The Right Workflow


Knowing what the capture parameters and controls are and what they do is only half the equation. Following an efficient workflow is vital. For DV and HDV users, striping and labeling your tapes should be your first task (Figure 2.17).

Figure 2.17. Make sure your tape and its case have the same name. This may feel like basic stuff, but it goes a long way toward better organizing your library of footage. Here the tape label has a descriptive name and a shortened name used for logging and capturing (MC001)


Timecode and Striping Your Tapes

When using Premiere in a DV/HDV environment, do not underestimate the benefit of striping your MiniDV Tapes. The timecode format for MiniDV is such that if the camera detects blank tape (static) and you begin recording, the timecode always begins at 00;00;00;00. This can cause trouble.

Say you record for ten minutes, then you watch your last shot. You try to press Stop exactly at the shot's end, but inadvertently stop in the blank space just after it. When you next press Record, the timecode starts all over again at 00;00;00;00. You then record for another 50 minutes and finish the tape. Technically, you now have two identical timecode values on different portions of your tapewhich can make logging and batch capturing with this tape a nightmare.

Or, you may play through and mark In and Out points, passing the brief blank space not knowing that it is there. When batch capturing, Premiere Pro automatically captures all the clips you logged. Because the first recorded instance has ten minutes of content and then blank space, as soon as the batch capture hits the stoppage, Premiere will seek for three seconds looking for new timecode. If Premiere does not find any new timecode in those three seconds, it assumes it has hit the end of the tape and it stops. Of course, with a MiniDV tape, you might not actually be at the end of your tape. (Figure 2.18.)

Figure 2.18. In this diagram, the strip represents 21 seconds of your DV tape and the timecode represents the timecode value for the associated frames of video. Because there is no recorded video in the snow/blank section, timecode starts all over again at 00;00;00;00 when recording reengages


To properly prepare and to work more efficiently with MiniDV, I recommend two steps before your shoot with your camera:

1.

Stripe your tape with a full recording pass so that there is a continuous run of timecode and data on your tape from beginning to end. It will not damage the tape or affect future recordings on that tape.

2.

Label your tape clearly and with an alpha+numeric value, such as Bleach001 (ProjectName+NumericValue). If you pre-label your tapes, you can find specific tapes more easily once you start logging. You can also add the description of the tape after you record.

Capturing Best Practices

With your DV/HDV video recorded, it's time to capture. Pop your tape in, set the camera to VTR mode, and press F5 to open your Capture panel. Before I try my first capture, I like to press Play (L) to make sure my timecode numbers are being transmitted and I am seeing my video. The basic steps for a capture are

1.

Cue up your tape, and then specify the parameters of what you're logging. I usually create a new folder in my Project panel and name it Logged Clips, then select it from the Log Clip To field.

2.

Enter the name of your tape in the Tape Name field. If you have a good sense of what the filenames will be, enter that for the Clip Name. For example, I might use Bleach_BTS (Bleach is my short film, and BTS means behind the scenes).

3.

Press L to start playing back.

4.

When you find the first In point, press I to set it.

5.

You can keep playing if your shot is long and enter the description as it plays back. If you do click within a text field while playback is engaged, you cannot access your keyboard shortcuts (because of text conflicts) until you click out of the field.

6.

Enter any additional metadata, set your Out point, then click Log Clip. All of the data you entered will appear in a dialog that you can modify.

7.

Click OK, and Premiere adds a new offline file to your chosen bin. For me, that's the Logged Clips bin.

From there, you can continue logging one tape or switch to any others that you need to log. Because Premiere Pro supports offline files, you need not capture immediately after you have logged. At any time, you can select individual or groups of offline files to batch capture and get the media online.

Offline Files

Once you have successfully logged clips to your Project panel, you do not have to capture them immediately to use them in your project. Clips with no media linked will be displayed as offline files. If you scroll through the columns of the Project panel, you can see all the data associated with the file that you logged. Offline files can be edited and used in your project, as would any normal media file (Figure 2.19). They do not, however, display Daisy chaining is the linkingany media that would be associated with them. You can edit, trim, and adjust offline files. Once you batch capture or link media to them, the media will show up exactly as you edited it.

Figure 2.19. Offline files can be opened in the Source Monitor and edited in the timeline. In all these panels, the timecode properties and audio/video attributes are represented and a graphic placeholder is open to let you know that files are offline


Batch Capturing

Premiere Pro builds on Premiere's earlier batch list capturing features. Now, not only can you create and import traditional text batch lists, but your project can also act as a master batch list enabling Premiere Pro to log your clips (captured or not) directly into the open project (into a bin you define). There is no batch list functionality lost with Pro: You can still import and export individual batch lists in a comma-delimited format. Instead, a highly intuitive method has been added that makes your project file more valuable and much deeper. Logging directly to the Project panel saves the clip data into the project file (Figure 2.20). As long as you don't delete the clip reference from your Project panel, you will always be able to recapture, based on the original logged parameters.

Figure 2.20. Depending on which columns you choose to view and in which order, you have access to all the metadata that was logged to the clips. Additionally, you can see a number of other details and add comments into custom fields


With all your clips logged and a bin of offline files, you can do a couple of different things to specify what you want to capture. If you select File > Batch Capture with the Log Clips bin selected from your Master Project view, all of the offline files in that folder that have proper tape, name, and timecode In/Out information will be captured. If you have one specific file selected, Premiere will batch capture only that file.

If you need several clips, Ctrl-click to select multiple files within a folder. Premiere Pro will batch captures only those selected files. The program first asks you to put into your camera the first tape associated with your media; then it engages playback and captures all the specified clips that are on that tape. When finished with a tape, it ejects the tape and prompts you to put in a new one. You insert the next tape, and then click OK to continue batch capturing.

For error reporting, I recommend that you turn on Generate Batch Log File Only on Unsuccessful Completion so that if there are any errors with your batch captures, a file listing the errors will be waiting for you in the same bin location as the offline files.

Warning

Not all DV devices automatically eject the tape when capture is complete. You can expect DV decks to always eject, but not all DV cameras support the automatic eject feature. Once capturing from a tape is complete, while the dialog is open telling you to insert another tape, you safely can manually press eject and then insert the new tape.


Linking Your Media

Because your project file holds all the metadata associated with each captured clip, you can unlink and delete the media that is currently linked (associated) with your clips. When you unlink a file, you can break the link with files on the disk, or you can break the link and delete the media file on disk. In both cases, the clip reference in the Project panel would still be preserved. If you are trying to free space on your system, for example, you can break the links and delete all the unused files in your project. These files would remain visible, but be offline. If you decide you need them after all, select them and choose Batch Capture to bring them back online (Figure 2.21).

Figure 2.21. With a bin full of offline files, you can right-click on the bin and choose Link Media from the context menu to relink every file in descending order. If you choose Batch Capture, Premiere will execute a batch capture of all the offline clips in the bin


This reinforces the importance of using a consistent naming convention for your tapes and files: Doing so makes relinking and recapturing quite easy, which in turn makes your project more mobile and more flexible. If you want to give your project to someone else, send your tapes with the project file (which compresses down to a very small size). When the project is opened, all of the files will show up offline. All your friend needs to do is run Batch Capture and insert the proper tapes when instructed.

If you moved a file and Premiere Pro cannot find it, select the offline file and choose Clip > Link Audio and Video (assuming you need both media types). Whatever you link to then associates itself with the file in your project.

Exporting and Importing Batch Lists

To make sure the logged files from your tapes exist in a portable format, you have the ability to create and export batch lists or import existing batch lists. To export a text batch list, select the folder, clip, or clips that you want to make the batch list from and then choose Project > Export Batch List. Premiere Pro creates a comma-delimited text document that honors the data associated with the clips (Figure 2.22).

Figure 2.22. In this batch list file, you can see how each of the fields correlate with fields from Premiere Pro: A is Tape Name, B is In Point, C is Out Point, D is Clip Name, E is Log Comment, F is Description, G is Scene, and H is Take


Importing a batch list is pretty cool. You choose Project > Import Batch List, target the batch list that you want, then click OK. Premiere Pro creates a new folder in your project that has the same name as the batch list. Inside that folder are offline clip instances of all the items in the batch list. A text file that becomes physical clip instancesPremiere Pro has definitely entered the new millennium.




Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 Studio Techniques
Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 Studio Techniques
ISBN: 0321385470
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 200

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net