On Sat, 04 Dec 1999 21:36:57 GMT, d_ruether@hotmail.com (Neuman - Ruether) wrote:
>On Sat, 04 Dec 1999 15:36:49 GMT, "Johan Stäck"
> wrote:

>>Being a beginner with premiere, I need some advice...
>>
>>I want to make a short video of a quartet of singers.
>>I have made a number of takes of the group as they sing in sync to a
>>prerecorded sound-track.
>>One of the takes always shows the whole group. Other takes focuses on
>>soloists
>>and/or changes the camera angle.
>>
>>I now want to place the alternate takes on the timeline and change between
>>them using some different transitions.
>>
>>The idea is of course to give the impression of a multi-camera production,
>>Is there an easy or preferable way to do this?

>I do this all too often...;-)
>Put your base track (one that is complete from one end to
>the other) on V1A. Place the alternates on V2, V3, etc.,
>using their audio tracks to help synch. the tracks (both
>visual and audible cues are useful when using the audio
>tracks for synching - with the video also being useful).
>You can add more video and audio tracks using the menu
>available near the upper right of the timeline window.
>With this, you can also rename tracks to reduce confusion
>(I rename A2 as A1B, A3 as A2, etc., so the audio track
>names correspond with the video track names - and
>sometimes I just give everything my own names, like
>"VX-1000", "EZ30U", "front cam", etc.). When you have
>the tracks all laid out in synch., you can switch
>between video tracks using the "rubber bands" (with the
>tracks opened with the triangular "spinner" at the left
>of the track) to see where you want to make transitions
>between tracks (it is a good idea to use the audio
>"rubber bands" to silence the audio from all but the
>main audio track while doing the video part of the
>edit). If you are using cross-dissolves, use the "rubber
>bands" on the open video tracks (you can make better
>"shapped" dissolves by using multiple straight-line
>sections with the rubber band instead of a single ramped
>line). If you want to use another transition, drop
>the clip to the V1B line. All this is much easier if you
>have continuous tracks from all the takes - then you need
>only synch. each take once.
>Um, have fun! ;-)

In response to an e-mail question about shaping dissolves
in Premiere, I responded:

All video tracks in Premiere other than 1A and 1B
can be opened to show rubber bands, and these are
as versatile as those for audio - you can make
"S"-curve dissolves using these with three straight-line
segments (actually, using just two works for me - if
I recall correctly: on the input side of the dissolve
I make the overall ramp with points on the rubber band,
then add a third point near the exit for a very soft
ending to the dissolve; when returning to the previous
clip, I do the same, making the end of the dissolve
soft [short part of ramp line nearly horizontal at
exit], removing the abrupt beginning and ending of
the cutaway dissolve that often happens with the
cross-dissolve transition [this is not a fault in
Premiere - it is the straight-line aspect of the
stock transition that is the problem, and this can
be removed with one or more bends in that line using
the rubber band...]).