Shooting with 2 GH2 bodies - Timecode / Sorting Options

[Angelo Ucciferri]

Hello,

I just got a 2nd GH2 body, and anticipate shooting back and forth with both of them at events. This will save me the time of changing lenses - so I will have 1 body for my wide 12mm Olympus lens and 1 body for my tighter 25mm Panasonic lens. (Especially during weddings, there is never enough time, so having 2 dedicated bodies will save a lot of time during prep and details shots)

(That is not the only reason I bought a 2nd body, in many cases both will be rolling at once for different angles)

However, I am beginning to think it might be confusing come editing time when shooting back and forth with both bodies. I normally sort my clips chronologically by timecode start time. (I use Premiere Pro 5.5) But I can't think of a way to easily sort clips shot on 2 different cards / bodies - while maintaining chronological clip order. (there is no Time of Day timecode...right?)

Can anyone think of a way I could easily organize all my clips in 1 bin in Premiere - and still have them sort chronologically? (by easily, I mean not having to rename all the clips manually!)

Thanks,
Angelo

[Gordon Hoffman]

Hi
Each clip should be tagged with the time of day. The problem will be that you will have the same clip numbers on both cards. But that should be fairly easy to change.

Gordon

[Jeff Harper]

Yes it is very confusing to do switch back and forth, it would be a nightmare. Much easier to change lenses.

If you're shooting multicamera, then batch rename your files as I've shown below, that is very easy to do. Takes seconds to do, if don't know how let me know.

[Angelo Ucciferri]

Thanks for the tips.

The 2nd camera is not JUST to save time swapping lenses. I will also have my assistant shooter behind the 2nd camera a lot of the time getting an alternate angle.

The batch name change will resolve having identical names. As far as sorting them chronologically, I suppose the timestamp will work fine - although I admit I've never seen that column in Premiere.

But if I can sort by timestamp + batch name change - I think I should be covered!

Thanks for your help!
Angelo

[Jeff Harper]

For multicamera purposes you do not need timestamp.

For the other thing, just swap out lenses, not use different cameras. It will create an editing nightmare.

[Angelo Ucciferri]

I should point out - I am working in Premiere 5.5 right now - and I can not find a way to sort by Time of Day. I know the info may be available in the on-camera display, but I don't see that column to sort by in the project window of premiere. So I still don't know how I would be able to sort footage from 2 cameras chronologically in the same bin.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Angelo

UPDATE: Interestingly, I do see the "Shot Date" column in the Media Browser. But once I import it, it seems as though that data is not available for sorting in the project window. Maybe this question is better posted in a Premiere forum. But I thought I'd share what I've learned in this thread.

[Ben Giles]

My thoughts:

Meta data has always been a crucial part of professional workflows - you need clear, descriptive, human readable labelling for every asset you acquire, whether film, tape or digital file. Otherwise, when you need a shot further down the line, you'll be scrabbling around looking through multiple hexadecimal names that are useless to you.

For your situation, I suggest downloading freeware such as "Name Changer." This works at the finder/explorer level - list everything you want in a particular folder (eg Cam A, Scene 001) in order of date/time generated and then change the name of all the files with an ascending name that you and your colleagues will always understand (eg <Client>-<Project>-<Date>-<Camera>-<Clip Number>)

If you don't allow some prep time before your edit, you are quite simply going to bitten on the arse at some point further down the line - I've been there many times and have the scars...

On long-form international co-productions that feature archive material, I've done projects with several hundred digital tapes sat in a Symphony suite, ready to be conformed into the online edit. We learned the hard way that, not only do you need clear labelling of every asset, but if the labels look different or are different sizes etc, it can literally take hours to find a tape - and, at £300 per hour, that hurts...

Create a system and stick to it rigidly.

Metadata is king - if you can't search for something, it arguably has no value - follow that methodology right through every part of your workflow. Clean metadata is Godly metadata. :-)

Sermon over...

Ben.

[Angelo Ucciferri]

Thanks Ben!

I will absolutely look in to the Name Changer software. I really do think that is a good solution for me at this point.

I do know the value of good metadata. Me and my wife/production partner use it all the time at our day jobs. I manage studio production at a television news station and my wife is the manager of an international cable news network's archive system and manages their global video asset network. She basically works with metadata for a living!

But I'd never considered the idea of using 3rd party metadata management software for our independent work. But it makes a lot of sense! I think this might be the solution.

If the clips were named: "projectname_timeofday_camera#" - or something along those lines - I could theoretically just sort by name and all my clips would be in chronological order across multiple cameras.

In broadcast, the timecode of each clip is the Time of Day - but not so in our GH2 world. So this concept could really be a game changer!

Great suggestions!

Angelo

[Jeff Harper]

Your key is your workflow during the shoot. That keeps it simple and makes your issue a non-issue. Yesterday I shot with four cams, and I just changed lenses as needed for 8 hours of run and gun. If I had just picked up another camera instead of changing lenses, it would be a nightmare today. Instead I download my footage and batch rename it according to camera #, and everything is self explanatory, very simple. I drag it on the timeline, sycnc it up, and I begin editing within a few minutes, no need to sort through anything.

[Angelo Ucciferri]

Thanks Jeff,

I don't disagree with you - but as I mentioned in a previous post, in many cases it's not just a matter of swapping lenses when I need to use footage from both camera for multiple angles. And if we are talking about hundreds of clips over the course of a project, there is no way to easily sync them all up to each other to do traditional synced multicam editing.

I want to be able to review a clip, and if I want to see the alternate angle from the other camera, just click on the adjacent clip as sorted in the project folder - not sort through another bin to see what the other angle looked like.

My opinion is that when working with a large amount of clips, it takes a lot of time to work in multiple camera bins to pick and choose my edits across multiple cameras. So keeping all the clips from all the cameras in 1 bin, and sorting them chronologically seems like the best way to me to be able to review my footage and choose my edits. Everyone's post workflow is different based on the way they shoot and edit. And sorting the clips chronologically makes the most sense to me in certain cases. I raised the questions because there is no "shot date" column in the project window which would of resolved this. If anyone knows how to add that, please let me know.

Thanks,
Angelo

[Jeff Hinson]

you may want to check here for info...a lot of vids regarding multicam editing.

Premiere Pro multi-camera editing on Vimeo

http://vimeo.com/search/videos/searc...ng/st/9d88734c
http://www.singularsoftware.com/pluraleyes.html