As documentary filmmakers, solo video journalists, backpack journalists, digital correspondents, whatever the term, the skills we have as shooters is but a part of the total “Jack of All Trades, Master Of Many” paradigm.

We also need to be efficient editors in post production bringing our stories to the timeline and effectively editing the footage, audio, stills and titles together and cohesively assemble the project in a time efficient manner – all the while delivering to multiple distribution channels.

I delayed this posting for close to six weeks as I needed time to really think through the process of collaboration in post production and whether this has become a less important process given the nature of how content is shot/edited in this digital age – and to what distribution channels said content is being delivered to.

Here are my thoughts and why

As self contained production entities, we don’t typically work in a collaborative post production environment and as such, the need for tools that provide this aren’t necessarily needed.

I’ve been exposed and used, to some degree, just about every mainstream NLE available.  For my needs my conclusion is – as a solo documentary shooter, I prefer SONY Creative Software’s Vegas Pro as my current NLE of choice for the VJ projects and short form documentaries I produce.

My reasons bear witness due to practical experience.

I will state on the outset I have no vested interest in SONY Creative Software other than having used it in my professional work.  I am not compensated in any way from SONY Creative Software.

I acknowledge that my thoughts on my recommendation runs against the industry standard mindset of what application platform to use for post production as a documentary filmmaker, backpack journalist, solo video journalist or digital correspondent.

Having said that, I’ll continue.

With traditional NLE’s like Avid Media Composer, Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Final Pro, etc – the applications are designed more or less to assemble your footage on the timeline with basic audio tools and basic titling.  That’s great if you’re handing off your project to someone else to tweak the audio or to generate title graphics.

The new generation of visual content creators are wearing multiple creative hats – myself included.

SONY Vegas Pro instills a different paradigm for post production compared to other post production options. It’s my belief that Vegas Pro fits the self contained documentary production paradigm very well.  You can do virtually all editing options on the timeline and they are handled by Vegas Pro very well.  Everything from multiple video format files on the timeline, to motion graphics, titling, audio editing and color correction – with the ability to do both 8bit and 32bit float point in both video levels and full levels for greater color accuracy of your final render – the latter is especially important in color grading for final output.

SONY Vegas originally started out as a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) application, it was designed to handle audio and then later on, the ability to edit video was incorporated.  What this means for anyone on the Windows platform (or MAC user running Bootcamp, Parallels, etc) is an NLE that provides a central application to deal with virtually all aspects of post production for video journalism projects and short to medium form documentaries.  My post production usage incorporates straight cuts, dissolves, advanced color correction capabilities, prepping audio and titling.  These are my mainstays.

Many newer cameras now shoot in AVCHD – the kind of codec that requires transcoding to an intermediate format to edit efficiently in other NLE’s – unless you have a very recent computer – and even then, it’s still problematic for many.  In Vegas you can either edit natively (I don’t recommend this at the present time), or utilize conversion utilities such as Cineform Neo Scene (my mainstay), AVCHD Upshift, scripting utilities such as Vegasaur or by the scripting capabilities within Vegas Pro via Proxy Stream – a free utility that can batch convert your footage from one format to another if utilizing a less powerful editing machine like a laptop. I’ve experimented with using MPEG Stream clip and transcoding my native HDV m2t clips to AVID’s DNxHD 220 10 bit codec which Vegas will read, edit and render to.

If you’re shooting Red camera footage – Vegas Pro is the least expensive native R3D editor on the market – and it does it VERY well.

Maintaining the best image quality during post production is a major sticking point for visual content creators telling stories with moving images.  Vegas Pro’s ability to shift project properties on the fly from 8bit while assembling the footage, then moving to 32bit float point mode with full levels for color grading is a major plus in my post production process.  The switch to 32 bit is quite resource intensive during playback. The method here is to hit “Shift-B” so you can load sections directly into RAM for RT playback depending on the amount of available RAM. This ability to maintain image quality in the post production process is what separates amateurs from professional film makers. Case in point: I had made the switch to Edius earlier this year, but discovered issues of noticeable banding in my footage – a direct result of Edius currently supporting 8 bit color only. Edius is a very capable editing solution, but the inability of Edius to move to a higher bit depth for color grading (and it’s rather crude color correction and audio tools in general) prompted me back to Vegas Pro.

The various tools within Vegas Pro that I use regularly are intuitive.  Color correction is easy to understand and use.  Transitions are a matter of sliding one clip into another – instant dissolve.  No constant click and drag to each clip on the timeline.  Want to apply an effect or filter or even a group of filters to all clips on a track?  Very easy to do with a couple of clicks in Vegas Pro.  That’s not a feature you’ll find in any other NLE on the market.  Video plugins from Red Giant and NewBlueFX provide additional options in post production. Audio plugins can be applied to any audio track and Vegas Pro supports both Direct X and VST audio plugins.  If needed, you can specify an outside audio editor. I recommend and use SONY’s Sound Forge 10 to perform more advanced audio manipulation as needed – and round trip back to Vegas Pro without the overhead of bridging applications using up precious CPU resources.

What this means for self contained content creators using SONY’s Vegas Pro is we are no longer bound to specific hardware requirements that force us to buy into what the hardware manufacturers dictate we have to buy.

Thoughts on Post Production Collaboration

In my work, I have yet to personally collaborate in post production with others on a project.  I concede that Vegas Pro isn’t very friendly with exporting a project to another NLE for collaborative situations – and that can be a major sticking point for some who are less inclined to wear different hats in the post production process.  Instead, Vegas Pro users have come to realize (myself included) that this is a post production environment for one man army independent shooter/editors (unless you’re working with others editing in Vegas Pro).  What Vegas Pro lacks in collaborative features it makes up for in speed and efficiency in the post production process – and it seems designed for the solo video journalist/independent documentary filmmaker as a post production tool.

Taking Post to the next level with SONY Mastersuite certified computers

SONY announced their Master Suite desktop computers where specified hardware is assembled and tested to help power users to just plug and play their Windows 7 based turnkey workstation class computers with SONY Creative Software’s full suite of post production applications – Vegas Pro 9 (32 & 64 bit), Sound Forge 10 and Acid Pro 7, along with Production Assistant for Vegas Pro, Training materials and two years of Top Level Tech support.  These workstations aren’t cheap, and those who are DIY types, can build their own desktops for less.  You lose some features and tech support, but your pocket book will thank you.  Rumor has it that SONY is also establishing certified laptops as well – a boon to those who need to edit remotely.

There are those who espouse using AVID Media Composer or Apple’s Final Cut Suite for collaborative post production work.  For those in a collaborative environment and/or needing to go to broadcast/film, I agree.  Vegas Pro isn’t without its shortcomings. It’s missing broadcast specification features that in principle, preclude it as a tool for delivering to major network broadcast (but it seems broadcasters have had to relax some of these standards due to the plethora of content being created). It may require having third party apps prep your content for delivery so be aware of that when using Vegas Pro for potential delivery to major broadcast venues or to film.

For me, I need a tool that is fast and efficient – without costing me a small fortune – and a steep learning curve in the process.  Time is money – why spend that time trying to learn to perform basic functions in an archaic workflow methodology for solovj and micro documentary work when Vegas Pro gives you that in a cost effective, professional post production application?

See For Yourself

In December of 2008 I posted a video that was used for marketing purposes by SONY Creative Software for Vegas Pro 8 – and the information in the video holds true for Vegas Pro 9 as well (even more so now). I’m reposting the video again to add to what I’ve said in this post. When you watch the 7 minute video and realize what Vegas Pro is capable of, you’ll understand why I’ve gone back to working with Vegas Pro over other NLE offerings for my solo video journalism and micro documentary work.

(Please open the article to see the flash file or player.)

Click on the image above to watch the video

Given my choice of any NLE currently on the market, SONY Vegas Pro is the tool I’m using to get my projects edited and delivered on time and on budget.

You can learn more about SONY Vegas Pro and download a 30 day trial of both 32bit and 64bit versions by visiting the SONY Creative Software website

One of the mainstays for solo video journalists, backpack journalists and digital correspondents is honing the craft of editing their finished video projects.  Without post production editing skills, you’re just shooting video, and today’s video journalist needs to be more than just a shooter.

With online content distribution as a viable delivery platform option, many may ask if they have to use a top level production suite or if they can edit their work with a more modestly priced post production application for finishing their product.

I offer some options for affordable video editing applications that I’ve used and recommend.

The Scenario for Post Production for Online Video Content Delivery

Online delivery doesn’t require the stringent specifications required by broadcast for video levels, color range, etc in order to deliver your content.  In layman’s terms, you have the full contrast range of the video available to you for delivering online. Broadcast specifications impose limitations – in simple terms – a contrast range of 16-235, or 0-100. Going outside that range is considered “illegal”. As such, there are several semi-pro NLE’s on the market that provide the majority of the functionality of their older siblings for each companies offerings – ideal for those in backpack journalism or solo video journalism delivering their content online only.

What these video editing applications share in common are a limited feature set of file formats they support.  This includes Tape and Tapeless acquisition in SD, HDV and AVCHD. You can also incorporate other file formats such as WMV, QT MOV files, etc on the timeline as needed.  File formats like XDCAM, DVCHD Pro and others are only supported by full video production suites.  Stills and audio are all supported.  Depending on the application, third party plugins are available as well, such as VST audio plugins and video effects filters.

NLE’s For the Windows platform

My first recommendation on the Windows platform is Grass Valley’s Edius Neo 2/2.5 which is a powerful NLE for anyone looking to produce video content for online delivery.

Grass Valley Edius Neo 2

Grass Valley is well known in the broadcast industry, producing hardware for broadcast networks that has proven itself in many broadcast venues. So it’s no surprise that their Edius NLE line integrates very well with some of their hardware offerings.

Edius Neo 2 is powerful in its handling of AVCHD, in addition to HDV and SD.  If you’re running a new i7 Intel processor for your editing computer, Neo 2.5 Booster allows for real time editing of the highly compressed AVCHD footage. For those with lesser hardware, Edius Neo 2/2.5 provides the ability to transcode your highly compressed AVCHD footage to their high quality Canopus-HQ Codec (4:2:2 Intra-Codec) at the expense of larger file sizes. For those who are working on less powerful computers, this can make a huge difference in performance when needing to edit your AVCHD shot footage.  The disadvantage is this requires waiting to begin editing since the footage needs to be converted first before editing and requires about 5 times the hard drive space.  The advantages are the application is probably the most stable NLE for the money I have come across.  And I’ve tested several.  You have all the color correction tools as its bigger sibling Edius 5, sans the vector scopes/waveform monitoring that allow you to fine tune your footage to meet broadcast spec, and multitrack audio mixing capabilities – the latter I sorely miss when video editing in Neo 2.  But, you can open the same project in Edius 5 and continue working, thus you have the ability to hand off your work to someone else who has Edius 5 to fine tune your work if it does need to go to broadcast.  Neo 2 also supports industry standard VST audio plugin filters to provide the additional capabilities for working with your audio as needed.  There are many free VST’s plugins that can provide increased funtionality of Edius Neo 2 when fine tuning the audio in your project.  NewBlueFX provides support for Neo 2 with their large selection of  video and audio filters for a nominal fee.

Grass Valley HDSpark Card for Edius Neo 2 & Edius 5

A unique feature of Neo 2 is that it is marketed by Grass Valley as a stepping stone for full broadcast work by utilizing their HDSpark card, a dedicated preview card that integrates with both of the Edius NLE’s to attach a second dedicated preview monitor to show RT preview on an HDTV.  This is a reasonably priced hardware option for a Windows based desktop computer, and is a very appealing feature that no other NLE in this price range offers.  An ideal setup is using a smallish HDTV like the Viewsonic N1630w LCD HDTV attached to the HDSpark card with your desktop computer, which provides the ability to preview the timeline in real time if delivering to broadcast is a possibility.  Having this option greatly increases the post production process as your content on the secondary preview monitor will closely match how it will appear for broadcast. You don’t lose your investment in the HDSpark card either when transitioning to Edius 5 as the card provides the same functionality as it does in Neo 2.

Although the most expensive mid level NLE of those listed, Edius Neo 2 is a wise decision to make when considering an NLE – especially if considering the move to the full Edius 5 application.  The interface remains virtually unchanged so there’s no relearning the interface and Edius workflow methodology. Edius is making a stronger presence in the broadcast industry, in part to their hardware being standard equipment. Using Edius is a wise move if the possibility exists you will be working in that field.

You can download a 30 day trial of Edius Neo 2 from the Grass Valley website.

Sony Vegas Studio HD Platinum is another mid level video editing application that provides a wealth of tools to deliver your content online.  It’s workflow methodology is not the same as known conventions of other NLE’s and it has it’s advocates that espouse a new workflow methodology for the internet generation of content production.  The disadvantage is that you are limited to what file formats it’s supports – ie, it does not allow for batch transcoding of your content to another file format, so you will have to consider third party utilities to convert your footage, that can mean alot of lost time if under deadline since there’s no guarantee that the utility will support transcoding your footage to something usable in Vegas Studio.

SONY Vegas Studio HD Platinum

Vegas Studio HD Platinum has many of the same features as it’s larger sibling, Vegas Pro. It’s strengths are in handling audio and applying real time transitions.  Color correction is very intuitive. There is no hardware integration and the move back and forth between Vegas Pro is one way – your project file can be opened in Vegas Pro, but can not be read in return.  The additional advantage for this NLE is you get Sound Forge Audio Studio, a very capable, solid audio editing application is included. For those who come from an audio background like radio, this may be quite appealing as a tool that is available in their post work.

You can download a 30 day trial of Vegas Studio HD Platinum from Sony Creative Software’s website

NLE’s For the Apple MAC platform

Apple’s iMovie is a consumer oriented NLE package much in line with Windows Movie Maker.  Basic transitions, dissolves, titles, etc can be assembled and you can output your content to high quality h.264 for online delivery.  If you know your content won’t be needed for broadcast delivery, this is a user friendly option.

Apple’s Final Cut Express is a huge jump from iMovie – and the only option on the MAC platform worth mentioning.  FInal Cut Express provides the same interface as Apple’s Final Cut Pro.  Much in line with Edius Neo 2 in relation to Edius Pro, Final Cut Express provides the stepping stone for those who edit on the MAC.

Apple Final Cut Express 4

The features of FCE provide all that one would need to deliver their content online when editing on an Apple computer.  It utilizes Apple’s high quality Intermediate codec for RT performance with highly compressed AVCHD shot content.  That means you will need to wait while FCE transcodes your footage if you shoot tapeless.  Features such as title graphics via LiveType, and audio are handled better than how Edius Neo 2 handles them. You don’t have vector scopes to fine tune your footage to bring it into line for broadcast specifications, but Final Cut Express wasn’t meant for that.  Final Cut Express is flexible in that you can import your iMovie project into Final Cut Express if needed.  You can also open your Final Cut Express project file in Final Cut Pro to finish your project and utilize the advanced features not offered in Final Cut Express, again, much in the same way Edius Neo 2 project files can be opened in Edius Pro. The biggest disadvantage is that everything in Final Cut Express and it’s bigger sibling requires rendering anytime a change is made to the timeline, not very efficient when it comes to meeting short deadlines.

There are no trial versions that can be downloaded from Apple.

Some may ask why haven’t I touched upon Adobe’s application, Premiere Elements?  Consider it a personal bias. I don’t feel for the money, you get the feature set necessary to seriously edit your work.  The jump to Premiere Pro is such a large one, and the latest hardware requirements for CS5 preclude it from this recommendation list for that very reason.

The idea here, the solo video journalist paradigm, is to be agile – lean and mean so to speak. These NLE recommendations I’ve made fall in line with that – features, performance and price all meeting that “less is more” paradigm.

None of these recommendations are perfect.  Each application has been developed with certain features missing to protect the respective companies sales of their top tier video editing applications.

Whether you’re editing on a laptop, a desktop – or both, each of these recommendations provides the best bang for the buck for editing your video projects for online video content distribution efficiently and professionally.

Those who read this blog know that I am a Vegas Pro user and I have my reasons for it that apply specifically to self contained video shooters.  One of the weaknesses of Vegas is editing the native m2t files, which eat up CPU cycles.  My understanding is, editing AVCHD is even worse.  CineForm has released a cost effective solution to address this weak link in the post production process and it’s called NEO Scene

Here’s the official press release regarding NEO Scene:

CineForm®, Inc., creators of high-fidelity compression-based workflow solutions for the post production marketplace today announced it is now shipping Neo Scene™, a new software product for users of AVCHD and HDV camcorders that offers accelerated editing performance and higher visual quality than editing native camera sources. Neo Scene improves a user’s editing experience by converting highly-compressed AVCHD and HDV sources into easy-to-edit and higher quality CineForm AVI files.  CineForm AVI files are compatible with most Windows AVI applications including Adobe® Premiere® Pro and Elements®, plus Sony Vegas and Movie Studio.  During file conversion, Neo Scene can also convert source material into 24p (NTSC) or 25p (PAL) CineForm AVI files for projects that desire a cinematic look.

“HDV and in particular AVCHD camera formats are highly compressed and extremely compute intensive for editing”, explains David Taylor, co-founder and CEO of CineForm.  “By converting into a format that was designed specifically for high-performance editing – such as CineForm AVI files – the workflow experience and quality of the final project can be enhanced significantly.  With Neo Scene we’re now offering consumer-oriented AVCHD and HDV camcorder owners the same extreme visual fidelity and accelerated workflow we’ve offered to professional users for many years”.

More About Neo Scene

Using Neo Scene, the user batch converts all source material into CineForm AVI files.  At the time of conversion the user can choose to (optionally) extract 24p or 25p progressive files when a cinematic look for a project is desired.  After conversion the CineForm AVI files become the new master files used for editing in the remainder of the project.  The source AVCHD or HDV files can be archived or discarded, depending on user preference.

Converted CineForm AVI files are always 10 bits in depth (instead of the usual 8 bits) to offer higher visual fidelity through post production.  Further, Neo Scene will double the lower-resolution chroma (color) format from the AVCHD or HDV source by interpolating chroma from its 4:2:0 format recorded by the camera into a professional 4:2:2 format.  Chroma upsampling improves color fidelity for projects requiring color correction or keying.

Pricing and Availability

Neo Scene is available for purchase from CineForm’s website for $129, or through its network of resellers and distributors.  Neo Scene is also available as a fully-functional Trial download from CineForm’s website: www.cineform.com.  CineForm anticipates releasing a Mac version of Neo Scene in the future.

For $129 – you get a frame based file to edit with, as opposed to editing long GOP files which takes much of the overhead off the CPU at the expense of larger file sizes.

I held off purchasing Cineform’s products due to their relative high cost – from my perspective.  You can visit their site to read in detail the workflow for NEO Scene.

A major advantage of going this route is that Cineform is NLE neutral – you’re not confined to one specific NLE – the product works with SONY Vegas Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro, and can even work with Final Cut Pro and Express on the MAC platform by utilizing the NEO Player which is a free download.

Now I and other SONY Vegas Pro users have a compelling reason to utilize Cineform Intermediates for editing content.

I recently became aware of the ability of Adobe’s Flash Player having the capability of playing mpeg4 video’s.

Why, when there has been such great success with On2′s VP6 codec would Adobe make this feature available?

My conclusion is because mpeg4 is a superior format to native flv at the cost of slightly larger file sizes.

I’ve made it quite clear that I exclusively use SONY’s Vegas Pro 8 for editing my video content.  It is from my experience, the best NLE available for the solo video journalist paradigm for quickly and efficiently editing video and audio.

One of the great features of Vegas Pro 8 is it’s ability to encode to numerous file formats without having to jump through a bunch of hoops, as was plainly proven to me by a colleague who uses Premiere Pro – he’s limited to a handful of file formats when he wants to render out his timeline.

But I digress – back to the meat of this article.

I found a straightforward way to take an HDV timeline in Vegas, and encode that timeline to a web ready mpeg4 video file to play back in Adobe’s Flash Player.

The Procedure:

1. First off, under your general project settings, make sure your audio bit rate is set to 44,kHz – I have experience anomalous audio problems when down converting 48kHz to 44kHz
   
2. Once you have your project ready to encode out, Select File->Render As->Then select the Mainconcept AVC/AAC (*.mp4) option.  Now, select the custom button, and let’s modify our video properties.
   
3. Under Project settings, I select either Good or Best.
4. Next, under Video, I drop down the Frame Size option and select (Custom frame size) – I then enter in a value of either 480×270, or 640×360 – these are standard wide screen dimensions for the web.
   

   Next, I select Frame Order as None (progressive scan) with a pixel aspect ratio of 1.000.  I then opt for Variable bit rate with the Max (bps) setting at 2,000,000 and the average set to 1,000,000.

5. Under Audio options, I select 44,000 Hz for my sample rate and a bit rate of 96,000 bps.
   
6. At this point you may want to save this as a new template – I would make the appropriate changes in the description of your new template and give it a name of your choice.
7. Now render out your video file.

Once you have your encoded Mpeg4 video file, you still have some additional post processing to perform on the video file.

Adobe released an application platform called AIR, which is based around their Flex application platform.  Adobe’s Media Player is devleoped using AIR, and one of the free tools needed requires having Adobe Air installed first.  You can download AIR from Adobe’s website.

Next, you need to download a post processing utility called QTIndexSwapper.  With the release of the Flash Player 9 Update that which now supports H.264, we now have the ability to play a subset of H.264 movie files. The problem is most of the H.264 files have the index at the end of the file which, for progressive download, means you have to download the whole file before you can start watching any of the video.

QTIndexSwapper basically moves the index file from the back of the file to the front – thus allowing the mp4 file to begin playing within the flash video player as it’s being downloaded.  The application is straight forward to install and use.

Now the last part is getting the actual file to play within the Flash Video Player.  This is going to depend on your mehtod of web page construction.  I use WordPress, so it’s a simple matter of utilizing the Embed FLV plugin and specifying the path statement to the mp4 file on my websites. Click on the thumbnails below to see the process for adding an mp4 video with the embedded flv player in WordPress.

For those creating web static web pages, the process is a little more involved.  It requires using the free JW FLV MEDIA PLAYER v3.16 and following the tutorial on the site on how to embed a flash video into a webpage.  The only difference is instead of specifying an FLV file, you use the mp4 file you encoded and converted.  There is even a discussion thread that talks about the detailed procedure for using mpeg4 files with the player.

My own testing has shown that the mp4 video files look much better at the expense of file sizes being slightly larger compared to native FLV files – but that is something I’m willing to give up for better image quality.  I’mn sure there are other NLE users out there wondering if they can do the same thing – Read the details surrounding how to embed the flash video player in a web page – there is a wealth of down to earth information surrounding how to do this.

As the jack of all trades mater of them all, we as solo video journalists need to keep abreast of the latest technologies that provide avenues of content distribution.  By utilizing this method, those who utilize the web for distributing their content online, have the ability to utilize technology to their advantage – and with higher quality results.

**Note – since publishing this article, Vegas Pro 8.0c has been released as well as Vegas Pro 8.1 64bit.  It appears that 8.0c introduced some sort of update to the Mainconcept MP4 encoder and it mangles the MP4 so that QTIndexSwapper can’t process the file correctly, although Vegas Pro 8.1 does produce an MP4 file correctly for QTIndexSwapper.  I have now found a way to fix this for those needing to work with Vegas Pro 8.0c – extract the files from the mcmp4plug.cab file from Vegas Pro 8.0b and after backing up the files, replace them with the files from the mcmp4plug.cab file from Vegas Pro 8.0b.  I have successfully rendered out an MP4 file with these files and QTIndexSwapper processes the file with no error messages.**

One of the weaknesses of Vegas Pro is its inability to render Adobe Flash Video files within the application itself.

FLV files are the defacto standard for web video content distribution. I discovered a way to create FLV’s via frameserving from Vegas Pro to On2′s Flix Pro.

What is frameserving?

In layman’s terms, frameserving is the ability to create a reference file within one application and have a second application render from that reference file. Web video journalism is about efficiency and speed. The major post production suites are anything but that from my perspective, whereas Vegas is built for both speed and efficiency.

There are three components to render FLVs from Vegas Pro.

The first is Vegas Pro of course. Second, you need to download Satish’s DeBug Frameserver plugin and install it. The third component is obtaining a copy of On2′s Flix Pro flash media encoder. Even though it costs $249, the ability to encode to HD Flash video format warrants the future proofing of your financial investment over using Flix Standard. If you have no need for rendering out Flash videos in HD, the $39 cost for Flix Standard is a bargain.

“NOTE – It appears that the latest version of On2 Flix Pro (8.530) doesn’t allow frameserving to work correctly – I used version 8.500 for this article”

Once you have installed either On2 Flix version, you are set to render Flash Video directly from Vegas Pro.

The great thing about Vegas Pro is that you can change the properties of the project to reflect the end file dimensions you want to post online (I typically create either a 640×360 or 480×270 square pixel aspect ratio). The other caveat is you need to make sure your audio properties are 44khz 16 bit. Trying to frameserve to 48khz throws an error message and it took asking on the Vegas forums to resolve this virtually unknown glitch. With that established, the process is straight forward for using the frameserver plugin within Vegas Pro.

• Once you have edited your timeline and are ready to encode, go to File->Render As-> select from the “Save As Type” menu DeBugMode Frameserver (*.avi).
  

  You will be prompted with small window to select various options. I elect to use RGB24 as my video output option.

  
  
• Select next, and the frameserver will render a signpost avi file – this is what will be used by Flix Pro to render the FLV. Minimize Vegas and start Flix Pro.
• Select your input file in the first window and select an option for the name of your output file if needed.
• Select your preset as well (I typically select the highest quality option since I figure my viewers are watching over broadband connections. Select the Vid/Aud tab next to the File tab and choose your options as needed. This is the area I would recommend your experiment to find what best suits your needs for rendering FLV files. If everything is as you need it, select the File tab again and click on the Encode button.
  
  
• At this point, Vegas will serve the timeline via the DeBugMode Frameserver plugin to Flix Pro. Render time will be dependent on the length of your project. Once done, you can watch the FLV file in any player that supports the FLV format (I use Adobe’s Media Player).

Is this as convenient as having integrated Flash Video encoding within a single application? To be honest, I think it is just as convenient, and without the bloat of the other competing NLE applications available. I have successfully used this workflow and it’s faster than Premiere Pro’s integrated Flash video encoding. It may not have all the glitz of advanced features available in other applications, but it gets the job done – and does so with better efficiency – a hallmark trait of Vegas Pro 8 that I have espoused for the solo video journalist paradigm.

I recently posted a question on the Vegas forums about what Adobe’s After Effects is and is there a real need to learn this very powerful application.

When all was said and done, the answer, at least for those working as a solo video journalist, is not really.

Here’s why:

As a Solo VJ, our primary concern is editing our content with as little glitz and glam as possible. 99% of my editing consists of straight cuts and simple dissolves along with color correction and audio sweetening.

Vegas Pro provides all of these features within the application – without needing to go outside of it.

All the marketing hype surrounding application suites being needed to accomplish the post production aspect of video has played upon the illusion that in order to be considered a TRUE professional, one has to utilize one of the AAA suites.

As Solo VJ’s, we typically don’t have a need for advanced compositing and 3D effects that is the specialty of After Effects. In addition, the learning curve is quite high in grasping the full capabilities of Adobe’s offerings, and the added expense only adds to the already tight budgetary constraints that this competitive profession has imposed on us.

SONY Vegas Pro 8 is a powerful video and audio editing application with very respectable compositing tools. The difference is significant. But of course the usefulness of the compositing power in After Effects (which is simply staggering once you’ve got your head around it) is only useful if you’re actually going to use that power. If your compositing needs are not overly complex then you may not need After Effects and Vegas will be more than sufficient – which is something I have just begun to tap into for my work.

With the release of Vegas Pro 8 in September of 2007, the new titler and 32bit float mode for editing has opened the door for maintaining a higher quality of capabilities for those looking to become lean and mean in this creative endeavor. I have discovered through inquiry that the 32bit float mode is only necessary if you are going to get heavy handed in things like color correction.

I believe in keeping things simple – without limiting what I can do technologically. I’m going to be expounding on this topic in upcoming posts so stay tuned.

Mike Jones has posted a great analysis of the perspective of what editing is and where it is headed.

Of course, he looks at the so called professionals choice, Final Cut Pro, and compares it against my favorite forward thinking NLE -Vegas Pro 8.

As I ascribe to the IM6 paradigm, it is critically important that workflow be as streamlined and efficient as possible while working as a Jack of All Trades, Master Of Them All.  The Final Cut Suite is a feature rich set of applications – at the expense of an archaic work flow methodology.  In comparison, Vegas Pro provides outside the box creatives the ability to edit video, audio, compositing, professional level titling, and much more – all in real time and within one application.  System resources are used more efficiently.  And now with better than 10bit color space editing and the soon to be released 64bit version of Vegas Pro, it’s my belief that my fellow Solo VJ’s who ascribe to using FCS, Adobe’s CS3 suite, or Avid’s suite, reassess their world view on what it means to be a shooter AND editor.

As the Solo Video Journalist profession gains momentum, the ability to work quickly under tight deadlines is going to be crucial for those competing for projects as freelancers.

SONY Vegas Pro allows those who are footing the bill for their equipment to have at their disposal a tool that is unlike the rest of the mainstream editors available – at a price point that doesn’t strain ones bank account.

I have it on good authority that the Associated Press has chosen to work with SONY’s Vegas NLE over all other video editing offerings for their field teams.

Up until recently, I was a vocal advocate for Adobe’s Premiere Pro. But I just found the work flow methodology cumbersome. I have had SONY’s Vegas for some time, but never really worked with it per se’ until recently. Now I’ve said good bye to Adobe’s archaic way of post production as it applies to working as a Solo VJ (the same could be said for Apple FCS and Avid as well).

I find it interesting that the Triple A suites (Apple’s FCS2, Adobe’s CS3 and Avid’s offerings) are generating all the advertising hype for users to switch to them. So why is it then that the Associated Press has CHOSEN to use SONY’s Vegas for their field teams??? They could have gone with any application available and yet went with the underdog.

I obtained this information from someone who is well connected and has been one of SONY’s biggest advocates for their software applications. In addition, they are developing training materials specifically targeted at field editing for video journalists. From what I can surmise, Avid Newscutter seems to be the target SONY has set its eyes on.

I recently made the complete switch to SONY’s suite of apps, including Vegas and Sound Forge for my bread and butter editing after having used Adobe’s Premiere Pro and Audition and have found that these applications are far above anything else available for editing video (and audio). Resources are efficiently utilized, editing is intuitive, – About the only thing missing is the ability to export out directly to Flash Video, but I can deal with that via the various third party apps available.

The more I use Vegas for video editing, the more I want to tell others about it. Believe all you want from the spin doctoring ad wizards out there – Vegas works better than anything else for the Solo Video Journalist Paradigm.

I recently asked Angela Grant of News Videographer to critique the video work I have produced so far.

She appreciated the visuals of my work, but was less enthusiastic about my use of music only as part of the presentations.

There is debate about the utilization of music in video journalism projects and how it can distract from what is being presented. Angela did raise an interesting point about her position and yet, we as content creators should also be true to ourselves and OUR minds eye of how WE as the content creator, want to present our work.

Now granted, what I have posted so far was a direct result of my uncomfortability in my voice over narrative skills until my first paying client, Light & Motion Titan D2oo Housing project pushed me into developing them again.

I pushed myself to use what I had learned in radio broadcasting courses I took in high school (I had my own show 3 days a week) and sure enough, I’m becoming more secure in my ability to utilize my own voice for audio narratives in the work I am currently developing.

Thanks again to Angela Grant for pushing me outside my comfort zone.

One is never too old to learn something new.