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What should my sequence settings be for this situation?
Hello everyone,
I’m about to start a project with a few different formats combined on the same sequence, so I’m wondering what format you would all use for the sequence?
My project will consist of:
10% DVCPRO HD 720p60 footage from a P2 card
10% AVCHD 1080i30 footage from a Canon Vixia HF20
10% Quicktime Animation footage created in After Effects
70% JPEG images (slide show) of resolutions larger than 1920 x 1080I’m not sure of the resolution of the Quicktime Animation footage from After Effects, since I haven’t created it yet. I’ll create it with a resolution that matches my sequence resolution.
I’m thinking the sequence resolution should be 1080p30, to take advantage of the high res JPEG images. The final delivery will be a h.264 file for web streaming on Vimeo.
So this is where I need the help: what sequence format should I use for editing? Is this a good situation in which to use a ProRes format? I’ve never used ProRes on a PC before, and I’m not really sure which specific ProRes format would be best to use here.
I’m editing with Premiere Pro CS5 on a PC, and I do have the latest version of Quicktime Pro installed.
Thanks!
Mike Tomei
Intel i7-930 2.8GHz
12 GB RAM
1 GB VRAM
Adobe Production Premium CS5
https://www.miketomei.com -
5 Replies
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I’d use one of the 1920×1080 60i presets, like the AVCHD preset.
If the web video will be half size or less, you could use a progressive preset; othewise deinterlacing your AVCHD footage by putting it into a progressive sequence will cut its vertical resolution in half. (This becomes a non-factor for half size (or less) video exports.) Remember that progressive footage can be converted to interlace without loss of resolution; however the reverse is not true.
Premiere will bog down on high resolution stills, so you may want to size them down in Photoshop before bringing them into the Premiere project. Pick a size that is close to the project resolution (1920×1080); maybe a bit larger if you plan to animate them (panning and zooming).
ProRes is only available as a playback format in Windows (To export ProRes, you need Final Cut Pro on your system (Mac only).
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Hi Eric,
Thanks for the quick response. I noticed that I had some incorrect info in my original post: the AVCHD footage that I have was actually shot 1080i60, NOT 1080i30. Does that fact change any of your recommendations?
I think what confuses me is why use an interlaced sequence format when my eventual output (h.264 file for the web) will need to be progressive? The files will be 720 or 1080 resolutions for web streaming.
Thanks.
Mike
Intel i7-930 2.8GHz
12 GB RAM
1 GB VRAM
Adobe Production Premium CS5
https://www.miketomei.com -
1080i60 indicates 60 FIELDS per second (30 frames per second – there are two fields per frame in interlaced video). This is admittedly a bit confusing, but is just a naming convention. Your footage is 30 (actually 29.97)frames per second.
To add to the confusion, there IS such a thing as 60 frames per second (720P 60 for example). The difference is whether the source footage is interlaced or progressive. There is (for all practical purposes) no such format as 60 fps interlaced.
You could use a progressive format (and retain maximum quality) if your only use involves reducing the size of your movie by 1/2 or more. This eliminates the line doubling that takes place when deinterlacing (putting interlaced footage on a progressive timeline). If you need a full HD version, I would edit on an interlaced timeline, and convert to progressive when exporting to your web format (best of both worlds).
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Ahh, ok, I think this is starting to come together in my head. So dropping a progressive source (like the DVCPRO HD 720p60 footage or the JPEG images) on an interlaced time line will split every other line of the progressive frames onto two separate fields, but simply recombine in the correct order when I do the final export as a progressive file?
I really appreciate the help!
Mike
Intel i7-930 2.8GHz
12 GB RAM
1 GB VRAM
Adobe Production Premium CS5
https://www.miketomei.com -
That’s correct.
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