Keep Your Time Code Continuous--Or You'll Be Sorry
By Bill Pryor

All nonlinear editing systems like continuous time code for capturing video. They get upset when there are time code breaks. Perhaps they sense the emotional state of the editor, because editors get very upset when there are time code breaks. Video cameras don't like time code breaks either.

During capture what typically happens is that the NLE bails out, displays a time code break error message, and if you're using your camera for a deck, it will either stop playing, or more likely, keep on playing until the end of the tape is reached. If you're using FCP, it often thinks the tape is at the end, even if it's not, when there's a time code break.

This is why one of the basic rules of professional video production is: Do Not Have Time Code Breaks!

In years past only experienced professionals shot professional video. When the VX1000 was introduced in the mid-late '90s, everything changed. Some call it the democratization of video production. Others say there are a lot of amateurs running around who know enough to be dangerous. Both are correct, I think.

Some of the very basic things that are second nature to a professional may be procedures that a novice has never been told. If you didn't have an engineer or more experienced cameraman to yell at you and call you a dummy when you were learning, you may never have been exposed to the basics.

One of those basics is to always put 30 seconds of bars/tone at the head of every tape. In my 16mm film days we put 10 feet of rundown at the head of every 400' roll. In film production the rundown was to go past the light leaks from threading the film from magazine to camera. Also, most of the dirt in a roll of film is usually at the head.

In video, the dirt is also usually at the head, although these days you rarely see any. The reason for the bars and tone is so the editor can set his vectorscope and waveform, and audio outputs of the deck. With more and more people editing on DV systems that use firewire, there's no setup to do--what comes into the system is exactly what's on the tape. You adjust video and audio levels after the fact.

However, the old habit should still be followed. A minute or half minute of rundown at the head of the tape will do two things for you: 1, it gets you past where most of the dirt seems to hang out, and equally importantly, 2., it keeps you from starting a valuable shot right at the head of the tape. It is difficult to capture a shot that starts at the head of the tape. The only way to do it is manually--tell the NLE it's dealing with a non-controllable source, ignore the time code, hit capture now, then hit play on the deck, and you might get most of the shot. Some NLEs allow you to do this more easily than others. FCP does not allow you to do it with HDV footage but does with DV.

Rundown at the head of the tape is basic and necessary. So is rundown at the tail of a scene. I always put 5-10 seconds of rundown at the tail of most shots, and definitely at the end of a complete scene. Normally I flip on the bars for rundown because it makes the end easy to spot when shuttling, but recording a few seconds of black, or anything, is good.

Tail rundown, like head rundown, accomplishes two things: 1., if you remove the tape, it's good to do it in rundown, rather than in a good part of the take, in order to avoid damage. Although mechanical problems are rare today with decks and cameras, when they have occurred in my past, it's generally been when the mechanism was releasing tension in order to eject the tape. And 2., rundown at the tail of a shot makes it easier to avoid time code breaks, which is the original point of this article.

If you rewind a tape to watch a take and don't use the go-to-end button but instead fast forward to the end and recue manually, there's a good chance you'll have a time code break if you try to get right to the last frame of your good shot. With some rundown you have a few seconds to play with--you don't have to worry about going to the very end. The camera will pick up the time code where you stop and life will be good.

Also, if you take the tape out and put it back in, your go-to function won't work. That's when you will wish you had put a few seconds of tail on the shot. If you've finished shooting for the day but know you'll use the tape you've removed again the next day, it's a good idea to put more than 10 seconds of rundown before removing it. Tape is cheap, and professional DV/DVCAM and HDV cassettes always give you 63 minutes on a 60 minute tape so you have the extra time for these things yet can still get an hour's worth of shooting on the tape.

A third procedure professionals follow is give the camera plenty of time to get up to speed at the head of every shot. This means a little rundown at the head of every shot too. If your camera goes into a save mode it may take 2 or 3 seconds or more to get ready to record. Even in standby mode, there may be up to a second before recording begins.

 So: 

1. 30 seconds or more at the head of every tape
2. Rundown at the head of every shot
3. More rundown at the tail of every shot.
4. Avoid time code breaks

And here's a fifth one: Hold the shot for a few seconds at the head and the tail of every zoom. That's so the editor can cut out the zoom and just use the long shot or the closeup, or maybe both. In most cases, you don't want to use a zoom, except for a special effect.

For every rule in production, there is usually a situation wherein the rule may be violated. The only one of the above I consider sacred to the point where I'll go out on a limb and say never ever violate it, is: Avoid Time Code Breaks. If you have time code breaks in your tape, you will pay for your carelessness, eventually.