Cyberlink PD13 is absolutely FANTASTIC for the editing of my 1960s celluloid film. It's a 'trek' but it has wonderful results: Here's a snippet of mine (about 5mins long, that you can see what I mean, what I do with cyberlink pd13. I have cut this down and joined bits together so you can see a variety of sequences, (it's not all this disjointed!) the original is about 40 minutes long, and I have 5 of them so far!!)
https://youtu.be/cR4X5wJys5A
I've been doing my own transferring of 1960s standard 8mm and super 8mm film to video for about 2 years now. I ahve had wonderful ideas come from this forum, and I thought some people might like to know how to do it - this is my system, I know you all might have different ways of doing it, but this works for me.
So, here's what I do.
1. I have a digital camcorder. I use either my Panasonic Tm900, or a Sony pj760 handicam. They take High definition digital files with the .m2ts format. (incase you care about that??!) I have found this the easiest as some of my recipients don't have bluray so I make them dvds. AVCHD can be made into either dvd or blu ray, and looks great on a hd tv or pc.
2. The projector: MUST have a speed adjustment knob, otherwise you'll get the horizontal black 'flickering' bars due to the frame rate being slightly different, therefore frames get caught in the 'video' instead of being optically ignored.
3.I set up my projector on a table with the camcorder directly underneath it. With the camcorder and projection going, I make sure the camcorder is not making a shadow in the picture, however it can't be too far below the projector else a keystone effect will be visible.
4. I focus my camera on the screen, which is about 2ft away, and it's easiest (someone recently told me) to focus on some print or text on the screen with manual focus, prior to recording then leave it on that setting.
5. I fill the camcorcder screen to about 80% with the projected picture, leaving some black areas around the picture, this means I'm definitely capturing the whole projection, it also looks better ultimately due to different screens sizes - your film is 4:3, your tv is probably 16:9. by leaving black edges you can easily make it look nice in CLPD13.
6. turn the lights out, but leave a dimmed light on, both to reduce contrast, and also so you can see what you're doing! make sure there's no shadow on your screen. Test the projection, looking THROUGH the digital camcorder, to make sure there are no 'frames', flickering. If you can see them, adjust the projector's speed until you can't see the frames.
7. go! record the whole reel, No need to stop.
8. While you're recording, if you have more than one reel, 'announce' the name of the reel, (to your camcorder) and date etc, at the start, so that if you don't have time to edit it immediately, you won't forget which reel is which as the sound of your announcement will be on the recording. I sometimes also 'announce' places and people, if I remember them. This might be important to someone later, if they ever use the original files you're taking.
9. Obviously import it to CPD13 however you usually do it.
...here's where I have my own system.
10. The first thing I do is listen to my announcement of reel name, and name the Project in CPD13.
11. Next I uncheck the 'sound' in track one, so that the projector sound is gone.
12. Next, if there is any major adjustment to colour, I do that to the whole big clip, before I start carving it up. If your camcorder is good, it probably doesn't need it.
13. The big one, ...next I put a 'mask', I like the rectangular one, over the projection's edges because I don't like the fuzzy edges. you have to uncheck the 'aspect ratio' so you can drag the edges perfectly to the right spot. This tidies up the projections edges, and makes them nice and sharp. It makes it look better then, if you add captions or effects.
14. NOW I'm in the position where all the 'whole' clip edits are done, and I can carve up.
15. First I play it 'fast forward' and split and cut out all the obvious wrong bits, feet, etc....
16. Then I start at the start, put in a title and introduce it.
I keep playing the video and split and cut bits out, add in some captions on certain pages using the Title library, and add in any effects, pips, or other things I want.
17. I often make a split between scenes, and add things like a nice transition when the subject matter changes. It also helps when the film sort of 'reddens' or fades between scenes as it tends to do with age. You can delete these. I add titles to christmases, and birthdays, and important things like big holidays or 'first day of school etc'.
18. Lastly I sometimes put credits at the end, to acknowledge my dad, the cameraman, say where the locations were etc.
19. Then I go back to the beginning. I ad in music to match with each section...using audio transitions where needed, or...if the sequence is shorter than the music, I often just fade it off and start up another piece of music to match with the next clip. The music goes from the title page to the credits, I try to research instrumentals that match the era and feeling of the movie, and I always think MAKES the video.
20. It's really important to then save your work, many times, as different incarnations of the project 'a, b, c, etc.', so that if something goes wrong, you can always go back to the last time it worked properly. Then, at the end, when you've produced your video and happy with it as finished, 'pack the project' into a folder and export it somewhere safe, incase you change your mind about something later. I learned that too, on this forum....this forum is fantastic.
Anyway, that's my system. It's fun!!!
Most of the people here already know most of this, but I thought...after a couple of years of testing and trying, and tricks and tips, others may get use out of this 'how to.'
Jenny
Jenny