36 Choosing Camera Angles with the Multi-Camera Monitor


#36 Choosing Camera Angles with the Multi-Camera Monitor

You've synchronized and perfected your clips. Now it's time to choose camera angles. Here's how.

Choosing Your Audio Track

Often in weddings and concerts you'll use an audio track that was captured by a separate device (perhaps a DAT, MP3, or MiniDisc recorder) and isn't available in any camera angles. To hear this track while performing your Multi-Camera edits, capture the audio and import it into your project, then drag this master audio file to Audio 2, and synchronize it with the waveform of the Multi-Camera clip. To hear your master audio when playing the Multi-Camera Monitor, target its audio track by clicking the track header to the left of the timeline. The Multi-Camera Monitor will play whichever audio track you target in this manner, whether it comes from one of your cameras or a discrete device.


1.

Drag your synch sequence into the Video 1 and Audio 1 tracks of your edit sequence timeline.

Note

Technically, the synch sequence is called a nested sequence, which is a great organizational and convenience feature in Premiere Pro. For example, you can build a common opening or closing video, and then simply drag the sequence into subsequent projects, rather than copying and pasting the individual assets.

2.

Target both the Audio and Video tracks by clicking the Track header on the left (Figure 36a).

Figure 36a. Right-click the synch sequence on the timeline and choose Multi-Camera > Enable to get things started. Note that both Video 1 and Audio 1 are lighter than the other tracks, meaning that they are targeted, and will appear when you play the synch sequence in the Multi-Camera Monitor.


Note

For example, in the figure, both Video 1 and Audio 1 are highlighted. If you don't hear audio when playing in the Multi-Camera Monitor, it's because you haven't targeted the audio track.

3.

Select the synch sequence on the timeline, right-click, and choose Multi-Camera > Enable (Figure 36a).

Note

Premiere Pro seems to show at least three cameras active (black in the figure) even though this Multi-Camera sequence has only two. Don't sweat if you see the same thing; it doesn't affect operation.

Multi-Camera Workflow

If your project is longer than an hour, you'll likely have more than one tape for each camera angle. You can combine these in a long synch sequence, but the synchronization issues can get challenging because each camera will have different starting and stopping points. In these instances, consider creating separate synch and edit timelines for each act, set, or natural break point in the performance, or between the ceremony and reception at a wedding. Later, if desired, you can combine the edited sequences by copying and pasting one sequence to another. Or you can render and import them separately into Encore and combine them on one timeline.


4.

Click the Program Monitor fly-out menu and choose Multi-Camera Monitor (Figure 36b).

Figure 36b. To open the Multi-Camera Monitor, click the wing icon and select it from the menu that appears.


5.

If desired, click the Multi-Camera Monitor fly-out menu and choose Audio Follows Video (Figure 36c).

Figure 36c. Here's the Multi-Camera Monitor, which works like a real-time switcher in a television station or any live-switched video shoot.


Note

If you choose this option, Premiere Pro will use the audio from the selected camera angle as you switch among them. If you don't select this, Premiere Pro will use the audio from track Audio 1 in the synch sequence.

6.

Click Play. Premiere Pro will render audio files as necessary (which can take awhile) and then start playing.

7.

As the video plays in real time, click the desired camera.

Note

You shouldn't need to use the Record button to make the Multi-Camera Monitor work. Once you click Play, you'll see a yellow box around the clip in Camera A. Technically, this means that the Monitor isn't "recording," but camera A remains the selected clip until you change it, so in effect it is recording. Once you click another camera angle, a red box will appear around that angle (and the Record button will depress). This signifies that Premiere Pro has switched angles. If the Multi-Camera Monitor starts out on the wrong camera angle, click the desired angle before clicking Play, and it will record that angle until you choose to switch to another.




Adobe Digital Video How-Tos. 100 Essential Techniques with Adobe Production Studio
Adobe Digital Video How-Tos: 100 Essential Techniques with Adobe Production Studio
ISBN: 0321473817
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 148
Authors: Jan Ozer

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