Offline multiclip workflow with the 5D

[Jeff Meyer]

I have two main questions.
• Why are you using proxies for a 5D?
• Why are you using multiclip for two cameras?

If this were my media, I would bring the 5D and C300 footage in as ProRes422 and cut it on a timeline. Put the C300 on V1 and the 5D on V2, then remove/add the 5D depending on which camera you want to see.

The proxy workflow makes sense for R3D or other 10 bit 444 sources, but from 8 bit H.264 (5D) or XDCAM50 (C300) sources ProRes422 is lightweight enough to work with, and pristine enough to color correct from.

If you insist on multicam being the approach, export your 5D footage as an online, synced clip with black chunks between the clip breaks. Make a proxy of this file if the payload of two ProRes streams is too much for multicam. If you’re interested in doing it right, match timecode between the C300 and the synced 5D clip.

[Rafael Amador]

I absolutely agree with Jeff.
Offlining makes sense when you are working with something like RAW, a heavy codec or uncompressed stuff.
With the footage you are working with, you will only complicate the workflow.
rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Shane Ross]

Offlining also makes sense when you have hundreds or thousands of hours, and limited drive space. If you don’t have that much…no point to it.

Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Steve Eisen]

Save yourself time and look into PluralEyes for syncing. You have to make sure that your C300 and 5D footage have the exact same image size and frame rate.

Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Vice President
Chicago Creative Pro Users Group

[Adam Ridley]

Thanks for the message. This is a feature-length documentary with tons of footage so creating proxies was a choice to save space. Thanks for the reply!

[Adam Ridley]

Hey Jeff, thanks for the reply.

1) I’m using proxies for 5D because it is a feature-length documentary with potentially hundreds of hours of footage.

2) I’m using multiclip because there are quite a number of events relating to the project that are shot with two cameras and it’s easier for me to bring up a multiclip in the viewer to cut into the timeline as opposed to having a series of sequences to cut down.

Just one question on exporting the 5D as an online: Is ProRes 422 sufficient for a “master”? It was my understanding that I’d work in the Proxy codec and then reconnect to the H.264 files when it came time for finishing. Thanks!

[Adam Ridley]

Hey Jeff, thanks for the reply.

1) I’m using proxies for 5D because it is a feature-length documentary with potentially hundreds of hours of footage.

2) I’m using multiclip because there are quite a number of events relating to the project that are shot with two cameras and it’s easier for me to bring up a multiclip in the viewer to cut into the timeline as opposed to having a series of sequences to cut down.

[Andrew Kimery]

[Adam Ridley] “Just one question on exporting the 5D as an online: Is ProRes 422 sufficient for a “master”? It was my understanding that I’d work in the Proxy codec and then reconnect to the H.264 files when it came time for finishing. Thanks!”

You don’t want to finish with H.264 files. Transcode H.264 into ProRes or ProRes HQ in the beginning and that becomes your new master media. You can transcode that into ProRes Proxy if you need to and then go back to the ProRes or ProRes HQ file for finishing but you should never plan on going back to H.264.

Keep in mind that to use multicam in FCP 7 the footage from the two cameras have to be the same codec, frame rate and frame size.

[Adam Ridley]

Interesting, I never would have thought to transcode the original H.264 files to use as a master because I’d be worried about any amount of degradation (no matter how small) but if that seems to be the consensus then it would make sense to create one large master file of the 5D shots to group with the C300.

I’ve read that there is barely a difference between ProRes and ProRes HQ but I’d imagine one would want to use HQ if you were creating a new master. Especially if the ultimate goal is a theatrical release.

Thanks again for the help!

[Michael Gissing]

Perhaps you might want to consider editing in either Premiere CS6 or FCPX which can edit the h264 natively saving a lot of drive space and render time. X has multi cam.