Workflow Qs

[_Paz_]

I have some footage from the beach which has multiple problems. I made a manual adjustment to prevent the highlights from being blown and probably went too dark. Depending on whether I’m looking into the sun or away, the dark/light balance is better or worse. There is slight vignetting, horizons are sometimes not level, and there is some camera shake from time to time.

I don't know which problems I should correct first. Or if it makes any difference in terms of loss of information, therefore, image quality.

Thoughts?

thanks,

Paz

[Chuck Engels]

Hi Paz,
I think you might want to cut this one up first and only apply the needed effects to specific sections.
I would start with any anti shake effects and then adjust for color, brightness, contrast, etc. after that.
If you only apply the needed effects to those specific frames it will help in many ways, rather than trying to adjust the entire clip all at one time.

[momoffduty]

To add what Chuck posted, my suggestion would be to edit your in and out points first of all the clips and add any dissolves or dips to black or other transitions.

The next step would be to stabilize the footage. The third step adjust your horizons. The last would be color correct.

If you cut the footage to stabilize only a section, then the section before and after will not match up in scale. I had a 3 minute video of a group playing bluegrass. The last 30 seconds I slowly panned the group and needed to stabilize the last 30 seconds. I split the clip and now the last frame of the first part didn't match up in scale with the stabilized section. So, I overlayed the stabilized section on track 2 with the first part on track one and overlapped the first and last frames. Lowered the opacity on track 2 to see the scale adjustment I needed to make on track 1. Keyframed a slow scale up on track 1. Put the 2nd part back on track 1. Now when played the last 15 seconds of the first part slowly scaled up to match up with the second part. I wish that the Warp Stabilizer had keyframes for some of the properties, it would make things a lot easier.

Some effects it does depend on stacking order, but I think that is more relevant with the color correction fx.

[_Paz_]

Thanks for your suggestions. I'm continuing work on this.

It was already in about 15 clips. I've gone through them and decided which order they should be in. Now I'm working on them one at the time and saving them as whatever file the Premiere Pro project is. Prel? Or maybe that was for Premiere Elements.

Now that I've worked on a few, It has occurred to me to wonder if I can open a group of prel- pre pro version files at the same time??? Or do I need to save them as exported, full fledged files and then combine?

thanks,

Paz

[Bob]

"prel" is premiere Elements, "prproj" is premiere pro. But, those are project files which don't actually contain video -- just the information about the edits you made. Yes, in Premiere Pro, you can open a prproj file and then import a prproj file into it -- you can import selected sequences or the entire project. At some point, you will want to export the finished video.

[_Paz_]

Yes, in Premiere Pro, you can open a prproj file and then import a prproj file into it

Good!

Thanks, Bob!

you can import selected sequences

I don't understand the difference in the prproj files and sequences. Or why when I open video in AE, I have to create a "composition." What's the difference?

[Bob]

Premiere Pro Sequences and After Effects Compositions are similar in that they are both timelines. Sequences and Compositions differ in that Sequences do not have a fixed duration, while Compositions do. To use footage in either program, you need to do two things: 1) import the footage, and 2) place it on a timeline. So, if you are using Premiere Pro, you need to create a sequence and if using After Effects, you need to create a composition.

Both applications allow you to have multiple timelines in the same project. If you import a project that has multiple timelines, you would typically import all the timelines, but, you do have the option of importing fewer if that makes sense in your project.

[momoffduty]

Thanks for your suggestions. I'm continuing work on this.

It was already in about 15 clips. I've gone through them and decided which order they should be in. Now I'm working on them one at the time and saving them as whatever file the Premiere Pro project is. Prel? Or maybe that was for Premiere Elements.

Now that I've worked on a few, It has occurred to me to wonder if I can open a group of prel- pre pro version files at the same time??? Or do I need to save them as exported, full fledged files and then combine?

thanks,

Paz

If your 15 clips are all for one project, then why not edit them in one project? Or in one timeline sequence? If this is for one project there isn't a need to export and then re-import.

One of the reasons I use sequences is if my project is divided into sections and makes for easier editing if you have a lot of footage. For example a graduation project: Sequence 1 is the getting ready & taking family photos (video), Sequence 2 is the Graduation ceremony, Sequence 3 is the party, Sequence 4 is a slideshow. I would edit each section in its own sequence. The Final sequence would have a Title, Sequence 1, 2, 3 & 4 nested, an ending title. Note, sometimes I send each sequence to Encore separately to burn a DVD. Just remember to add black video for fade in and out for each sequence.

Another reason to use a sequence is during a slideshow. If I wanted to put a frame around a photo I would place a color matte on track 1 and on track 2 the photo with the scale adjusted. Bring that photo sequence into the Main Slideshow Sequence and now I can animate the photo frame sequence as one unit.

To add what Bob posted about AE, think of AE as more as Photoshop on steroids. AE is not designed as a NLE, but as a compositing program.

A Comp which is your composition to layer elements (still or animated) into one project.

When opening AE you created a new Comp. I usually name this Main. If I have Pre-Comps to be used in the Main Comp then it is important to name them for good housekeeping. In AE it is easy to get overwhelmed with all of the Comps & Pre-Comps.

An example: I am creating a Title for a project. The Main Comp would be named Opening Title. In that Main Comp I may have many Pre-Comps. For the Commencement Title I had several groups of images that I wanted to animate as a unit. The first unit of photos & text I Pre-Comp and named it accordingly which was ITU Comp. Got it all set up and animated. Placed this Pre-Comp in the Main Title Comp and now those elements are one unit. The other good thing about this is that I can now duplicate this comp and swap out elements for the other Pre-Comps. Be sure to Duplicate in the Project panel and NOT the Layer panel. The Project panel will give you a new Comp that can be changed with text & photos or elements and the first one will stay the same. If you Duplicate in the Layer panel then you are duplicating that Layer and if you make one change then all the Comps will change.

For the Commencement project I also had a short Ending with photos and the congrats with the person's name. I wanted it to look the same as the Opening Title so I Duplicated one of the PreComps and named it Ending Title. Now I have my texture, masks, Title background color, particle effect all the same. I added photos & animated different than the Opening, but with all the color & elements the same I didn't have to create it from scratch.

I recommend having good housekeeping in the Project Panel. I place all the Comps & Precomps in a folder named Opening Title Comps. The same for the Ending Title it had its own folder with Comps & Pre-Comps.

The best book to understand AE is "After Effects Apprentice" by Meyer. I recommend doing the workbook from start to finish even if you don't think you will use some of the effects because there a little things that will be picked up along the way. It gives a very good understanding of the how & why things work the way they do. Use the keyboard shortcuts given and at the end of the workbook you will have most memorized. For me it was painstakingly slow to go through the book. I wanted to just jump in and do, but I see now that the workbook gave me a good foundation. Another thing that was odd at first is that the precomps do not have to be the same size as your main comp. Your main comp should be the size of your output file, but the precomps can be the photo size. It all depends on what you are trying to achieve.