Acquiring Media

Concepts

In the labs, we have found that most students wish to work with DV, and possibly some still image components such as Photoshop documents. This section will cover the basics of getting the most commonly used media into Premiere for editing.

Most often, you will be placing files in the Project window through capturing video (it places the files there automatically after a capture). To capture video, select File > Capture (F5) from the toolbar. This will bring up the capture dialog box.

Logging clips

You can capture every clip by hand by manually hitting the play and record buttons at the bottom of this dialog box, but this can be tedious. It is much easier to use the logging feature of Premiere. The logging feature allows you to mark all the clips you want to capture to a job list so that the program can capture them later (without you having to sit there). On the right hand side of the dialog box you will see several fields:

Setup

• Capture: Allows you to choose to import audio, video or both.
• Log Clips To: Shows you where your capture clips will be saved.

Clip Data

• Tape Name: The name of the tape you are capturing from (whatever you have titled it, this will become important later).
• Clip Name: The name of the clip that you are currently logging.
• Description: A description of the current clip can help you keep track of things later.
• Scene, Shot/Take, Log Note: These fields are for additional identifying information that you may want to tag the clip with.

Timecode

• Set In: Set the in point of the clip (where it will begin capturing from).
• Set Out: Set the out point of the clip (where it will stop capturing).
• Log Clip: Logs the clip information for later use, and places an offline file in your Project window. Offline means that you have logged the clip but it is no captured yet.

Capture

• In/Out: Captures the previously logged in out points.
• Tape: Captures the entire duration of the tape.
• Scene Detect: Attempts to detect the break points on a tape and turn those into separate clips as it imports.

Importing DV

1. Turn on the miniDV deck. Make sure that it is properly connected to the computer with the Firewire cable.
2. In Premiere, go File > Capture. You may need to turn ON Device Control in order to get Premiere to work with the DV tape correctly. This is set in the Settings tab on the right side of the Capture window.
3. Place your tape in miniDV deck (You may want to lock your source tape by sliding the small tab on the back of DV tape to keep it from being overwritten)
4. Push the DV button.
5. Select the LEFT arrow on the Dub Direction control (pointing to the right). This tells the DV deck to send the DV signal to the DV tape.
6. Set the channel of the deck to F-1.
7. Cue your source tape to the point where you want to start recording and pause the video. The deck may be controlled from the computer by using the playback controls. If this doesn't work use the controls on the deck.
8. Once you have found the material you would like to capture, click the Record button (G). The clips will be automatically imported into the default capture bin.
9. When you have capture all the video that you want, press to stop capturing.
10. You should now save the captured footage somewhere safe where you can find it.

The easiest way to use this tool is to rewind your tape to the beginning, fill in the Tape Name and hit play. Set your In point by pressing the Set In button (I). Prepare yourself as the portion you want to capture comes to an end and press the Set Out button (O) when it does. You can press set out as many times as you wish and it will keep updating. As soon as you have set your Out point press the Log Clip button. It will ask you for a file name. If you have already given it one just confirm by clicking OK or change the name of the clip. This will place these offline clips in the Project window to be captured later. It will continue to play the film in the background. Repeat throughout the tape until all the clips you want have been logged. You can log multiple tapes in the same logging session. Close the Capture window.

Once you have logged all your clips be sure to save your project and backup the project file to your student FTP account. If anything happens to your project, e.g., it gets destroyed or lost, it is very easy to recapture your footage with all your clips logged (given you have all the original tapes, of course). Looking at the Project window under the heading Media Type, if a file is labeled "Offline" then it needs to be captured, while if a file is labeled "Movie" then it has already been captured. When you are ready to capture offline media, select all the clips you wish to capture, right-click one of the selected clips, and choose Batch Capture. This will prompt you to insert a tape. If there is only one tape in your list you can leave and come back after it is done capturing.

Importing VHS

1. Turn on the miniDV deck. Make sure that it is properly connected to the computer with the Firewire cable.
2. In Premiere, go File > Capture (F5). You may need to turn OFF Device Control in order to get Premiere to work with the VHS tape correctly, since the VHS part of the deck can not be controlled by Premiere. This is a setting in the Settings tab on the right side of the Capture window.
3. Place your tape in VHS deck (you may want to lock your source tape by punching out a small tab at the back of VHS to keep it from being overwritten).
4. Push the S-VHS button
5. Select the RIGHT arrow on the Dub Direction control (pointing to the left). This tells the DV deck to send the DV signal through to the VHS tape.
6. Set the channel of the deck to F-1.
7. Cue your source tape to the point where you want to start recording and pause the video. While using the VHS the deck cannot be controlled from the computer. Use the physical controls on the deck.
8. Once you have found the material you would like to capture, press Play on the deck and click the Record button (G) in the Capture window. The clips will be automatically imported into the default capture bin.
9. When you have capture all the video that you want, press to stop capturing.
10. You should now save the captured footage somewhere safe where you can find it.

If you are capturing VHS video from our lab VCRs, the process is slightly different. The JVC decks do not provide device control over the VHS side of the deck, meaning you will not be able to use the batch capture function and all clips will need to be captured by hand. Again, you will need to go to: File > Capture to launch the Capture window. Press the "S-VHS" button on the VCR (it should begin to glow red). Cue your tape up manually with a good 10 seconds of pre-roll and press pause. Press the Record button on the bottom center of the Capture window in Premiere.

The Record button is the little, round, red one. This will begin the capturing session. Unpause the VCR. When your clip has been captured press the key to stop recording. Stop the VCR. Repeat as necessary. If you will be working with a large portion of the material, it might be easier to just capture the entire film and cut it up into smaller chunks later using Premiere. Be sure to always capture a few extra seconds (five seconds on both sides is usually good) of footage on either side of the footage you know you want. The extra portions are known as "handles" and they can be of great help by giving you a little buffer when you need it.

Now your clips should now appear in the Project window.

Reminder: Once a graphic is rendered into DV format it will remain in realtime for most effects.

Importing Other Media

Premiere is based on QuickTime, and can therefore import a great number of file types. Premiere can import most audio formats, most still image formats, and most movie files (.mov and .avi files). MP3 files are not suggested for use with Premiere, but such files can easily be converted to some other format that will work (such as AIFF or WAV).

To import files into Premiere, you may either select File > Import, or just drag a file or folder from outside the program. Once files have been imported into Premiere, they can then be used like any other media in the program.

Sample Folder - 9.2MB