On Tue, 19 Sep 2000 00:39:31 GMT, johnnyt@noemail.net (JohnnyT) wrote:

>Hi.. I recently videotaped a wedding with the intention of using my dc30+ to
>capture everything and edit in Premier. I've done several commercials and
>other projects... much shorter so the 2 gig limit was not an issue. I knew of
>the 2 gig limitation but figured I would get around it somehow.. Well, I'm not
>sure exactly how to go about it for the ceremony... which is about an hour
>and a half. I used 3 cameras for the shoot, so I have plenty of opportunity
>for cuts, etc.
>I was thinking of using NLE only for such areas that could use a cut or
>dissolve to a different camera, then edit it down along with cuts to raw
>footage to a master tape... but then I realized I would have a problem with
>inconsistent audio... and the need for nerve-wracking audio dubs.
>My most recent resoluton is to capture everything in just under 2 gig clips
>(which is about 7 or 8 minutes per clip at high res 640x480 at the compression
>I'm using), then build my final project using miro instant video..
>
>Keep in mind however, that the problem is really just with the ceremony...
>. the reception and the other things are short enough to not create a problem
>
>Well.. I'm sure this stuff's been gone over before and I'm hoping someone can
>give me some pointers.

Just happen to be doing exactly this right now (or, I SHOULD be....! ;-) It is fairly easy to roughly locate a common point for synching the three cameras (one HOPES the cameras were all left running continuously for the entire ceremony...!) by finding a notable event near the beginning. (The captured clips from each camera should overlap a couple of seconds if your capture card cannot capture frame-accurate clip sequences [the Raptor can].) I then make frame-accurate synch. by matching up the audio tracks visually (there are often sequences of visual events that line up nicely in the audio tracks even if the tracks overall look quite different - though if one mic is very close and another 75' away, there will be a time-delay between tracks [I then favor audio synch. over the minor error in the visual synch. that results]). I then place all the clips from one camera on video track 1 end to end, alternating between tracks 1A and 1B. I then overlap the ends until there is a visual match in the audio tracks and check the results visually at the 4-frame timeline-scale level with a motion event in the video track (I move the tracks until one frame is duplicated in the action, then move back the one frame, cut the two track ends, and move them to the same video track). Next, I do the same with the second camera's clips, placing them alternately on tracks 2 and 3 (and when finished, all to track 2). Then the third camera's clips are placed alternately on tracks 3 and 4 (finally to track 3). With Mini-DV camcorders, the synch. holds well even for an hour (all this is easier than it sounds...;-). From there, I first edit the sound using the three available tracks (applying noise-reduction with Cool Edit and filters with Premiere as needed, mixing the tracks with Premiere). (BTW, the video and audio tracks can be renamed, and it saves confusion by naming them for the camera or camera position used.) Once the sound is mixed (I have my audio playback system set up so it will audibly clip just before clipping occurs in the mix), I "mix" the video tracks (using correction filters when needed to match up brightness, contrast, color-balance, saturation - one can mix the footage of very different-looking camcorders...) by applying cuts and dissolves with the SI track rubberbands (or other transitions using the V/1A-1B tracks), using "Alt"-key scrub-previews and the time-line left-side track on-off switches to see what I'm doing (for this, I usually select timeline film-strip view, and maximum image size - it is then good enough to see pretty well what is on the individual tracks directly, without having to scrub the video to see where you are). I then render the whole thing, view it and take notes about where corrections are needed, apply them, re-render the video for a clean set of preview files (after dumping the project preview files), and output it to tape and/or AVI files for inclusion in the rest of the video (some of these wedding videos become 2.5-hour extravaganzas, like the one I'm working on now...! ;-). I shoot the pre and post ceremony parts with one camera, so synch. is not an issue there and editing is straight-forward...