Editing footage from a Red

[Artie Fufkin]

Hey people

This may have already been a topic of conversation, but I was just wondering if anyone has edited footage from a Red camera using Final Cut Pro. We may be using a Red on a few upcoming projects but i am unsure as to what the work flow is like with FCP. I am hearing some good things and then some bad things to. From what i have gathered, the process of editing the online/offline files can be complicated at first, but once you have the system set up its relatively straight forward. Guess i'm just looking for other people's thoughts on the matter.

[Marc_Collister]

I've edited a few Red jobs and there are a number of variables, depending on how you intend to finish the job. www.reduser.net has a lot of information and it's worth having a look at. The best bit of advice I can give you is don't bother with the quicktime proxies, download Redcine and/or Red Rushes from www.red.com to convert the raw red files into apple prores quicktimes. It'll take a bit more time up front but you'll be doing yourself a favour in the long run.

[Chris Hocking]

I'm with Marc. Although a lot of people are using the Quicktime Proxies directly in Final Cut, I personally found the ProRes workflow (using RedRushes to generate them), the best option. I generated the off-line files on a base-level MacBook, and am now doing the off-line on an old eMac. The 1920x1080 off-line files playback in real-time with no effects which is quite amazing. For the online, I'm planning to use Crimson (http://www.crimsonworkflow.com/) and Color, or take it to a professional house and do the grade in Scratch.

Either way, once you convert the R3D files to Quicktimes, it just like editing any other project. If you do decide to just use the Quicktime Proxies, just make sure you have the top level MacPro.

As Marc said, RedUser is the best place to get up-to-the-nano-second advice on the best workflows, as everything keeps constantly changing with each new camera build and software release.

Good luck!

[Artie Fufkin]

Thanks for your advice guys, i'm starting to think going for the ProRes is the way to go. I have been doing a fair bit of reading and it seems like doing your online with crimison is a good option. We will be editing on a top end mac pro so we will be doing both the offline and online in house. As the project is a feature, its hard to guage how other projects have faired using the ProRes format. At end of the day we will have a few weeks in pre-production to do camera tests so from this we can also determin which workflow works best for our project.