Two Camera Editing
 

Hi.

I just got some footage to edit from my son's 1st birthday party. I hired two camera man to get the job done. Point is one of the cameras didn't have clock/time adjusted and is set to zero. Is there a way to deal with this situation in vegas? I heard something about the timecode, but so far I'm lost.

Any help will be very welcome.

TIA

If date/time wasn't set, you can't do DV start/stop scene detection (I think it's called scene detection in Vegas). Options:
A- Purchase Scenalyzer
B- Log and capture, or some other variation on manually breaking up clips.

date/time doesn't affect timecode as far as I know.

or the easy no brainer way would be to capture both tapes as is..
forget about time code.. it wont make a difference anywyas especially if one camera is off by afew seconds.. its futile..
if one camera triggers the other, then its another story...

create 2 timelines and find an audio point of reference which is shared by both

sync the two down to the frame by zooming in.. u might need to turn off qualtize to frames to do this..

once synced, there are a variety of ways to multicam.. whether it be track motion manipulation, runnign ascript tool like excalibur or ultimate S or jsut by showing automation controls and muting/unmuitng the track as its played back...

About Scenalyzer
 

What advantage can I take from using Scenalyzer? What is it good for?

When Vegas captures, it can break up clips where you turn the camera on/off.

I presumed that it is what you were looking for.

2- What is your problem/issue? What is it that you want to do?

I believe I misunderstood you.

It seems to me you are interested in figuring out HOW to edit clips from 2 different cameras using Vegas. Perhaps I'm wrong. If thats the case please let us know so we can give you the correct information. It is really quite simple in Vegas.

Don

Explanations
 

I think I didn't make myself clear at first place. So, let's try again.

I want to be able to edit clips, that have been already captured sucessfully without drop outs in vegas. I have footage from two diferent cameras from my son's 1st birthday party.

How do I syncronize the clips, being given that each one is already placed on a track?

For instance, as the CAM1 was taking shots of the guests that arrives I would like to change view to CAM2 that was showing my kid playing.

Can it be done? Do I need Ultimate S ou Excalibur in order to achive that?

Kindest Regards,
Gustavo

Gustavo, it can be done very easily in Vegas. Go to Edward Troxel's site at www.jetdv.com, click Newsletter Archive, and grab Vol 1 #09 July 2003. The first article is "Editing Multi-Cam Events" and he walks you through it. While you're there, grab the rest of them as they're an excellent resource.

Mike

Thanks guys
 

I finally made it. Edward's newsletter is a must for begginers.

Perhaps I'm not following exactly...but why does it have to be in sync? You simply want to tell a coherent story of what happened...so why does it matter if the various clips even occurred anywhere near the same time...or even the same day? You make a sub clip of the guests arriving, make a subclip of the kids, then smack those two together. Which camera actually shot it is largely irrelevant unless there image settings are drastically different. Just take all your clips you like, throw out the ones you don't and make it look like a birthday party.

That way you can avoid videos that are like my old birthday videos from when I was a kid....with 20 minute scenes of peoples rear ends because my grandma left the camera on while she went talk to people.

Personal taste, editors are like chefs not everyones dish turns out quite the same. We simply season to taste.

It would make my job much easier if I had the cameras sync. Switching from both cameras as the candle was lighted, from diferent angles... anyway... I thought I could be easier. But now, I found a way to do it. It's the best way? Can tell you. All I know is I got 5 hours of tape to edit.



I have the 5 hours already captured on HD.

Has anyone mentioned to you Edward Troxel's Excalibur? I must tell you to try out the trial 15 day version. Not only will it make editing two cameras a snap! It will also help you with camera sync. I may find that is more than worth the price to buy it! Check out Jetdv.com and look in the news letters, you should find it most helpful! Are you capturing all 5hrs of footage?

I'm with Devin, Excalibur will pay for itself on the very first multi-cam project you work. Or on the first photo montage you assemble. Top shelf tool, especially with the latest improvements.

Downloading the Trial version now...