Text-Based Editing & Multicam Sequences

[Patrick-Keegan]

Text-based editing and the creation of mutlicam sequences are two great tools within Premiere Pro. However, I'm struggling to get the two to cooperate. After laying a multicam sequence into newly created timeline, double-clicking it and opening the "text" tab, I can see the relatively accurate transcript of the relevant multicam sequence. However, if I try to edit the text, nothing really happens ... it'll sort of disappear from the transcript, but not always, and the edits are never reflected in the timeline.

Is this simply beyond the limits of Premiere at this point in time? Does anyone have an elegent solution for utlizing text-based editing with a multi-camera segment?

Thanks!

[Kevin-Monahan · Accepted solution]

Hello @Patrick-Keegan,

I hope you're doing OK. I got your message. Thanks for the info.

Sorry, you have not gotten a response from the community yet. Have you solved the issue, or are you still having problems? Have you tried 23.6 yet? If not, try it with a new test project and let us know if it works better. You can also check this potential solution: https://community.adobe.com/t5/premiere-pro-discussions/text-based-editing-not-working/m-p/13878079#...

I hope the community can assist you.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Patrick-Keegan]

Thank you! The solution you linked to "fixed" the issue - the issue being user error 🙂

[Fray D.]

After much experimentation, I have a solution!

1. Generate your multi-camera source sequences.

• In the Project window, right-click on your video and audio files and select Create Multi-Camera Source Sequences...
• Right-click on the newly created multi-cam source sequence/s, and select Open in Timeline.
• Bonus tip! If your timeline is a mess, choose Simplify Sequence... under the Sequence app menu and select Close vertical gaps on video tracks. Unfortunately, this trick won't work for the audio tracks. So if their clutter bothers you,  I would suggest unlinking them from their video counterparts and then deleting them entirely. You only need the audio that the multi-cam is based off of after all.

2. Generate the transcript for text-based editing at the source level.

• After you have opened your multi-cams in the timeline, make sure you have the Text window open. From there, click the Generate Transcript button under the Transcript tab.
• At this stage, I have found that text-based editing will only work here at the source level. If you copy and paste the multi-cam sequence into a blank sequence, you can probably move the playhead around from the Text window but you won't be able to do the more useful actions like cut, paste, and delete.

3. Generate a sequence from the multi-cams.

• Right click on the multi-cam/s in the Project window and select New Sequence from Clip.
• The new sequence/s should be able to use all the features of text based editing. I usually test this out by selecting some of the text and hitting Delete. If there's a ripple edit in the timeline, I know that text-based editing is working.
• If you need to combine multiple multi-cams into a single sequence, use one of these new sequences to paste everything into one place. For some reason, trying to copy/paste them into a blank sequence does not retain the text-based editing, but copying and pasting between them preserves it. 

Some "gotchas" to look out for:

• Make sure you have the "{ }" icon turned on in the Text/Transcript window (next to the search bar).
• Make sure you have "Follow active monitor" turned on in the Text/Transcript window (in the lower left corner).
• I'm using a Mac Studio running Sonoma 14.1.1 with Premiere version 24.0.3. Your mileage may vary with another setup.