Editing advise/opinions...

[armisiano]

In the next month or so I'm going to start editing my first big 7D shot project. In your opinion, based on experience, (having recorded audio separately from the camera) is it better to go through the video clips and find the take I like visually and THEN sync up the audio for that take, or sync the audio up to all the clips/takes first and THEN make my choice?
I'm thinking the latter would be smarter, but the former would probably save me some time. What do you think?

[Jordan Scott Price]

The former:

Is this a narrative project? Do you have a script supervisor? If you do, the script sup will take notes regarding how each shot went: Was the sound good? Was it a bad move for camera? Was it an early cut? False roll for camera? Great for sound? Lavs are picking up an airplane, etc.

With these notes, you can find all the clips you like and make a very rough cut based on picture, referencing the notes not only for the good takes but also which takes were the best for sound. If your shoot went well, your last takes of a shot will typically be where the notes say "good for camera" and "good for sound." You'll have the 7D's on-board audio for a scratch track so you won't be cutting deaf, too.

The latter would take a very long time, especially if the project is more than a couple pages, has multiple locations, multiple actors, and/or you are doing double-system sound.

[nicksnow]

FORMER!

With my experience, the good take will really jump out at you during the edit, regardless of if you've synced up crystal clear sound yet. Determine your good takes with rough audio then sync! But! that's not to say that you should try to get a rough cut with just camera audio then try to sync. The process should be: determine good takes > Sync > Cut

[nicksnow]

And I ADVISE you to spell ADVICE with a "C"