Negative starting timecode?

Hey folks - first time poster

In FCP7 I used to set the default start timecode to -00:00:53:00. This would allow space for a 5-second slate, 2 seconds of black, then program to being at 00:00:00:00.

I had hoped that the update would allow this, but it doesn't seem to like me entering a negative start point.

It's not a HUGE deal (It's only for internal use, so we can just go with 10:00:53:00 or something) but it seems like it should be there, so I'm wondering if I'm missing something obvious.

Broadcasters usually require programme start timecode to be 10:00:00:00
Bars and tone and slate info start at 09:58:00:00. I would set my timecode
to 09:59:53:00 for the programme to start at 10 hours timecode.
Much easier to calculate the current duration of your edit by playhead
position using the timecode dashboard (that's what Apple call it!)

Heya, thanks for the reply

We're doing broadcast work, but in 15 and 30 second pieces (aaah! TVCs!) Our deliveries are submitted online by uploading a JPG clapper and an MPEG2 file, so the timecode is only really for internal use. The 7 seconds clapper/slate at the head are generally just for our own archives as well as for client approval files.

To that end, starting program at 10:00:00:00 works fine - as you say, it's primarily so there's a quick visual reference as to your position/duration, and I don't imagine we'll be making use of the "hours" portion of the timecode in our little corner of the industry

Looks like another one of those "missing features" which I didn't really need anyway... I'm finding a few of those

Cheers,
Nick

Fill out the feedback page, Apple really does read and track those. I occasionally need negative TC to start, too.

You dont enter a negative value. the zero point as far as timecode goes is 01:00:00:00 so there for if you need to start picture at 0 or at 8 seconds use a 00 value. For example I have a 15 sec slate and I have 8sec Academy Leaders. So to make the leaders start at 01:00:00:00 and picture at 01:00:08:00 I set starting time code to 00:59:45:00 that compensates 15 sec for the slate. If you dont have leaders but need to start picture at the standard 01:00:08:00 just compensate as such...........

Trivia for the day...

Way back when "film" was done on celluloid strips, and editing was the physical process of cutting up negatives and splicing them together, "Edit Decision Lists" were written up by the Editor, so the Negative Cutter could "Assembly" the final product properly. It was a very time consuming job and had to be done very precisely the first time.

If an EDL started at 00:00:00:00 timecode, nothing could ever be inserted. If so, everything after it had to be shoved down the EDL later, and the negative cutting would be off.

Thus, the early film makers devised an Industry Standard Practice to being all EDL's at one hour. Because no one in their right mind would ever put that much extra material into a film.

Thus, why we still use the one hour origin mark. So then you can insert material to TC that fall before the hour mark.

Broadcast pretty much followed suite as they came from film editors, and tape, although not quite as TC fragile as film, still was easier to physically manage that way.

Today, most broadcasters I work with don't care, because it's all digital files, and timecode really doesn't matter so much, except for knowing durations, and when to cut to commercials.

The fact is, any digital editing and digital delivery process has no need for when TC starts, honestly. Everything can start at 00:00:00;00 now because with an NLE, timecodes readjust on the fly automatically. Yet some old schoolers and those who don't know the origin of the out-dated tradition of the one hour origin mark fight to stick to using it, just because it's old and familiar. Not that it's physically necessary.