Hi I'm Shooting a film later this year and need some help in terms of the editing. I'm going to be using adobe after effects and pinnacle studio hd to edit but have a couple of questions. I've heard proper editing is a bit of a pain in after affects and should only be used for adding animations / effects etc. So should I cut the movie together in pinnacle, transport the movie into after effects to add effects such as muzzle flashes etc then transport the movie back into pinnacle to add the final colour burn / tint , lighting etc? Will I lose quality after transporting it 3 times?
FILM EDITING HELP!
- Thread starter jalexuk
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Welcome to IndieTalk!
You're correct, After Effects is designed for compositing and not as an NLE (non-linear editor - Pinnacle, Final Cut, Premiere etc.). Once you've cut your film together in Pinnacle, you should know exactly which sections of which shots need be imported in After Effects. Only export the clips from Pinnacle that you need, not the whole project; I've never used Pinnacle Studio HD but in most NLEs this is a fairly quick and simple process. Once you've done your effects work, replace the original clips in Pinnacle with your effects shots and do your colour grading.
You're correct, After Effects is designed for compositing and not as an NLE (non-linear editor - Pinnacle, Final Cut, Premiere etc.). Once you've cut your film together in Pinnacle, you should know exactly which sections of which shots need be imported in After Effects. Only export the clips from Pinnacle that you need, not the whole project; I've never used Pinnacle Studio HD but in most NLEs this is a fairly quick and simple process. Once you've done your effects work, replace the original clips in Pinnacle with your effects shots and do your colour grading.
Have you already purchased Pinnacle? It's for soccer-moms who want an easy way to put music over home videos of their kids. For people like us, it's a pain in the ass to use, and it severely limits what you're able to do.
At roughly the same price, Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD 9 will get you much closer to the style of editing that filmmakers like to use. If you can afford it, I'd recommend Vegas Platinum ($100).
At roughly the same price, Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD 9 will get you much closer to the style of editing that filmmakers like to use. If you can afford it, I'd recommend Vegas Platinum ($100).
Lots of how to vids on Youtube on editing and the like..
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You can edit with whatever program you like. Given your situation, Adobe Premiere Elements might work better with After Effects, although Adobe Premiere Pro absolutely works well with AE.
The most efficient workflow is to export a single SHOT that needs effects like a muzzle flash into After Effects, then export the new shot back out into your editing program (referred to as NLE, or Non Linear Editor).
The way to avoid loss in quality is to export the shots in UNCOMPRESSED formats, which means they will be somewhat lossless. No matter what you will lose a tiny, almost imperceptible amount of quality when you change the image as you are manipulating pixels and recompressing them, but it's nominal. Because uncompressed files are big, that's why you'll only export the individual shots instead of the whole movie.