how to manage edits with lots of synched clips (music video)?

markblasco

markblasco

Well-known member
I understand using premiere's multicam feature to edit when you have 4 clips that are synched up, but how do you go about editing when you have a lot more? Let's say you are doing a music video with 18 clips all lined up. How do you cut between all of them and keep them synched? I tried just lining them all up on a bunch of video tracks, but the problem I am having is that the computer must be trying to render out every single track as I go (and not just the one that is visible), because it won't play smoothly until I turn off the visibility of all but one track, or delete all of the video files in a place in all but one track.

Is there some special trick to this that I don't know.

I'm using CS4 on a PC with AVCHD files. I know that causes a lot of strain on the computer, and I'm not worried if playback is slightly choppy when I'm doing the rough editing, but as it is right now, if I accidentally press play when I'm over an area with more than 5 or 6 video clips lined up, it pretty much freezes up.
 
Either upgrade your computer, convert to another format like Cineform, DVCProHD, or DNxHD, or upgrade to CS5. I know that may not be much of a help, but even on a fast computer, 5 or 6 tracks of AVCHD at once is going to be extremely hard on a CPU under CS4. my Core 2 Quad 2.4GHz chokes on more than a couple of AVCHD clips, so I plunked down on Cineform and it's much easier (even without Cineform's RT engine for CS4).
 
I guess I wasn't too clear, my issue is not the file format. I have an i7 computer, and playing the files by themselves is not a problem. I'm trying to see if there is an accepted workflow for when you are putting together a music video with a ton of tracks (10+) that are all synched up. If the way to do it is to just stack them all up on the timeline, than that's what I will do, but if there is a better way to edit a lot of different clips that need to be synched up, I would love to know what that is. Thousands of music videos are made each year, so there is probably a more or less standard way to go about editing them, and I just want to make sure that I am doing it in the most effective way.

A supplemental question, which may help solve some of my issues: Is there a setting so that Premiere just renders the video files that are visible? For example, if I have 5 video tracks on top of each other, is there a way so that it is only rendering (and playing back smoothly) whichever video is on top (which is the only one that is visible) rather than processing all of the other tracks below it which you can't see?
 
coming from FCP i line them up. sometimes 20-40 tracks. i leave a sliver of the clip at the beginning and then start cutting away only leaving 5-10 tracks overlapping. i either use XDCAM or ProRez and get very good playback even with the 3 way CC on. although i just bought CS5 with premiere and AE i have yet to try to the degree that i have on FCP. im curious about this like you are. my hunch so far with premiere though is that it isnt as effecient as FCP....at least until i get a supported nVidia GPU.

i was expecting more from premiere at this point as far as performance on a Nehalem 8 core. i guess the nVidia GPU is the only way to get great performance? my 8 cores are working very hard for even simple plugins like a color corrector vs FCP. does anyone that has used both have any input on this? would you consider premiere to be not very good for real time performance...minus the nVidia GPU?

david
www.davidprobst.com
 
I'd also just line them up as you have done. Maybe use the razor tool to just remove tracks you know for sure you don't need at that point...

I think Mike gave you all the decent options. Your cheapest, and defenitiely most effective option is to transcode all your footage to DVCProHD - I think you'll be far happier that way. Just bite the bullet and invest the few hours it'll take you to transcode everything. FCP users are all well-acostomed to this step and it'll make the workflow actually work.
 
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I don't doubt that transcoding all of the files will make things run more smoothly, and I may eventually try that. I was more looking to see if someone had suggestions that made dealing with that many tracks easier, but not necessarily in the processing standpoint. Something like "take all of your shots of the full band and put those in one multicamera comp, then do the same with your story shots, and the same with your individual band members, and that way you only need 4 tracks on your main page to cover all of your different cameras), or something like that. I guess I made the mistake of putting too much emphasis on the computer slowing down in my first post. I thought maybe there was a better workflow that didn't require having all of your tracks rendering at the same time, regardless of what file format they are in.

It's all good for now, though. I put together my first "real" music video over the last few days, and since it seems like my workflow isn't too far off, I think I will just have to get used to working with that many different tracks at the same time.

Thanks for all of the input!
 
You can try setting the Opacity of the underlying, non-visible clips to "0" and see if it helps your playback. You can either do this in the properties window or drag down the opacity handles.
 
BrownCowVideo said:
You can try setting the Opacity of the underlying, non-visible clips to "0" and see if it helps your playback. You can either do this in the properties window or drag down the opacity handles.
Click to expand...

Well, if I do this, I might as well just turn off the visibility of that layer (by hitting the little eye symbol on the left), which is what I have been doing. It seems to me like there should be a setting so that premiere only renders the visible stuff, and doesn't render the 10 layers underneath that you can't see.
 
It is simply down to processing power. your workflow is as good as it gets and transcoding will help so much you will not believe it.
 
Regarding your original question, I'd say organization is the key. Your goal: delete, combine, shave, or do whatever you need to do to get those 18 clips into just four. Then, as you've said, it will be manageable.

Create four categories of shots. One could be CU, another could be establishing shots, etc. You decide. Once these four sequences are complete, you'll be ready to use the multicam feature.

I was once given two hours' worth of video (mostly crappy, shaky shots, I might add) that I needed to whittle down to a little over four minutes to match a song's length. So I know what it's like to take something unwieldy and try to tame it. You're going to need to view all of the video a lot and you'll need to be heartless while "killing your babies."

Keep in mind that no one or very few people will know what was left on the floor.Good luck. Post it here when you're done.
 
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