View Full Version : Magic Bullet experts out there?


Steven Moreno
February 21st, 2004, 08:19 AM
I am completing postproduction on a project this week, and had a few Magic Bullet specific questions. My project is about 22 minutes long and shot on NTSC Xl1s and cut on AVID express pro. I shot it aiming for the Bullet (in 60i), but now wonder if I can make it all work. Much of my edit contains super 16mm footage that was loaded in via DVcam, and some digital stills. It is cut, (generally) in music video fashion, fast cuts, picture in pictures, resizes, etc, etc

Should I cut a version without the film footage, photos and effects, export and Bullet that and then import that back into the AVID and recut?

If so, does Bullet allow me to pulldown after 24p conversion so I can bring it back?

Will I have sync/audio issues?

Will I lose any benefits of deartifacting or lose any quality going back to the AVID?

Thanks for any input.

Rob Hester
February 24th, 2004, 05:02 PM
sorry, I don't know...but with so many views this must be somewhat of an interesting topic!

can anyone help this person?

Rob

Steven Moreno
February 24th, 2004, 07:39 PM
...I must have scared people off with the word 'expert'. Humility is an admirable quality.
I think I answered my own question, though. I think that bulleting the whole project would be a hassle, so I will gather the best four minutes for my reel, and take the time to bullet that. And I think I can make it 24p, and then pulldown, so sync should be OK, maybe not perfect. Then I'll bring it back to AVID and add effects and film footage to already bulleted suff. I don't think going from bullet back to AVID would affect deartifacting, I'll find out soon enough. Thanks for posting, Rob.

Josh Brusin
February 24th, 2004, 09:07 PM
I'd think to adjust the video footage as source and then use it in edit. Be judicial but not frugal... I hear rendering is a pain for bullet – but set up 2 or 3 batches over 2 or 3 nights...

Josh Brusin
February 24th, 2004, 09:09 PM
actually unless you are using slo-mo or are dead-set on bullet I've found frame mode compatible with color matching...

Adam Burtle
February 26th, 2004, 05:42 PM
sorry, i have been busy and havent been on the forum much.. first i saw of this. here is my take:

assuming the 16mm footage and everything else non miniDV is in 60i format in your project as well (i was unclear on this point?)

i would find all the MiniDV footage you want to color correct, and color correct it in vegas, but DO NOT deinterlace.. so the footage is the same as the rest of the project. i would color correct clips individually, and save in a lossless format whenever possible.

then recut the project, implementing the color corrected footage, and then post it through MB again this time just deinterlacing to 24p and deartifacting, without any color correction.

did that make sense?

Steven Moreno
February 28th, 2004, 10:36 PM
Thanks for the reply, Adam.

So the 16mm footage is 60i. It is 24 fps w/ a pulldown. Photos are one frame, I guess. They were shot with a digital still camera.

When you say vegas in
"i would find all the MiniDV footage you want to color correct, and color correct it in vegas, but DO NOT deinterlace.. "
do you mean Magic Bullet or AVID? I assume the Bullet.

Ok. so far so good...I think. But what happens to 16mm footage that is 24fps w/ a pulldown after it is deinterlaced? Does it go back to it's native 24fps lifestyle flawlessly? maybe I am over thinking. And...what happens when you deartifact film footage? It isn't captured the same as digital...I guess it couldn't hurt it.

hmm..

Adam Burtle
March 3rd, 2004, 02:41 AM
sorry, i was busy when i wrote that and didn't mean to write vegas.

what i mean is.. find all footage that needs color correction, and import into magic bullet, and do ONLY color correction on it. export with lossless codec

reassemble all magic bullet color corrected interlaced footage with the interlaced 16mm footage and deinterlace in magic bullet. export with lossless codec.

voila?

as far as deinterlacing 16mm footage that is 60i with pulldown, magic bullet can do it, afaik. although i would use AE or avid to strip the pulldown, so you have 23.976i footage, and deinterlace that. i think deinterlacing that, and deinterlacing any 29.97i footage you have, and then reassembling, would be the most reliable way to do it. just my $.02