Split Screen While Using Multicam Editing at DVinfo.net

Rey Lowe · March 10th, 2011, 01:25 PM

I've done a few searches on this, but have not found a clear answer. I taped a dance recital with two cams (one static/wide angle of the stage, the other controlled by me to get closeups, etc.). Normally, I simply synch the two cams on the timeline, create a multicam track and edit the video that way. However, this new project will require some split screening of both cameras, per client request.

What is the best way to achieve this? Should I duplicate one of the synched video tracks to drop in shots over the multicam track when I need to via the pan/crop settings or is there a better way that I am overlooking?

Thanks in advance for any tips and ideas.

Rey

Dale Guthormsen · March 10th, 2011, 01:34 PM

Good afernoon,

If I was doing it I would do the multi cam, put them to one track, then lay a second track as you mentioned and use the pan crop tool on the second track. that is if I understand you correctly, of course.

Rey Lowe · March 10th, 2011, 07:21 PM

Thanks, Dale. I think that's what I'm going to try.

Philip Howells · March 11th, 2011, 03:01 AM

Ray, I'm about to move to Vegas from Liquid because Liquid is effectively dead for me and because Vegas accepts input from my EX1R and has multicam which I used extensively in Liquid with up to 10 streams.

You methodology is, in my view, exactly right and one we used a variant of for years. We multicam the three cameras from our weddings. Each camera has the output from a radio mic on one channel and from a short gun on the other. For example, at the reception one camera will record the father of the bride, another the groom and the third the best man. If there are two best men (as is happening increasingly here) we put the second best man's radio mic on to our "reaction" camera (the short gun recording on on which is least valuable).

The short gun on the multicam soundtrack will act as a guide and the first stage is to do the vision edit.

When that's complete it's dropped to the timeline (I think in Vegas you do the multicam edit on the timeline - as small difference.).

Then before any sync points are altered in any way, the remaining four soundtracks (which match the multicam pair exactly in terms of sync and length, are dropped on to four more audio timeline tracks.

The last stage is to edit the six soundtracks (plus any music beds or soundtracks recorded wild on our Zoom H4). This could be the equivalent to you doing your picture-in-picture or other screen splitting.

The key is to not change the sync points on the constituent tracks before matching them on the timeline.

I hope that the differences between Liquid and Vegas don't make that unnecessarily complicated

Edward Troxel · March 11th, 2011, 07:57 AM

The exact procedure you use would also vary slightly depending on if you're doing the multicam splits manually, using the built-in multi-cam, or using one of the multi-cam scripts (such as Excalibur or Ultimate S). But the general procedure would be to first get the multi-cam edit done. Then add a track ABOVE the multi-cam and put your PIP'd footage on that track. Use either Track Motion or Pan/Crop to resize it to the proper smaller size/location and you're done.

Rey Lowe · March 11th, 2011, 08:05 AM

Thanks, Ed. I use the built-in multicam feature to create the multicam track, so simply duplicating the A roll video (cam) track beforehand (to be sure it's syched with the others before editing), editing the show and then moving that duplicated track above the multicam track is exactly what I had hoped would work.

I'm still not sure about the asthetics of this in the video, but it's what the client is asking for.

March 10th, 2011, 01:25 PM	#1
Rey Lowe Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Central VA Posts: 156	Split Screen While Using Multicam Editing I've done a few searches on this, but have not found a clear answer. I taped a dance recital with two cams (one static/wide angle of the stage, the other controlled by me to get closeups, etc.). Normally, I simply synch the two cams on the timeline, create a multicam track and edit the video that way. However, this new project will require some split screening of both cameras, per client request. What is the best way to achieve this? Should I duplicate one of the synched video tracks to drop in shots over the multicam track when I need to via the pan/crop settings or is there a better way that I am overlooking? Thanks in advance for any tips and ideas. Rey

March 10th, 2011, 01:34 PM	#2
Dale Guthormsen Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Saskatchewan Posts: 3,048	Re: Split Screen While Using Multicam Editing Good afernoon, If I was doing it I would do the multi cam, put them to one track, then lay a second track as you mentioned and use the pan crop tool on the second track. that is if I understand you correctly, of course. __________________ DATS ALL FOLKS Dale W. Guthormsen

March 10th, 2011, 07:21 PM	#3
Rey Lowe Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Central VA Posts: 156	Re: Split Screen While Using Multicam Editing Thanks, Dale. I think that's what I'm going to try.

March 11th, 2011, 03:01 AM	#4
Philip Howells Trustee Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Manchester UK Posts: 1,212	Re: Split Screen While Using Multicam Editing Ray, I'm about to move to Vegas from Liquid because Liquid is effectively dead for me and because Vegas accepts input from my EX1R and has multicam which I used extensively in Liquid with up to 10 streams. You methodology is, in my view, exactly right and one we used a variant of for years. We multicam the three cameras from our weddings. Each camera has the output from a radio mic on one channel and from a short gun on the other. For example, at the reception one camera will record the father of the bride, another the groom and the third the best man. If there are two best men (as is happening increasingly here) we put the second best man's radio mic on to our "reaction" camera (the short gun recording on on which is least valuable). The short gun on the multicam soundtrack will act as a guide and the first stage is to do the vision edit. When that's complete it's dropped to the timeline (I think in Vegas you do the multicam edit on the timeline - as small difference.). Then before any sync points are altered in any way, the remaining four soundtracks (which match the multicam pair exactly in terms of sync and length, are dropped on to four more audio timeline tracks. The last stage is to edit the six soundtracks (plus any music beds or soundtracks recorded wild on our Zoom H4). This could be the equivalent to you doing your picture-in-picture or other screen splitting. The key is to not change the sync points on the constituent tracks before matching them on the timeline. I hope that the differences between Liquid and Vegas don't make that unnecessarily complicated

March 11th, 2011, 07:57 AM	#5
Edward Troxel Sponsor: JET DV Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Southern Illinois Posts: 7,953	Re: Split Screen While Using Multicam Editing The exact procedure you use would also vary slightly depending on if you're doing the multicam splits manually, using the built-in multi-cam, or using one of the multi-cam scripts (such as Excalibur or Ultimate S). But the general procedure would be to first get the multi-cam edit done. Then add a track ABOVE the multi-cam and put your PIP'd footage on that track. Use either Track Motion or Pan/Crop to resize it to the proper smaller size/location and you're done. __________________ Edward Troxel [SCVU] JETDV Scripts/Scripting Tutorials/Excalibur/Montage Magic/Newsletters

March 11th, 2011, 08:05 AM	#6
Rey Lowe Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Central VA Posts: 156	Re: Split Screen While Using Multicam Editing Thanks, Ed. I use the built-in multicam feature to create the multicam track, so simply duplicating the A roll video (cam) track beforehand (to be sure it's syched with the others before editing), editing the show and then moving that duplicated track above the multicam track is exactly what I had hoped would work. I'm still not sure about the asthetics of this in the video, but it's what the client is asking for.