I LOVE VEGAS! how I am handling editing my first film on vegas with mxf files

Deuceofspades

Deuceofspades

Veteran
This is exciting. I am now done filming my official first short film "THE BENCH" and I am in the editing stage. All the footage was shot with HVX200, so I have mxf files and I am using raylight with vegas 8.2 (latest update) on a PC with very fast dual core processor, fast SATA drive and LOTS of RAM.

I have 21 scenes in my short (it actually may exceed 40 min and be a "full" feature in the end).

I have created a folder for each scene and a vegas project for each scene/folder.

Each scene is edited as a stand alone.

I then started a "THE BENCH" project, in which I edit the whole film, importing each scene project into the timeline. Everything is working smoothly. No bugs, no hang ups, real time editing and viewing in full high def mode. I have not had to shut down and restart once so far.

I am able to view on full monitor mode, blue mode, real time, for a "real movie, where's the popcorn" feel.

Sometimes I have 3 vegas open at the same time, and everything is working perfect. I created a vegas project for outtakes that stays minimized and I paste clips into that timeline everytime I find an outtake in a vegas project I am editing. Convenient.

The mxf files are a pleasure to work with. It is SOOO easy I never want to go back to tape (ever). The trick is knowing how to organize yourself from DAY ONE, otherwise you will be in HELL. Cause you know you can't see them and their names make NO SENSE WHAT SO EVER to anyone mortal... And I hear that even the Gods are confused with them on occasion ;),,,

So I thought I'd share here how I am organizing my mxf files to make it easy and functional and this system is working wonderfully well. It is also super simple and requires no software.

So here it is:


1. I film, using 2 P2 cards. one 16G and a brand new 32G ($1600 OUCH, I am still bleeding from every orifice!)

2. no more need to dowload footage in the middle of a shoot. Sweet...

3. Come home download footage onto PC.

4. Created a folder on hard drive named THE BENCH (short title)

5. inside folder created a folder for each scene (SCENE 1, SCENE2, etc..)

6. Say for ex I am filming Scene 1. When downloading footage filmed I place CONTENT and the LAST CLIP file inside the SCENE1 folder.

7. Open Vegas, open the VIDEO folder inside CONTENT folder inside SCENE1 folder and import all the clips with Raylight into project.

8. Paste all of them in timeline, takes 1 sec. Save this project inside the same SCENE1 folder as "scene1 contents" this way I can see at a glance what I had filmed that day.

8. I then take a few screengrabs and save them as images in that same SCENE1 folder.

Now when I look at my THE BENCH folder and open it, I see my SCENE folders as large thumbnails and tiny pictures of the footage inside each folder , which helps me remember which scene is which.

Then I go edit, using the Scene1 contents project as a starting point and saving edits as "scene1 edit1 / edit2 etc..." as many times as I make editing changes.

Done deal. Everything is organized nicely and I don't worry about any other applications or anything, P2 viewer or anything else for that matter.

I do one last thing: Back everything up onto another drive, just in case.

Maybe this is a simplistic approach but it is working mighty nicely for me so far and I know where everything is and what everything is.

I just thought I'd share it here. For what it's worth.

exemple.jpg
 
Last edited:
Very nice and helpful.

I am going to start doing more projects in an HVX and have been scratching my head as to the handling and organizing of the P2 media.

Thanks and good luck.
 
I know what you mean. I just completed a short with the HVX and Vegas (on a new quad-core), and have just started editing footage I shot last fall for a two hour-long documentary (3 TB of raw footage).

The workflow is so fast and easy it's not funny. I got this latest editing gig because two other editors (one on Avid, the other on FCP) were unable to get the project done on time.

In regards to workflow, I also keep a few Vegas sessions open -- one to sort the shots, one to assemble a rough-cut, and one with the final timeline. Simply cut-n-paste between them.
 
It's good to see things worked out for you, Deuce. I remember you having some troubles early on...

I'm just finishing the color correction and grading on our second feature with Vegas. It sure is a joy to use. We shot with the HVX and have used RayLight as well. All seems to have gone smoothly, from editing, to our sound mix (sent this out to a NYC post guy working with Pro Tools) to laying sound back in and now final grading. We are sending it off to a Producer's Rep to look at next week...
 
I wish I had some method of organization when I edited.

It looks like you have yours figured out. Good work, and thanks for sharing.
 
dual core or core 2 duo? are u working with 4 cores or 2? and how much RAM do you have in your machine?

Deuceofspades said:
This is exciting. I am now done filming my official first short film "THE BENCH" and I am in the editing stage. All the footage was shot with HVX200, so I have mxf files and I am using raylight with vegas 8.2 (latest update) on a PC with very fast dual core processor, fast SATA drive and LOTS of RAM.

I have 21 scenes in my short (it actually may exceed 40 min and be a "full" feature in the end).

I have created a folder for each scene and a vegas project for each scene/folder.

Each scene is edited as a stand alone.

I then started a "THE BENCH" project, in which I edit the whole film, importing each scene project into the timeline. Everything is working smoothly. No bugs, no hang ups, real time editing and viewing in full high def mode. I have not had to shut down and restart once so far.

I am able to view on full monitor mode, blue mode, real time, for a "real movie, where's the popcorn" feel.

Sometimes I have 3 vegas open at the same time, and everything is working perfect. I created a vegas project for outtakes that stays minimized and I paste clips into that timeline everytime I find an outtake in a vegas project I am editing. Convenient.

The mxf files are a pleasure to work with. It is SOOO easy I never want to go back to tape (ever). The trick is knowing how to organize yourself from DAY ONE, otherwise you will be in HELL. Cause you know you can't see them and their names make NO SENSE WHAT SO EVER to anyone mortal... And I hear that even the Gods are confused with them on occasion ;),,,

So I thought I'd share here how I am organizing my mxf files to make it easy and functional and this system is working wonderfully well. It is also super simple and requires no software.

So here it is:


1. I film, using 2 P2 cards. one 16G and a brand new 32G ($1600 OUCH, I am still bleeding from every orifice!)

2. no more need to dowload footage in the middle of a shoot. Sweet...

3. Come home download footage onto PC.

4. Created a folder on hard drive named THE BENCH (short title)

5. inside folder created a folder for each scene (SCENE 1, SCENE2, etc..)

6. Say for ex I am filming Scene 1. When downloading footage filmed I place CONTENT and the LAST CLIP file inside the SCENE1 folder.

7. Open Vegas, open the VIDEO folder inside CONTENT folder inside SCENE1 folder and import all the clips with Raylight into project.

8. Paste all of them in timeline, takes 1 sec. Save this project inside the same SCENE1 folder as "scene1 contents" this way I can see at a glance what I had filmed that day.

8. I then take a few screengrabs and save them as images in that same SCENE1 folder.

Now when I look at my THE BENCH folder and open it, I see my SCENE folders as large thumbnails and tiny pictures of the footage inside each folder , which helps me remember which scene is which.

Then I go edit, using the Scene1 contents project as a starting point and saving edits as "scene1 edit1 / edit2 etc..." as many times as I make editing changes.

Done deal. Everything is organized nicely and I don't worry about any other applications or anything, P2 viewer or anything else for that matter.

I do one last thing: Back everything up onto another drive, just in case.

Maybe this is a simplistic approach but it is working mighty nicely for me so far and I know where everything is and what everything is.

I just thought I'd share it here. For what it's worth.

exemple.jpg
Click to expand...
 
We're just starting editing on our first feature length-- we ended up renaming all AVIs like this--

TDO_Scn_021_01.avi
TDO_Scn_021_02.avi
TDO_Scn_021_03.avi
TDO_Scn_021_04.avi
TDO_Scn_021_PICKUPS_01.avi
TDO_Scn_021_PICKUPS_02.avi
TDO_Scn_021_PICKUPS_03.avi

Where 021 is the scene ('shooting' scene, rather than logical scene), and the trailing number is just a clip count. They're shots, or takes.

At the end of each shoot day, I'd flick through the production board & script and name each AVI/shot accordingly... As the shoot days went by, the film was magically putting itself in order :)

There are just SO many scenes (260ish), some with filming split over more than one day, or with pickup shots, that it made the most sense to order it in this way. Approx 1600 clips in total.

For 2nd unit, atmospherics, non-scene-specific inserts, etc. I'm using the media manager to tag all the shots. Have several hundred shots to label, so it means the editor can look for "exterior & day & dog", for example ... and it will give all matches. there's too much stuff to randomly sift through each time she wants an atmospheric cut-in or three, so it'll help. I've also given 'ratings' to some which caught my eye while tagging, so I know she won't miss them.

For the scenes, we're creating a project for each 'logical' block of the movie (which will be one or more scenes)- don't know how many of these we'll have to be honest.

For these projects, we're dropping all footage into the timeline and watching it through. We have 2 video tracks, one audio track. Good stuff gets nudged UP onto the higher video track. Where a shot goes 'unusable' (camera, acting problems, or head/tail), it's cut, and only the good stuff is nudged up. Then when the editor comes to edit, she has a cut-down set of good footage to cut together right away... (but has the 'discarded' stuff right there too, should it be needed).

These projects will then be dragged into a master project so they can be chopped and changed.... with so much material it's essential that we can try stuff in different arrangements, etc. plus there's nothing stopping the editor bringing in clips to the master project directly, for stuff which doesn't justify being abstraced out to it's own 'scene' file, etc.. or even splitting embedded scenes, and so on.

Vegas seems pretty happy working with 1600 AVIs (which are cineform @film-scan, by the way), which is good news.

Kris
 
Last edited:
CacheMoneyVideo said:
dual core or core 2 duo? are u working with 4 cores or 2? and how much RAM do you have in your machine?
Click to expand...

Just dual core and I know I have a lot of Ram but can't remember how much.

Since posting, I completed my short which is 35 minutes long and had no problems to report. It was very smooth. I am very pleased with vegas. I was even able to burn a BLUE RAY disc of a 10 minute cut of my film, with my good ol' DVD burner and a regular DVD. I did have to make my own 24p template though but it seemed to work OK. I was not able to check the disc as I do not have Blue Ray compatible player, so I cannot tell whether the disc plays or not. The gentleman I sent the disc to probably will let me know...
 
epicedium said:
We're just starting editing on our first feature length-- we ended up renaming all AVIs like this--

TDO_Scn_021_01.avi
TDO_Scn_021_02.avi
TDO_Scn_021_03.avi
TDO_Scn_021_04.avi
TDO_Scn_021_PICKUPS_01.avi
TDO_Scn_021_PICKUPS_02.avi
TDO_Scn_021_PICKUPS_03.avi

Where 021 is the scene ('shooting' scene, rather than logical scene), and the trailing number is just a clip count. They're shots, or takes.

At the end of each shoot day, I'd flick through the production board & script and name each AVI/shot accordingly... As the shoot days went by, the film was magically putting itself in order :)

There are just SO many scenes (260ish), some with filming split over more than one day, or with pickup shots, that it made the most sense to order it in this way. Approx 1600 clips in total.

For 2nd unit, atmospherics, non-scene-specific inserts, etc. I'm using the media manager to tag all the shots. Have several hundred shots to label, so it means the editor can look for "exterior & day & dog", for example ... and it will give all matches. there's too much stuff to randomly sift through each time she wants an atmospheric cut-in or three, so it'll help. I've also given 'ratings' to some which caught my eye while tagging, so I know she won't miss them.

For the scenes, we're creating a project for each 'logical' block of the movie (which will be one or more scenes)- don't know how many of these we'll have to be honest.

For these projects, we're dropping all footage into the timeline and watching it through. We have 2 video tracks, one audio track. Good stuff gets nudged UP onto the higher video track. Where a shot goes 'unusable' (camera, acting problems, or head/tail), it's cut, and only the good stuff is nudged up. Then when the editor comes to edit, she has a cut-down set of good footage to cut together right away... (but has the 'discarded' stuff right there too, should it be needed).

These projects will then be dragged into a master project so they can be chopped and changed.... with so much material it's essential that we can try stuff in different arrangements, etc. plus there's nothing stopping the editor bringing in clips to the master project directly, for stuff which doesn't justify being abstraced out to it's own 'scene' file, etc.. or even splitting embedded scenes, and so on.

Vegas seems pretty happy working with 1600 AVIs (which are cineform @film-scan, by the way), which is good news.

Kris
Click to expand...

Yes, I like the idea of using an upper track to identify the best cuts. Working with avi is so easy because you can rename them anything you want. No such luck with mxf files though, which are a lot more absrtact to handle, especially since the audio is seperate from the video and store in a different folder all together... At first I was very lost and intimidated by this new format but now I would never go back to anything else. Skipping teh entire "capture" process sure is nice and boy I love it. BUT YOU HAVE TO BE ORGANIZED with mxf files, otherwise, you are DOOMED.

My above system worked out so well for me I am going to do exactely the same thing with my 130 minute full feature film I start production on in 3 weeks.
 
epicedium said:
Cool, good luck :) How many days you shooting?
Click to expand...

Right now I will be tackling the first tier of the film which is all the flashbacks. 33 scenes, 61 minutes worth of runtime and probably about 38 to 40 days. Because this is a period film done on a NO budget, it is very difficult logistically wise. All locations have to be period correct or at the very least period friendly, which means that oftentime, we have to shoot one same scene in two locations that may be over an hour away from each other. Ex: Two people walking into a 1950's shop, the exterior shot will be in one location and nterior shot in another. So it takes longer to film. Lots of headaches and gyrations. Here are a few promo photos taken last Saturday at our screen test:

Peggie%20wants%20Johnny.jpg






best%20buds%203.jpg



Bettie%20and%20Johnny.jpg
 
Deuceofspades said:
Since posting, I completed my short which is 35 minutes long and had no problems to report. It was very smooth. I am very pleased with vegas. I was even able to burn a BLUE RAY disc of a 10 minute cut of my film, with my good ol' DVD burner and a regular DVD. I did have to make my own 24p template though but it seemed to work OK. I was not able to check the disc as I do not have Blue Ray compatible player, so I cannot tell whether the disc plays or not. The gentleman I sent the disc to probably will let me know...
Click to expand...

Faith -

Wouldn't you need a Blu-Ray burner to create a BR disc? Have you found out if you can play the standard DVD in a Blu-Ray player yet that has been burned from the Vegas time line as Blu-Ray?

Congratulations on completion of the project. Continued success!

Mark Gervasoni
www.newmediadevcorp.com
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top