Multi-Camera Editing

Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 provides innovative tools that allow accurate and creative editing of video from multiple-camera shoots. The key enhancement is the new Multi-Camera Monitor that simultaneously displays up to four synced source tracks and a real-time preview of the switched output.

Multi-camera editing is a two-stage process. The first involves assembling and synchronizing clips in up to four video and four audio Timeline tracks. The tracks can hold many types of media, including synchronized footage, B-roll video, audio, and still images. Then the assembled source sequence gets nested into a “target sequence.”

In the second stage, the target sequence plays in the Multi-Camera Monitor as users make edits between the source tracks in real time while recording the output back to the target sequence. After a first-pass edit, users can directly overwrite any parts they want to change and swap one camera's footage for another without affecting the timing of the cuts. They can also fine-tune cuts with any of Adobe Premiere Pro's editing tools, and add effects and titles.

Try it: Prepare a source sequence for multi-camera editing
If all video and audio from a multi-camera shoot shares the same genlocked timecode, then synchronizing the tracks in Adobe Premiere Pro is a simple task; just bring them into the timeline. However, cameras and/or audio synchronized with only a clap slate or otherwise not sharing identical timecode present a greater challenge.
So Adobe Premiere Pro provides tools that simplify establishing and maintaining sync across sources. We'll give one brief example here.

1. Open the multicam.prproj project. We're going to add an audio file to the existing sequence and sync it to the other video and audio files. In the project panel, double-click on Multi_Cam_Wild_audio.wav to open it in the Source panel. Locate to the sound of the foot stomp at 00:00:02:13. Choose Marker > Set Clip Marker > Other Numbered and set marker number 1 to the clip at the current time indicator (CTI). Then drag the clip from the source monitor into track Audio 3 in the Timeline.

2. Shift-click to select the first clips Video 4 and Audio 3 in the Timeline, and set Video 4 as the target by clicking on the track header (the gray area just left of the clip). Video 4 already has a marker number 1 placed at the same foot stomp, but at a different timecode from the audio file.

3. Choose Clip > Synchronize to open the new Synchronize Clips dialog. Click Numbered Clip Marker to sync to marker 1, and click OK. The file Multi_Cam_Wild_audio.wav moves to align its marker 1 with that of Video 4.

4. Use Toggle Track Output to hide Video tracks 1, 2, and 3, and also Audio tracks 1, 2, and 4. Play the sequence to confirm that Video 4 and Audio 3 are synchronized. When finished, unhide all Video and Audio tracks and save the project.

5. Try it: Edit with the Multi-Camera Monitor

1. With the updated multicam.prproj file still open, choose File > New > Sequence. In the New Sequence dialog, give the sequence a name (e.g. “multi-cam_target”), 1 video and 1 stereo track, and click OK. The target sequence appears in both the Project and the Timeline panels.

2. Drag the source sequence from the Project panel into the Timeline and release it at the start of track Video 1 to nest it in the target sequence. Hit the backslash key to expand the timeline to the entire sequence. Select the clip, right-click, and choose Multi-Camera > Enable.

3. Click the arrow at the upper right flyout menu. The Monitor opens Source and Program panels for the group it with the Source panel.

4. In the quad-view section of the Multi-Camera Monitor, the source currently feeding program is outlined in yellow. Click on the quadrant showing the source you want to appear at the beginning of the edited sequence.

5. Click Play or press the space bar to start the sequence. As the video plays, switch to another source track at any time by clicking on it in the quad-view monitor or by pressing keys 1, 2, 3, or 4 at the top of the keyboard (not in the numeric keypad). The Program feed records to the target sequence.

6. After recording, the track in the Timeline shows labeled segments representing the source for each edit point in the sequence. Click Play to view the results; the source camera for each shot is once again outlined
in the quad-view monitor.

7. You can directly overwrite any edits you'd like to change by clicking in the source or pressing one of the number keys. Press the zero key to drop in and out of record mode. This lets you re-record specific sections
of a segment without having to re-edit the entire sequence, especially handy when working on long segments. Re-record as often as needed to get a good rough-cut.

8. In the timeline you can exchange individual shots with content from a different track. Right-click on one of the shots in the timeline, scroll to Multi-Camera and choose an alternative track (Camera 1-4). This flexibility lets you adjust your edit without affecting overall pacing.

9. You can also insert a new cut at a particular frame while in stop mode. Position the CTI at the frame you want, select the angle you want to cut to, and the edit is made.

10. With the timeline still stopped, position the CTI over one of the shots, then select a new angle by clicking on a different track in the Multi-Camera Monitor.

11. You can fine-tune your rough cut by adjusting the edits with any of the standard editing tools. Razor, Rolling, Ripple, Slip, and Slide all work as expected