1.5

If you don’t already have a Cinema Tools database tracking your film media, you can easily
create one. To create a Cinema Tools database from one or more directories of DPX or
Cineon image sequences, simply drag all of the enclosing directories onto the Cinema Tools
application icon, and a database is generated automatically. If necessary, you can use the
Cinema Tools interface to check the reel numbers and timecode values of each shot,
correcting any problems you find.
Afterward, when you’re conforming an EDL to DPX or Cineon media in Color, you can
choose the Cinema Tools database as your source directory in the EDL Import Settings
window. (See Importing EDLs for more information.) This way, your updated reel numbers
and timecode values will be used to link your Color project to the correct source media.
For more information on creating Cinema Tools databases from DPX or Cineon media,
see the Cinema Tools documentation.
Note: Changing information in a Cinema Tools database does nothing to alter the source
media files on disk.
Parsing EDLs for Digital Intermediate Conforms
This section explains how Color makes the correspondence between the timecode values
in an EDL and the frame numbers used in the timecode header or filename of individual
image sequence frames.
Here's a sample line from an EDL:
001 004 V C 04:34:53:04 04:35:03:04 00:59:30:00 00:59:40:00
In every EDL, the information is divided up into eight columns:
• The first column contains the edit number. This is the first edit in the EDL, so it is labeled
001.
• The second column contains the reel number, 004. This is what the directory that
contains all of the scanned DPX or Cineon image files from camera roll 004 should be
named.
• The next two columns contain video/audio track and edit information that, while used
by Color to assemble the program, isn't germane to conforming the media.
The last four columns contain timecode—they're pairs of In and Out points.
• The first pair of timecode values are the In and Out points of the original source media
(usually the telecined tape in ordinary online editing). In a digital intermediate workflow,
this is used for naming and identifying the scanned frames that are output from the
datacine.
• The second pair of In and Out points identifies that shot's position in the edited program.
These are used to place the media in its proper location on the Timeline.
75Chapter 2 Color Correction Workflows