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Colour clips in source? Organize clips in a clever way
Here is my work flow in Premiere:
I have one time line with footage. I have my main time line. I go into the timeline that contains all the footage, pick a part I need, copy that to the main time line and I also apply a colour to that clip so later I will know “OH I have already used this part in my full movie”. I will also colour clips differently depending on the context like clips with person A I colour red and clips with person B I colour blue or something. The thing is: my timeline with all the footage will get more and more coloured. I know that I haven’t used blank clips amongst all those coloured clips or clips with a certain colour are just plain rubbish. This gives me a very quick overview of what I have left and what I have already done.This workflow is impossible in avid which angers me a lot. I use toggle source/record in timeline all the time and still use a timeline with footage and a main time line – I use a lot of markers but it’s just not the same. I can colour clips in the record in time line. I can’t in the source. Avid lets you set markers in the source (how kind) but since the source is only for viewing you aren’t allowed to colour any clips. Sure it would be technically possible but Avid is just giving you the finger.
Is there any solution / work around? Toggling between two record in time lines (where you can colour clips) and going back and forth as quickly as toggle source/record in time line would fix this problem.
I hope you understand what I’m trying to achieve. Thankful for any answer – even if it’s just: “what a terrible workflow. This is not how Avid works!”
Maybe you have alternatives I hadn’t even considered yet. Any advice to organize my footage is welcome and yes I’m aware of dupe detection. -
3 Replies
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Hi Michael,
I understand your frustration. I too see a lot of things in other NLEs that AVID cannot “exactly” replicate. It does do a lot of things well though that in the end save you time. For this process of organization however there are just a couple extra steps you will need to perform in order to achieve the results in your workflow.
A few huge, integral navigational functions in MC involve using a combination of match frame, find bin, and the set bind display function.
First for both of your sequences, make sure they are in two separate bins. Then locate the “hamburger” symbol (as people like to call it) in the bottom left of the bin interface. Find “set bin display” in the drop down and then check the box “show reference clips”. This will show you the contents of your sequence.
With reference clips shown, you can easily match back to clips existing in you timeline using match frame then find bin. This combination will pin point exactly what clip you are either hovering over or have selected via in and out points.
From here just color your clips however you like. Then look to your timeline “hamburger” symbol and select clip color in the drop down. Check the box marked “source” and voila your clips will appear colored as you have customized them in the reference clips.
A couple more steps here than Premiere, but once you get used to it goes rather quickly. And hey you might find a way to tweak your workflow along the way to make it a bit more AVID friendly. I struggled with these challenges during my transition to MC but have grown to love many of the other features. By and large it’s an interface that promotes swiftness in the edit bay.
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No NLE acts exactly the same as the others. One smooth slick thing you did in one, you cannot do in another. Such is life.
But, you can do this.
Matchframe the clips you add. Then FIND BIN to locate the clip in the bin. Color the clip in the bin in the COLOR column. If you don’t have this, in the lower left of the bin, use the FAST MENU to choose COLUMNS, and make sure COLOR is chosen. Now you can right-click on that column and choose the color you want the clip to be.
Then, in the timeline, in it’s FAST MENU, choose CLIP COLOR and make sure SOURCE is selected.
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Scroll down to about half way thru this article to get a good illustration of one technique in MC8.3
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