Best practice regarding work flow (cutting, applying effects, exporting etc)

Question

Hi!
I've been asked to shoot and edit a music video for a friend of mine, and I'm trying to figure out the best way to manage this project in PrE (in what order to do things and so on). I have a picture in my head which make sence, but I'd like to have it confirmed. If you've been following the "Very disappointed with Premiere Elements" thread, you know I'm not a fan of how the applying of effects works, when having a lot of cuts between scenes and clips etc. A few of the steps below is meant to make that process more effective.
So, here's my idea, from the begining and in detail:
1. Download the appropriate clips from the camera (in this case 1280x720, H.264 mov's from an EOS 500D).
2. Create a PrE-project for each clip and maybe trim the in and outs a bit, if needed.
3. Export each clip to uncompressed avi's.
4. Create the main project file and import all the uncompressed avi's.
5. Insert the clips in on appropriate tracks in the timeline.
6. Do all the cutting, triming and sync as complete as possible, without thinking about effects.
7. When finished, open up each of the smaller clip projects and add the desired effects. This will mainly include contrasts, color corrections, noise etc, in order to get the right look and feel to each clip/scene.
8. Again, export the clips to uncompressed avi's and overwrite the previous versions.
9. Open up the main project, which now should contain the clips with look-and-feel effects visible.
10. Add some additional effects if needed.
11. Export/share, and you're done.
Of course I will end up going back and forth through these steps anyway, but as a basic plan it seems reasonable. I see three main positive aspects:
1. The look-and-feel effects will be applied on the raw material, before the converting process. This should result in a slightly better quality. Perhaps not noticeable, but anyway.
2. The main project will be more CPU friendly and easier to work with.
3. If I want to tweek the look-and-feel effect to a clip/scene, I don't have to do it on every split (I will have a lot of splits, so applying and changing the effect parameters will be time consuming and ineffective). Of course, opening up the clip's specific project, changing the effect and then export to avi, will also take time, but point 1 and 2 makes up for that.
Have in mind that it is a music video project, to put things in the right context. We'll probably have a few parallel stories/scenes, with lots of cutting in and out between them. The timeline will probably look insane.
So, am I thinking in the right direction here? Any traps I might fall into along the way?
Regards
Fredrik

Answer 1

Fredrik,
Though similar to your workflow, here is how I would do it.
Import those "raw" Clips into a Project, and do my Trimming in that Project, relying on the Source Monitor to establish the In & Out Points for each, and also using different Instances of any longer "master Clip.". I would also do my CC (Color Correction), and all density (Levels, etc.) Effects here. Do not Trim too closely, as you will want to make sure that you have adequate Handles to work with later on.
Use the WAB (Work Area Bar) to Export the material that I needed in "chunks," using either Lagarith Lossless CODEC, or UT Lossless CODEC *
Import my music into a new Project and listen over and over, making notes on what visuals (those Exported/Shared Clips from above) I have at my disposal. At this point, I would also be making notes as to some of the Effects that I felt went with the music, based on my knowledge of the available visuals.
Import my Exported/Shared, color graded Clips.
Assemble those Clips, and Trim even more.
Watch and listen carefully, going back to my notes.
Apply any additional Effects now.
Watch and listen carefully.
Tighten any edits, adjust any applied Effects, and perhaps add (or remove existing) more Effects.
Watch and listen carefully.
Output an "approval" AV for the band/client.
Tweak, as is necessary.
Output "final approval" AV.
Tweak, as is necessary.
Export/Share, to desired delivery formats.
Invoice the client.
Cash check.
Declare "wine-thirty."
This is very similar to your proposed workflow.
Good luck,
Hunt
* I have used Lagarith Lossless CODEC with my PrE 4.0, but have not tried UT. Both work fine in PrPro, so I assume that UT Lossless will work in PrE too. These CODEC's are fairly quick in processing/Exporting, and offer the benefit of smaller files, than Uncompressed AVI. They are visually lossless. The resultant files will NOT be tiny, so one would still need a good amount of HDD space. Neither CODEC introduces any artifacts, or color degredation.