Time Codes Don't Match

[Aaron Guidry]

Hello!

Working on a music cue for a movie.

Movie time code starts at 00:59:58:00 (black pre-roll). Picture starts at 01:00:00:00.

Sort of confused on "Set Chunk Start Time" vs "Set Movie Start Time." Not sure how to set each so that DP's time code matches the movie's time code. As of now, DP is exactly 1:00:02:00 frames off of the movie's time code.
For example, when the movie is at 1:00:07:20, DP is at 0:00:09:20. FPS is 23.976.

Any step-by-step instructions appreciated.

Aaron

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Search forum or manual for "set movie start time.." Be sure you're viewing FRAMES when you set that.

[Aaron Guidry]

I have read the manual, and generally, it is helpful; however, in this situation I have found it to be not very helpful at all.

Any links to articles or videos that give step-by-step instructions? Or, perhaps someone here could give a step-by-step? I've searched this forum's archives and haven't found anything that I could follow.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Ok. I'll see if I can dig up the instructions.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Still looking but came across this. Seems it's been a problem for quite a while. This is your thread...

http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtop ... es#p484617

[MIDI Life Crisis]

http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtop ... 08#p481708

GO HERE

[Aaron Guidry]

Thanks for the link. I had found that thread when I was searching the archives, but I'm finding it difficult to follow. I've tried several variations where I have questions about his instructions, but nothing works. It's a little hard to follow, unfortunately.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I understand. I found it confusing for the longest time as well. I'll try again.

Your movie starts at 00:59:58:00 with visual code.

Set your DP TIME FORMAT to FRAMES. You can do this temporarily in the transport window, or set it as an AUX time format in prefs.

Set your CHUNK START TIME to 00:59:58:00.

Set you MOVIE START TIME to 00:59:58:00.

Done. Make sure the frame rate for the film matches the frame rate in DP.

In short: The start time of the chunk and the movie need to match to get the visual time code to match DP's displayed code.

To create a sequence that starts at a different part of the film (such as a later cue) AGAIN: BE SURE YOU ARE USING FRAMES (not real time or measures) in DP with the start times set as above. Then scroll to the segment you want to score next. Note the start time and enter it as the CHUNK START TIME. That is assuming you are using the same movie in all sequences and are using chunks for cues. The new sequence should start where you want and the sync should match.

Tip: set the start time to 2 seconds earlier if you want a pre-roll before your note start.

If you decide to use different projects per cue (a waste of time, IMO) then you have to set the start times as described above.

Again, BE SURE YOU ARE USING FRAMES!!!! when you set the start times. Then you can switch to real time or measures, etc. if you need to.

When you bounce, use BROADCAST WAVE to preserve and timestamp the movie time to match the film time. Then when your editor drops the file into his system, it should line up without a problem.

Note that DP isn't as reliable exporting OMF to Pro Tools 10 and AAF would be a much more reliable choice if your editor can accept that. Otherwise, just the BWAVE files should work in a less complex project if you are only supplying music stems and not a lot of dialogue and SFX.

Let me know if that works.

[Aaron Guidry]

VERY easy to follow. Thank you!

And, it works perfectly.

Thanks again for taking the time to explain this so easily. I now understand it very clearly.

Woo!

Aaron

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Good. When I forget now you can tell ME how to do it. It's really very simple, but I think when we start to think "I have to do all sorts of math to get this right" the simplicity of DP is lost.

Now go get 'em tiger!

[PoliticalBonobo]

I'm having an issue where the video has about 2 frames delay at the start. In other words, film code holds 00:00:00:00 while DP counter counts to 00:00:00:02. So the entire film is behind DP's counter for 2 frames.

I don't think there's a way to fix this without asking the director to resubmit. Any suggestions?

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Move the sequence start time. Be sure it's at zero when the timecode starts, not at the top of the movie file.

[PoliticalBonobo]

I basically need to set the sequence chunk time to -2 frames, but you can't do that. If I insert measures and start the sequence earlier, the start frame is always 00. Or am I missing something?

[MIDI Life Crisis]

It can be done. Maybe mess with the movie start time? I don't remember exactly how to compensate for that and don't have DP running.

[PoliticalBonobo]

Movie start time allows me to start later than the chunk, but I can't seem to get it to start earlier (can't do negative frame start-time from what I can tell). I also feel like there has to be a way, but none of my finagling is doing it!