Multi-camera editing: best way to assign separate adjustment layers to each source?

[travise38589766]

I have footage from 2 cameras, taken at different times.  The timing looks something like this: 1121221121...  So, they're intermingled.  I put each camera's clips on a separate video/audio track.  (Video Track 1 = Camera 1, Video Track 2 = Camera 2)

The cameras have different looks, and need to be color corrected separately.  I'd like to create a separate adjustment layer for each camera.  So Adjustment Layer 1 would affect all (and only) clips from Camera 1 (which are all on Video Track 1) and Adjustment Layer 2 would affect all (and only) clips fom Camera 2 (on Video Track 2).

My understanding is that since adjustment layers affect all video tracks beneath them in a sequence, I can't (cleanly) have both camera's adjustment layers in the same sequence.  Instead, I need to nest each camera's clips in its own sequence, and put an adjustment layer in there.  That way, each adjustment layer only affects one camera's clips.

I went ahead and did that with my project, so I have 2 nested sequences, one for Camera 1 and one for Camera 2.  Each has its own adjustment layer, with appropriate color correction.  Great.

HOWEVER, I now want to start editing the main sequence.  I want to trim, delete, and fade various clips, taken by either camera.  The problem is, I cannot see where the clips start and stop in the main sequence.  Each nested sequence is just one long green "clip".

How can I get each nested sequence's individual clip start/stop points to show up in the main sequence (ideally, as a cut rather than a marker), so that I can edit them (trim, delete, fade) the same way as if I didn't have them nested?

I've read 2 suggestions:

a) use Scene Edit Detection

-- My videos tend to be hours long, and Scene Edit Detection seems to take *forever*, so I'd prefer a different approach.

b) un-nest, edit, and then re-nest

-- When we un-nest, we lose our single-camera adjustment layers, so we're back to looking at raw (non-color-corrected) clips, right?

-- What happens to our single-camera adjustment layer when we un-nest?  Does it get deleted?

-- Does this mean we should always edit the timing (trim, delete, fade, etc.) *before* we attempt to color correct?  In other words, do the temporal editing first, and then the adjustment layers at the end?

-- What happens if we render our video and decide we like the colors, but want to make some temporal changes?

Is there a better/easier way to handle multi-camera editing? 

It seems like it would be so much easier if we could control which track(s) an adjustment layer affects. 

In audio editing (Cakewalk, Cubase, Logic, etc.) it's easy to send one audio track to a bus, and then apply whatever effects you want to that bus.  No other audio tracks are affected by that bus, unless you send them to it.  And then you can have buses send to other buses, or to a master track, which can have effects affecting all tracks.  It's all so easy and flexible.

So why does it seem so clunky in Premiere Pro?  Is is because of the way we're laying visual elements, where [opaque] video elements always obscure (eliminate) whichever elements are layered "beneath" them, which is different from audio, where tracks tend to be combined (mixed) rather than having one audio track obscure another?

Anyway, thanks for your help.

[Mike Dziennik]

You can apply lumetri effects directly onto the clips inside a multicam seq - you don't need to use an adjustment layer.

[R Neil Haugen · Accepted solution]

Simple statement: Apply the Lumetri as a Source Effect ... done.

As to process. Create a new sequence with a clip from each camera. Quickly cut so you've only a few frames of each angle. Grade them to match separately. Copy the Lumetri from Cam A, then paste to Cam A clip/s in the project bin. Cam B to Cam B in project.

Now simply delete the grading sequence. Done.

"Source effects" are applied to all instances of a clip anywhere in the project. Handy for bulk work needs.

[travise38589766]

I'd like to color all of a camera's clips identically (for consistency).  That's why I've been using adjustment layers.  It often takes me several exported drafts (which I view on my TV) before I am happy with the colors.  So I don't like the idea of having to make identical changes to dozens of clips; I'd prefer to make those changes in one place (the adjustment layer) and have it  automatically apply to all clips for that camera, without me having to copy and paste.

I watched a video which talkes about source effects ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMBRDWzdKas ) which seemed promising, until I realised that it seems to only work if all of a camera's footage is in one file, not several files.  Each of my cameras recorded mulitple clips/files at different times of the day.  The lighting didn't change (much) so I don't see the need to color correct each clip/file separately; I'd like to color correct all clips/files from Camera 1 simultaneously.

I suppose I could concatenate all the individual clips from camera 1 into one long file, but that double the amount of disk space, and I'd later need to go find the cut points.  So forget that idea.

That brings me back to the original question: If a nested sequence contains multiple clips (say, 1 minute long, 5 minutes long, 2 minutes long), how can I (automatically) cut the main sequence at those same points, so that I can reposition the clips easily within the main sequence?

So right now, within Nested Sequence 1 I can see the separate clips:

 Camera 1: [-Clip1A-][-----Clip1B-----][---Clip1C---]

And Nested Sequence 2 might look like this:

  Camera 2: [------Clip2A-----][---------Clip2B----------][--Clip2C--][Clip2D]

However, the Main Sequence just shows this:

  Nested Sequence 1:  [--------------------Clip1--------------------]

  Nested Sequence 2: [---------------------------------Clip2----------------------------------]

There are no cut points.

I'd like it the Main Sequence to instead show this:

  Nested Sequence 1:  [-Clip1A-][-----Clip1B-----][---Clip1C---]

  Nested Sequence 2: [------Clip2A-----][---------Clip2B----------][--Clip2C--][Clip2D]

If I can get that to happen, then I can do the temporal editing in the Main Sequence, and the color correction in each Nested Sequence.

[R Neil Haugen]

I don't know how to be more clear. Your example was exactly what I was describing for a use case.

It doesn't matter if you have one clip or 100 from a camera. Select all clips in the bin needing a particular grade, apply.

DONE.

Why you would want to work on different ones is beyond me. Copy/paste and applying presets is the heart of efficient editing.