Multi cam

[mark hansen]

I will be starting my full multi cam edit tomorrow and I have been watch many tut videos. I think i have the steps down. I was wondering if their any words of wisdom from folks that hae done it before. Any "gotchs" out there I need to watch out for.

I have 3 camera with 36 min of non stop video. After syncing them with a pre-planned flash, off I'll go. I'm looking forward to it.

Mark

[Chuck Engels]

Syncing them all up is the most time consuming part, should be an audio and a video sync point.
Be sure to check the sync throughout the project before you start editing to make sure it is truly in sync through the entire clip. I have thought that the clips were in sync only to find out 20 minutes into the clip that they were really 4 or 5 frames off and then you start hearing an echo. Be sure to spot check down the timeline to make sure everything is properly in sync.

[sidd finch]

The other thing to factor in is the size of the room and the cameras proximity to each other. I have done a cathedral and some large churches and because the sound takes time to reach the camera's some of my speaking parts start to look a little off.

Sidd

[Chuck Engels]

That's why you need a visual and audio cue to sync off of, something audible and visible to all cameras.

[mark hansen]

Thanks for the tips. I thought I was crazy when I did this manually a few years ago using PreEle. I synced up on a visual clue on the alter and 20 min later it was way off. I thought I was crazy.

Thanks again for the tips.

mark

[mark hansen]

Well 38 DVDs in the can. Man what a job. You know it's funny, I guess. My daughter is a teacher and we did her school play. Way back when she was i school she was the one that would come up the day before its due and tell us about a school project. she did it this time too, things don't change. The day before the play she asked me if I could film it... after the play she said she need 38 disks. What we do for our kids.

The multi cam was the easiest part! thanks for all the help. I got a good sync camera flash and went off from there. This project was the first one where I used sequences as well. That made it better too.
This was a good dry run for the filming of my mom's memorial / family reunion video I'll be using 4 cameras for the service and many sequences for each day stuff.

I did learn one thing... prior planning, prior planning, prior planning. i set the cameras up before i got a chance to see the stage and they were a bit off. I had no idea all the speaking was on two mikes positions. it would have been much better to be closer in on the two mikes and my moving camera on a little wider shot.

I told her next year I need to see rehearsals!!

thanks for the help.

[Chuck Engels]

Sounds like everything went well Mark, glad to hear it.
Rehearsals are great but you know they still do it different every time.
I've been involved in dozens of shows and been through lots of rehearsals.
The night of the show everything changes so you always have to be ready to deal with "whatever" comes along

[momoffduty]

I just finished editing an event with 2 cams. The 2nd cam was turned off & on during one section and had several clips to sync. Started off trying to match the audio and was proving difficult. I then remembered this thread about matching up the flash. Fortunately there were several camera flashes per clip and it made it easy to match up frame to frame. Thanks for the tip!

[Chuck Engels]

It's easiest to just let the cameras roll rather than stop and start. Much easier on the editor to just sync each camera once or twice rather than dozens of times.
These topics still come in handy years later

[momoffduty]

It's easiest to just let the cameras roll rather than stop and start. Much easier on the editor to just sync each camera once or twice rather than dozens of times.

My assistant turned his cam off several times when someone walked in front of him and he had to move. But, can't complain..he works for free, drives, & carries stuff.

However, the syncing with a flash is invaluable. Thanks!

[Chuck Engels]

Just tell him next time to leave the camera running, you can't use any of the footage but you don't have to sync it multiple times either. You should see some of the wedding video that I get, people's feet, running and bouncing, then setting up for another shot. But they all know that they have to keep the cameras running unless the tape runs out

[momoffduty]

Chuck, I can imagine all the stuff you edit out. At a wedding last year I kept the cam running while I ran around the gazebo, but only had one cam then. This last event was in tight quarters and I am surprised at the number of people who not only walk in front of the camera, which can't be helped at times, but Stop directly in front of me. I was taping the F & D dance when a chair came sailing into the back of my legs. Good thing we had the 2nd cam going because my footage had a big jump. Good thing I only do this on occasion as favors to friends & family. Really appreciate the pros that do this full time.

I really like having the 2nd cam for editing options. During the wed party dance, I held my monopod above the heads and was able to use the 2nd cam footage instead of the few seconds of my cam that captured the lift in progress and then cut back to the overhead shot.

[Dave McElderry]

I think I detailed some of this before, but I went looking and didn't find anything in a quick search. Last year when I recorded two choir songs I did multi-cam with one camcorder. I didn't have but the one, so the choir did each song 4 times and I moved the camcorder to different strategic locations each time, sometimes actually changing location during a single take. It took some doing, but I put it all back together in two edited videos, choosing one best soundtrack take for each of the two songs. Even with 4 takes there were moments when I didn't have usable footage and it took some creative editing to smooth past that point. It was quite a challenge and learning experience. I think if I do it again I'll try harder to find at least one other camcorder.

[momoffduty]

Dave, that had to have taken some editing. I shot 2 takes of a violinist once and could not get it to sync since it was played just slightly different in spots. A local video guy said that when he shot a music video they had the recorded song playing as the band played to get the live in sync as much as possible with each take.

[Dave McElderry]

In the final edit sometimes I couldn't stay on one take's footage for too long because the tempo was different enough that you'd notice things getting out of sync. There are times when a section will actually start out slightly out of sync with audio very slightly ahead of video, but by the end of the section the audio will be very slightly behind the video. You've got to look for it though. Overall I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.