Movie Offset *(*&#$&$!

[dickiebones]

Having trouble finding the answer, and motu has not returned my query:

Working on a TV show, and have been ignoring the fact that my timeline is different from the quicktime video timecode, as I figured that the two-pop would help solve that discrepancy...mix stage would greatly prefer it to be the same when I export my AAF...

The video that I'm working to begins at 00:59:55:00, and I'd like to have DP7 begin at the same spot at measure 1...I'm guessing it's me, but does anyone know how to achieve this...? I can't seem to change the DP time unless I go to a location before measure 1.

Thanks in advance to someone who might know...!

DB

[rickorick]

It's in the chunks menu

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Yep. He's right. I'm copying from a text grab and cannot credit the author at this time (sorry author - ID yourself ).The key is to use FRAMES when setting the start time for the CHUNK!

You're back in business.

You can thank Armageddon!

Found it here!

Okay ... I've done this quite a few times, and while I'm sure I'll skip a few things that I'll remember ten minutes after this post, or not explain myself properly, here's my two cents:

1) open a New Project in DP. Make sure that, under the "Time Formats" window, you are set to display "Frames".

2) find out what frame rate this project is. Chances are it will either be 29.97 non-drop, if it's regular video, 24, if it's film or 23.976 if it's HD (probably your most likely choice), but find out for sure from whoever is sending you the movie. I'm going by DP 6, so under your "Setup" Menu, select "Frame Rate" and pick the right frame rate. This is necessary because a) you might not have a window burn (with timecode in the image) and b) your clock time will be in sync with the movie's time. You will also need to find out what the starting timecode is for your project from these guys.

3) import the QuickTime movie. Do this by selecting "Movie" under your "Project" menu and select the QT movie on your drive. You now have a QuickTime window containing your movie in your project, which you can grab and move to another monitor, or, failing that, make as large or as small as you need in your main monitor.

4) On the upper right hand side of the the movie's window is a sideways triangle. Click it and select "Movie Start Time". Enter in that starting timcode number from Step 2.

At this point, if you're using just one QuickTime movie to score to, save this as the template for all your cues. You won't have to repeat Steps 1-4 again. You can just load up the template and save it as the project for that particular cue, and it will always open that movie, with the same parameters you just entered.

If you are receiving more that one movie, you'll have to repeat Steps 1-4 for each movie.

At this point, I'll assume that you're getting some sort of spotting list with timecode numbers for the ins-and-outs of where they want your music. They may also have temp-tracked what they sent you with stock music. If the latter is the case, your job will be a little tougher, because you'll have to use the scrub controls on DP (which will now also control the movie) to pick where each temp cue starts.

5) Now, go under "Project" window and select "Chunks" . A small sub-window entitled "Chunks" should pop open in your main DP window on your right-hand side. You'll see a small sideways triangle again, click on that and select "Set Chunk Start" Under frames, type in the exact time code number for the start of your cue, meaning exactly where the music is supposed to start in that particular cue. You can close the Chunks sub-window after that.

Now, rewind back to Measure 1. The Transport Control's measure readout should read 1/00/00, your typical beginning, but your Frames readout should be the time code number you just typed into your Chunks Start, and the video should also be on that frame. You're now ready to score to your Quick Time movie.

This is optional, but I would then advise selecting "Markers" from the "Project" window. A "Markers" sub-window will open on your left-hand side of the main DP window. You can then scroll through the video and, anywhere you want to have the music change, there's a cue, a need for a sudden shock chord, whatever, you just pause the video, click on the sideways triangle in your Markers sub-window and select "Add Marker". It will put a marker in the Marker window with that time code listed next to it, and create what I like to call a "little yellow shield" at that point in your Tracks window. You can retitle the Marker anything you want, but make sure the "Lock" is selected in that marker listing. From that point on, no matter what you do, tempo-wise, that marker will stay in place with the video.

Anyway, that's how I normally do it. Hopefully, at least some of it made sense and helps you out!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
PS: ... and then I just re-read your original post and realized you're on DP 5. Sorry! The basic ideas remain the same in DP 5, you might just have to root around a little bit more to find the windows I was referring to. It's been a while since I scored a feature in 5, and I removed 5 from my machine a while ago, so I can't really refer to it for exactly how you find the above-mentioned windows, but they're not hard to find and do exactly the same thing in both versions. At any rate, I'm sure the way I do it isn't the totally "correct" way of scoring video in DP, but it should serve as a decent jumping-off point. Moreover, correct or not, it does actually work.

I think the above posters have a pretty valid point; I'm sure that most of us here taught ourselves, mostly through trial and error, the ins and outs of DP, computer music creation and sound engineering, and the only way you'll really learn is to just dive in and start using the software. I don't think reading the DP manual cover to cover is necessarily the answer (you'd have an easier time reading the Bible cover to cover!), but if you get stuck on how to do something, it's pretty easy to check out the glossary, find the right subject and figure out how to import a QuickTime movie or set start times or what have you, and exploring the program through trial and error will help you get used to it. The film scoring and MIDI features in DP are pretty much the best you can get, and they're very easy to use.

[dickiebones]

D'oh!! Thanks to both of you -- TOTALLY helped...!!