

When the export is complete open it in quicktime player to make sure everything is okay. After confirming taht the Reference Video is good, copy and paste it into the “Reference “Video” folder under “Color” as well, so that it is in both places.

Export AAF for ProTools

Next you will need to export an AAF from Media Composer with all of your sound tracks so that they can be translated into ProTools. ProTools will use the exact same media in the Avid Media Files Folder as Media Composer does so the AAF only needs describe the audio tracks and tell ProTools where to look for the media.

Select your locked sequence again and hit Command+D to duplicate tit. Then rename the new sequence “Show#_Locked_Sound_Turnover”. Select in to out for the whole sequence and activate all tracks. Then right click the record window and select “Export”.

Point the export to the “AAF” folder under “Sound” on your show volume. Then check that the name of the export will be correct. Finally select the “Sound Turnover” preset. Before exporting double check the preset by click “options” and make sure the settings are exactly as shown in the example below.

When the AAF is done exporting Media Composer will automatically import it back into the “Locked Sequence” bin. If you open the sequence you will see that the AAF is only translating what is on the Audio tracks which is all ProTools will need.

Export AAF for Resolve

Next you will need to export an AAF from Media Composer with all of your picture tracks so that they can be translated into Davinci Resolve. Media Composer has been working with transcoded “Offline Media” but Resolve will “Online” back to the Original Camera Files (OCF). The AAF only needs describe the picture tracks in such a way that Resolve can link back to the Camera Originals.

Select your locked sequence again and hit Command+D to duplicate tit. Then rename the new sequence “Show#_Locked_Color_Turnover”. Select in to out for the whole sequence and activate all tracks. Then right click the record window and select “Export”.

Point the export to the “AAF” folder under “Color” on your show volume. Then check that the name of the export will be correct. Finally select the “Color Turnover” preset. Before exporting double check the preset by click “options” and make sure the settings are exactly as shown in the example below.

When the AAF is done exporting Media Composer will automatically import it back into the “Locked Sequence” bin. If you open the sequence you will see that the AAF is only translating what is on the picture tracks which is all Davinci Resolve will need.

Save and close Media Composer.

Conform in Davinci Resolve

On the Post Hall Davinci Resolve is a bit different from other applications like Media Composer or ProTools in that the project file always lives locally and not on the main CMPA Server or your show volume. The project will reference media that lives on the server but the project itself will always live locally. Because of this if you ever open a Resolve project from a location on the server it will copy that project locally and then open it.

On your show volume navigate to the “Resolve Template” project as shown in the the example below. Double click on the project and it will copy to your local machine and open.

The project will named whatever the template was originally named on our show volume. To change this go to “File” and then “Save Project As”. Rename the project “Show#_Conform”.

Davinci Resolve is made up of several “pages” which you can switch between by selecting them across the bottom of th screen. To begin with select “Media”.

The Media page has a section on top that will allow you to navigate through the finder to locate any media you would like to import in. Below that is the Media Pool which already has several folders made.

To import most things it’s as easy as draging from the finder down to an open folder in the Media Pool. The first thing to import are the credits and titles. These should be either DPX or PNG image sequences. Resolve will display the image sequence as a single file in the finder. Drag them into the media pool Credits folder as show below.

Next import all of the OCF into the media pool. Yes this mean importing everything taht was shoot for your show into the project. The easiest way to do this is to drag the folder with your show# OCF into the media pool. Doing so will import everything inside all the folders.

Next we need to import the “Reference Video” that was exported from Media Composer. However DO NOT drag it into the Media Pool.

It needs to be imported in a special way so that it can come into Resolve as an “Offline Reference Clip”. To do that first select the “Reference” folder in the media pool so that it is open. Then right click on the Reference Video and select “Add as Offline Reference Clip”. That will add it to the media pool but as a “Offline Reference Clip”.

Finally you will need to import the AAF that was exported from Media Composer to recreate your locked sequence in Resolve. Select the “Sequences” folder and then right click inside of it and select “Import AAF”.

In the window that appears navigate to the “Color” folder on your show volume and select the AAF file.

The “Load AAF” window will appear. Fill this out carefully paying attention to the example below. Change the timeline name to your show#_Conform. Change the starting timecode to 00:59:00:00. Make sure that the options pointed out below are either select or deselected as shown.

When you select okay a window will appear asking where in the project it should look for eh media the AAF is referencing. The correct box is already checked so simply click OK.

Next the sequence will load in Resolve and all of your Front Sequence, OCF, and Credits should all be linked. You will see a Log detailing if anything from the AAF was unable to be translated. Taking a picture of this is never a bad idea as it can help you later in the conform.

In the example below it simply says that the Avid Titler Tool used for the slate in the front sequence cannot be translated so taht will be left blank. It also say the 2DMatteKey used on the widescreen matte is not supported. And finally taht the Matte itself failed to link. None of these are a problem and are normal.

Since the Matte on video track 5 failed to import you can go ahead and delete. In a moment you will reapply it another way. To clean up some of the empty tracks in Resolve right click in the darker part of a track and select “Delete Empty Tracks”.

After deleting the offline matte and cleaning up the empty tracks your timeline should look simpler like the example below.

To reapply the Matte that was deleted inside Resolve go to the top of the screen and select “Timeline” and all the way at the bottom under “Output Blanking” you can select your aspect ratio.

Next you will need to link your sequence to the “Offline Reference Clip”. In the “Edit” page right click on the sequence and select your Reference Video.

Nothing immediately will happen. In order to view the reference video simultaneously with what’s in the timeline you will need to switch from “Source” to “Offline”. This will change what is displayed on the left hand screen.

With the left hand screen set to “Offline” as you screen through the timeline both screens will play locked together. The left hand screen displaying the reference video and the right hand screen displaying what is currently in the timeline. The goal is to “conform” the timeline so that it matches the left hand screen exactly. By right clicking in the Right hand screen you can access several comparison views to make this easier.

In comparing your timeline against the reference you will notice two things that need to be fixed. One is the color of the clips on the timeline is in Log and needs the same LUT that you used set and in Media composer applied. Two the small is slightly different. This is because your OCF files are 2K (2048×1080) and the Reference file is HD (1920×1080). You will want to address both of these.

To address the color switch into the “Color” page.

You will notice that every clip has an empty node and all of the thumbnails are displaying Log images.

On the right hand screen go to the LUTs folder and navigate to the Red IPP2 709 folder and select the LUT that was originally used. For most of you this will be: Medium Contrast Medium Size.

Drag it into the node for the first clip. Then simply copy and paste that node tree into all of the other OCF clips in your timeline.

Now that the color is the same you can switch the “Difference” tool. This will overlay the reference video on top of the footage in the timeline. Anywhere it lines up perfectly will be black. This is a good tool to see differences in position and scale.

Because of the small difference between 2K and HD everything will need to be called slightly so taht it matches the reference exactly. In the example below which is a 1.85:1 aspect ratio show the zoom needed o be set from 1 to 1.026.

You do not need to do this one at a time. You can either copy and paste these attributes or you can lasso several clips at once and change them together. Go slowly through the timeline checking each shot carefully against the reference video. Play close attention to shots that you know where zoomed, repositioned, had the speed changed, or where otherwise efferent in Media Composer. If you come across any leave a marker for yourself by hitting “M” and leave a note of what seems to be the problem. The post staff can help you work out anything that you find.

After you have gone through the project a few times and are very confident that the timeline in Resolve is an exact match of the Locked timeline from Media Composer you are done. The project is now conformed and ready for color correction.

To save your conformed project back up to your show volume select File and the Export Project.

Label the project Show#_Conform and export it to the Resolve folder on your show volume next to the Template.

Once you see your project safely on the show volume you can quiet Resolve. You are done.