[Charles Moore]

Hi Gary,

I just finished shooting a feature length drama – single camera (RED) with second system audio (DEVA).

I am on the fence about PP based on your posts concerning Merged Clips and their issues/limitations… especially as it relates to the entire chain of workflow (color grading, etc.) – which will exist outside of my edit as other post folks eventually get involved. The lack of XML export (or crazy workarounds to potentially get there) is enough to make me worry. Especially on a 1.5 – 2 hour long form project.

Did you ever truly discover if the reply you received from Gerard for using a multi cam sequence was a true ‘work around’ to the Merged Clips issues? I could not distinguish from his post if this was really an apples to apples comparison/solution. Have you had any luck since his post in your workflows with Merged Clips utilizing a multi cam sequence? Any updated insights will be greatly appreciated.

Also – if avoiding Merged Clips in PP is still your opinion – what would you recommend as the best option for syncing media (assuming PP has to be the cutter of choice)? Perhaps just putting both video and audio on the the timeline and syncing with markers – and then linking the clips together? Perhaps this is old school and time-consuming, but a viable approach for the long haul of post workflow?

For clarification – I am brand new to PP – and it’s been several years since I worked in FC7 (which I did cut a few doc features on). So – I don’t have a lot to go on in terms of recent experience – and I would not classify myself as a pro editor. My goal was to do a basic assembly cut of the film in PP and then work in a more vetted pro-editor after I have a ‘circle take’ cut of sorts put together… but I’d much rather hand off something that has value in terms of the work I put in – vs. them having to start the project from scratch because of something like the Merged Clip issues coming back to haunt me. Ultimately – Avid may be the better road anyway – but that’s not an option for me personally at this point in time.

Hope you may be able to shed some additional light on this – it would be greatly appreciated.

Best,
Charles