Indiewood

Exploring the Edit: Post-Production and DaVinci Resolve w/ Gedaly Guberek

• Cinematography for Actors • Season 14 • Episode 3

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Where does the “real” edit start? Join us once again for a chat with Gedaly Guberek, a multi-hyphenate filmmaker who directs, acts, crafts his own VFX and is also a DaVinci Resolve Master Trainer teaching at AFI. We explore technical tips and tricks for the edit, as well as how post-production can inform you writing and work as a director.

Sharpen your workflow or challenge a habit, share the Indiewood Pod with a filmmaker, subscribe for more craft-first conversations, and leave a quick review to tell us what you want to hear next.

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YT: Cinematography for Actors

In the world of social media, and fast-paced journalism, knowledge is abound. But with all the noise, finding the right information is near impossible. Especially if you’re a creative working in independent film.

Produced by Cinematography For Actors, the Indiewood podcast aims to fix that. This is a podcast about indie filmmakers and the many hats we wear in order to solve problems before, during, and after production.

Every month, award-winning Writer/Director Yaroslav Altunin is joined by a different guest co-host to swap hats, learn about the different aspects of the film industry, and how to implement all you learn into your work.

"We learn from indie filmmakers so we can become better filmmakers. Because we all want to be Hollywood, but first we have to be Indiewood."

SPEAKER_03

Welcome back to the Anywood Podcast, a podcast about independent film and the many hats filmmakers wear in order to get those films made. Every month I am joined by one such filmmaker where we talk about their creative process and how they thrive in the medium of film. This month I'm joined by a wonderful creative who has way too many hyphenates that we've been continuously adding to uh throughout the course of these recordings, Kidali Gubrick. Hello.

SPEAKER_02

Good to be back.

SPEAKER_03

Uh you're an editor.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

Resolve Master Trainer Credentials

SPEAKER_03

An actor, a director, a writer. Sometimes you've you've produced. You've produced a little bit. Uh as a stunt performer, production designer, you've done everything under the sun. I keep forgetting like how many things we've kind of added. But now I wanted to talk to you about your editing because I think it's uh a really crucial like point in this this kind of workflow that you have, like creating the thing from scratch, directing it, being in it sometimes, and then also putting it together on the back end. But also doing the VFX for it, like working in Fusion, working in DaVinci Resolve. And Fusion is in within DaVinci Resolve, uh being a compositor. And so you have this wealth of experience and you're a Resolve certified trainer? Yes. So is that what they call it? What's the proper title?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, uh DaVinci Resolve certified trainer. I'm actually feels weird to say, but I'm a DaVinci Resolve certified master trainer. No way, which is the highest level you can achieve. It means I took some extra tests. They give me a pat on the head with an extra title.

SPEAKER_03

Pass with flying colors. And so you also teach at AFI. Correct. Yeah. And is that like uh uh like a course within their program? See, I don't know. I'm I'm from UCLA, so I'm like, oh, UCL extension's a thing. Uh does AFI have any of those kind of programs where it's like outside of the core curriculum?

SPEAKER_02

They have the what is the DWW, like a director's program thing that happens in summer? Mm-hmm. I don't know too much about it. But this is uh basically for their editing program. Um I teach a fusion class, so it's it's effectively compositing for editors.

SPEAKER_03

Very cool.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

Teaching Compositing For Editors

Switching To Resolve From Other NLEs

SPEAKER_03

So how long have you worked in Resolve? Because for me, I it's only been a couple years now. I I have been uh been an editor for a couple couple of years, I think over a decade, but mostly in live production, most of it in uh Final Cut. And I started in studio Finals Cut Studio 7 and then went into 10 and cried a little but stayed. Uh and then I switched to Resolve uh because I was coloring Resolve and it just made sense to kind of stay in there after they've released their um editing component for that. And then Fairlight came around, which is the audio component, and Fusion was added in, which is their compositing tool. So my question to you is how easy is it for, do you think, for new folks to jump into Resolve? Because I feel like now with short form content becoming a thing and more people you know using kind of the social media platforms that they have as creative outlets, I I'm noticing people use Resolve more, or I'm hoping people you use Resolve more because they're using like iMovie, or they're just cutting it in quick time. Like, yeah, don't do that, people. Don't cut your clip or on their phone, don't do that either. Um, so I guess is like what's your perspective on the barrier to entry for Resolve? And I mean, do you feel like people should? Because it is free. There's a free version that's really good.

SPEAKER_02

I think the price barrier is uh the easiest like reason to jump on it. Yeah, it's free. Uh other softwares mostly cost money, or they are free and they're very limited. Yeah. Um, and there's nothing wrong with that. Like, and it's something you can do on your phone if you really just need to chop the head and tail off a clip.

SPEAKER_03

I'm bougie. I I'm like, don't do that.

SPEAKER_02

I'm not saying I like I I don't, but it works for some people because that's what they need to put their self-tape together as an actor, or it's just like it's literally just a reel I'm putting on social media, and I did a great performance, and I'm just chopping the thing. Fine. Like I think you should work whatever, like you should use whatever works for you. Yeah. Um, I like Resolve because it makes sense to me, and I've used it for a while, and I really like it. Um, I got on pretty early before it started trending, I think.

SPEAKER_03

Uh did you use anything before any NLE before?

SPEAKER_02

Well, I mean, yes, in um but I hadn't in a while. So like when I started to your your first short, what did you cut that on? So Burgled was in DaVinci Resolve. Okay, and that was before anyone else when when I uh was shooting that, someone asked me, what are you going to edit in? And I said DaVinci Resolve, and they laughed at me because they said that's not an editor.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

Is Resolve Easy For New Editors

SPEAKER_02

Uh like it was not as big as it was now. It did some color grading, it had like an edit page on it, but people are like, that can't edit. I'm like, I don't understand. I need in point, outpoint, put in a timeline. What is it missing that you think I it makes it not an editor? Um, and that has continued because, like, to me, narrative editing has nothing to do with fancy transitions or all these other things. I'm like, I need in point, output, put it in a timeline. Everything else is creative. Now there are other tools that I understand, like help, but you don't need much more. Um, I the you know, years before that edited like a sketch on iMovie. Um, before iMovie was less good. Like there was a point where iMovie was like had those source timeline in point, outpoint. Like it it worked like an editor, didn't have that many features, but like it actually worked. And then they tried to simplify it and it made it less good. Yeah. Um, and then but like by the time that transition happened, I wasn't doing too much filmmaking stuff. I was working in theater and and doing like I was working at a theater company in LA that I was one of the founding members of and doing that whole thing. And then at some point I'm like, well, I want to do films again. And um, so I came to a point I'm like, okay, I'm going to I edited some iMovie stuff. I was like editing some other things. I'm like, um uh and the the one I grew up using in high school no longer existed. You lead Media Studio. Okay. Eastern Peace. I think I used like a Sony Vegas. Yeah, Sony Vegas was a thing. And so like I remember, you know, growing up that like there was Vegas and Premiere did like had was newer and all that stuff, and it just like for some reason I used that one and I really liked it. And it was actually similar because it had like multiple linked apps that weren't in the same app, but that's how I uh you know, so I learned how to rotoscope lightsabers and stuff using that kind of a thing. So I had that kind of Photoshop built in to had its own after effects-ish sort of thing. Um and so you know, came to a point where I'm like, okay, I'm gonna be making films and I'm gonna be editing. What do I want to use? So I spent a fair amount of time just like researching what's out there and like you sort of looked at all the different apps and uh tried some out and and like I kept looking at resolve. I'm like, that feels like the future for me.

SPEAKER_03

And literally is, yeah.

What Makes An Editor Professional

SPEAKER_02

You feel like, oh no, I did change. And I was right, yeah, and you know, pat myself on the back for that one. I could have been wrong, but like it it just it made sense to me in a certain way, and that was before Fair Light and Fusion were a part of it. I just like, oh, the color grading looks interesting, and I just like the way it looks, it felt interesting, like it felt good. And it was also like it it is a professional software, like I wasn't looking for something that was easy, I was looking for something that was capable um that I could grow with. And it has continued it has continued to grow, and I've grown with it as well, just learning more and more. It's a very deep well of features. Um, so and I for new users that is intimidating because it can do a lot. Like it's basically here, here's a spaceship. Um, and I think there's something, you know, to be said of like software and consumer pieces of tech where it's like, sh is it intuitive? And I I think for people whose idea is to go on to make really good stuff, um, you should throw that out of your requirements. Yeah. Because like how people paint with a paintbrush, one stroke, like going up and down, that's intuitive. But as soon as you start like dabbling and stippling all of a sudden, it's like yeah, what what about that is intuitive? That's a creative thing, that's just a different way to use it. So I think when you have a professional tool, and and I include, you know, premiere and things like that in that. Like, why does it need to be intuitive? You should learn how to use it. Like, no one who's a trained astronaut is going to go to their spaceship and say, This isn't intuitive. They've trained for years on how to know how to use that like the back of their hand. Like, use it like they know it like the back of their hands.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So I I think it's so it's it's a there's a lot you can learn, but the basics you can get in a few tutorials and just start on it, and then over time I'd pick up more and more things, and and that gives me more capabilities, um or makes me faster for whatever I'm trying to accomplish.

SPEAKER_03

So I think that's uh yeah. I think you're right. Like if you're just doing, you know, in and out, like cutting the tail end or the front end off a clip, you know, just doing your phone or God forbid iMovie. I think for me, the reason why I'm like, if you're doing anything more intensive than that, just pick a uh a suite that that is affordable to you, and Da Vinci might be the best fit because it's free. Uh I I think because a lot of the software applications that help with editing teach bad habits. Because they're like, oh, it's intuitive. You just do the da-da-da-da. Yeah, you know, use it this way. And then when you need something more powerful and you're bringing that experience into something more um like feature-rich, you're gonna pick up these bad habits, I think. And I've seen that on like having to uh help other folks with whatever they're doing and and like re- not re-educate them, that that sounds weird, like reparent them, that sounds even more weird. Like have have them relearn, you know, um uh the steps of a workflow that is gonna be more helpful to them. Yeah, and I think some people pick up bad habits that are like not just in the editing process, but in like the the media management process. Some people be like, oh, it's edited, I can delete all this stuff. And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. You need that. Like keep your sources, keep your like old edits just so you know, like you can document all these things. And and I think those things you learn when you're like editing, uh, you know, in I don't want to say the real world. God sounding so elitist right now.

SPEAKER_02

Look, that's an important point though, because the tool is not the job. Like Microsoft Word doesn't teach you how to write a novel. No, there what you can't just like and it it it feels more clear in that, like, oh, it's a word processor. It's like you put text in there, the structure of your writing has nothing to do with what the software is doing. That's just to format it and put it in there, and people try to think about it differently. Oh, video, well, like I just do the things in order here and I delete the whatever, or I just put a dragon job in there, and you can, and there's nothing inherently wrong with that. But if you want to do that for a living, or if you're hired to do that, or if you want to be faster at it or better at it, getting an idea of like how to do those, do the job, and then use the software to do that job is a is another extra step. So, like you can't just open up final draft or another thing and say, Oh, it's formatted in the way the software does, therefore my screenplay is good. Same thing with an edit.

Choosing Resolve Early And Why

SPEAKER_03

I'm glad you brought up final draft, and even though I keep saying final draft and settle final cut, this is about final draft, I promise. Um speaking to that workflow process, a lot of big writing suites, and maybe this is changing recently, but when I was using final draft and I used writer duet and cell text as well before it changed into whatever it is now, you had to write a slug line, an action block, a piece of dialogue. But when you wanted to shift into a different kind of section, like okay, well, I'm writing something, this is an action block. You had to like go into a drop-down menu or do a shortcut to make the software recognize that this is an action block or a piece of dialogue or a slug line. And that was slowing me down because I had to interact with a piece of tech to then shift my perspective within the screenplay. That was so annoying. And so uh I got Highland. I use that too. And so that is a lot you write, and then when you want to go next, you hit enter and you keep writing, and then it just fills in the blanks. Yeah. And it helps with workflow. And I guess that's counter like it's kind of it's contradictory to what we're talking about because Highland is more intuitive. I don't know if if I if I'm just like completely contradicting myself.

SPEAKER_02

It gets out of your way. That that is a software that's like getting out of your way and helping you do that job only because it's mostly typing. Yeah, yeah. Whereas the job I think of an editor uh can actually, you can just use keyboard shortcuts and things like that, which is not simple.

SPEAKER_03

I have a friend who only uses Premiere on a keyboard. Yeah, he's like, Oh, I just set it up and I don't have to use a mouse. And I'm like, how how do you live?

SPEAKER_02

It it takes a while to learn, like, but uh I've done things where like if I do the same thing like three times in a row, like there's gotta be a faster way. So I will find the keyboard shortcut or I can map a custom one and say, like, okay, now I just hit that button or something like that. And uh it so and I'll just what add a new shortcut to my repertoire every, you know, sometimes it's every hour, depending on what I'm doing it. Or you know, every couple months. It just depends on how much I'm editing or or what I'm doing, if it's something new, but then like I add that and now I know that and it speeds up my workflow. So, but that's a matter of like knowing the tool and how to use it, and also knowing the job and what I'm trying to accomplish, and then having those meet together rather than just I'll just try to make the software work without really knowing what my job is or how the software works.

SPEAKER_03

I guess also another thing I like about NLEs in general that are more robust and like iMovie or whatever, is you get frame accurate like cuts. Yeah, it's like trying to make a cut in iMovie is like you just you're dragging bars and what and and in resolve, you're like, no, no, this is the frame out of the 10,000 whatever frames that this this clip is. This is this is the one. And after this frame is a cut.

SPEAKER_02

Um and I think that's important for like accuracy and for storytelling, and but you know a frame can make a big difference, just one, like the timing, yeah, especially like editing action on these projects, like one frame cut a frame early or just leave too much, like it doesn't work right. So I need to figure out how to cut between shots, like in out on the right frame so that it sells.

SPEAKER_03

Well, there used to be this technique for action where when you cut, you the the second angle is a few frames, like you're overlapping a few frames, so you repeat some of the action just to like let the viewer know what's happening, and so like good luck doing that in iMovie. Yeah. In resolve, what is the difference between the cut page and the edit page? Because the cut page is a new thing and it's a more streamlined editor that I think is useful for like social media content, but I've never used it, yeah.

Tools vs Craft: Intuition Myth

SPEAKER_02

Uh so the the short answer is it's a slightly different workflow. You can do some of the same stuff on it. Um it's it's more like a final cut 10 sort of look in that it has a magnetic timeline and it's a single viewer thing. So it's somewhat streamlined, it's better for like smaller screens on a laptop. I think it's where it's most useful is multicam stuff, uh, using their hardware for the speed editor. Um also uh it's I think broadcast because it's they're they're putting a lot of features in there for replay type stuff, where if like you're doing a live stream and like you can just be capturing into there and then you can uh like choose a moment that was interesting and go back and do an instant replay and stuff like that. Um so it has its uses. All that to say, I don't use it because I don't think there's it doesn't help me edit a movie. Um there were some features on there previously where it's like, oh, I can play out my entire bin like as a string out without having to create a timeline, I can just watch in there, but that exists now on the edit page. There were features where like I can easily resize the timeline from horizontal to vertical. If I need to render this for social media, I can do that on the edit page now. So I don't have a need for it, but I think it has its uses for people who are doing different types of projects than I am.

SPEAKER_03

When you're doing your narrative work and you're cutting on resolve, what's the like the most crucial thing that you're using to help you in those narrative projects?

SPEAKER_02

Uh been set up at string outs, basically organizing the project.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, yeah. Um I think that's that's such an important part of editing, not only from a creative standpoint, but also from a technical standpoint, is that organizational aspect of it that not a lot of people know uh or like would care to because it's so annoying. You're like, oh, I have to organize my stuff. And I'm I'm impatient.

SPEAKER_02

Like I want like, okay, I I'm excited about this to figure out how to put it together to get it done. But it's like cooking where you know, and if you're serious about cooking, you lay out all of your ingredients, you get your pots and pans, everything that I think I'm gonna need to make this dish. I put there, I arrange it, and that way, because if you get halfway through and you're mixing this thing and I need to go to the fridge, oh, it's behind the other thing, oh, I'm out of it, all that stuff.

SPEAKER_03

Like, then suddenly you run into the store while something's cooking.

SPEAKER_02

It's like that doesn't work. Like a a professional chef, which I am not, but like they will do those things uh in order to like make sure they're ready and can do it and can do it quickly and efficiently and uh do a good job at it.

SPEAKER_03

I will say that once you've cut something, if you're not organized and you've cut something and you've shown it to people, and then you have to come back and recut it, and then you're like, cool, where's the stuff? And then you just see like a mess of clips everywhere, and you go, Oh no, that's when you get in trouble. That's why we organize.

Habits, Shortcuts, And Speed

SPEAKER_02

Yes, and I think the organization is not so much about doing an a faster edit in the moment, it's about doing the whole editing process faster, which is different. Very different, yeah. So it's like, when do I want my current, like if I want to make a timeline quickly, I can do that and make a mess. But if I want the movie to be done faster, then I need to be organized. So by organizing all of my footage into string outs by scene and then marking them or setting them on different tracks based on what I think is good, it's like I can make an edit and I have that scene and it's fine, and or maybe it's good. Uh, but then I can go back to my footage and I have that in a separate string out and go, oh, here's that other moment. I can easily find that, put it in, or create a new edit from there. Uh, and I also do versioning. So it's like it's oh, what did that look like two weeks ago when things were different? I can go back and rewatch that.

SPEAKER_03

Um my biggest thing, and this is something I do in writing as well, is anytime like if I'm working on an edit or an edit, an edit in resolve or an edit in in Highland, uh, and it's a significant change or like some time has passed, there's a new version. Yeah. Like if if the The thing that I'm working on hasn't been touched in two weeks. Saved. New version. Yeah. You know, and then I edit that because there's been times uh where I've seen other people make changes and like, oh, I don't know what a change. Like, it's gone now. Yeah. Another thing that I think editors need to worry about is exporting because when you color and you're most likely coloring in resolve, you're going to either make your deliverables or make something that's going to be a deliverable. And you can't make a uh a digital cinema package in Resolve as of yet, right?

SPEAKER_02

You can. You can? Uh I haven't done that. Um I've gone through vendors, like if it's going to a festival, I end up just giving making the high-quality export as a file and then telling, you know, going to a vendor and saying, His is exactly what it is. You know what you're doing. Go ahead and do it. Um, so that's worked for me thus far. I know people who have created DCPs in Resolve um and other free software that you can use. Is it DCP omatic?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. There's a couple of things out there, but it's such a weird thing. Like you can you adjust it? Like is it gonna be a good one?

SPEAKER_02

It's a very technical thing, and like it has to be exactly right because it's it's like you plug it into a projector and then it works or it doesn't, and you don't have that projector at home, so that you can test that. Uh unless you're extraordinarily wealthy. Um, those are expensive projectors. Yeah, anyway.

SPEAKER_03

Uh I I uh there's a um a company I work for in Seattle, a dance company, and they have a like a giant projector. Uh, you know, it's the size of a like a giant suitcase. Yeah. And like these things are like$30,000,$40,000. They're so expensive. And this was uh from like 15 years ago, and it's still you know, like super expensive.

Frame Accuracy And Action Cutting

SPEAKER_02

So yeah, I mean so you can. I just haven't done it, and I don't think most people need to, because you can pay someone else to do it, and that's their job.

SPEAKER_03

When you're exporting a master, I think this is is important for some folks because they'll be like, oh, here's a deliverable and just send it to YouTube and then they'll just forget. But like my workflow at least is where whatever I make, I'll export a um high quality, like high resolution, huge file master. Because from then, from like everything else, I can lose the project file, I can lose a source. If that master is in some archive somewhere, I can pull from that. It's super high quality. So, what's your workflow for creating something like that? That's something you can archive, but then also make stuff from like digital, like DCPs or you know, other smaller like renders, not renders, exports.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Uh I think first thing is just to have it. I mean, your your project file folder or folder organized. So any media, I will when I start a project and when I'm finishing, it's like there's a a folder for footage and folder for audio, and a folder for graphics, and uh a folder for exports. And then within that, it's like here are intermediate things. Uh, and then here is like a you know, a high quality um intermediate or a master, like render kind of a thing, and it's it's labeled, it goes in that folder. The the main thing is just labeling. It's like this is quality, this is the codec, this is the resolution, here's the date that should go in everything just so I know because if I if I need to, I'm like, oh, I forgot the titles. Uh and then like I can just either grab that, put it in there, add the titles on top, and then just say, here is the the next one with the current date, and I know always use that latest one.

SPEAKER_03

I guess my question to refine my question is what is the not the settings, because uh like what's the best settings is like a a weird thing to to keep asking because there's there's different things for different things. Yeah. What are you using specifically? Are you doing like a ProRes export for masters?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, so I would use a ProRes, whatever the full resolution of the output it, which is usually take a 4K or what's overkill in the codec?

SPEAKER_03

Um so if you're doing if you have a 4K uh source, you've cut in uh HD, but you want that 4K, uh you want that master in 4K. Like is ProRes LT too little? Is ProRes HQ too much? Like where what's your middle ground as an editor?

Cut Page vs Edit Page

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, uh, I think so. I wouldn't go back to like full camera resolution, for example. So like a lot of cameras will shoot in 6K. Um there's no reason to do an export of that because that's camera media, that's not an export format. Uh so I would say if it's you know either the UHD 20 uh 3840 by 2160 or the 4096 by 2160, like that size, like it should be it should fit within that 4K frame. So bigger than that is like there's no reason to do that. Uh unless if you're if you're doing a movie, there's no reason to do that. Yeah, yeah. I'm sure there's other things. Um but yeah, so there's for a movie, no reason to go bigger than that. Um, I know YouTube like did 8k stuff at one point.

SPEAKER_03

There's unnecessary.

SPEAKER_02

There's no reason.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Um, and for some people who are screaming now saying, yeah, but there's 8k TVs, there's no reason.

SPEAKER_03

No, I'm just gonna say I will say that a lot of the stuff people see in theaters is 2K. Is 2K. And when we say 2K, that's literally like 1920 by 1080 HD with a couple more lines of resolution. Yeah, that's it. Like if you put a HD uh 1920 by 1080 clip next to a 2K clip, it's literally the same thing with like a little bit of extra height. Height? No, width.

SPEAKER_02

Height. Well, so width. I mean the a little bit more width because the the DCP for like if it's a scope format, it's gonna be 2048 by 800. Oh, is it by 800? Well, so if you have like a 2.35 or 239 kind of thing, like you're you're losing resolution because 2K is it's not a resolution, it's a container. So that would be 2048 by 1080. So it needs to fit within that. So if it's going to be if it's widescreen, it's not going to be wider than 2048. It can be shorter. It can be shorter.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Uh and that's like that's what everybody watches in theaters. Yes. You know, uh rarely, I don't think any uh I I don't know specifically which theaters anywhere have 4K projectors, but it's not a lot. You know, maybe IMAX, I think IMAX is is IMAX is a higher resolution.

SPEAKER_02

But what makes the most difference is not the resolution, it's usually quality of projection or the brightness levels, color production, the sound.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, like contrasts.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that's what's gonna help you most in the theater experience.

SPEAKER_03

Like we kind of touched on output, but I also want to talk about input because with digital there has come this new job, which is the DIT, yeah, digital intermediate technician. And they do a little color, they do like media management, though like a film loader and a colorist smash together, and also like a media manager, like a first AC uh not a first AC, um, an assistant editor all smashed together.

Organization, Stringouts, Versioning

SPEAKER_02

They it seems like it it's very much a changing job depending on the DP and the production. They're figuring it out. Yeah. Because it in a lot of ways, like they are part of the like the I think the union definition is like they're part of the camera crew, and it's most more so their job to like make sure exposure is good and that it's going into the camera, and they should know the tech, the codec, and like the camera stuff. And then they may be doing some media management, or they will have under them an assistant DIT or a a digital asset manager or something like that who is doing like the data wrangling stuff. Um, and some people don't use they don't, no, and they don't well specifically in the indie world, yeah. You know, like well, but uh also in the larger world. So I was talking with uh Steve Yedlin recently. Really? I met him, and he uh was saying that it's just not part of his process to use DIT.

SPEAKER_03

He's kind of his own DIT, you know.

SPEAKER_02

I mean he's I mean he is extraordinarily technical and very smart about image technology. Um so he has like his way of shooting things, and he doesn't need someone to like check exposure and the way it's being read. Like he's he's got his process. They're similar to off someone to offload media and stuff like that, but uh they're not like the imaging technician necessarily.

SPEAKER_03

He's probably offloading like binary code at this point, it's all just data, man. Um but I I I think just for the people who are making indie films, yeah. Uh when you offload footage from your card into a storage medium where you like, they'll just be like, oh, click and drag. And sure for some things you could do that, but I I think as you people continue, you know, making movies and and uh once you lose something during this weird process of clicking and dragging things, yeah, it like it hurts, it stings. And I think with Resolve, just to bring it back to Resolve, there's um a built-in clone tool, which is helpful for getting a card cloned onto a hard drive. Then there's like checksums in place, and like everything should be good because uh uh I sometimes I'll have people transfer footage to me through um uh Google Drive, and then I'm like referencing the the sizing. I'm like, no, no, no, the footage you sent me is like 28 megabytes. The footage I have is 35 megabytes. What's happening? Because there's compression happening. Right. And and with the clone tunnel, it doesn't, it's bit for bit, right?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, so uh that's what the checksum is for is like the uh checksum is just a process of making sure that what you copied is exactly the same as the original. And uh up until recently, I would have possibly uh mentioned there are other options, other apps to use that, but there was a new uh there's a new checksum type that's available in Resolve that is the fastest out there, the hash 64 uh thing, which is much faster than all of the other ones that have been there, and it's better quality. So pre like there are used to be like four or five options, and like they're one, it just checks are the files the same size, and others like then it's more in-depth, and it just took forever. Um, but now this new one is great. So clone tool, it does everything you need. Um, a lot of people like, yeah, just drag on Finder, and I've had no plenty of people who've done that, like it's been fine.

SPEAKER_03

I've done that too, but also, you know, but I don't trust it. Yeah, when you lose something, it's gone forever. You have to go back and find it, yeah. So to end, um Resolve, I think, is a really powerful tool. It's free. I don't know if the clone tool is available in the free version. I think it is, yeah, it might be. Um, but there's a couple of things missing for like high-end work. Yeah, people learn to use it, it's a really good piece of kit. And it also, just from as you learn the technical side of things, really make you think differently about how you're writing too. Because as I was editing, I was like, oh, that versioning that I I do in my writing, that I learned from editing. Yeah. Um, and then when you offload your footage from your cameras, don't click and drag.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Just save yourself the headache.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Well, we have one more episode. We'll talk a little bit about just a couple of things that I've had in my mind that I want your perspective on with the industry as a whole. Uh, but we'll save that for the final episode. So, Gadali, thank you for coming on. Thank you. And chatting with us. And uh, everyone else, thank you for listening. Thank you for listening to the Anywood Podcast. You can find us anywhere you find your podcasts or on YouTube on the Cinematography for Actors YouTube channel. See you next week.

SPEAKER_01

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SPEAKER_00

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