What is your workflow like in SV?

[Roger Bansemer]

Lots of those out there better than me at this but I can tell you what and why I use different tracks.

1. If I’m shooting an interview with 4 cameras I put each camera video on a separate track. That way I can usually do color correcting on the track level instead of the event level. That can add up to a lot of tracks if I’m doing several interviews.
2. I put all my cutaway shots on a separate track because most of them need to be color corrected separately at the event level.
3. I put my text on a separate track at the top.

Roger Bansemer

[Nigel O’neill]

Ron

I do what Roger does, placing cameras on a separate track, but I don’t split all the video and audio tracks and group them together like some other products do. I like to keep the video and audio tracks together.

I will sync all the tracks, and then using ripple editing and cuts across all tracks, remove the obviously unwanted material such as duly long breaks between scenes.

I then colour correct at the event level after enabling Quadcam in Ultimate S so I can see things side-by-side on a large Sony TV which I know and trust to be ‘true’, make the cuts I want, and then use Quadcam to assemble the master track.

The way I colour grade is the reverse of what a Cow Leader recommends, and it is suggested that my work flow is quite time intensive. Be that the case, I am self-taught in all my editing, and picked SVP because it is intuitive. Unfortunately, SVP training is no longer offered anywhere in Australia, and whatever other training for plug-ins I use is either by reading the manual or watching Youtube from some other amateur. Whilst manuals show technique, they cannot show specific context, which is where the creativity of an editor comes in. Yeah, I could order the training DVD’s for SVP, but as a hobbyist whose hobby just covers my interest through doing lots of community work in video and the occasional paid job, some of that training stuff stretches the budget a bit. Sorry for going OT. Time to et back on topic.

If I need titles, I add them right at the top, and if I need audio background music, it goes in right at the bottom most tracks.

Lastly, when the vision is the way I like it, I then pay attention to the sound, and adjust as required, which includes ducking the audio manually.

I will usually do a high speed run through of the entire project and tweak and tidy up. I am pretty meticulous in the edit, so it is usually things like a cut not working, or sound levels not matching up. I edit solely with good quality head phones and get good results, plus it does not drive my family nuts hearing me scrubbing over the timeline constantly until 2AM in the morning. I do this whilst holding a full-time managerial job in Government IT.

I have used the above techniques to generate some pretty impressive videos for high school graduations, based on parent and student feedback which I deliberately seek out. I did some work for a school a couple years ago and they loved it. They chose to use someone who a great salesperson and was cheaper the following year. He cut corners which including missing out his intended audience he was there to video. I heard that you could hear crickets in the sales booth later on. They have come back to me.

Before embarking on any project and actually commencing any work flow, I watch a lot of videos from Youtube as well as samples of other peoples work beforehand to work out what is appealing from a sound and vision perspective, and aim to reproduce that. I use it to help visualise and thus plan my shots, be it a stage production, high school graduation MTV-style of video or wedding. I learned how to edit weddings and graduations this way and have had great success when I apply the techniques I have observed.

Whilst technique is important, it is no good when you cannot connect with your audience, and I custom-tailor my editing style to suit. I once did a first year christening video which included a photo montage interleaved with footage from the actual birth set to music. When I heard that I had reduced the mother to tears, I was very concerned, until I was corrected that it was tears of joy and emotion that I had connected with.

I may not be the most technically competent or work-flow efficient videographer, but for me it is about delivering the product that the client wants. How I get there is immaterial to them.

[Roger Bansemer]

Another thing I do with tracks if I have quite a few is to group them which puts them out of the way while I’m not working on them. That really cleans up the workspace.

Roger Bansemer