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Integrety of Original Media in Import Workflow in Premiere 5.5
I have just made the switch to Premiere Pro from FCP 7. So far, I’m impressed at how easily it has gone – especially with all the great tutorials out there.
The best part of PPro 5.5 is not having to log and capture footage. I’m working in a project now that has .R3d files from a Scarlet, AVCHD .mts files from an af100 and .mov files from a 5D. They all work together in the same PPro timeline straight from the files I copied from the cameras.
However, can someone give me some help understanding what step in the PPro workflow might take the place of Log and transfer from FCP?
I work in a team of three editors. We all work with the same pool of footage, cutting pieces for the same clients. We have a huge amount of footage – about 15TB worth and growing all the time. We have footage from every type of professional camera system out there over the last 3 years. Some of it we shoot, some of it is donated or bought from other sources. In FCP, we could just Log and Transfer whatever came in, keep the raw camera cards (P2, RED, 5D, whatever) in one directory and then put the new ProRes Files in another. We could work with the ProRes and have the Raw files as a backup in case we ever needed to recapture or online a project. We have also been cataloging all the footage from one of our clients in Final Cut Server – which adds another level of complexity.
While it has always taken a long time and huge amount of disc space, doing the conversion to ProRes has helped us name and organize all our footage and given us a good method of media management and backup.
I’d appreciate any advice you could give me on how people have been dealing with this issue in PPro. Should I keep 2 copies of the raw cards and change the names of the “active” files I’m editing with in Bridge before I take them into PPro and keep backups of the raw camera cards somewhere else? If I rename raw files, would I be able to go back in a few months and log and transfer in FCP without having to rename them all or messing up the integrity of the file structure (this is a really big problem with AVCHD – not so much with .mov’s from a 5d).
If I move over to PPro and the other editors stay on FCP 7 (for as long as they can) how can we possibly all work with the same footage?
Thanks in advance!
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3 Replies
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Hi George,
I don’t think the backup situation is any different. I would definitely keep a backup offsite in case of theft/fire. LTO tapes are still a favorite. Once you buy the recorder, tapes are much cheaper, faster and reliable than any mechanical HD or card, although short term hard drive storage works too.
Then an hourly local incremental backup that includes all projects currently being worked on and your media drives.
Vince Becquiot
Kaptis Studios
San Francisco – Bay Area -
Thanks for the info Vince. I guess the backup is not my main problem here. I understand that I have to have 2 (minimum) copies of all our files. We have an offsite backup that works really well.
What I’m more interested in is using the files across PPro and FCP. Is there a way to name and log files in the Adobe environment which could then be used at a later date by FCP, FC Server or for that matter any other editing environments? Right now, all the ProRes footage we log and transfer in FCP can be used anywhere, by any editing platform (even if it is a long process to get there). But the Raw footage I’m naming and editing with Bridge and PPro can’t be used by FCP.
I’d like to be able to name, catalog and use footage I shoot today from numerous camera systems, for years to come, by any editing program. With Log and Transfer, I can do this with the resulting ProRes files. In Adobe, I can’t find a way.
There are third party options like clipwrap, but really I’d like to catalog, name and edit the native files in PPro and still give other editors the option of using a different editing program in the future.
Thanks!
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Nope…not currently, as Premiere Pro doesn’t have it’s own codec like Apple (ProRes) or Avid (DNxHD). It doesn’t transcode anything…it only works native. It goes against the application philosophy to transcode.
If you want to convert the footage, you will have to use outside, third party apps to do this.
This is why I much prefer converting footage and organizing properly in the app, or on the desktop level. Premiere doesn’t really allow for this. Not at this time.
Shane
Little Frog Post
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