Slightly OT -Editing Process

safrican wrote on 2/29/2012, 9:25 PM

Hi all.

Would like to tap into the wealth of experience on this forum.

I film a small church service once a month and post it to a site online. Long story, but it is a Afrikaans (South African) service here in the US.

I record the sound to my trusty Zoom and shoot the video using a Canon HF20 (A-Roll) and Canon T3i (B-Roll).

When it is all said and done I have 1 60-70 minute audio clip, 5 or 6 10 minute mts(HF20) clips and various mov(T3i) clips. In the past I have tackled this a few different ways.

1. I have synced all the audio and video first. Then re-grouped them and started editing the video. This worked okay with a few shortfalls here and there.

2. I have done all the editing and then synced the audio, nightmare, since I have to do all the audio edits on their own.

I am going forward with method 1 but just wanted to make sure that is the best way to do it. Don't want to find out a couple of years from now that there was a much easier way and I never knew it.

Any thoughts ? Thx

Comments

PeterWright wrote on 2/29/2012, 9:46 PM

Are you using the Vegas Multicamera function? (Tools Menu)

Once video and video is synched (your method 1), and Multicamera is clicked, you will see both cameras in your Preview and all you have to do is go through and decide when to switch to which cam. Ctrl.Shift - D switches between multicam view and single full screen.

Synching is much easier if both cameras are recording continuously, but if this is not possible, there is a program called PluralEyes (search this forum) which does the synching for you very quickly.

safrican wrote on 2/29/2012, 9:54 PM

Thanks, no both aren't running all the time. The T3i has a limit, I think 12 minutes or so, I typically shoot 4 to 5 minute B-rolls with it during singing or so.

Thanks will check out plural eyes.

Baron Oz wrote on 3/1/2012, 7:11 AM

Yep, PluralEyes is the way to go, especially if you have short snips of footage that need to be synced with an audio track. Works great and very quickly.

vicmilt wrote on 3/1/2012, 10:47 AM

I love Plural Eyes, but you MUST have a decent scratch track on each camera to sync to. Without that it simply won't work.

Here's another way that works quite well (once you get used to it).

Get a large digital clock - we recently used an app on an IPAD.
Set it up in the front of the church in an out of the way place.

As you start your individual cameras - shoot the clock first.
Then swing to the stage or whatever you are shooting.
If you FORGET to start on the clock - just swing over to it at anytime during that particular shoot.

Now syncing is a snap.
Take your first Clock number - let's say 2:12:22 (it can be any time - it's just a reference )

Set your timeline to offset to this number. (2:12:22)
Now for each camera - just drag the clip with the "new" clock that you shot for that particular scene, to the appropriate time on the timeline. You will be within one second of sync.

When all clips are aligned correctly - you are done.

Good luck.

JasonATL wrote on 3/1/2012, 12:42 PM

I concur with the advice regarding using multicam. Yes, you need to sync everything first. But, the multicam function makes it easier to decide on the cuts between the two cameras when both are active during an event.

I've not found syncing to be too difficult. I often shoot in a very similar way as you describe: 2 video sources and one master audio source. My audio runs continuously. I then sync the video to the audio, using the audio tracks on both video sources. My method for this is to look for peaks in the audio track and then match those peaks across all sources. This is where the old fashioned clap boards come in handy. But, a camera flash or drum beam, or hand clap can be as effective.

Let me suggest one other thing: do not start and stop either cam, inasmuch as possible. With the T3i, you are limited to the 12 minute takes. Respecting this, if you know you will have two shots from that camera within a 10 minute window, just leave the camera rolling. Same with the other one. This way, you only have to sync an minimum number of times and you have many opportunities to find the obvious peaks that will help. Cutting all sources between silent/inactive "scenes" is easier than trying to re-sync all sources.