Project postmortem- My post-production workflow

Adobe After Effects

Project postmortem- My post-production workflow

Posted by John Young on August 23, 2012 at 4:27 pm

I just finished up a fairly large project and probably the most complicated project that I have ever done. I was hoping for some feedback on my post-production workflow. I am a one-man video department for the company so everything is done by me. I guess that simplifies the workflow right there.

Here is a link to the project. The project has 14 videos, the big intro video at the top and then 13 videos on each item on the “Wish List”. You don’t have to watch each one, you will get the gist of the workflow if you just watch one of the secondary videos. https://www.prosoco.com/wishlist

Each video starts and ends with an effect, and the main video is inset into that effect. All the source footage was Sony EX-1 MP4s or Canon 7D H.264 movs.
—-‘Main Video’ editorial done in Premiere Pro (final edit and audio mixing)
—-‘Main Video’ sent to After Effects via Dynamic Link (import PP sequence into AE) for color grading (Color Finesse) and noise reduction
—-‘Main Video’ sent back to Premiere Pro via Dynamic Link (import AE comp into PP) for merging with mixed audio.
—-Export entire ‘Main Video’ (graded video and mixed audio) Quicktime uncompressed 8bit, import into After Effects for placing into Intro and Outro FX
—-Place ‘Main Video” into Intro and Outro FX in After Effects. Export entire composition Quicktime uncompressed 8bit.
—-Import into Premier Pro for music addition (which has to be coordinated with Intro and Outro FX)
—-Final Export from Premiere Pro for distribution. (mostly via web).

It sounded complicated when I would go through the workflow, now that I write it out it sounds really complicated. I can’t for the life of me though, figure out a better way to do it. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated. If you would like to provide feedback on the videos themselves that would be appreciated too.

Thanks,
John

Tom Daigon replied 13 years, 9 months ago 2 Members · 3 Replies
3 Replies

Tom Daigon
August 23, 2012 at 4:38 pm

The only thing I would do to simplify the process would be eliminate this step.

—-‘Main Video’ sent to After Effects via Dynamic Link (import PP sequence into AE) for color grading (Color Finesse) and noise reduction

I use several grading programs (MB Colorista, Adobe 3 Way,bMB Looks) right within PP. This way it keeps the sequences intact for revisions or updates.Depending on your system and the complexity of your CC, the Adobe 3 Way plays in real time with no rendering needed for playback.Of course this needs to be something you are comfortable with. For me it seems to do the job!

Tom Daigon
PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRIg6h-LIm0 (Best viewed at 1080P and full screen)
HP Z820 Dual 2687
64GB ram
Dulce DQg2 16TB raid
John Young
August 23, 2012 at 8:48 pm

Dave and Tom, Thank you.
You are probably right on the color correction. I do really like the Color Finesse interface and toolset. There are a few shots (the interviews with the window in the background, I pulled some saturation out of the green leaves out the window because they were disctracting) that do have Color Finesse’s secondary correction tools. And I did have to do some matting and tracking on a few faces and to tame down some overexposure coming through windows.
Those are the reasons I went to AE for those tools.
Thanks for the feedback.
John

http://www.johnathanyoung.com
Tom Daigon
August 23, 2012 at 9:05 pm

FYI Colorista 2 has very robust secondary color correction capabilities.
But as I said, use whatever approach works for you and change what doesnt. Best of luck

Tom Daigon
PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRIg6h-LIm0 (Best viewed at 1080P and full screen)
HP Z820 Dual 2687
64GB ram
Dulce DQg2 16TB raid

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