Assistant Editor Series - Lesson 01

Learn how to become a professional assistant editor with my new in-depth series. This episode focuses on creating your project and making a sync map
0:00 Intro
1:50 Creating your project
5:20 Creating your bins and importing footage
7:58 Creating multicam sequences
12:56 Creating multicam for your audio
16:09 Creating the SyncMap
20:51 Solution for needing to extend your sequence
23:04 Pasting footage into the SyncMap
24:49 Adding C cam to SyncMap
26:36 Syncing sound

[@BlueLanesMedia]

I've learned more from you in 32min than I have in school for 4 years. Thank you so very very much!

[@michalguzikfilms]

Man, as for a self-taught-from-youtube person this knowledge is just game changing. Thanks a lot for this!

[@jdretsmah]

Thanks for taking the time to show us all this. One tip for you: you can actually nudge audio in Premiere for less than one video frame at a time. You just need to temporarily change your timecode display to audio frames, instead of video frames. You'll get a better sync that way - like for example, at 31:16 - it wasn't off by 1 frame. It was off by about 1.25 frames.

[@yimajsherif8590]

Dude this was awesome, I'm taking the Editing path of production and it was awesome to see something in depth. Keep up the tutorials!

[@pregenderneutral]

This is quite literally the BEST KZbin tutorial I have ever seen

[@SonnyEstufaShieh]

Wow! I am stunned at how informational and useful this is! Thank you Christian tremendously.

[@lookabirdie]

Yo! I just wanted to say how awesome this series- I learned a lot and would recommend this series for any new editor.

[@robertabize]

Thank you man, really nice that you took the time! I am gonna check the other two. Cheers from Brazil!

[@soulmaster846]

Much appreciate this! Been an AE on AVID for a while, so it's nice to see this.

[@purpleninja1724]

Same 😅

[@ChessBoxin]

Great lesson. I did this stuff by visuals and slates and always wondered if there was an easier way... now I know there is lol. Thanks.

[@ChrisGeden]

Dude, this is a great tutorial and the first of its kind I’ve been able to find. Definitely learnt something new here.

[@christianrushpostpro]

thanks pal! glad you got something out of it :)

[@crimsonmika]

Thank you Christian, very detailed and explained well. Really helped me understand the multi-camverse :-)

[@tylereversmann8742]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge! Much appreciated

[@Postpositivemedia]

This was very helpful, thank you for your time!

[@silencevenom]

Great stuff, thank you for this!

[@lblblb224]

This is such a big help, thanks!

[@ericshahinian3965]

Thank you Christian!

[@familiamaster2957]

it worked! thank you so much!!

[@goodfella637]

lmao this is great but the steam notification was hilarious

[@federicopresti]

I love how involved and detailed this is. Is this common practice for most production/editing houses? Or does every editor ask for their footage organized in different ways?

[@christianrushpostpro]

Federico Presti every place is different. But for the most part, anything besides an ad/commercial will require an absurd amount of organization. The place I work at takes a lot of pride in making organized but easy to navigate projects

[@bobbykay485]

Awesome thanks for making this! 2 questions. 1 - Why do you need to initially make it a multicam sequence instead of just regular new sequences? 2- Any chance of you demonstrating this workflow in AVID since so much AE work is done there (and AVID is a lot less intuitive!)?

[@wildanmucholadun8948]

ITS REALLY WORKED LOL THANK YOU DUDE

[@ikraammukadam]

I enjoyed it bro

[@iamdnz]

wow thank you😊

[@artmhelgabriel4735]

Thanks so much

[@fahmiii233]

i love u so much bro, thanks very much

[@kevinjefferson7529]

Need practice footage. Hopefully 5 cam with two go pros and 8 channels of audio. Can you suggest...this series was great...but you are correct. Much practice is needed...thanks for sharing though...

[@richtayloe]

This is incredibly helpful. Thank you! I'm starting my first AE job for an Ad house that uses Premiere. Do you know if the workflow is similar for commercials?

[@christianrushpostpro]

Hey! Honestly it'll probably be a bit different. You may be asked to sync the traditional way with bins. But I still love using synmaps to make everything as perfect as possible and efficient to this day. I doubt you'll encounter much multicam material

[@blacksniperItsgoldengungaming]

I’ve never seen a professional workflow for how a AE sets up the project for the editor. Is this the same for a indie film?

[@kooolkay]

You should change the sequence "editing mode" to match your footage. You should also change you preview format to match your footage. Your sequence will run better and have to render less stuff. 17:25

[@christianrushpostpro]

Video Previews only apply to when you need to render the timeline (red line above the media) so i've never seen a use for it unless I'm working on VFX heavy work like After Effects compositions. Making it the same as the source material doesn't help with playback otherwise. -Source was from an Adobe engineer

[@kooolkay]

Christian Rush it also applies when you force a render which will render the yellow bar as well. The other benefit is you can use those previews for exports to speed up exports.

[@christianrushpostpro]

absolutely true. i've never been on a machine where a yellow timeline needed to be rendered to help catch up with the CTI. The only problem I have with the previews for render is that sometimes the quality will not be high enough and if a single one of those previews get's corrupted (which happens quite often in my experience, but not everyones) the export will crash.

[@kooolkay]

Christian Rush let’s be honest Premiere crashes all the time! Not as bad as it used to but enough that I’ve made the switch to Avid. But previews aside editing mode you for sure want to change!

[@jewl202]

This is so helpful! Quick issue. When I try to paste my A01 video onto my targeted video and audio track, it breaks up the audio track I already have in the sequence, pushing it down the sequence, versus lying on top of it. Why is the paste function operating like an insert?

[@christianrushpostpro]

sounds a bit odd. check to make sure your sequences audio settings are the same. And also make sure your source/record buttons on the timeline are enabled properly. to clarify: is your footage being inserted further down the timeline, as in moved in time, or moved down as in the track number?

[@JeremyMamisao]

Hey thanks for the video, it was nice! I'm curious as to why you would use sync like this by hand (making multi cam sequences then copy pasting into the Sync Map) rather then use a software like PluralEyes? What's the advantage?

[@christianrushpostpro]

PluralEyes is a great program! I still use it quite frequently, but I find there to be a lot of errors in PluralEyes. If you're using professional cameras with timecode then there's a lot lower chance of error by creating a syncmap, and honestly, I could import and create a syncmap in about the same time or faster than pluraleyes. also, importing an xml from pluraleyes doesn't give you as much creativity to organize your footage before making the sync. Lastly, pluraleyes won't organize the footage for you the same way that was shot with timecode. Sometimes a director will say something like, "at 2pm we shot something great for the sunset scene. i remember it pretty specifically." i can use my custom syncmap to quickly go to the 14:00:00:00 mark and browse that area for the shot. stuff like that I asked the same question you did when I started a job, and my post supervisor said I could go ahead and give it a shot with pluraleyes, but I stuck with this method in the end.

[@kirkenbysk8608]

@@christianrushpostpro Was gonna ask about PluralEyes as well and this makes sense. In what situations do you still end up using PluralEyes?

[@christianrushpostpro]

@@kirkenbysk8608 I still use pluraleyes just about anytime there's a medium-large amount of footage that can only be synced by sound. basically i use it anytime there is audio on the camera, and seperate audio, and no timecode

[@SQUAWWW]

This is too funny I was one of the PAs on this show way back when!

[@christianrushpostpro]

Word? You worked with Boy Wonder Productions?

[@SQUAWWW]

@@christianrushpostpro lol yeah a really long time ago. So funny seeing the crew I worked with in some of the shots such a small world.

[@christianrushpostpro]

@@SQUAWWW super small world haha

[@stevegeorge7773]

This is good but it assumes, if your trying to learn, that the viewer has the same footage. This opposed to just starting with some raw footage, addressing multiple sources in another video.

[@gerryk1677]

Hi Christian, I really appreciate your videos as I'm getting deeper into my AE experience. Is there any way you could make files available to practice with? Watching the video is great, but I find it really helps to actually go through the process myself. I totally understand if you aren't able to do that, but thought I would ask. Thanks nonetheless!

[@christianrushpostpro]

hey there! so glad you've found these useful. i don't have the rights to distribute the videos used here. i am working on making a new updated series where footage will be available for a very small fee. hopefully within the next year but it's been difficult.

[@gerryk1677]

@@christianrushpostpro that's what I assumed. thanks !

[@chabadoogi]

Hey bro, I'm working on a reality show right now. I'm creating the sync map, the audio all in one folder from different lavs and shotguns, says it's recorded in multichannel. For some reason when I'm following your steps for audio it's not giving me all the different audio files in the multicam sequence, and it's also only giving me one audio track with the one random video clip. I would appreciate a dm for help, or some sort of work around if you read this in time. It said the audio tracks are recorded at the same time and it just overlaps on the timeline stacking it all bad. IDK but i feel like there should be multiple audio tracks coming up when I auto-sequence it. Thanks so much man, your video is expert.

[@christianrushpostpro]

chabadoogi email me at [e-mail] Send me a screen shot of your multicam if you can

[@christianrushpostpro]

chabadoogi best way to contact me is my email address which is [e-mail]

[@stephenmumbles123]

This is great, thanks! I'm starting a show in a few days and it's my first union gig. I think this is how they're going to want me to set things up (they call it grouping and syncing, although I know grouping doesn't necessarily apply to Premiere, but I get the point). QUESTION: I'm so used to just highlighting everything, creating multicam source sequence, and cleaning up whatever Premiere does. Is there a difference between doing that with timecoded clips in this video as well? Wondering if there's a down side to doing it that way for shows. Or if there's an up side to the way in your video vs the create multicam source sequence setting with timecode. Thanks in advance!

[@christianrushpostpro]

Yeah you can do that as well as long as it creates multiple multicams instead of just one really long one. And as long as it maintains your changes in the syncmap for any micro adjustments you did for slate sync!

[@SergeantZombie]

@@christianrushpostpro May I ask why that matters if i go straight into putting it into a long multicam? I thought in the second part we are copying each take into separate multicams anyways. I currently am working on a single camera project that just has a ton of angles and takes, I am just trying to sync the audio and organize it for the editor, does that apply to me? Thank you for the tutorials by the way, they have been very helpful.

[@christianrushpostpro]

@@SergeantZombie hello! I put it into a single multicam simply for ease of view. I prefer to line everything up in a single sequence. A point where this really helps is of one of the cameras or audio is off by a 10 seconds consistently. You can then select all the clips from that camera and move them simultaneously for a quicker sync. Hope that helps!

[@SergeantZombie]

@@christianrushpostpro thank you for the quick response! So by that logic, if i am working with only one camera, i can put all of that day’s footage into one multicam sequence with the audio and start splitting it off from there? Another question i have is assuming that i delete the camera’s crap audio and leave the boom and lav from the sequence, but then the editor for some reason needs it at a later point, is that easy to recover within the sequences? I’ve mainly been assistant editor within FCPX, so I’m still trying to learn the workflow for Premiere, thank you for the help!

[@christianrushpostpro]

@@SergeantZombie it's not necessarily easy. But you basically match frame to the video and put it back in the sequence. Most editors don't like this, but here's my suggestion: Make the single cam takes into multicams. Why? Because it 100% maintains the audio from both the external source and the original camera media when you flatten it. Sound mixers LOVE this compared to merging clips. Editors don't like it because if there's a multicam on 5he sequence, but with just one camera, it throws them off a bit. But if they turn the multicam viewer off it doesn't affect them. 100% up to the editor preference though.

[@redemption7863]

Lok 'Tar, brother

[@christianrushpostpro]

Lok 'Tar ogar

[@Ikimasshoi]

May I ask you one thing? It's the first video i'm watching. Can't you just sync the audio by waveform with a massive multicam sequence? I wanna know why you need to do it by hand... Thanks!

[@christianrushpostpro]

I dont believe it works like that. If there was one really long audio clip, or one really long video clip, sure. But premiere wont let you just select everything and sync as a single multicam. And if you select all of them and put it in one multicam then you lose organization. You mix the scenes, interviews, etc. Hope that answers

[@Tiie.]

Just want to say I appreciate this series you made. I am AVID certified and been using AVID only but due to a lot of Premiere A.E’s being sought I’m trying my best to have this under my belt. That being said I do have a question for you; Why is it when you are fixing up the sync map you move the Master Audio instead of the clips when correcting the sync? I was taught for sync maps to just move the Video + Video audio to correct it according to the master audio. Is it just preference or there a deeper reason for it? 27:32

[@christianrushpostpro]

I was always taught to move the audio. Video tc is what determines the start tc, and then audio tc is typically it's own category. In my opinion you could do it either way because once you do turnovers the metadata is going to be what the originals files say they are. I suppose audio may be more reliable because tc is more solid on a sound device rather than a camera?

[@Tiie.]

Noted, thanks for the response also another question (I will have a lot I am sure of it)! Lets say you have more than one Go pro clip (unfortunate that RMF didn't have more than one this given day) rather than using the TC as a Synchronization Point (Because Go Pros have no TC) what would you use instead? Or better yet what would that process entail? @@christianrushpostpro

[@christianrushpostpro]

@@Tiie. no worries. So if you end up with cameras that don't have audio to sync with (and even if they do have audio they don't always have enough to do sync by audio waveform) then honestly, there is no GOOD solution. I always just try to find some kind of sync point visually. Either a very obvious action or a very obvious word being spoken. Example: a lamp falls and breaks. That would be easy. But usually it's something more subtle like someone clapping gently or maybe someone hitting an object. And like I said for an obvious word being spoken: something where it's easy to read lips. Maybe a word that is emphasized with a hand motion or something "the fish was THIS big". But really there is no cut and dry easy workflow to it.

[@Tiie.]

Ahh gotcha I actually didn't see the "AUDIO" option as a Synchronization point in the "Create Multi-Camera Source Sequence" menu. I'll have to play around with it just to test out the nooks and cranny's But if all else fails, we have to manually sync clip by clip :D sounds like a normal day in the field lol Thank you again for this series, currently tasking notes so I'll be sure to ask more questions either on this video or other episodes. @@christianrushpostpro

[@christianrushpostpro]

@@Tiie. send me an email to [e-mail] if you want in for the beta course of my new upcoming series. Thanks for being a viewer!

[@dyinginnature]

Do you use the auto sync audio function with the new version of premiere at your work now?

[@christianrushpostpro]

Hey! I've actually moved on to using On Set Dailies since my current facility has the software. Resolve also has capabilities to make pretty great dailies. I have a new course coming out soon detailing all of this in great detail. If you're interested in beta testing, let me know!

[@dyinginnature]

@@christianrushpostpro Yeah that'd be amazing!

[@christianrushpostpro]

@@dyinginnature send me an email at [e-mail] when you get a chance. Thanks

[@ilhanpalayret6341]

Why don't you go "Create New sequence from clip" ? Is there a difference ? Thx for your work ;)

[@christianrushpostpro]

Hey Ilhan. I'm not sure at which stage you mean to try this, but if you create a new sequence from a multicam, it causes the audio channels to match the form of a multicam which is typically difficult to edit from.

[@RobertBaileytheeditor]

What's the name of the process being covered here? Grouping or creating a sync map?

[@christianrushpostpro]

Syncmap/Daymaster. "Grouping" is really an avid thing but the term is definitely acceptable when you start creating multicams. A multicam in Premiere is basically a "group" in avid. But just to be clear, the "group" command in Premiere is not the same thing. I hope that clears it up instead of making it more confusing!

[@RobertBaileytheeditor]

@@christianrushpostpro Thanks for your response. Makes sense. I'm new to all the AE workflows and I'm not sure which ones carry over to Premiere, or if they depend what area (unscripted, scripted, features or commercials) we're working in. Just striving to ensure I got the workflows down

[@pbh2720]

What is an assistant editor?

[@soulmaster846]

Basically, the person that organizes the media and projects. This is mainly to make sure the editor has everything they need to purely focus on editing.

[@daymianmejia5910]

PUBG!

[@christianrushpostpro]

Daymian Mejia haha. Yup. I play almost every day :)

[@daymianmejia5910]

haha. im so glad you replied as i'm in the middle of watching through your tut.