director-editor / choosing editing equipment

I don't doubt there are folks hereabouts with experience enough to answer your questions, ATP, but this is a screenwriting forum. Would you be better off directing your questions to a filmmakers' forum? Not tryin' to be a smartass or anything.

-Derek

My brother in law borrowed an editing studio to edit his films. I guess they must have something like that available in mid-sized to large cities. Something like renting a recording studio. Then you don't have to make that huge investment up front.

As an Apple and Avid certified instructor and editor, I can say that there are pretty much 2 program/hardware configurations.

For about $2000 to $3000.

For more bang for your buck, I would go with a new Apple G5 (20 inch or better screen) for $1500 with Final Cut Pro HD Suite for $1600 which includes motion graphic software, dvd aurthoring, sounds stuff. The whole nine yards. (although you can buy older FCP4 somewhere for much much less) or you can go with FCP Express for $300 if you don't need a lot of bells and whistles. If you are just cutting a movie, FCP express is great.

Recommended Accessories would be an extra firewire hard drive or two (300gig [plus-- the bigger the better) for less than a couple of hundred bucks and a Final Cut Pro keyboard for also less than a couple of hundred.

The other option would be going with Avid Express for $300. Pretty much the same as FCP express but I think FCP has an easier interface to learn quickly.

I would still stick with a mac even though Avid works on both platforms.

The important thing is high processor speed, fast hard drives, and reliability and Mac has that over PC's hands down.

A Mac and Final Cut Pro is a worthy (and reasonable) investment.

Jake Kasdan edited his last film on an iMac using Final Cut Pro.

And Walter Murch held a lecture at the Tribeca Film festival two years ago specifically about how his new preferred editing solution is Final Cut Pro.

However, I would recommend hooking up with a talented editor with their own equipment. It is amazing what talented people can bring to the table.

I agree, these are 2 of the best. You do have your cheap imitations, but don't waste your money. FCP is an incredible editing software, The Coen Brothers use it quite often!

Avid Express Pro is ole reliable. The only downfall, (may be different now) is the keys on the keyboard. If you go Avid, you need to put the stickers on the keys, since its a different working system.

On FCP, its much simpler!! Definitely my choice..

But don't go cheap on the machine. Put as much RAM as possible in it - it might be expensive but the ammount of time you save is incredible. I have done some editing in Final Cut Pro and it's amacing how fast you learn the basics. But take a course of some kind - then you're up an running in no time.

It's pretty cost effective to get your own Final Cut Pro set up. To rent a system will end up costing the same amount if you are editing for a while. And if you are shooting film, it'll absolutely pale to your telecine costs.

You can get some pretty good, already put together systems off of Craigslist.

A lot of people in the industry use Final Cut Pro now for major motion pictures. As mentioned, Murch has since Cold Mountain and the Coens use it too.

But, as mentioned, you are much better off not editing your own film and most freelance editors that you would hire will have their own systems.

Is your next question whether you should buy Pro Tools? =)

Are you shooting on 35mm or HD (1.9K, 2K, 4K)?

I'll be honest, I don't really understand what an industrial film is. As far as equipment goes...

I have to recommend digital video/cinema as my own personal preference. I'm not going to get into why, but if you're thinking of film (8mm, 16mm, 35mm) I really don't have any information for you.

If you're looking to broadcast on TV or in theaters and you want your image to stand up to everything else you need to shoot on what is called HD, or High Definition. This is digital, but don't get it confused with DV, or Digital Video. HD is much better quality than DV as many recent films have been shot on it (not entirely). Think "Collateral", "The Matrix", "Miami Vice", "Crank". Coming soon, "Zodiak" is going to be 100% digital cinema.

Typical HD camera (1.9K/2K): Sony CineAlta HDWF900R. Price $79 000+. You can go higher to 4K like Red (www.red.com) strangely only $17 500, but not out yet.

Then there's DV. I've got a Canon Optura 500 that costs around $579. If you make an uncompressed video on it and burn a DVD it'll look pretty good on your TV.



Anyway for editing you'll need a hard drive that can write at 5MB/s for DV. Usually using FireWire or USB. Or a hard drive that can write at 200MB/s (2K) or 300MB/s - 400MB/s (4K) usually over HD SDI (2K) or other connections for 4K. You will also need 300-400MB for every second of 4K which adds up to over 2.3TB for 2 hours. You will need a lot less storage space for DV. A 100GB hard drive should cut it (32.5GB for 2 hours). Get at least 256MB of RAM for editing.

Now here is your treat for reading my post. I can show you how to get $1000s worth of editing software for free. Just PM me on this board. I use Adobe After Effects for SFX. You can do even do 3D. It's what Hollywood uses. Unfortunately I cannot get Adobe Premiere Pro for straight editing so I'm stuck with Windows Movie Maker.

If you still have questions let me know.

Final Cut HD Pro on the Mac.

You can do it on the PC, but I strongly suggest against that.

ATP said:

Do you mention this in the view to saving money, or as a way of getting up to speed very quickly, or both?

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No. But, should one buy Pro Tools, or something else?

Click to expand...

I mention getting an editor as a way to have someone professional edit for you. You end up paying for the editor, but you don't have to pay for a system because they probably have one. It's pretty easy to tell what is cut by a pro and what is cut by an amateur.

But if you're determined to do it yourself, which is fine, the industry standard for DV or HD is absolutely Final Cut Pro.

Pro Tools is the industry standard across the board (whether you are using Final Cut, Avid or what have you to edit picture) for sound editing. This is mostly important for when you are finishing your movie. If you got to a professional mix then they'll be able to do this for you. A lot of simple things can be done in Final Cut. But professional level work is done in Pro Tools.