Help! Movie Re-Conform!

[churious]

I am doing the sound design for a film with 5 reels in Pro Tools HD 7.3.1. The film has been re-edited and they have added new scenes.... how do I re-conform my pro tools sessions to the new OMFs from the editor? Is there any other way to do this than manually move the audio regions? I have over 100 tracks of sound and this seems nearly impossible without a 3rd party program or plug in to conform the sessions to EDL's. I've tried the Titan 3 Demo but cant seem to get it work correctly.

Aaron

[Starcrash]

UPDATE: If you found this from a web search, I put an updated version of this that is hopefully more clear:
http://www.pascalgarneau.com/conform.html

Conforming to picture changes is a big part of being a sound editor. This is a skill you will need if you continue working in post, especially feature film. You might take the opportunity to learn this crucial skill and then once you've mastered it consider a software solution like Conformalizer or Virtual Katy to make life easier. Also, these programs use cutlists or EDLs which are generally easier to procure than change notes from an experience-challenged picture department

That said, did you get a change note? New picture and guide tracks? If you absolutely cannot get a good change note from the picture editor, then you've got a bit of trouble on your hands. There are tricks, but it's not pretty. I had to do one like that the other day. The change note was f'd.

Good note? Ok, here are a few tips free of charge:

Save your current version. Duh.

Save as "LOTR_R3_v1_FX_2conf" or whatever so you can go back if you screw it up along the way.

Make sure you have a good dialogue guide track. Don't import the new video and guide tracks yet. That will come in a minute.

Make sure all tracks are showing. Hidden tracks and playlists will NOT get conformed. Neither will markers (this is a whole other thread).

Select all tracks (including the movie) and greate a group called "Conform".

Import the new movie and guide tracks. Do NOT include them in the group.

Since you're in 7.3.1, you can have both movie tracks. Make sure you pay attention to which version is which and which is currently playing. Though I generally keep the new version playing, I like to preview the old movie before I make a cut so I know what they threw out.

Put the OLD and NEW guide tracks side by side, make them at least medium-size, and solo both. Soloing just the GTs makes it easier to listen for phase (sync).

Go into shuffle mode.

Save.

Save as "LOTR_R3_v2_FX_RawConf" or something like that.

Start the change note. For example:

105+02 to 107+02 ---- add 2+00 (lengthen tail)

Use the numeric keypad to locate to 105+02. Hit the "/" key three times and set the selection length to 2+00.

Insert silence (Cmd+Shft+E). All 100 of your tracks should splice and shuffle down stream by 2 feet from the selection point.

Place a marker so you can come back and heal the damage.

Play past the cut and listen for your guide tracks to play in phase with each other. Essentially your cutting your old guide track to match your new guide track. The rest of your grouped tracks are just going along for the ride. Watch how your cut up old guide track starts to match the new one visually.

Finish the rest of the note and save.

TURN OFF SHUFFLE MODE!

Go back through your markers and repair the damage.

If you're cutting dialogue, look for where you will have to insert new material from the new OMFs.

[cmaynes]

I also use Region Groups to aide in this- I will select all the existing material including the guidetracks into a single region group. This allows you to get back the cut whenever you like. Do not include the qt movie though.


Charles Maynes

[Stuart P.]

Starcrash, that was a fantastic post. Kudos to you.

[Starcrash]

I also use Region Groups to aide in this

Yep. Region groups are great because you can pull out the handles and recoup lost regions. It sort of feels like conforming predubs.

Do not include the qt movie though.

Why? Is that what's causing the sluggishness? Or, is it a sync issue if the grid boundaries don't match the movie frame boundaries? Do region groups behave differently than edit groups in this regard?

[Starcrash]

Starcrash, that was a fantastic post. Kudos to you.

What could be more fun on a Saturday night?

Wait...don't answer that.

[pat yacono]

Yep. Region groups are great because you can pull out the handles and recoup lost regions. It sort of feels like conforming predubs.

Why? Is that what's causing the sluggishness? Or, is it a sync issue if the grid boundaries don't match the movie frame boundaries? Do region groups behave differently than edit groups in this regard?

I think what he was saying is to not include the new QT in the region group, so you are not cutting picture during the conform.

Great post Starcrash.

[Filzlaus]

As you have mentioned receiving an omf from the editor, I would recommend importing both the old and new omf into your 'conform' session. I would then place the dialog tracks of the omf (usually the first few tracks with most pic. editors) next to one another and make the old omf as part of your conform group with all of your edit tracks and the old guide tracks.

I find it easier to spot the difference between changes in the omf rather than a single dialog track as sometimes these get played out analog by the picture dept. at vastly different levels making it difficult to spot the 'sameness' between them.

As you can find from the above posts we all have our individual techniques but I'm sure we all agree how important it is to have the skill to manually do a conform.

I myself try to have CNA/ Virtual Katy do the conform on my tracks from AVID change notes but even in the most successful cases there will be minor tweaks and the same manual conform techniques come into play to fix the conform.