Best workflow for 4K footage and various media in Premiere Pro?

[natalien1727806]

Hi Experts!

I'm about to embark on my first feature length doco in Premiere Pro and am working with 3.5 TB of 4K footage (4096 x 2190) shot on a Sony FS7 (MXF files). I will also have 3GB of QT mov. files (1920 x 1080) from a Canon 5D Mark II. There is also a slim chance that I will have to work with other media at different resolutions such as archival footage and stills. The final outputs of the film will potentially be for one or all of the following - cinema screens, TV and web. I am still waiting on a budget to know if we can hire a powerful computer, but it's low budget and at the very least I will be editing on a Macbook Pro with the following specs..

Macbook Pro (mid 2012)

Processor - 2,3 GHz Intel Core i&

Memory - 16GB 1600 MHz DDR3

Graphics - NVIDIA Ge Force GT 650M 512MB

I have done a lot of research on workflow, but it would be greatly appreciated if I could run it by you and hear if I'm on the right track..

1. If using the Macbook Pro above, I will need to edit with Pro Res 422 proxies, which can be created through Premiere itself with the Adobe Media Encoder. Correct?

2. I'd prefer NOT to use proxies if possible to save me drive space and time on-lining, but with the amount of footage I have and in the event that I have to work from the Macbook Pro above would this be a terrible idea? What are the minimum specs I would need on a mac if I worked online?

3. Considering I have 1920 x 1080 QT files along with the 4096 x 2190 MXF files, I believe I should be working in a 1920 x 1080 sequence so as not to lose quality enlarging the QT files. But in the scenario that I am able to work online, would this mean I would still have to work in a 1920 x 1080 sequence and resize all my MXF files to fit into a 1920 x 1080 frame? Will this cause major rendering issues when editing, considering the MXF files are 95% of the entire footage of the project?

Many thanks in advance!

[Kristian Gabriel · Accepted solution]

1. If using the Macbook Pro above, I will need to edit with Pro Res 422 proxies, which can be created through Premiere itself with the Adobe Media Encoder. Correct?

This is correct. Prores 422 Proxy, H.264, DNxHD/HR and Cineform all have proxy levels that can be used. When setting up your project through INGEST settings or using the Media Browser in any project--you can turn on "Create Proxies". You would choose your Proxy preset and then tell Premiere where the Proxies should go. Whenever you import your media--the proxies will automatically be transcoded in the background using Media Encoder. It's a fairly painless process.

2. I'd prefer NOT to use proxies if possible to save me drive space and time on-lining, but with the amount of footage I have and in the event that I have to work from the Macbook Pro above would this be a terrible idea? What are the minimum specs I would need on a mac if I worked online?

Based on your laptop features and your project--it would be very difficult for you to run this project. You can always run some tests--but everything would edit much faster and smoother if you used proxies. I am guessing by your spec you have a 2.3ghz i7 process. Would that be a quad core? That would definitely help. If its a dual core--it wouldn't work. I actually have edited using a 2.3 quadcore with an Nividia GTX980 and 4k edits very smoothly. My fear is that your video card memory is a little too low. I would recommend 16-32gigs Ram, a compatible video card with at leat 4+ gigs of Memory, SSD drives as your primary drives and at least a 4 core processor.

3. Considering I have 1920 x 1080 QT files along with the 4096 x 2190 MXF files, I believe I should be working in a 1920 x 1080 sequence so as not to lose quality enlarging the QT files. But in the scenario that I am able to work online, would this mean I would still have to work in a 1920 x 1080 sequence and resize all my MXF files to fit into a 1920 x 1080 frame? Will this cause major rendering issues when editing, considering the MXF files are 95% of the entire footage of the project?

If you do all your color correction in Premiere--it would be easier when mixing various sizes of footage. Overall, I don't like mixing too many formats and will usually opt for transcoding everything to a single size and frame rate before I begin to edit. This way--I can be absolutely sure my project will be consistent. This of course could take a lot more time. You would create a new set of master media clips and then create proxies from those. FYI--Working in 1080P will produce the best results--though if your 1080p footage is fantastic and most of your media is 4K--I would online everything in 4K. You can always go down later. If most of the media is 1080p and you have a few 4k clips--I would online everything in 1080P.

[natalien1727806]

Thanks so much Kristian! Extremely helpful.

I do have a quad core. It's great to know your other spec suggestions so I can upgrade if I end up having to use this computer.

I am a little confused about the info in your third point though, could you clarify? My comments and question are in bold..

If you do all your color correction in Premiere--it would be easier when mixing various sizes of footage. Most likely we will be grading in Davinci. Overall, I don't like mixing too many formats and will usually opt for transcoding everything to a single size and frame rate before I begin to edit. This way--I can be absolutely sure my project will be consistent. Sounds good! This of course could take a lot more time. You would create a new set of master media clips and then create proxies from those. Would you mind expanding on this a little? I don't quite understand the step of creating the new set of master media clips and why it is necessary before creating the proxies. I'm sure you're right but this process is unfamiliar to me, I've only recently transitioned from using Final Cut to PP.  FYI--Working in 1080P will produce the best results--though if your 1080p footage is fantastic and most of your media is 4K--I would online everything in 4K. You can always go down later. If most of the media is 1080p and you have a few 4k clips--I would online everything in 1080P. Thanks for this advice, most of the footage will certainly be 4k, with only a very small (but essential) amount of 1080p.

Thanks again!

[Kristian Gabriel]

In reference to my third point, if you transcode all your media into a single format and framerate, eliminating a lot of potential hassle and problems--you would need to transcode to a high quality codec first to preserve the quality of the original camera media. In otherwords, you are replacing your camera media with new files--and instead of multiple formats--everything would be in one. This could be Prores 422 HQ, Prores 4444, Cineform with Quality 3 or 4, etc. This would be your final online media--your new master media. After your master media transcode--you could create a nice set of proxies--like H.264 so you can easily edit on a laptop, etc. Of course, you can do all this in Premiere Ingest settings. The process would happen all in one import if you set it up correctly. You could also then take advantage of Premiere's Proxy Toggle that would allow you to click on a single button to switch back and forth from your lower quality proxy media and your high resolution final online media.

[R Neil Haugen]

As Kristian noted, transcoding the material to a consistent format/codec can take time but work and export much more reliably and smoothly. I've the acquaintance of several colorists, and when they get a 'drop' of a lot of mixed media to conform for working in Resolve ... there's a lot of batch processed transcoding going on over-night. Which is something you might consider, using Media Encoder to transcode the Qt mov (which is probably long-GOP) to ProRes, DNxHD/R, or Cineform for editing purposes. AND ... still use proxies for any 4k material. Maybe even 1080 with that computer.

Using batch transcoding overnight can take a night or two with large projects ... but you're still able to work during the day.

Neil

[chrisw44157881]

if you render to a smart render codec for offline, then you render 4x faster with smart rendering.

[Te Rurehe]

Hi there, something to be aware of re-Kristian Gabriel reply to your 3rd point.

Your timeline should be whatever your most likely final output is going to be (delivery master file). i.e if you intend your master output to be 1080p25fps, thats what you should work in as your master sequence. If its a 4k variant then make it 4k.

Lets say you decide to work in 1080p and then should you decide to do as Kristian suggested: to make new master files in 1080p. This leads to my points.

1.You will loose the flexibility that 4k media gives you in post. 4k has 4 times the pixels of 1080p, that means you can crop in on a 4k frame in a 1080p timeline up to 4x before you start to stretch the pixels. With most of your media being 4k, thats a lot of potential cropping to waste.

2.with the addition of new master files, you'll have the 4k master files, new master files, and proxies to contend with, thats lot of extra time and space added to the project to loose 4k.

I agree with Jim and Kristian on the other 2 points.

[excited_Genie16B8]

1. Correct.

2. I recommend proxies for all H.264 media, regardless of machine specs.

3. You can try Detail Preserving Upscale in After Effects for the 1080 material.  If it's good enough, you can work at 4K.  If not, work in 1080.

[natalien1727806]

Thanks everyone for all your help! Extremely helpful and much appreciated.

I feel far more confident now making choices to move forward, so thanks again!