Dr Ted Learning notes

May 15: Using the Avid software at BCAT: Signing on requires changing user name and manage connections; upon entering the Avid program one must immediately choose Tools/ Media Creation and check to see if all 8 tabs are at their correct setting:

The tabs are Drive filtering Capture Titles Import Mixdown and Transcode Motion effects Render Media type

At BCAT in Drive filtering   Filter base of resolution is set to OFF
                                       Filter out system drive is set to ON
                                       Filter out launch drive is set to ON   When all three are set hit OK and then pass thru each of the other tabs being sure to that all infroamtion
                                      on each tab is correct and the Drive is the same on all of them. At the Render tab "OMF" should be ON and "Same as Source should be ON.

Hit apply at each tab and when complete you can go to Tool/Capture and begin capturing
when Capture tool comes on you need to Select tape (which you named previously) The Capture tool tells you how much time you have left to capture i.e., how full the drive is.See counter with green numbers:
00:00:48:30

The capture tool captures 30 minutes of raw footage at a time and then stops. To continue you must click on the record button again.
You have ways to capture:

On the fly: you play the tape and capture to footage you want as you play
In total: Capture the entire tape of film from beginning to end and then begin editing
Watching the tape and noting the timecode numbers at the start and finish of the segments you want to make a clip of and then going back to do place the in/out marks to each segment
As you watch the tape and you see the segment you want you mark in/out on the deck controls right then and there then and there and the segment goes on to the timecode

May 19: "Tools/Color correction": brings up color correction tool to alter color.One can correct manually by choosing best combination of Hue, Saturation, Luminosity, etc using sliders or color wheels. Optionally one can choose the"Auto correct" color switch. Then one can make Template for color correction for related segments such as all segment shot in the reception room or the treatment room or the records room. You save the Correction template to the bin you are working in and give it a name: "Color correction template for reception room" and then drag it on to the time line or the the middle box provided by the color correction tool. In the bin the template has a colored icon attached to the template label. One can drag the correction template to each segment having the problem, for example all clips shot in the reception room or the treatment room etc (taught by Daniel Johnson) One then returns to editing by choosing Toolset/Source editing.

May 20: Mini-studio. When you click on a black slate and hit a Take-Cam the next slate you take for example, "Dr. Ted" with a double click places the text on the screen for the number of frames it was set for.

Use Playlist/TakeEvent to play the CG effect; There are clickable icons on top for slate remove/delete, and add and duplicate

For the slate with credits or TR/AW (both roll) clicking once on the slate makes it appear, But to make it have its effect (i.e., roll) you must click (and hard) 2X to have its effect show over a Cam-take.

To use CAM1 for B-roll you can but tape to outline on the background where you are going to place your illustrative material; You must pre-set Cam head 1 to its memorized position (i'm using H1/m6 or m7) Set the tape to allow easy placement of the illustrative b-roll material. Remember the material is seen correctly when it places upside down. So you need two tape positions: one for portrait shots and on for landscape shots.

if you are on a CAM take and click once on the slate you see only the slates text but to see the slates CG effect you must click hard 2x.

May 23, From shooting the Dr.Ted Presents: The Highs and Woes of Moms...
The problem was that the camera has only two audio imports one from the boom mike attached to the camera by an 8" XLR cable and the other input from a talent mic that attaches to the camera via another XLR port; the problem was that there were four persons that needed to be Miked. Here is how we solved the problem given that we had 3 XLR cables and an "mini pre-amp mixer box" supplied by PE for just such a problem:

We removed the boom mic and its XLR and placed it on the host-guest table as a center-table mic. The pre-amp mixer box was places right on the table and the short XLR from the boom mic was then plugged directly in to one of the THREE available INPUT PORTS ON THE on the pre-amp mixer box. The two other Lav mics were each connected to their XLRs which were then each connected to the two remaining mic INPUT PORTS ON THE pre-amp mixer box. Then an XLR was connected from ONE OF THE TWO "OUTPUT" PORTS on the pre-amp mixer box ( a Rt and a Lt.) ...we used the R... and connected it to ONE OF THE TWO audio input ports on the Camera. Setting of control knobs on the pre-amp mixer box:

Two view meters allowed monitoring the volume (mix) of the audio volume. and a little button when pushed showed the battery level Indeed we ran out of juice and has to replace two 9v batteries)

"Low Cut" buttons were set to "ON"
"PHONES" was set to about 12 noon
All three Volume Control knobs were set to about 3-4

OTHER): Keep good, if not daily communications with the guest who have agreed to be on your show. Miscommunications and misunderstanding re avaiability, day, time and place are constant problems. When the start time of you show is inflexible let your guests know. Have their email and cell phones available at all times and a backup up plan (alternative guest/show line up). And plan an alternative even if the camera man should fail to arrive. Remember shit happens to people.

Dr. Ted Presents: Jill Nicolini former Invisalign patient and now WPIX Traffic-news reporter who visits the home or her lovely smile and is surprised to find that HER SMILE is still there.
Dr. Ted Presents: Jon Rothstein and Robbie Schiffman of the Hillary Step singing their new charts (1st "Big-Studio" production)

June 7

Mute all except mic 1 and balance

then mute mic 1 unmute mic 2 and balance

then unmute mic

Result all mics muted ecxcept 1 and 2

place tape at guest position

cant use written credits on top of deck CAM1 cannot view writing at all

have FRi mini 6-8 to finish credits

cam3 m8 =dire

cam3 m7 me over the shoulder

came m6 some pic on top deck fixed upside down problem

Lav mics are just as good as Shure 58 mics if not better

You shooting you should always have your safety shot which is ???????

When you begin recording a mini studio show do not pause the recording remember it can be edited

MUST PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT THE CAM 1, AND 3 MONITORS ARE SHOWING IN ORDER CHOOSE THE CAM TAKE AND THEM MUST REMEMBER TO DOUBLE CLICK THE SLATE THAT GOES WITH IT. FOR EXAMPLE CAM2 /2 (CLOSE UP GUEST) GOES WITH SLATES 4 AND 6 AND 7 (GUESTS FULL INFO/AND GUEST'S NAME/ OR NEITHER (BLANK)

C2 1/S3 C2 2/S4 C2 1,2,3/S7 (SLATE 7 IS A BLANK SLATE SO WHATEVER THE CAMERA SHOT THERE IS NO LOWER THIRD INFO

C3 HOST INFO IS S4 AND GUEST INFO IS SLATE 6

M1 3...M2 4 M3 5 M4 6 OTHERWISE S7 (NO INFO0

USING THE CONTROLS SEAMlLESSLY TAKES PRACTICE WITH THE GUEST BEING PRESENT

WHEN PLAYING THE BALLAD THE VTRS TAKE BUTTON IS DOWN

AT PRESENT IT SEEMS THAT WE CANNOT MAKE THE TITLE SLATE (DR. TED PRESENTS: ROLL OVER THE MINI BALLAD OPENING: PLAYING ON VTRS

THEREFOR WE MUST FIRST TAKE SLATE 1 THEN PLAY THE SOURCE MINI BALLAD OPENING AND THEN SLATE 2 "YOUR HOST TED ROTHSTEIN ORTHODONTIST/JPG

June 18, 09

Having set up your timing for each of your slates you must then leave the sequencing by clicking on the the "A" icon this puts you back in the mode in which you can run your slates as planned.

At the bottom of the CG screen are three mini monitor screens labeled: PGM PVW and CLR hitting CLR removes whatever slate is appearing on the CGPVW or on the monitor that is being recorded

There are two icons on the top menu line (a bulb and bulb with an arrow) they are the "play direct" and the "online" toggle switches. they must be on in order to play the what you have planned your slates to play and for how long they will play in terms of the umber of frames (for ex. 240 frames will cause a slate toremain on hte screen for 8 seconds)

Start playing your slates from a black slate (#7 in my program) go to the slate you want and and single click it to select it. It will appear then be surrounded by a yellow highlight and appear on the PVW screen and the recording screen. YOU HAVE ONLY A FEW SECONDS AFTER SELECTING IT TO DOUBLE CLICK ON IT TO GIVE IT THE COMMAND TO PLAY FOR THE NUMBER OF FRAMES YOU PROGRAMMED IT FOR.

When you are in the sequencer and choose just one of the slates to program in order to get back to the sequencer full list click on the >

It is impossible to make the Slate 1: (Text) play over the ballad and it is impossible to make the text play over a color other than black

It is possible to make slate 1 text play over any camera view. For example having selected h2c2m1/s1 will cause the text to Scroll up for 2500 frames over the close up of myself as planned in the sequencer for that slate.

New protocol for the mini-studio Dr.Ted Presents:

OVERVIEW OF FORMAT for mini-studio Dr.Ted Presents:

Set up:

Head 1-Cam1 m7 (view of guest looking at me)
Head 2-Cam2 m1 (view of me close up))
Head 3-cam 3 m4 (view of guest medium close)
Mini Ballad opening ready in source deck (contains bars/tones and singing video for lasting about 95 seconds)
Slate 2 ("Your host Dr. Ted Rothstein" on a JPG of Dr. Ted)
CG PVW set to S2

Play mini ballad opening and stop source and replace tape with mini ballad closing
S7 black
Take S2: Your host/JPG

h2c2m1 S:35 (close-up ted) "Good day... on Remsen St. for a lonng- long time"
h2c2m2 S:46 (close up guest) "And I am Dr. Ted's guest...." and Play Slate 1 "Dr. Ted Presents...Title of show)
then:
h2c2m3 (close up both) "thank you guest and thank you audience:
h2c2m2 begin with first question to guest with camera focused on guest
continue for 28 minutes or more using h2c2m123 and h3c3m45 and h1c1m7 to complete the interview
Close with:
"it's time to say Goodbye, shalom, hasta leugo etc thank you for tuning in and thank you guest for being here. Guest will you please leave us with a concluding remark...
h2c2m2 or h1c1m7
Please come back to see another episode of DTP
S7
S8 Rolling Ted/Guest info
S9 Rolling credits
h1c2m8 (skull) S10 JPG skull rolls down into place over h2c2m8
Play mini ballad closing

June 18,

Re transferring avid film clips to thumb drive: HV 125W (E:)
Steps:

1.Plug in drive....2. My Computer 3. Right click and choos "Explore" if see virus "Clean" 4. In avid (opened to project) Right click on title and choose File/Export

5 Export as: Select HV 125W (E:) 6 Save as *.mov or QT.mov

Re removing the thumb drive from the port plug
First CLOSE AVID ( Save-Exit): 2. Put cursor over ICON with the green arrow (lower right corner icons) Right click on icon and message will say" Safely remove hard drive"

June 19

Editing:

Copy credits from a Word doc.
In Avid choose Tools/title tool
Place cursor at top left of page and paste.
Decide if you want credits to appear on a black screen or over the video.
Choose font, size, color, position, shadow, border, background color.
Save work in your title bin.
In your project time line choose Clip/add new video line.
Deselect all lines except V2
Mark IN where you want the the credits to begin and OUT where you want them to conclude.
The narrower/shorter that distance is the faster will the credits roll.
Move V1 to point to V2.
Move the credits from the bin into the Composer
Move the cursor to a point where you want the credits to begin flowing and Mark IN
Then OVERWRITE to place the credit on the V2 line.
Render the effect. (roll).
Then move V1 back to the V1 line.
Reselect V1 A1 A2 and their re-ON their monitor screens.

Using the mini studio
New BCAT Rule: Must submit a Guest/Crew list to Front desk whether or not you have a guest or crew.
To bring up Slate 2 : must click on slate then w/o delay click 2 more times smoothly and evenly.
to leave sequencer click on A but give time to change.
Remember to hit STOP after playing Ballad. THEN EITHER CONTINUE TO MINI CLOSING BALLAD ON SAME TAPE OR INSERT THE OTHER TAPE WITH THE MINI BALLAD CLOSING RIGHT AT THE START
Then bring up Slate 2: Host/JPG (To bring up Slate 2 : must click on slate then w/o delay click 2 more times smoothly and evenly.
Just after slate 2 hit CLR (see bottom with two screens PGM.... PVW    and CLR, then take CAM1/1 GOOD DAY...
Then CAM1/2 AND GUEST SPEAKS FOR THE FIRST TIME   AND PLAY SLATE 1: ROLLING TITLE OF THE SHOW.
Remember when the closing mini ballad is complete hit STOP and replace with mini-closing tape,
On the event editor screen you can have and event be a:
CG effect or a Cut or a Wipe (the way slate two is now ... a closing diamond) There are many wipe choices when you indicate you want a wipe) a Dissolve and even a few more.
The sequencer shows you what you have made each slate to be.
When you choose to play the program it will begin play every slate as you planned it. Hit STOP to make it stop.
Single clicking a slate just shows it.
Double clicking it makes it perform its effect.
The slates the show in the line up to begin with are 1. host/jpg 2. Black 3. Dr. Ted Info    4. Guest info
When you click on the icon bulb with > the PVW monitors appear

July 26
Signing on to Avid:
Dr. Ted Presents: Zali NOT just click on name in user list called "administrator"

Closing AVID: use this sequence: "Save bins.....Close bins...Exit"

After using the "capture tool" CLOSE IT!

Every computer has a name: "Adrenalin 4" is the name of the computer in station 7 and "Express6" is the name of the computer at station 6

The letter of the drive (G: for example) is not important: Your user name is very IMPORTANT.

HOW TO PROCEED FROM A TIMELINE ON HOME AVID TO A A MINI-DV READY TO HAND IN TO PROGRAMMING:
Shut down computer, restart and open AVID
Activate bin containing the film
Highlight the film (a sequence) and double click it in to the recorder window (Rt. window)
Mark in and mark out (it highlights purple)
Place cursor at start of timeline
Choose File>Export (choose destination: "Save In" ...thumb drive...desktop....my documents)
Choose "Export Setting:" Choose "Quick Time Export" as described by Marc Ennette with its present settings Use "Custom" settings as they were named by me for the export.
Transfer will take under and hour.
When complete open "my computer" Select the thumb drive right clock choose explore find the name of the file you just exported and choose "open with "Quick Time" it should play your film correctly.
Remove thumb drive from USP report following the safety precautions for removing a thumb drive from the USB port

Place thumb drive in USB port at BCAT edit suite
Sign on to AVID and when in AVID begin by doing the settings for "media creation"
"Open" the bin you want the file to go into and choose File> Import
Import will take about an hour
Name it
Once file is in the bin: Its icon will have a little comma mark on it.
Highlight it and double click the ICON to send it to the composer window (left window)
Mark in and out and splice it into the recorder window you will see "new sequence" at the top.
Make sure the buttons on the timeline are highlighted
Mark in and out the film you just placed in the recorder window
Sequence will become highlighted....Move cursor to beginning of new sequence
Place new miniDV in recording deck...rewind to start
Hit "Record" and "play" buttons and START the sequence (>)
Watch the monitor to see if the audio and video are in synch.
If they are not in synch "stop" and "rewind" the tape and RESTART AVID
Open the bin and choose the "new sequence" (if you did not name it before)
This icon WILL NOT HAVE a comma on its icon.
Double click its ICON and it will appear the recorder side
Mark in and out and place curser at the start
Have tape in the deck ready to record
Hit "Record" and "play" buttons and START the sequence (>)
Check monitor to see that audio and video are in synch.
it will take exactly the same time to record the sequence to the miniDV as is the time of the film itself
As it is recording you will see a RED dot on the monitor indicating the recording is in progress
When it is done hit STOP
Rewind and using the "play" and "fast forward" check what you have recorded
and remove the miniDV: label the casette and place in tape box and label box

July 30

BURNING YOUR MINI-DV TAPE TO A DVD

Place a DVD-R (not a a dvd rw) in the DVD burner deck
(and then see message SP 2:00) meaning at slow speed you can burn for 2 hours
when you an dvd-r you can burn one or as many files as the dic can hold but after that you can not use the disc again to burn any more files,
Open the bin that holds your sequence (show) and double click the icon...the sequence will appear in hte Recorder window (rt side window) and will show the name of the sequence.
Mark in at the beginning and out at the end and timeline will become highlighted....move the cursor to the beginning of the timeline.
If you do not want the bars and tone Play the timeline to just past the countdown.
Then: choosse Tools>Video Output and choose "Svideo"
Then hit REC and see REC light turn red. and timer on the Panasonic deck begins moving.
See message in th eupper right corner of the monitor "DVD-r...
When burning is completed get PE person to come with the Remote control for the Panasonic to "Finalize" the burn.
The DVD records in real time so a 30 minute show takes 30 minutes to burn.
With the remote bring up the menus and choose "DVD Management" See the "finalize window and watch the "Time bar" scoll t the end as the finalizing is done.