Lesson 2

THL Toolbox > Audio-Video > Technical Processing of Audio-Video - Log, Edit and Compress > Lesson 2

Lesson #2

What is Capturing?

  • Capturing is transferring video footage from your source tapes to your computer. Adobe Premiere does this by turning the video information on the tape into a video file (.AVI).

Why use Video Files?

  • Video files enable us to work with the footage, without affecting the tapes. This way, if we make a mistake, we can always go back and change it. Also, to find the footage on a tape, you must fast-forward and rewind. When the footage is a video file you can easily locate what you want.

Preparing for Video Capture

  1. Before actually capturing, you must create a place to store your Video Files.
    1. Minimize Premiere by clicking the minimize button at the top-right corner of the screen.
    2. Open My Computer.
    3. Select the drive that you will store your Video Files on. Make sure it has plenty of space on it.
    4. Click File, New Folder to create a new folder for your video files. Name it Premiere Video Files.
    5. Double click the Premiere Video Files folder and create a subfolder in the same fashion. Name it something descriptive. For example, if you are editing a film on Cham Dancing, name the folder Cham Dancing Clips.
    6. Return to Adobe Premiere

Tell Adobe Premiere Where to Put Your Video Files

  1. Adobe Premiere to successfully capture your Video Files, it must know where to put them.
    1. Click Edit, Preferences, Scratch Disks and Device Control to open the Preferences window.
    2. Look inside the Scratch Disks section, click the drop-down menu arrow next to Captured Movies, and click Select Folder.
    3. Locate your “video clips” file folder and click OK. If during the last step you made a folder for Cham Dancing Clips, this would be the folder you select. Look below the Captured Movies drop-down menu. You will notice the name of your “video clips” file.

Connect the Camera to the Computer

  1. In order for the video information to be transferred into Video Files, your camera (or deck) must be connected to your computer. To do so, you must have a firewire cable.
    1. Plug the small end of your firewire cable into the camera. The port is located on the right side of the camera, below the yellow, white, and red A-V inputs.
    2. Plug the large end your firewire cable into the firewire port on you’re your computer. It should be in the back, near the other inputs.
    3. Turn on the camera to VCR mode.
    4. Insert your tape.

Select Your DV Device

  1. In order to begin capturing, the computer must know that the camera is connected.
    1. Make sure the camera is connected to your computer and turned on to VCR mode.
    2. Look at the Device Control drop-down menu at the bottom of the Preferences menu. DV Device Control 2.0 should already be selected. If not, then select it.
    3. Click Options.
    4. Click the Device Brand drop-down list and select Sony (or whatever brand of camera you are using).
    5. Make sure Standard appears in the Device Type window.
    6. Make sure Drop-Frame appears in Timecode Format window.
    7. Click Check Status. If everything is working properly, Online should appear. Here are what the different status types mean:
      1. Offline: Means that Premiere doesn’t recognize that the camera is connected. Check to make sure you’ve turned on the camera, and it is in VCR mode.
      2. Detected: Means Premiere recognizes that camera is connected, but it cannot communicate with it. Make sure you have inserted a tape into the camera.
      3. Online: Means everything is working properly.

Opening the Capture Window

  1. Now you are ready to start capturing, but first you must make sure the computer can control the camera.
    1. Make sure that the camera is on in VCR mode and that you have inserted your tape.
    2. Open the Capture Movie window by clicking File and selecting Capture, Movie Capture. A small TV-style Movie Capture window should pop up.
    3. Click the Play button. The footage should play on your computer.
    4. Try the other buttons: Fast Forward, Rewind, and Stop.
    5. Now try the other buttons:
      1. Shuttle Slider: Let you move slowly or quickly through the footage.
      2. Frame Forward/Frame Backward: Lets you move forward and backward frame by frame.
      3. Forward and Reverse Slow Motion: Lets you play your footage in forward or reverse slow motion.

Selecting Capture Settings

  1. The default settings should work fine, but just in case something goes wrong, here are the settings you should be using:
    1. Look at the Movie Capture window. If you see only the TV display and its controls, click the little arrow in the upper-right corner and then click Expand Window. The Logging and Settings window should open on the right side of the TV screen.
    2. Click the arrow again and select Capture Settings.
    3. The Capture Format should be set to DV/IEEE 1394 Capture. If it is not, then click the drop-down list and select DV/IEEE 1394.
    4. Click the Preroll Time field and type in 5. This ensures that when you tell Premiere to grab a clip, it rolls the tape back five seconds to get the camera up to speed.
    5. Leave the Report Dropped Frames box checked. It will display a message if some of the video data is lost during the transfer to the computer. You should leave the Abort on Dropped Frames box unchecked.
    6. Uncheck the Capture Limit box.
    7. Click the DV Settings button. All four boxes should be checked.
    8. Click OK to return to the Project Settings box.
    9. Click OK again to return to the movie capture window.

Capturing (Manual Video Clip Transfer)

  1. If you have completed all the above steps, then finally you are ready to capture:
    1. In the Movie Capture window, click the Logging tab at the top right side of the screen.
    2. Use the buttons (Play, Fast Forward, Rewind) to search through your footage to find the scene you want to transfer.
    3. When you find the beginning of the section you would like to transfer, Rewind the tape back 2 seconds, and then mark the in-point. This is where the computer will start making the Video Clip. You can mark the in-point in two ways:
      1. Click the “{“ button at the bottom of the Movie Capture window.
      2. Click the Set In button on the lower right of the Logging menu.
    4. Notice that when you set the in-point, a number (timecode) appears in the In window.
    5. Now Fast Forward your tape 2 seconds past the end of the section you would like to transfer. Now mark the out-point using the “}” in the Movie Capture window, or the Set Out button in the Logging window.
    6. Before you transfer the clip, you must name it. In the Reel Name box, type in the name of the tape, which should be written on the spine of the DV Tape.
    7. In the File Name box, type a description of the clip you are about to transfer. For example, if you are transferring a clip containing Cham Dancing, an appropriate name would be Cham Dancing 1. Your next clip, assuming you are still transferring footage of Cham Dancing, would be Cham Dancing 2.
    8. Transfer the Video Clip to your hard drive by clicking the Capture In/Out button below the In, Out, Duration Windows in the Logging window
    9. The camera will automatically rewind and play the clip you just selected using the in-point and out-point. As it plays, the clip is recording to the hard drive. When recording is complete, the camera stops playing and the clip appears in the Project Window.

Organizing Your Footage

  1. The best editors are always keep their footage well organized. This enables them quickly access the Video Clip they want without having to search all over the computer. The way to organize your video clips is into folders in the Project Window, called Bins.
    1. To create a new bin, click File, New, Bin. A folder will appear in the Project Window.
    2. Rename the Folder with an appropriate name. For example, if you have digitized the clips Cham Dancing 1 and Cham Dancing 2, you can name the new bin Cham Dancing Clips.
    3. Drag and drop the appropriate Video Clips into the new bin.
    4. Note: You should make new bins whenever the subject matter of your footage changes.

Congratulations! You are now ready to begin editing.

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