Making videos with multiple screens and scenes - how to sync them?

Neil-Kendall wrote on 12/8/2018, 6:43 AM

Hello, I'm thinking of purchasing one of the Magix video editing software programs for my laptop, as I am a musician and want to create professional music videos for my band.

I would like to create videos with lots of different scenes in them (possibly with multiple screens at some points) and I have a few questions. If I want to make a video that switches between different scenes and get them all to sync properly with the video and sound, can I just film each scene separately and then splice them all together in the video editor, or would I need to film the entire song from the start many times over and then switch between each scene at the appropriate point in the software? If I just filmed each scene it would save time, but it could be hard to sync them all together, but then again if I have to film the same song many times all the way through it could get time consuming.

I'm not sure how people make these music videos with different scenes and also get them all to sync together so I'd appreciate any help and advice. Thanks.

Comments

emmrecs wrote on 12/8/2018, 8:22 AM

Hi.

Oh what a big question!

First, yes either of Magix Movie Edit Pro (Premium variant, ideally) or Video Pro X will allow you to edit together footage of your band to produce the desired "music video". Possibly the only decision you need to make concerning which product to buy is: how many cameras am I going to use simultaneously? (MEP can handle a maximum of 4 (I think?), VPX up to 9 (?).) In either case, you also need to check carefully that your computer can handle the very intense data throughput that video, especially multicam video, entails.

BUT, you need to be clear in your own mind exactly how you are going to shoot the footage before you even begin. Professionally-produced music videos are usually filmed with multiple cameras on the same scene (so a "multicam" project) and the artists may well perform the same song, or even a few bars of the song several (= many) times over. However, it is important to understand they will almost always be "miming" along to the already-recorded audio of the track. I doubt that many, if any, such videos are recorded in "one take" and/or with "live playing".

The "alternative" approach, again using a multicam format, is to video a typical gig by the band, obviously using multiple cameras (personally I suspect a minimum of 3) together with a "master" audio recording, usually taken as a direct feed from any mixing desk in use and ideally at 48 kHz sampling frequency and 16 bit. Since this gig recording is likely to be of several songs I would then split up the files so that each song, with all its video and audio files, is placed in a folder named after the particular song title. This makes later work on each song so much easier!

In either of the above scenarios, selecting "Multicam" mode, once all the footage of a song is roughly assembled on the editor timeline, each camera output on a separate track, along with the already-recorded audio (method 1 above) or the master audio track (method 2) you then need the software to bring ALL the various elements into sync. Both MEP and VPX include an option to select one audio track (in this case your "master" audio) right-click on this track and choose the option to "Align other audio objects with this track". MEP/VPX will then use the audio from each camera to do what the action states, "align" the outputs of all the cameras with that of the master audio. (Aligning the audio essentially "drags" the associated video into alignment.)

If, for any reason, this process of alignment partially or totally fails, you will then need to look seriously at highly-specialised software. The one I have used is PluralEyes from Red Giant, part of their Shooter Suite, but NOT CHEAP! What this does is to create a "new" version of your audio track which is completely aligned to (in sync with) your camera audio. You then import this new audio to your editor timeline, knowing that "picture" and "sound" will match.

Only at that stage can you begin to think about actually "editing" your video (selecting which camera's view is to be used at any given point in the song, adding transitions, effects, etc., etc., etc..), not to mention any processing you want to do to the audio....!

Some answers to some of your questions:

can I just film each scene separately and then splice them all together in the video editor

Yes, but bear in mind everything must match from scene to scene: lighting, audio level, camera position(s),tempo of the music, how the musicians are standing, etc., etc., or it will be "obvious" that you have "edited" two "performances" together.

if I have to film the same song many times all the way through it could get time consuming

Indeed so! Welcome to the world of professional audio/video!

Additional Note: Please be aware that all the above has to presume some working knowledge of how a video editing program works and how to use it at a reasonable level of understanding. If you are an absolute beginner to such programs please do not even think of trying ANY of the above without first learning a lot about the program and gaining a lot of experience of even "simple" video editing. The tutorials section of this forum, along with the built-in help files with each program are an absolutely essential first step.

HTH

Jeff

Michal-MST wrote on 12/8/2018, 8:34 AM

Practice and fun is the basis :) Over time, you'll be making more interesting videos. My foreman explained it well. Recently, I have made two clips, typically for fun.

CubeAce wrote on 12/8/2018, 12:20 PM

@Neil-Kendall

On top of what @emmrecs wrote, which as well as being quite comprehensive, is giving very good advice, I would first like to ask the spec of your laptop.

You would not believe the processing power you are going to need or the hard disc capacity for such projects.

Personally, going on previous experience recording bands in the past, (just audio, not video). I would favour the one take, many cameras approach, as trying to get consistency using multiple takes from what in effect will be an amateur setup will be very stressful on both the technicians and band. With audio recording, it's fairly easy to drop in and out of a multitrack recording in separate lanes and then blend the mix into a seamless composition, but with video it is going to be much harder if you are doing mutiple takes. As Emmrecs suggested, you will have audio sync problems to video frames, as well as lighting matching, camera angle and performance sync problems between takes as well. The problem with the many cameras, one take method would be matching video quality output from one camera to another unless you use identical cameras and take into account the lighting level variations between shooting angles as well as the problem of not getting in each other's way or field of view. (Unless you want to deliberately show another camera operator of course.) Then there is the cost involved. Hiring cameras can seem like a good idea until you try to use them if you are not familiar with the equipment. You may find the lighting strobes on playback or is insufficient. There are a lot of possible drawbacks to overcome and you may end up taking as much time as using one camera with lots of takes.

Also consider the equipment you will need. A lot of cameras may struggle to focus in artificial lighting conditions or fail to give a clean output. What looks bright to the eye may not be to a camera sensor.

Using one camera and doing many takes is much cheaper and you can probably spend more time setting everything up, but the band may get fed up redoing takes over and over because the take doesn't look right or gel in the final mixdown. To make matters worse, you may not realise any of this until you try to edit the material.

Then again, none of what has been mentioned may be of importance and a more energetic, mad, amateurish look to the video may compliment the music style.

Either way, it will be a great if not frustrating learning curve, and I wish you all well and the best of luck.