Dealing With Picture Changes
When the filmmaker makes an edit to the picture after we've started working on the audio, we have to adjust the audio to match the change. We are accustomed to picture changes, so we typically include up to twelve changes as part of the budget. Twelve changes average about an hour of work. When the number of changes exceeds twelve, we'll likely charge by the hour for the additional work.
Usually a change is a subtraction — these are generally the easiest, but if it happens during a music cue what do we do? Does the music need to start or end differently? Can it be edited to fit the new length? If the director or picture editor can’t figure it out or the music editor isn’t available, we're often the ones making that decision.
Some shows start out as a festival release but stream in a shorter version. Conforming the audio of the long version down to the short one can mean hundreds of changes — though it still takes far less time than editing and mixing an entire show. To handle this, we use conforming software called Matchbox. We still have to heal and fill holes ourselves, and Matchbox occasionally produces odd errors that take extra time to sort out — but overall, the software is very useful and can shave days off the conforming process. With hundreds of changes like this, the music is usually so chopped up that we don't reuse it — instead, we pull fresh music from the AAF of the short version, while trying to salvage the volume, EQ, and panning automation from the long version.
To deal with a change, we don't require change notes — we only need a new AAF file and video file. For a simple deletion, we may only need the new video. We make the change by comparing what we already have to the new version you provide. For extensive changes (40 or more), we may use Matchbox to help; otherwise, we handle each change manually — deleting, adding, and moving all tracks simultaneously, then going through each edit to heal or fill the gap.
Delivery for a Picture Change
For multiple picture changes spread throughout a film (more than twelve), provide the same AAF and video files described in the Soundcrafter Delivery Requirements — except this delivery reflects the new version. For a film split into reels, we obviously don't need new AAF and video files for reels that have no changes.
For a small number of changes (twelve or fewer), we only need an AAF file and video file covering the areas of the changes.
You decide how to organize how many AAF and video files you deliver. What we don't want is a lot of extra audio in the AAF file, but we also don't want the prep process — for you or for us — to be overly complicated. If you can remove the audio between changes in the AAF file, that's preferred. For changes that are grouped close together, don't bother removing the audio between them.
If an AAF file covers a section later in the show and doesn't include the head leader or your beginning that's fine — when we import it, the audio will be placed correctly on our timeline.
If your AAF delivery only includes the change area, or you've removed the audio between changes, make sure to include enough audio on either side of each change. At least a minute long handle of audio clips before and after helps us to confirm we have done the change correctly.
For the video file, match its start and end points to the AAF. In sections with only music and no dialogue or effects clips — like the end credits — we need the video to include a straight cut (not a dissolve) so we can confirm the video is placed correctly. In that case, extend the video handle from before the change all the way past the straight cut by at least a couple of frames. Doing the same after the change is also helpful.
The video file should also include an embedded mixdown of the cut audio from your picture-edit session.
If the change is a simple deletion or addition, we sometimes only need the video. If the audio at the picture change is a simple cut or add, and you know we already have the added audio (typically by extending the handles), providing us with only the video is probably fine.
