9.0

198
Gathering Format Elements
While organizing your project, you can gather various format ele-
ments into a single bin that you can open and use later during editing.
Some useful format elements might be:
• Bars and tone
• Head and tail leader
• Repeated titles
• Countdowns or SMPTE
• Graphic elements (repeated animations, and so forth)
This section describes techniques for creating digital bars and tone, as
well as leader clips for use in sequences. For information on creating
or importing graphic elements and titles, see the Avid Media Composer
and Film Composer Effects Guide.
Preparing Digital Bars and Tone
If you expect to output your final sequence as a digital cut that
requires calibration before playback (a digital cut that will be broad-
cast, for example), then in most cases you need a clip of color bars. You
can add the clip to the front of the sequence, or you can output the clip
separately as an assemble or insert edit onto tape during recording of a
digital cut.
There are several ways to acquire a clip of bars, each with different
advantages:
• Digitize bars and tone from a house generator. This method
requires the least effort with good results because you capture
high-quality bars and tone simultaneously, with a minimum of
calibration. Not all facilities, however, have a house generator.