Editing a Zoom Call For a Video Podcast

[sidekick65]

My apologies if this question has been answered before, but a quick search did not turn up exactly what I was looking for.  

I am looking for advice about the best way to do (something like) the following:

• I have a Zoom call with two participants
• It's basically an interview for a video podcast
• I would like to switch the focus back and forth between the participants.  So when one speaks their window grows and moves to the centre while the other participant fades out.  Then, have both back on screen at times, then switch to the other participant, and so on.  
• I don't want it to be too busy but since there are often minutes at a time when only one participant is on screen, I would like to remove the distraction of having the other participant there just noddinf their head.
• I could probably figure out some ways of accomplishing this, but I was hoping to ge some pro-tips not only on how to actually accomplish it, but also some ideas on work flow etc.  This is a task that I think I may end up doing repeatedly on clips that are 30 minutes long so figuring out an efficient method would be helpful.
• I would not classify myself as an experienced Premiere user, but I have done enough to know my way around the interface, thought not enough to be familiar with many advanced techniques.
• I also have After Effects and have used it a bit, if that would be a better platform for this kind of work, feel free to let me know.

Thanks, in advance for any help and advice you can provide.

[Connor5C65]

Hi there, did you figure it out? I require similar help if you are able to pass on any advice.

[sidekick65]

I did in fact!

Although I solved it using AfterEffects rather than Premieree

Basically I do something like this:
- Import two instances of the podcast into After Effects
-Put them in a composition (and obviously make sure they are synchronised)
- Mute one of them
- Mask each one separately so that only one participant is visible
- Then I can transform each one to change the focus as the conversation
proceeds
- Here's an example https://youtu.be/X2S3PVi4dJo
- It's not perfect, but it's a good start and I am improving the technique
as I learn more about AE

Let me know if that helps.

[Personal information removed by moderator.]

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Iain Christie

[R Neil Haugen]

You put one on V1, the other on V2, and use the size/position effects to change relative size. And of course you need to use a mask and/or opacity on the upper track to make the lower one show.

Neil

[Peru Bob]

As Neil described, it needs to be done manually. There isn't a way to automate it.

You could save the completed project as a template, but other interviews will have varied times for each participant and it might be easier to just start from scratch.

[Phillip Harvey · Accepted solution]

You've got some good answers already but I'm going to throw in some additional ones or variants.

If you wanted to make this a Multicam you could duplicate the video that you have and arrange it in the different configurations that you want, like:

- a track that shows both participants

- a track for participant 1, full screen

- a track for participant 2, full screen

You can then multicam edit them and live-switch between the different angles. (There's usually a good deal of manual switching involved here.)

On the note of manual, you can do the same thing as above just skip the multicam and make cuts in the timeline to show the composition you'd like.

Another thought: If your video track shows both participants on screen equally (like each gets a half) and it never changes, you could create Adjustment Layers with the Transform Effect that has slow zooms in/out, and just just name/label the various "camera moves" so you can duplicate and reuse them throughout the timeline. So let's say every time you want to zoom in to speaker 1, you just place the green adjustment layer for that camera move over that part of the timeline. I'm not sure what your shot looks like so maybe you're not set up for this, but it's something to think about.