Combining Multiple OMF's and Quicktime

[Emusic1]

Hi all, any insight into the following puzzle would be much appreciated.
I have received a movie to mix in the form of about 20 omfs, one for each
scene. I have also received a corresponding QT ref movie for each scene.
I can load each OMF turning it into a DP project along with its movie file. So far so good.
BUT I would like to have the whole lot combined into one DP project from start to finish.
Is there any simple way to do this?

I had requested a full length QT ref of the movie that would let me sync everything up as needed which I have yet to receive.
I can then copy each consecutive scene to a clipping and drag and drop
it into the composite project, then nudge it to sync up the the QT ref.
I think this would work but seems messy and fiddly.. is there a better way?

Any suggestions would be welcome!
Thanks!

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Well, you could do it, but whether the editors will accept it is another story. All the editors and film makers I work with break down reels like that (usually about 20 minutes each) to keep the load off their systems (which process a lot more than our music programs do.)

So here's what you need to do (FWIW).

LOAD your sequences into a single DP project. Copy and paste from chunk to chunk.

Next, you'll need Quicktime Pro or FinalCut or something like that. Copy and paste your video end to end until you have a complete film.

Use the new resultant movie as your reference movie in DP.

CAVEAT: Even after doing so, your SMPTE times might not match the editors code exactly and you could have out of sync music (and SFX or dialogue if you're editing those as well).

If the problem is that you want music to play thru a section where they have made a break, tell them to create a break earlier or later where no music or SFX will be. Otherwise, you could chop your music and FX at the break point and let the editors patch it together in post. If you choose to do that, provide them with a complete track of the uncut (un-chopped) segment so they can drop the full piece in if necessary.

[carrythebanner]

Try something like this:
- Create a new, empty project, then open the Chunks window
- Drag the first OMF file into the Chunks window
- Open the Movie window
- Open the movie for the first scene
- Uncheck the Movie window mini-menu option "Use same movie for all sequences"
- Drag the second OMF to the Chunks window, then play-enable it
- From the Movie window mini-menu, choose "Open movie"; select the movie associated with the second sequence

And so on for each OMF/movie. With this method, you don't need one long movie.

EDIT: I think I misunderstood the intent of the question. The procedure I described gets all of the OMFs/movies into one project, but not one long sequence.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

EDIT: I think I misunderstood the intent of the question. The procedure I described gets all of the OMFs/movies into one project, but not one long sequence.

Yeah, I think he wants one long sequence. I understand that from a composer's perspective, but working in film just doesn't work the same way.

[Emusic1]

Thanks for the info guys! All the dialogue needs to be cleaned up,
more music needs to be composed, SFX need to be done, so it would be
cool to have it all right there in one project.
But it sounds like I will be better off sticking to the breakdown of reels
that I received. I will have to check if there are any breaks that need to overlap.

EDIT: I think I misunderstood the intent of the question. The procedure I described gets all of the OMFs/movies into one project, but not one long sequence.

Yeah, I think he wants one long sequence. I understand that from a composer's perspective, but working in film just doesn't work the same way.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Good plan. Here's a hint.... I just finished a 2 hour film and took over dialogue editing (as well as music and sfx and sound editing). It was a beast as the production sound was a disaster at times.

If yo find certain eq settings that work for a particular problem, save them as a preset and call them back when the problem arises again. This alone can save you hours of tweeking. Maybe you know that already, but I thought it was worth mentioning.