Multicam and the game of NLE catchup
Non Linear Editing systems are perpetually in a state of catch-up warfare - any new feature introduced by one of the major NLE developers is invariably emulated sooner or later by the others. And in this process certain features become buzzword must-haves and any system lacking said feature (which until recently everyone lacked) is quickly seized upon as 'not professional' or not 'fully featured'. Its amazing how expectations of what an NLE should do evolve and with them the expectations of the role of Editor itself.
Several years ago Vegas introduced the first 5.1 multichannel audio tools in an NLE and before too long Liquid and Premiere followed and Final Cut Pro some time later caught on and gave 5.1 to its audio side-kick Soundtrack.
Avid introduced XML exchange and now Final Cut and Vegas are both capable of importing XML files and are embracing the wide possibilities of XML.
Adobe have for several years now made inter-application project file exchange central to their workflow - premiere to after effects to encore to photoshop and so on. Now Apple and Avid, still with some catching up to do, have none the less this same sort of integration in their sights between their application suites.
From its very beginning, 7 versions ago, Vegas delivered a completely format agnostic and resolution independent timeline and, whilst it took a little while, this is now the aim of all major NLE's with Final Cut Pro finally coming to the party to join everyone else in the latest version (better late than never!)
All these are tools and features that not so long ago were outside the perceived editors scope or needs, have quickly become staples of the editor's toolbox.
One of the major steps for software NLE's to embrace is dedicated Multicam tools. Avid has long had solid multicam features and Final Cut Pro, seemingly intent upon Avids high end market share, got in step with there own very capable multicam system. Premiere and Vegas followed with dedicated split screen multicam tools.
Now for those already shooting productions with synced multiple cameras this a productivity saving ready to be exploited. But for those who havn't yet used multicam footage the process and benefits might be less clear.
Enter Tori Amos... The musician and songwriter is providing resources for getting hands on with Multicam. In truth the multicam clips supplied by Tori Amos from her website are for a competition for fans to edit a music video. But for those looking to try their hand at multicam editing, try out the multicam features of their NLE or purely as a learning experience, the clips are a fabulous resource.
You can download the
DV resolution clips from the Tori Amos site.
Posted at 12:00AM Nov 18, 2007
by Mike Jones in video |
