What gets imported from a camera into the editor?

[mst]

I don't have a (digital) camera and I was curious as to what exactly is going on when a serious, feature length movie's shooting phase is over. More to the point:-What is the standard/usual format in which the source material (from the camera) gets imported into the digital editor? Video (avi, mpeg, etc.) or frame sequences?

[redwudz]

This first link covers just the cinematography used for feature films these days: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_cinematography

The second is more of a ad for Adobe, but does have some information about editing.
https://www.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/products/premiere/cs6/pdfs/adobe-premiere-p...kflowguide.pdf

I know that's not exactly what you are looking for, and some of our experts can probably answer your questions better.

[poisondeathray]

Depends how "serious" and the budget range you're referring to

For non film, digital acquistion - serious (Hollywood) features usually record in some form of raw (ArriRaw for the Alexa, Sony Raw for F65, Redcode for the Red Epic) . Nothing like "AVI or MPEG" are used in this price range, but occasionally 16bit DPX or CinemaDNG's are used (uncompressed image sequences, usually shot in Log)

For scenarios that require faster turnover, and mid-lower budget features - usually some form of prores or dnxhd is used (these cameras and external recorders have multiple recording options) . These are easier/faster to edit than Raw (which require more processing power , debayering), much lower storage requirements

For low budget, "Indy" type features, native recordings are usually something like AVCHD , XDCAM and are imported directly into the editor

[budwzr]

There are three camps, Hollywood, Broadcast, and consumer. Broadcast and consumer are closer together because they both use "HDTV" specs.

HDTV is mostly 1080 resolution, half the resolution of what film ends up. However, 4K resolution for HDTV is approaching. That's going to change Broadcast into a whole new level.

Today's consumer cameras have hit the limit in terms of features for a given price point. So if you buy something at the upper end, you're at the pinnacle of 1080 recording.

Any of the top names will serve you well for 2-5 years.

They all use their own flavor of codecs, but that doesn't matter because your NLE will accept most all of them.

The only time you capture frame sequences would be for a time lapse or animation. Or you're using film. But film is analog and can't be transferred to digital without expensive equipment.

Today, as opposed to 10-15 years ago, most of the look of a final production is done in post. Your ability in post production is the most desirable skill to have, next to directing. The Director and Editor become very close at the end and that's where the final product is hammered out.

Ooops, I went off the deep end.

[mst]

serious (Hollywood) features usually record in some form of raw

I've read on the RAW format and I need to be sure what it is: an image format or a video one? After recording, do I get file001.raw, file002.raw (image sequence) etc. or a video file?

Thanks for answering.

[poisondeathray]

It depends on the camera. Most video raw recorders are large files, not single image sequences. Once they have been pre processed, debayered, then the common format is usually an image sequence for farther editing and processing (e.g. 32bit openEXR esp. for FX heavy productions, or 16bit TIFF , or 16bit DPX) . But some cameras record to image raw CinemaDNG (these are individual raw frames, so an image sequence)

[mst]

Once they have been pre processed, debayered, then the common format is usually an image sequence for farther editing and processing

Which type of software does the conversion to image sequence (the editing software, color-correction/grading, After Effects etc.)?

[smrpix]

Which type of software does the conversion to image sequence (the editing software, color-correction/grading, After Effects etc.)?

There are many, many, many different workflows. At the pro level, pretty much every NLE, Color Grader or Effects software is capable of imorting and exporting image sequences.

Red, Avid, Premiere, Resolve, Arri, Sony, Smoke -- go to any of their websites and you will find different ways to do it.

[poisondeathray]

Once they have been pre processed, debayered, then the common format is usually an image sequence for farther editing and processing

Which type of software does the conversion to image sequence (the editing software, color-correction/grading, After Effects etc.)?

It depends on the workflow and what type of feature;

Usually either the proprietary raw software (which have debayering along with several other functions), or AE, or Resolve . Most major NLE's have native support for the commonly used raw formats like redcode

Note , once you're out of the various raw formats, your options are much more limited (raw allows you almost "infinite" flexibility, but the more processing is applied, the more things are "baked" in reducing flexibility)

(also not all "raw" formats are truly "raw" ; some are actually compressed raw, or have some processing applied. The term "raw" is supposed to denote pure unadulterated sensor data)