In Protools LE, how Do I Work With QuickTime Video if I Don’t Have a Time Code Ruler? How Do I Set Up My QuickTime Movie in the Session?

You can import your QT Movie into Pro Tools LE, and move it to start on a specific Bar|Beat, Minutes/Seconds or Sample location. Pro Tools LE does not support QuickTime video capture. Instead, you must use a third-party application (such as Adobe Premiere). The Pro Tools Reference Guide contains several tips about this, but briefly, you’ll want to “conform” your Movie to match the SMPTE frame rate for your session, and make sure you don’t have any “dropped frames.” Choose a resolution that won’t overly tax your system. If the picture looks great, and you can’t run many tracks, do any mixing, or add effects, you won’t be happy…
Once you’re set, you can import the QuickTime Movie. Make sure that when you export it from your video application that you trim the Movie start to a logical (and known) start time. This is common if you have a “window burn” that shows a time code location on the picture, or a “2 pop” or Academy leader on your video, which allows you to set up sync easily between sound and picture. Then you can have the Movie start right at a certain Bar|Beat location, or at an even minute or second boundary by using Grid or Spot.
Am I Missing Anything?
Having a SMPTE Time Code ruler is a nice convenience, but in practice, it doesn’t afford greater (or any) accuracy in placing your QT movie against your audio or MIDI data. In the case of locating your QT Movie in your session, the only thing that a SMPTE ruler gives you is the ability to exactly match the location of a conformed QT movie’s window against an identical SMPTE reference location in a PT session. On a practical basis, this is not necessary. Cut your QT Movie on a “normal” frame boundary (like the academy leader count down at the start, or a “two pop” [2 beeps that occur 2 seconds before picture start ]). Or, anywhere you want. Then place the Movie at the point in real time minutes/seconds or musical time (bars|beats) that you want the picture to start at. That might be at the very beginning of your session, or a little ways in. Make sure that you place your Movie using Grid or Spot (either minutes/seconds or bars/beats) so that the Movie’s start time is exactly referenced to your working “time scale.”
Practically, many people get QT movies delivered to them that do not contain a window burn with time code. Provided that the movie is captured at high enough quality, you can get 30/60 field performance (conformed) with a capture card like Miro or Aurora Fuse. In post work, people generally start at even time marks, so you don’t have to worry about having a Movie start at a subframe location.
The Movie as “Master”
Alternatively, you can place your Movie at the head of the session, and set up a Bar|Beat “point of origin” so that Bar 1, Beat 1 lines up to the start of picture by using Edit>Identify Beat. This allows you to use the Movie as “Master,” and everything before your start time is a negative “count down” bar. If your Movie is conformed, and you have it start at an even second boundary, you can easily move along the timeline of your Movie when you’re in Minutes/Seconds Grid mode.
What About “Laying Back” My Audio to QuickTime Video?
Once you’re done with your session, you can “lay back” to a QuickTime Movie by using the “Bounce to Movie” feature from the Movie menu. Or, you can work the your favorite video application to do more editing work in the video domain. Just bounce down your audio as a “flattened file,” then import it into your video app. Make sure that there is audio from the “beginning of time” (or where ever you want to place it). You can use a “reference 2 pop” at the audio start to line up with the picture within your video editing application.

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