I’ve been thinking a lot about video editing workflow lately. It seems like there has got to be a better way, but on the other hand, I think I might give up some of the flexibilty of what I’m doing. Here is the workflow I used for the last video I made:
1. Capture video in a Premiere Pro 1080i HDV project. (Footage was shot as 1080i)
2. Create a new Premiere Pro 720p HDV project (my target format) and import the previously captured footage in to this project
3. Edit content in Premiere Pro.
4. Export each individual clip from the timeline using the work area bar as a Quicktime Animation 1280×720 resolution.
5. Import all the Quicktime Animation video files in to After Effects.
6. Make it pretty in After Effects.
7. Render out of AE as another Quicktime Animation 1280×720 resolution.
8. Import that Quicktime Animation back in to Premiere Pro. That completes the video edit.
9. Render out of Premiere Pro the audio from each individual clip. Again using the work area bar. This gives me an individual wave file for each clip.
10. Import the wave files and any music in to Reaper.
11. Mix the audio in Reaper.
12. Render the completed mix as a wave file.
13. Import the complete audio mix back in to Premiere Pro. Now the completed Quicktime Animation video file and the completed audio wave file make up the finished video on the timeline.
14. Render out the completed video as a Windows Media Video (WMV) 1280×720 resolution for playback on our screens.
So that’s the workflow I’ve been using for videos lately. Here is the video, in a highly compressed web version.
