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In feature film shooting, AatonCode time-marking allows for greater speed on set, maximizing takes rather than time between them. In mutiple camera shoots, studio or location, it lets cameras run independently from one another without referring to a common slate mark, saving large amounts of film stock. By eliminating the clap disturbance, AatonCode also tremendously benefits documentary-style cinematography.
The savings are not only in raw stock and processing, but also include transfer costs. Ask the post-facility to transfer your films on an InstantSync Keylink equipped telecine. Your editors will start with full sets of synchronized dailies sooner.
Before the first day of shooting, make sure your camera crew runs a few test-shots. Have them transferred to video with audio-sync: this will provide a test for the many technicians involved in the timecode chain. This form of insurance is the most reliable one around: don't go without it.
Remind the crew to identify the silent takes by filming a "no sound" card, and to record wild sounds on a specific cassette. These two precautions will save a lot of time during the film-to-video transfers, as the colorist will not waste time looking for non-existent sync sounds in the audio box pile.
The disappearance of the slate will make your cinematography more intimate in documentary style situations; thanks to InstantSync, the machines can start and stop based on your discreet signals to the cameraman and sound engineer.
Shoot with two (or more) cameras in total freedom. The disappearance of the slate allows camera A to roll without getting in the way of camera B; this saves a substantial amount of crew time... and raw stock.
In Europe it is advisable to shoot at 24 instead of 25fps; this makes your films compatible with the world standard. Esthetically speaking, it is fitting that a film shot at 24fps be slightly accelerated by 25fps video presentation: the small screen seems to call for this degree of acceleration. A fringe benefit is the 4% economy on the rawstock and processing budget.
Ask your transfer facility to deliver you a floppy disk copy of the Keylink ATN-2 database with the video rushes. This list will give you a very clear view of all film and video related events, plus your 18% grey card exposure values (see Greyfinder illustration).
Whenever you remove the magazine, check the AatonCode recording head on the gate: with the camera in"test" position the seven twinkling dots should be evenly brilliant, no dust particle should cover any of them. This is a major peace of mind feature of Aaton cameras: they record timecode in a visible part of the film path.
If you are using an XTR camera* which has not run for several days, plug a battery on board one hour before shooting; this will charge up the buffer battery which keeps the clock running during battery change. This rule does not apply to XTRplus or XTRprod since they are equipped with a capacitor power buffer. *XTR owners, ask your agent for the v.3.4 XTRplus upgrade which eliminates this procedure and adds other timecode benefits to your camera.
A battery which is too low to run the camera still has enough energy to drive its clock for two hours, so do not disconnect the "dead" battery until you have a fresh one in hand. You have a full two minutes to make the exchange. Afterwards check that the LCD display is counting and the green diode flashing at one second intervals (if not, reinitialize the camera with OriginC+).
AatonCode is quite tolerant of under- and overexposure; the ISO setting of the camera should nonetheless be set to the rating of the film stock being used. If for example time matrixes are burned into a 500 ISO film with a light intensity set for 50 ISO on the camera , they could be difficult to decipher when read during transfer. Should this occur, just ask the transfer facility to rely upon the clear time which is printed every second, a big AatonCode ‘code & clear’ advantage over simple barcode systems. Most B&W emulsions are not very sensitive to the red time recording LEDs; so make a test before shooting the real thing!
Every two years, have an Aaton agent recalibrate the 1 ppm setting of the camera clock. For sync-sound tests, shoot a tennis ball being bounced off a wall.
To shoot at 24fps under HMIs, adjust the XTRprodshutter to its 172.8 degree position. This eliminates flicker at both 25 and 24fps. If in the middle of a 24fps shoot you have to switch to 25, warn the sound engineer to set the Nagra to Smpte25 while you are shooting at that speed. This doesn't apply to InstantSync transfers as the system is timecode rate independent.
In order to take advantage of Keylink’s Greyfinder feature, shoot an 18% greycard at the beginning of the roll; Keylink will burn RGB exposure values into the images and into the ATN lists. (Ask for the Aaton Keylink brochure)
Identify your MOS takes by filming a ‘no sound’ card as a sign for the telecine operator. In the same vein, ask the sound engineer to record all wild sounds on a single cassette. These two precautions will save a lot of time during the film-to-video transfers, as the colorist will not waste his time looking for non-existent sync sounds.
(in charge of timecode initialization)
Do not enter the same date two days running on your master clock: this would result in film images and audio tracks of two different days bearing identical time addresses: automatic syncing would be impossible.
With OriginC+, make sure the drift between all timebased equipment is under half a frame after five hours. The OriginC+ display should show «good». Do not hesitate to resync (re-initialize) cameras and recorders on the set every three hours: many Nagra and DAT audio recorders may drift after a couple of hours if they are not Aaton GMT-s controlled. (see GMT-s, end of sound engineer section)
Try to avoid direct Smpte jam-sync initialization of cameras from the audio recorder Smpte output. Although it is possible to initialize the camera this way, there is no means of guarding against a possible time shift or invalid date entries. It is a nightmare to sync sounds which do not carry the correct date (not to mention no dates at all!). For failsafe operation, use OriginC+ which prevents incorrect entries, verifies initialization, and monitors drift.
In SMPTE initialization mode, OriginC+ can set Arri SR3 and 535 cameras as well as Panavision, Moviecam and Aaton cameras.
To be sure the telecine operator gets the Script supervisor comments, enter them into an Aaton ScriptLink laptop. Send them (via floppy disk) to Keylink, which will insert them into the virtual slate burned on the first images of the take and into the transfer database.
In the U.S. and other 60Hz areas, and with a camera running at 24fps, select Smpte 30, the most common frequency used in audio sweetening suites. But if the film is to be transferred both in NTSC and PAL, it is easier for the telecine operator to get an SMPTE 24 out of the DAT or Nagra recorder. If the film camera runs at 23.98 fps (because TV monitors appear in the frame or because the NTSC color video assist calls for this speed), select Smpte 29.97 drop frame. In 50Hz areas, set your recorder on Ebu25 if the camera is running at 25fps, and on Smpte24 for 24fps. This ensures failsafe transfers to both video and fullcoat. This recommendation doesn’t apply to InstantSync, which is frame rate independent.
Write the ready-to-roll time (day, hour, minute) on the sound box at the moment you load the tape on the recorder. With this r-to-r time, Keylink will tell the telecine operator which sound box corresponds to the negative it is running and save him the time of hunting for the right box. The few seconds it takes to write down the ready-to-roll will tremendously help the post-production people in charge of handling and syncing audio tapes.
Time-recording should not prevent you from writing a sound report. Write the camera roll ID numbers in their shooting order on your audio report The facility will sort the film rolls before transfer, this will save a lot of time.
Do not forget to record your wild sounds on a separate cassette. Even if a DAT cassette is not entirely recorded, it is advisable to change the cassette every morning in order to simplify the post-facility work.
In playback situations, connect ScriptLink to your recorder Smpte playback output; it will correlate it to the shooting real time. This makes it possible to sync successive shoots to the same sound every time it is played back. Be it in video or film, ScriptLink is the only unit that provides this Aaton patented feature.
Unless the Aaton InstantSync system is used for post, start your recorder five seconds before the camera. This helps the chasing tape machine reach sync speed at the take start at the end of the telecine preroll.
The Fostex PD-4 and Nagra IV accept time from an Aaton OriginC+ masterclock in Smpte mode. Verification from OriginC+ will show «good» for the full message including the date. Since some Fostex and Nagra recorders do not feature ultra stable 1ppm internal clocks, you must resync them every other hour. (See GMT-s below). The latest HHB DAT recorders feature 1ppm clocks, and are stable for at least five hours.
The Aaton GMT-s, a miniature 1ppm Smpte generator, brings ultra stable timecode to all audio recorders. It is used to provide permanent ans accurate timecode for professional DATs which are not stable enough, and as a SMPTE source to be recorded on one of the two audio channels of consumer DATs.
The Aaton XTRprod and Aaton 35III cameras feature a color video- tap which record the time of the film camera in both VITC lines and burned-in windows. The AatonCode VITC line can be read later by the PostSync option of an Aaton indaw digital recorder which on-the-fly syncs the video-assist images and the sound recorded on a Syjet cartridge.
This allows you to show video-assist-talkies to the director without the bother of cable or RF transmitter between your VTR and the sound engineer‘s moving recorder during the shoot.
A color video-tap being power hungry, switch it off as soon as it is not in use. If for any reason you must change the camera battery, please follow the rules (A battery which is too low to run...) found in the “camera operator” section of this leaflet.
With its 20 millisecond sync time (as against 1 to 5 seconds in all other systems), the Keylink InstantSync option eliminates the sound void at the take head during one-light AatonCode transfers. No more audio prerolls in supervised tranfers too! InstantSync doing all the sound seeking and syncing, the time wasted syncing the sound on the telecine itself totally disappears.
A time and cost-effective way to edit a film shot at 24fps is to transfer it on a telecine running at 25fps: this provides a frame-for-frame, 4% accelerated tape. Avid and Lightworks NLEs can digitize and play both the images and sounds at their original film speed of 24fps. For those who desire to edit on a PAL25 system respecting real time, the 24+1 transfer method may be used: the telecine creates one extra image per second (three video fields out of film images #12 and #24) and Keylink frame-accuratly identify the duplicated fields for the editing system to take care of them when generating negative cutting lists.
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