New workflow question for Canon 5D/7D

Here's a question about the Canon 5D workflow I haven't found an answer to yet. How would the braintrust here approach this situation:

Short film shot on 2 cameras, a 5D & 7D simultaneously, with audio recorded on a separate system.

The first step is importing the footage and syncing the audio, obviously. The question is - is there a way to sync audio & group clips in one step? Or what would the optimal workflow be to import both cameras and the audio and leaves me with grouped clips?

My initial plan was to import everything individually, then build up a timeline for each clip to sync pix from both cameras with audio, then create a group from that, and use the group clip as my "master" clip.

Any thoughts? Thanks!

Jeff

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Now twittering @jeffrey723

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is there a way to sync audio & group clips in one step?

no.

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a timeline for each clip to sync pix from both cameras with audio, then create a group from that

sounds a little like you might be thinking of "Nesting"
you're probably not, but just in case, i have to say:
don't go that route.

do you have any matching TC? that can help sync clips & audio.
do you have camera-recorded audio on the video clips? then you can use Pluraleyes to sync for you.

i come from a film background, so i tend to do things in an old-fashioned, but safe and secure kind of way.

i lay all my clips out in a timeline,
sync the audio.
(while syncing you may consider adding a marker to the picture slate, on the clap)
LINK video & audio on each clip.

then open the linked clip into the viewer and SUBCLIP
this trims the audio to the same duration of the video,
which is important for the Multiclip (FCP term), or Group clip (avid term) to work.

if you've got markers on the slates, then making the multiclips is a little easier.

if you're coming from Avid and haven't worked in FCP before you'll be wondering where the simple "Sync Multiclips by Audio TC" command is.
well, do all your swearing now, because there isn't one.

if your video TC matches, you can Sync by TC.
otherwise you have to open every clip, mark the clap with an in-point, then Sync by In-Point
if i don't have markers on the claps, i generally use the audio TC as a guide to adding an in-point.


nick

Thanks, Nick. That was pretty close to what I was thinking. I didn't mean "nesting" in my first comment. I was thinking about creating one new sequence for each pair of camera clips, aligning them both the same audio/video clap, setting inpoints on all three then creating a group from that.

I like your workflow a little better.

Will also look into Pluraleyes, that sounds like an interesting possibility because I have reference audio from the camera.

______________
Now twittering @jeffrey723

Pluraleyes is a great program I think you can try first before you buy.
D