Documentary Workflow

An important part of any project is your workflow...it determines how quickly and efficiently you are able to work and get that project done. The quicker (and correct) you are, the happier your clients will be :) This post is to outline our workflow process when dealing with our documentary-type projects (via Adobe Premiere CC).

*NOTE* This is more specifically just what we do from the moment we receive the drive to right before we start editing our first cut. ALL PREP.

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1) First things first: import all of your media into your Premiere project. Then organize it in the best way for you and set up your multi-cam sequences (if applicable). For us, we use Premiere CC's nifty new "Create a multi-cam sequence" function to sync all of our footage (SOOO NICE!).

Once the multi-cam sequence is made, I expand it to form the "master sequence" that shows me all of the layers. I then set in and out points that correspond to the longest video track available (different cameras will start/stop at different times most likely). You want to choose the longest track so that you're transcribing as much of the video as possible.

2) Once all of the sequences are set up, I will export each clip / take as its own separate video file (in our case - mp4 files. We use mp4 files because their size is usually more friendly to dropbox / hightail / email than movs).

3) Once we have all of the clips exported into their own separate video files, we send them (via dropbox usually) to our transcriber. You can also transcribe the footage yourself....though it will take a while haha

When the transcriber has finished, they will send back word document files - one to correspond with each individual video file. It is important that the transcriber provide a separate document for each video file because of how we'll be using them in the next step.

4) Once you have the transcriptions / scripts for each video file, you can use Premiere's "analyze test" function, in conjunction with Adobe Story, to import the scripts directly into Premiere and link them with each clip - adding the transcription to that media file's metadata.

This is EXTREMELY helpful when editing! Aside from having the transcriptions in front of you while editing, this also allows you to search for specific pieces within each clip. For example, clicking a word in the analyzed text (such as in the screenshot above), will take you to the exact point in time in the original clip's timeline where that word is said. Also, as you play a clip, what they are saying will be highlighted for easy following :)

Once the transcription is added to the metadata, it will live their permanently. This means, that if the media is given to someone else, the transcription will be embedded in the files, and they will be able to view it on their own system without relinking through Adobe Story.

Here's a tutorial on Accelerated Editing with Enhanced Speech Analysis in Premiere Pro CS5 via the Adobe website :)

Happy Editing!

~ The Hotbed Team