AVID Media Composer Certification - MC210
Why would you use AS-11 rather than export a QuickTime movie?
+Provide one file, which has the program blocks internally delimited. +No need to provide any additional descriptive file. All metadata is embedded in a single file. +Extra instructions are embedded in the single file. + The video will always be encoded in AVC-Intra at 100 Mb/s.
How would you blend a LUT with the original image?
1) Apply the Color LUT effect from the image category of the Effect Palette to your clip in the Timeline and enter Effect Mode. 2) Select a LUT. 3) The LUT is applied to your clip. Duplicate the clip on track V2 (Alt(Windows) or Option (Mac) drag it upwards) and remove the effect from the bottom-most clip. 4) Now (Alt(Windows) or Option (Mac) drag a superimpose effect co that it applies on top of V2. 5) Adjust the slider in the superimpose parameter to get the appropriate blend of the LUT and the original.
How do you create placeholders for SubCaps in the Timeline?
1) Before starting, make sure the video monitor is selected on the Sub Caps Video track or you won't see anything. 2) Open the caption text section and type some text in the box so you can create a template; enough to give you an idea of what a line of text might look like. 3) You need to decide what the text looks like and what the box looks like (its position and how much space you'll need for a typical line of text and so on). Start with the text. Open the text appearance section and choose a font. / Create track (can be filler), add the subcap effect, then chop up the clip accordingly where subtitles would be
You've imported a music file with two mono audio tracks. You delete the original file, and then realize that it would be better if it had a single stereo track. What can you do?
1) Choose clip > New Audio track or right-click timeline then choose stereo, 5.1 surround, or 7.1 surround.
How can you copy data from one column to another?
1) First make sure that you have a bin display that shows the column you are copying from and the one you want to copy to. 2) Select the top of the Source File column. The entire column is highlighted 3) Press CTRL + D (Win) or Command + D (Mac) (for Duplicate) A window will pop up asking you to select a column to copy to. In this case, Labroll is selected. 4) Press OK. The data in the Source File column is now copied to the Labroll column.
You have a bin full of clips and a sequence in another bin. How do you find what clips you've used in the sequence?
1) In the bin that contains the sequence, choose select > media relatives from the bin hamburger. All the clips that were used in the sequence will highlight in the bin for scene 4. 2) In the bin containing the clips, choose select > reverse from the bin hamburger. Now all the clips that haven't been used will be highlighted. 3) Right-click on the color swatch and choose None from the menu. Only the used clips are now colored.
You wish to save your User settings to a thumb drive. How would you do this?
1) In the settings tab, click on the user settings menu and choose export user or user profile. 2) Choose standard. You will need a location to save your settings. 3) Click the button highlighted
How would you create a template for a SubCaps effect that you wish to use repeatedly?
1) Make sure the video monitor is selected on the Sub Caps Video track. 2) Open the caption text section and type some text in the box so you can create a template. 3) You need to decide what the text looks like and what the box looks like (its position and how much space you'll need for a typical line of text and so on). Start with the text. Open the text appearance section and choose a font. Adjust line weight, outline weight, create a shadow. 4) Align the box underneath the shadow options. 5) Open the box appearance section and change the color of the box if need be. 6) Position the anchor with the X and Y sliders below.
You're about to import an audio clip. It has six tracks and was provided to you by an audio effects engineer, who informs you that the tracks conform to the 5.1 SMPTE surround format. How do you properly import this file?
1) Open the import settings or link settings dialog box. 2) Click the audio tab or the link options tab as you did when creating stereo tracks. 3) Click the edit button next to multichannel audio. 4) You can group tracks together as a stereo pair by clicking the box. If you click the small triangle, you get more options.
How do you add a transformation to clips in the bin?
1) Select all the clips and open the Source Settings. 2) Select the color encoding tab 3) Because you have selected multiple clips, you can make changes and apply them to all of the clips in one go.
Describe one way you can add multiple takes to a slate.
1) Select the clip 3-4 in the bin and drag it from the bin to the existing slate. The extra take will now appear in the slate. If you have added a take by mistake, you can easily delete it.
You have some clips in a bin with no metadata in the comments column. How would you enter the same data into some of the clips?
1) Select the items in the bin to which you want to apply the same text. 2) Right-click the column and select Set <column name> column for selected clips. 3) Enter the text or number you want to appear in the column for the selected items in the bin. The text appears in the cells.
How can you play through all the takes of a line of dialogue, one after the other?
1) Select the lines in the script window, dragging through all intersecting takes (and through one or more script marks.) 2) Click the play button in the Script window or press the space bar to screen the takes for those lines. The takes load and play back one after another. If you select a single line with a script mark it will play from that mark to the next. If you select a region of the script, it will play the region.
What are the three main types of Settings and why are they different?
1) Site Settings-These are specifically for settings pertaining to your system, such as communication with decks and serial communication ports. They are saved in a special Site Setting file. 2) Project Settings-These are saved with the project and refer to project specific settings such as audio sample rates and Media Creation settings. 3) User settings- These are settings that are associated with a user and are saved in a shared folder on the system.
How do you prepare a script for importing into Media Composer?
1) The script supervisor creates a lined script during production or, in the case of a documentary with interviews, a transcript is created after each interview. 2) Source footage is ingested into Media Composer. 3) The script or transcript is imported into Media Composer. It should be in Plain text, ASCII text, UTF-8 text or Unicode text. 4) Clips are turned into slates when dragged from a bin into the Script window. 5) Specific lines in the script are associated with audio cues in the slates using the Script-integration tools. 6) The editor uses the fully prepared Script window to edit the program. The end result is a populated Script window, complete with slates and lines.
How do you set a local clip color in the Timeline?
1) Use one of the segment mode select buttons to select a clip or group of clips in the timeline. 2) Right-click on the selected clip and choose set local clip color from the pull down menu. 3) Select a color from the menu. 4) When you deselect the clip it will now be colored locally as shown.
How do you export an ALE?
1) Use the bin view that you created earlier. 2) Now you will need to set up an Export setting. If there isn't one already one made for you, create an ALE setting. 3) Now highlight all the clips in the bin and right-click on one of them. 4) From the menu, choose Output > Export to File. 5) Make sure that you have selected the ALE setting, and save the file to your desktop. 6) Open the ALE file in any text editor.
Where would you find the Project settings?
1) With the project window still open, press CTRL+O (Win) or CMD+O (Mac). The window will default to the site settings location. 2) So now you need to browse to the location of your project. This may be in your documents folder (which is the default location) or on an external drive. 3) When you open the file, you can see it contains just your Project Settings.
Where would you find the User settings?
1) With the settings tab open, press ctrl + O (Win) or CMD + O (Mac) to open a setting file. 2) Go to {Your System} > Users > Shared > AvidMediaComposer > Avid Users > {Your System Logon Name}. Inside this folder you will see your User settings. 3) Open these and you'll see a long list of User settings.
Identify six or more ways that the Composer window changes when you are in Trim mode.
1) You'll see a different selection of tools. 2) The view in the Source/Record monitors changes to show the last frame of the outgoing shot (the A side) and the first frame of the incoming shot (the B side). The dividing line represents the cut. 3) The playback function becomes a play loop function. 4) There is an "intermission" time which is zero by default, but if you want to have a slight pause before the next loop. 5) There are trim back and trim forward buttons. 6) A transition corner display button appears.
In the following Figure, how many voices are required to play the Timeline? (Assume there is a clip on each track.) 2 mono tracks 2 stereo tracks 1 5.1 surround 1 7.1 surround
20 voices Mono = 1 Stereo = 2 5.1 = 6 7.1 = 8
How many 7.1 surround tracks can be active simultaneously in a sequence?
64
What is a spanned marker and how do you create one?
A denotation of where blocks are so that a commercial can be aired. 1) Indicate the range of the span by adding in and out marks to your sequence. (If there is a natural gap, just press the T button to mark in IN and an OUT). 2) While pressing the Alt key, add a marker in the usual way. You can name the span, but you don't have to.
What is a bin layout?
A layout of your bin that you can save for the workspace.
What is the difference between a Linear and a Log based color space?
A log space uses an equal spacing values to represent an f-stop: 256, 224, 192, 160, 128, 96, 64, 32. You get much better response at the dark end and you aren't wasting bits at the light end. The log space is equivalent to how the human eye perceives light and indeed how film captures an image. Most cameras in the film industry are capturing in the Log space. Linear is the monitor you are working on where the images will appear very flat if they are not converted.
What is Active Format Description?
A standard set of codes that can be sent in the video stream which carries information about the aspect ratio and active picture characteristics.
What is AS-11?
A standardized pipeline through ratification of standards.
What's the difference between a track and channel?
A track is the traditional track in the sense of a sequence. It's where you place a clip. A channel is a hardware input or output and this corresponds to something physical with your computer or video/audio I/O hardware.
What's a voice?
A voice is an individual stream of audio played back by Media Composer. A voice corresponds to a media file. Media Composer separates audio on the media drive--one file per audio stream--and each one being played simultaneously is referred to as a voice.
What codec is used when exporting a file as AS-11?
AVC-Intra 100 1) Select the sequence you wish to export. 2) Choose File > Output > AMA File Export. (Or right click and choose Output > AMA File Export.) 3) Specify the metadata for your sequence in the AMA File Export dialog box that opens. 4) Select the Directory into which the exported file will be placed. 5) Fill in the descriptive metadata fields. You will find that metadata fields marked with an asterisk will be required fields; you won't be able to save unless these fields are filled. 6) Click Save. The file is exported. You can upload it to your broadcaster.
Why would you choose to use the Advanced panner instead of the standard panner?
Advanced panner makes surround panning easy. There are controls for the LFE (subwoofer) and center speaker, which are not adjustable via the standard Surround panner.
How do you turn on all the audio waveforms with one click?
Alt/Option click to turn on waveforms on all tracks.
What is a spanned marker and how do you add one?
Appears as a line in the timecode track (reflecting the color of the marker) or in the Composer window position bar. Mark an in and an out point on the part of the clip you wish to cover. Then hold down the Alt (Win) or Option (Mac) key as you click the add marker button or key if you have it on your keyboard.
What is Auto Patching?
Auto-Patching is a setting that allows us to automatically patch tracks based on track activation. It works by enabling only the tracks you wish to place your edit clips on. By using keyboard shortcuts to change the activation of your tracks, you can patch tracks without reaching for the mouse.
What sync method lets you sync multiple clips in a bin?
Autosync
What would be a quick way to check whether you have (AMA) linked clips in the Timeline?
By utilizing clip color coding to highlight the properties of a clip.
When the job is done, you want to access the imported media. How do you do this?
Click the acquire media icon.
What is the difference between using the SubCap effect to create sub titles and Closed Captioning?
Closed captions are burnt in to the video and can be turned off by the user. Sub titles can't be turned off and are always visible as they are actually part of the visible video signal.
What is the meaning of a CDL?
Color Decision List. This is the final method of applying a grade when you have a specific one that has been applied to a number of clips, each one slightly different.
You are managing a group of users and one of them keeps reporting that the Link Selection Toggle tool keeps turning off every time the user activates the Timeline settings. How would you fix this so that the tool is on by default?
Create a new Timeline setting and then rename it. Make sure the buttons that you want activated are turned on under the new setting. Make sure the timeline setting is linked to a workspace.
How can you move an existing mark in the script?
Ctrl + drag (Win) or CMD + drag (Mac) the mark.
You've mixed a 5.1 surround sequence and now must create a stereo output. How do you configure the Audio Mixer?
Dialogue will be played mostly from the left surround (rear) speaker). Dialogue 2 the majority of the sound would be played equally from the right front and right rear speakers. Dialogue 3 will play using the front right speaker. Dialogue track will play through the center speaker. Stereo music will play like a normal stereo clip from the left and right front speakers.
How do you reopen the Script window after you've closed it?
Double click it from the project window, just like a bin
What's the significant difference between clicking the Trim Left/Trim Right buttons on the Composer window in contrast to pressing their corresponding keys on the keyboard?
Dual Image Play is only active when you are doing J-K-L trimming.
What is dynamic trimming in Media Composer and how do you perform it?
Dynamic trimming is trimming on the fly. It lets you trim while looping so you can more easily cut on the beat or action. Q: plays up to the edit point from in point and repeats W: plays up to out point from edit point and repeats
What two types of file format are used to contain SubCap data?
EBU N19 or Avid DS
What are two ways to edit subtitles in the Timeline?
Effect Editor - edit master caption listImport/Export txt. or stl. file Edit master caption list
What kind of project must you set up to be able to slip sync?
Film
What is the difference between exporting Personal and Group Shared User settings?
Group settings are useful for an administrator because they can prevent users from tweaking things they shouldn't.
How can you clear all the metadata in a custom bin column?
Highlight all the clips you want to clear, right-click on the column you want to clear and choose "Set {column name} column for selected clips." Now just delete whatever text is in the Set {column name} box and press OK twice. Your column is now cleared.
You want your audience to feel, as well as hear, the deep rumbling of an avalanche. The theatre screening the film has an excellent sound system. How can you make this happen?
I would make sure the theatre screening has SMPTE surround sound configuration. For the audience to 'feel' the sound the low frequency speaker would have to be used.
How does your choice of an IN mark or OUT mark influence the behavior of the Extend edit feature?
IN will extend to the nearest cut to the right OUT will extend to the nearest cut to the right
When you use the RED settings what happens when you transcode?
If Media Composer detects RED footage then you will get specific controls for the RED clip, based on the metadata from the camera used. You can choose to use the camera metadata settings or you can make your own adjustments, in which case you will have custom settings for the image.
What's the difference between using the numeric keypad to enter 100 as opposed to 24 when cutting in a sequence with a frame rate of 24fps?
If you enter three digits, then Media Composer will assume you mean seconds and frames. When not in trim mode if you enter a three digit number it will convert it to seconds. If you want to add say 100 frames or more and you don't want to try to calculate that in terms of seconds and frames. Type it in as normal and then add a lowercase "f" before pressing Enter. The lowercase "f" causes Media Composer to re-interpret the entry as a frame count when you go beyond 99.
Why do you need subclips to create synced clips?
If you need to slip the sync then you'll need a "handle" to allow either audio or the video clip to slip.
Your Audio Insert buttons are not showing the Timeline track control panel. What must you do to get them back?
If you wish to display the Audio Track Effect Insert buttons your audio tracks must be a certain width. If you have your tracks too narrow, they are hidden from your view.
In which setting is the status of the Target Mask saved?
In the composer settings.
Why is it important for a Media Composer editor to understand how many voices are used by a specific kind of audio track?
It helps with the mixing of the audio.
What is an Action?
It is something that is performed when you put things into the DMF folder.
There is an orange line over part of a clip in the Timeline. What does this mean?
It means that frames have been duplicated which are detected by Dupe Detection.
What is a Dynamic Media Folder?
It takes the concept of background serves one step further by allowing you to perform copy, consolidate, and transcode tasks even while Media Composer isn't running.
What are the two types of LUT?
Log and Linear
How does Single Mark editing assist in editing in the Script window?
Marking the script with Script marks will associate particular lines in the script with the corresponding points in your clips.
You are unable to set your audio mix mode to any of the surround sound options. Why?
Media Composer will route the sound intended for the surround speakers to one of the two stereo speakers. It knows to do this because of the combination of sequence format and mix modes. Audio mixer is set to edit in surround sound but create a stereo mix playback.
How do you apply a RED grade to RED clips?
Media composer will do it automatically for you when it detects RED footage based on the metadata from the camera used.
What is a shim?
Predefined file, set of instructions
What is the keyboard equivalent of toggling between trimming the incoming or outgoing clip?
Press the A or S buttons on the default keyboard. A takes you to the previous transition and enters trim mode and S takes you to the next transition and enters trim mode. When in trim mode, A and S will jump to the previous or next edit.
How does RGB differ from REC 709?
RGB colorspace is basically a way of making a range of possible colors by combining varying amounts of red, green and blue. In an 8-bit world, you have 256 possible levels in each channel. REC709 is the standard for HD for the form of YCbCr. It permits levels from 16 to 235, whereas RGB can represent levels from 0 to 255.
You are presented with a bin that contains just one sequence. How would you determine which clips are being used by this sequence?
Right-click on the sequence and choose set bin display. Select the show reference clips box at the bottom and click ok.
How do you move a marker from the V2 track to the V1 track?
Select a marker or multiple markers, right-click then choose change track from the menu and select which track you wish to use.
Define the two ways of lassoing clips in the Timeline and how you would switch between them?
Shift + Alt-drag IWn) or Shift + Option-drag (Mac) from right to left and you'll enter Slide Trim mode. Alt-dragging (Win) or Option-dragging (Mac) lets you drag from anywhere inside the Timeline rather than starting outside the tracks.
How do you remove a LUT that you've imported to your project?
Should you wish to delete the LUTs from your project, you can find them in the LUTs folder which is housed in your Avid projects folder. Move them to the trash, and next time you open your project they will be gone from the Color Management Settings window. e.g. Avid Projects > 210 > Anesthesia > LUTs
You want to delete all the unused media on your hard drives. What is the best way to do this?
Simple: Locate the Final Edit sequence in the other bin, right-click and choose Select > Media Relatives. This will select all the clips that are related to this sequence in an open bin. After that you can drag the used clips into a new bin with a name of your choosing. Or you can go to the bin containing the related clips and choose reverse from the same menu. This will highlight all the clips you haven't used. You can drag them to a different bin or simply delete them. Advanced: The Consolidate process where you copy the section of the clip you've used, with handles and create new master clips. These master clips will have a suffix .new and your sequence will be linked to the new master clips. The old ones can be safely deleted.
What does SOP stand for?
Slope, offset, power
Outline the procedure for setting up a DMF.
Start by creating a folder on your computer or your network that can be "seen."
What are the two basic methods for creating Captioning?
Sub Cap effect or Closed Captioning
You're in Trim mode and you press the K+L key combination to perform an analog audio scrub. What happens when you let go of the keys? How does this differ from performing the same function in Source/Record mode?
The cut point will be moved and it will perform a trimK+L will play the clip at half speed forward
What is meant by the term "baking in"?
The transformations in color should not be permanent because it would limit your ability to work with the image later.
What are the Avid Default Prefs?
This file contains vital custom bin views, export setting, and toolset information. TheAvidDefaultPrefs is primarily used in conjunction with any Send To operations within Avid editing applications.
What is the purpose of using Script Interpolation?
This makes marking easier.
If you want all projects to be created in 24-bit audio rather than the default 16-bit, what would you do to achieve this?
This would need to be changed in project settings in the site settings folder. e.g. If you want all your projects to have Audio settings set to 24 bit and 48 kHz, the move this setting (name it first) to the Site Settings window.
You have set up a DMF and dragged some QuickTime files into it. How would you review the status of the job?
Tools > Background Queue
What is bi-directional trimming?
Trimming in two directions at the same time.
When trimming and using loop play, how do you isolate playback to just the incoming clip?
Using JKL trimming, make sure the Dual Image Play is turned off. Green line should be under the purple box on the incoming clip. Press W to play just the B side (incoming clip)To play the clip before A side press Q
What extra considerations would you need when working on long-form projects?
What type of film stock that is used for filming, working with VFX departments, color grading departments, working with different frame sizes and aspect ratios, working with mixtures of progressive and interlaced.
Under what circumstance would you want to create a stereo track instead of one or more mono tracks in a sequence?
When you are working with large numbers of audio tracks and you want to switch on (or off) a group of related tracks.
What is round tripping?
When you bounce media (and your sequence) back and forth between one system and another when a specific job is required.
What is Auto Monitoring?
When you patch video tracks from one to another the monitor button will follow the patching when this is on (the default).
What are two ways to use the mouse to toggle between trimming the incoming or outgoing clip?
While in dual image play you can allow the mouse to hover. / Click on the composer window (A/B side monitor)Click either side of the trim point
How can you record marks to a script while you are playing a take?
You can combine the screening process with the marking process. This is a more efficient approach to both reviewing your footage and creating your script marks. The Script window contains a Record Marks During Playback button that you can use here. When you click the Record Marks During Playback button, Media Composer plays a take; your job is to click on the corresponding line of dialog when you hear it. Each time you hear a line in the clip, click in the script.
How do you manually add a Script mark to the script?
You can manually add Script marks by finding spoken words in a clip and associating them with words in the script. To do this, you use the Add Script Mark button.
What are the options for syncing a video and an audio clip?
You can sync clips from Film TC/ Sound TC, Inpoints, Outpoints, Source Timecode and Auxiliary timecode.
How do you know if you've slipped sync in a clip?
You can visually tell if the audio doesn't match with the video.
You have created a User setting, but you now wish to delete it. What are the two steps you need to do to delete it?
You need to make sure you aren't logged into the user setting you are trying to delete and you can't delete user settings that are active.
In what ways are bins and the Script window similar?
You place clips inside it. The Script window displays these clips as slates. You can reposition the slates, change their size, and load them into the Source monitor. The text in a Script window can be cut, copied, and pasted. You can also search the script's text by choosing Edit > Find. The Find feature, in combination with the Script Interpolation feature, is a quick way to locate key phrases or words in transcribed interviews.
How do you update the sequence when you've applied a transformation to the source?
You would click the refresh sequence all button.
How do you find marker text that has been entered on a clip in the Timeline without opening Markers tool?
You would use the timeline quick find box. 1) Load a sequence in the timeline and click the timeline quick find text field. 2) Type in the text you are searching for. 3) If needed, customize the search using the text field drop down men. 4) Press return or enter. The timeline blue position indicator will move to the next instance of the text it can find. 5) To search again, or search to the left or right, click the find left or find right arrow buttons.
You have a mono sound effect of an airplane flying overhead. How do you add life to this sound effect after placing it in the Timeline?
You would utilize automating the panning of a sound. It brings the sound effect to life. By automating sound levels and pan over time, you can make the sound immersive and more genuine to the listener than a stagnant "always in the center" sound.
What's the difference between sequence audio format and mix mode?
Your sequence has a picture format, specified in the Project window. It also has an audio format, specified in the Audio Mixer. You indicate your sequence's audio format using the Sequence Mix Format button and you indicate your hardware output from the Mix Mode selection button. Mix mode format an be stereo, mono, 5.1 Film: L C R Ls Rs LFE, 5.1 SMPTE: L R C LFE Ls Rs, 7.1 Pro Tools: L C R Lss Rss Lsr Rsr LFE, 7.1 SMPTE: L R C LFE Lsr Rsr Lss Rss
What is the difference between re-naming the folder called "1" inside your MXF folder to: a. 101 b. Card 1
a. It is considered a writeable folder but it won't start writing to the folder until folder 100 has been created and filled. b. If you use letters in the name then the folder becomes read-only and Media Composer can't put anything into this folder.
