Dialogue Editing

Working in an NTSC Environment 17
25 fps and transfer it directly to tape with no interfi eld shenanigans. 12 The
upside of this procedure is that there develops a direct relationship of fi lm
frames to video frames (25 fi lm frames = 25 video frames), so it’s easy to
establish a database that will form the basis of the negative cut list. The
downside is that after telecine transfer you’re left with a master videotape,
usually a Betacam, with a picture running 4 percent fast, so you can’t sync
with your audio—yet. There are no quick video sound dailies in PAL.
Once the negative is transferred to tape, the speeded-up picture is loaded into
the picture editing computer. The workstation is then placed in “fi lm mode,”
which again slows the fi lm to its native 24 fps, keeping track of which fi elds
the workstation doubled to make the speed change. Now the sound—which
never changed speed—is loaded into the workstation and synced with the
picture. As in the NTSC model, the picture assistant will create a database
that contains scene, take, timecode, sound roll number, and so on. This information
will again present itself as a negative cut list for the lab and an edit
decision list (EDL) for the sound department. (An EDL is a document that
describes every event in a fi lm. It can detail both sound and picture edits,
and it’s an important tool for dialogue editors. We will encounter EDLs
throughout this book.)
Keep in mind that, whether in PAL or NTSC, the sync of the fi lm is determined
by the assistant picture editor, who often works late at night, is occasionally
not terrifi cally experienced, and may not be secure enough to ask
questions. When you start a project and get a locked fi lm from the picture
department, remember how the syncing was done—by a human, not by God.
Always question sync.
Working in an NTSC Environment
Pullups, pulldowns, impossible-to-remember sample rates, noninteger frame
rates—these are the intricacies of NTSC. Those used to jumping through
these hoops take it all for granted. But to those used to working in PAL,
undertaking a project in NTSC is intimidating.
Actually, there’s only one truth you must respect to avoid the pitfalls of NTSC:
At any given stage in the process, the picture and sound must have the same reference.
Whether you’re at “fi lm speed” (44.1/48 kHz, 30 frame TC, 60 Hz line
12 There is a PAL postproduction method in which fi lm negative is transferred to tape at
24 fps before loading the Avid, to allow for sound dailies. However, the 25 fps technique is
more common.