APPENDIX A
Dialogue Editing in a Nutshell
Regardless of how a film is shot or distributed, its dialogue editing follows more or less the same path. Only the details vary depending on style, budget, and schedule.
This outline of the steps involved in editing dialogue for a theatrical dramatic film should help you plan your work and follow your progress, whatever the project. Don't consider this etched in stone but rather as a suggestion. Keep in mind that the type of film you're editing determines whether all steps will be required or if some will be replaced. For example, documentaries generally don't need ADR, and shorter TV schedules eliminate some steps because of time and budget constraints.
Depending on the project, you probably won't perform all of the tasks outlined, particularly much of the setup for editing, which is traditionally handled by the assistant sound editor (indicated by an asterisk,*) or by the assistant picture editor (indicated by a double asterisk,**).
Of course, on very small-budget jobs, the entire process usually falls onto your lap.
Preparation
1. Meet with the picture editor and watch a few scenes of the offline edit before the film is finished. (Chapter 7)
1.1. Understand how the editor thinks and what “traps” await you.
1.2. Ask the assistant picture editor to set aside important wild sounds or alternates if possible. It's often easier for her to find this material than for you to look for them in the dailies.
1.3. Find out how the sound was recorded; talk with the location mixer, if necessary, to learn how many tracks are on the original recordings.
1.4. Determine the quality of the tracks and estimate how long you'll need for dialogue editing. Knowing what the big problems are will come in handy at the spotting session with the director, editor, and supervising sound editor.
2. Make sure the picture editor cuts the film into 2000 ft reels, or no longer than 21 minutes.* (Chapter 7)
2.1. Check that reel breaks occur at sensible places.** (Reel breaks are usually necessary even on DCP-released projects. Ask the supervising sound editor to talk with the DI lab.)
2.2. Ensure that “sync pops” occur two seconds before the first frame of action on each reel. See that the picture editor has attached tail leaders with corresponding sync pops.** (DI projects usually do not require sync pops. Ask.)
2.3. See that the edit you receive is as locked as can be expected.5
3. Create deliverables for dialogue editor.* (Chapter 7)
3.1. Make OMF/AAF of the Avid or FCP project.**
3.2. Create CMX 3600 EDLs from the Avid/FCP session. Make separate EDLs of audio-only edits and video edits, by reel.**
3.3. Clean the EDLs in preparation for autoconform (auto-assembly).*
3.4. Autoconform the original sound recordings to match the OMF/AAF if only a guide was used in the offline edit.*
4. Set up your editing workspace. (Chapter 10)
4.1. Open the OMF/AAF session.* Choose to create new soundfiles, not to link to the OMF. Add the assembly—if relevant—above the OMF tracks.
4.2. Open about 25 tracks above the OMF/AAF and assembly tracks. Label the first 12 blank tracks “Dial A,” “Dial B,” … “Dial L.” Label the next tracks, “work 1” through “work 6.” The number and combination of tracks will vary by project. Before you set up your track workspace, talk to the rerecording mixer about track preferences.*
4.3. Create three or more new tracks called “junk 1,” junk 2,” and “junk 3” (or “outs 1, outs 2,” etc.). These are for clips you remove from the active tracks but want to keep just in case.*
4.4. Label the original OMF or AAF tracks: “OMF 1,” “OMF 2,” … “OMF 8,” and so on.*
4.5. Label the auto-assembly tracks: “Assy 1,” “Assy 2,” … “Assy ?” (depending on how wide your auto-assembly was). You'll eventually add other tracks for ADR, X and Y, and PFX later. It's easier to do it now.*
4.6. Adjust the DAW outputs to match your monitoring setup.
4.7. If you are working on a multi-reel film or a television series, make a template that you can import into each session. This will save time and reduce error.
5. Set up a sensible data backup plan for the project. (Chapter 7)
6. Import the video file and sync it to the session. Import the sound from the video file and place it under the video track. This will serve as your principal reference track.
7. Check the sync of the OMF against the guide track. Get the entire project in absolute sync before beginning to edit. This way you won't have to worry about it for the rest of the project. (Chapter 10)
7.1. Create an edit group for the OMF tracks.
7.2. Open the movie's audio guide track onto a track outside the OMF edit group, in sync with the movie. Lock the track so that you don't inadvertently move it.
7.3. Solo the movie's audio along with the OMF group and play the session. If the two are in sync, you'll hear phasing. If not, the OMF track will have to be nudged to bring it into sync. Usually, the OMF is either in dead sync or out by half a frame.
7.4. Set the Nudge value to 0.25 frames (10 ms in PAL, 8.3 ms in NTSC). Select all OMF tracks and nudge them in quarter-frame increments until they phase against the guide track.
7.5. If you're working against Betacam, DV, or other tape-based video, make a mono guide track (with timestamp) from the videotape. Place it on the top track of your session and lock it; then follow the preceding steps for syncing.
8. Check the sync of the auto-assembly (if used) against the guide track. Use the same technique as with the OMF (Chapter 10). If you encounter significant sync problems, use Titan's Fix Sync software. Confirm sync before the next step.
9. Copy the original OMF and/or auto-assembly tracks.
9.1. Choose which source you plan to edit with (OMF/AAF or auto-assembly), then “copy/drag in sync” all of the associated parts to the topmost dialogue tracks (Dial A … Dial?).
9.2. Disable and hide the original tracks.
10. Delete level and pan automation. Pan all tracks to center, volume to zero. You will probably want to delete the picture editor's volume automation on these copied tracks. Leave the automation intact on the original AAF/OMF and auto-assembly tracks (Chapter 10).
11. Hold a spotting session with director, picture editor, and other sound crew members when the sound is complete and in sync (Chapter 9).
11.1. Note ADR requests (if there's no ADR supervisor).
11.2. Determine the director's primary dialogue and ADR concerns.
11.3. With the rest of the sound crew, come up with a plan and a schedule.
12. Remove unnecessary regions. There will likely be several channels of audio for each clip (Chapter 10).
12.1. Go through a scene and assess each channel of each clip. If a channel within a clip is blank or is unquestionably useless, delete it. Otherwise, keep the channels you're most likely to use in the main tracks. Move any other channels to the junk tracks rather than deleting them.
12.2. It's likely that the OMF will include the two-track mix used by the picture editor, which usually rests on channels one and two of the clip. It's best to avoid these mix tracks, but circumstances may dictate otherwise. For example, if you have three days to edit the dialogue on an hour-long documentary, you may have no choice but to use the location mix, using the iso tracks only where the mix doesn't work for you.
12.3. Save the session with a sensible name that the rest of the crew will understand and that reflects the status of the edit.
13. Mark and name the scene boundaries for the entire film. Also mark obvious perspective changes within scenes (Chapter 10).
14. Organize the regions within each scene. This will give you better control of the scene, to facilitate an easier mix, to allow for sensible perspective control and processing, and to set up scene transitions. Well-organized tracks also make editing much faster (Chapter 11).
14.1. Split by source angle—not at each picture cut but at the camera angle the soundfile “belongs to.” Think of this as splitting by boom angle or shot. Under normal circumstances, use the shot information within the region name to organize the tracks. If you're working on scene 31 and the shots are 31A, 31B, 31C, and 31D, place the A shots on one track, the B shots on another, and so forth.
14.2. If necessary, split additionally by “sound problem.” Even from the same angle with the same actor, one shot may have more traffic, air conditioning noise, etc., so split accordingly.
14.3. Split by perspective. This relates to picture edits, not source angle.
14.4. Split for production effects (PFX) you want to save for an international version or for better mix control. Split off doors, slaps, bangs, and other sounds. If there's dialogue or breathing within a PFX region, leave it on the dialogue track.
14.5. Split weird or very loud sounds—anything that might need extra control in the mix.
14.6. Consider the rerecording mixer who'll have to make sense of your edits. Talk to her about her splitting preferences, and give her what she wants.
Editing
15. First pass. The most important phase of the process, where you'll do most of your work and where you'll learn what has to be replaced via ADR (Chapter 11).
15.1. Repair using room tone.
15.1.1. Make tone transitions between regions.
15.1.2. Remove production noises (Chapter 14).
15.1.3. Make the scene “seamless.”
15.2. Repair using alternate takes. Use the EDLs and the sound reports to find other takes. Go back to the original sound recordings.
15.2.1. Repair or replace off-mic dialogue and overlaps.
15.2.2. Fix or replace “bad” dialogue (poor diction).
15.2.3. Repair or replace words corrupted by noises.
15.3. List items you can't (or won't) fix. You'll have another opportunity to deal with these items.
15.4. Periodically record a dialogue guide track for the other sound editors (SFX, BG, Foley, music). Update this track when you make major dialogue changes.
16. ADR (Chapter 15).
16.1. As you edit, note dialogue problems that can't be fixed and must be replaced.
16.1.1. Off-mic sound.
16.1.2. “Stepped-on” dialogue (overlaps).
16.1.3. Bad acting.
16.1.5. “TV-safe” alternate lines.
16.1.6. Very high ambient noise.
16.1.7. Distortion.
16.1.8. “Additional” lines requested by the director (off-screen, exposition, explanations).
16.1.9. Additional breaths, smacks, sighs, and so on to enhance drama or action.
16.1.10. Group loop (background walla, specific background action, pages and announcements, other crowd sounds).
16.2. Spot ADR.
16.2.1. Break lines into short segments and assign each segment its own code number. Usually the code consists of the first three letters of the character's name followed by a series number; this will become the “root” of the soundfile name during ADR recording.
16.2.2. Spot the exact timecode or footage start and stop. Scrub to the exact beginning of modulation to get the precise start time. Generally add 0.5 seconds to the out time to allow for decay.
16.3. Prepare for recording session.
16.3.1. Make a list of lines for each character.
16.3.2. Provide the production office with a line count for each actor.
16.3.2. Prepare the ADR recording report forms.
16.4. Prepare the recording sessions (beeps, track names, locate points) if you're recording to a workstation. If you're using another process, work with the ADR recording engineer to streamline the session.
16.5. Record ADR. You probably won't record the ADR, but instead you'll provide information for the ADR supervisor or supervising sound editor. Use the paperwork to make notes about the recording session. (Chapter 15)
17. Second-pass editing. Edit the ADR/group loop (unless there's an ADR editor), improving your first-pass edits, repairing items you didn't get to in the first pass, and better organizing the tracks. This is another chance to talk to the rerecording mixer about track layout (Chapter 11).
17.1. Edit ADR. Use the ADR recording reports to tell you which take to use, how to put together complicated ADR sections, and to check off the ADR call as completed (Chapter 15).
17.2. Tackle unfinished dialogue problems.
17.3. Remove remaining production noises.
17.4. Check your track geography for the best layout.
17.5. Screen the dialogue to the director, picture editor, producer, and so on.
18. Final pass.
18.1. Adjust sync to match the answer print telecine (film projects) or online (video or DI projects) (Chapter 19).
18.2. Make final repairs. Review the comments from your screening with the director, producer, picture editor, etc., and your own. Fix what you can; make peace with what you can't.
Prepare for the Premix
19. Preparation (Chapter 19).
19.1. Compile any notes for the mix (bussing assignments, instructions for the mixer, etc.).
19.2. Reconfigure DAW outputs to match the mixing environment.
19.3. Make sure each track has a reference tone at the correct level (typically −20 dB = 0 VU = +4 dBM). Mute all but one tone lest you wreck the monitor chain, along with your hearing.
19.4. Make sure that the topmost track of each group of tracks (dial, ADR, PFX) has a head sync pop at the correct place on each reel.
19.5. Add the tail sync pop to match the answer print or online tail leader.
19.6. Archive all work material.