[MacDV] Emergency Query on MetaData??!!

[Chuck Kay]

A followup question. I have been reading posts on MacDV for quiet  
some time. I learn a lot and is quiet enjoyable. I use iMovie a bunch  
and usually use two cameras for shoots I do. One is a Sony VX2000 and  
the other is a DSR250. I'm always editing between the two cameras and  
use audio to sync by. I am pretty good with audio. However, I do not  
know how to use time stamping or sync the time on my cameras to make  
it easier for me. Particularly when there is a lot of music involved  
with close-up shots from the two different cameras. I painstakingly  
make sure the video movements (lip and speech patterns) are the same  
when I edit from one clip to another from the different cameras. I am  
pretty good with this too but it takes a lot of tedious frame by  
frame editing and time. Is there a way to do time stamping or capture  
syncing with iMovie. Like I said, I am a musician, pretty good with  
audio (use some other app's to help me enhance audio) and am pretty  
good with iMovie. After about 3 years using iMovie I am getting ready  
to graduate to Final Cut Express. Is it easier to do in FC Express?  
Any pointers, tips, tutorials, suggested reading, books, online  
articles appreciated. Thanks a bunch!!!! -Chuck Kay


On Jan 17, 2007, at 7:15 PM, Lanny Cotler wrote:

> Indeed it does help, Coli. I thought about iMovie's ability to  
> "see" the "temporal metadata" that is on the tape. I just hope  
> there's a way to do it in FCP.
>
> Most of the footage from the two cameras does NOT have to be  
> sync'd, as they're independent to pick and choose amongst. But w/o  
> sound (a silly error), it will be hard to identify and sync up the  
> footage from each camera that I may want to cut between. I wonder  
> why TIME STAMPing isn't used more for sync ups...
>
> Thanks,
>
> Lanny
>
>> I've been in a similar situation before, but used the DV timecode  
>> and iMovie (which was all I had available) to sync footage from  
>> three independent cameras. I had available the hr/min/sec/frame on  
>> each clip and the "capture" (=shooting not import) time of the  
>> start of each clip as hr/min/sec.
>>
>> Unless you synced the time on the cameras before you started there  
>> will be a difference. Once you identify a point in time shot  
>> simultaneously from both cameras you can use the  
>> "capture" (=shooting) time suitably adjusted to align clips  
>> roughly, and if it looks OK it will do. If not, shift it by up to  
>> a second's worth of frames in one direction or the other and  
>> preview again.
>>
>> Pity about the sound missing, it helps a lot, although sometimes  
>> it can still look wrong even when you know it must be right.
>>
>> Sorry can't help with the FCP question, but I hope this helps.
>>
>> Coli McDonald