Tandem video editing at the DZ

[Peej 0]

I'm in the process of learning to fly camera on tandems. I've been taken under the wings (excuse the pun) of two very experienced flyers at my home DZ.

What i'm looking for however is opinions on what you guys are using to edit and burn your tandem's DVD's with at the DZ?

The guys at home are using a laptop for tunes, footage directly from the camera and it all goes through a video mixing board and gets burnt to DVD on a player/burner.

I've just bought myself a PC laptop with video editing capabilities and i have a PC lecturer friend who's going to show me the ropes on premier.

I guess what i'd like to know is if using a laptop to edit a tandem video is a viable option or not?

How do you do it?

Any and all advice is much appreciated
As an aside my specs are as follows:

Model: HP NX 8220
Intel Pentium M processor
Intel 915 PM Express Chip Set
15.4 WXGA Hi res screen
60 gig hard drive
1 gig of ram
Multi bay DVD reader/writer / CD reader/writer combo
3 USB 2 ports
Audio in/out
Firewire
S Video
Infrared
PCMIA Slot
Mobility Radian Express 128 vid card
Bluetooth/ wireless lan

Thanks!
PJ

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[jtval 0]

yes editing on the laptop can be done and pretty easily.

the only problem you may have is the rendering time.
( my pc takes some time to render the file)
as long as you have a fast processor I guess the laptop would burn a disc pretty quickly.


once you get the hang of editing tandems its kinda the same thing over and over again.

interview
walk to the plane
film take off
do some filming of the flight
in flight interview
film the skydive
film the landing
interview

there may be certain things that stand out in each tandem but THAT list is basically all youre doing. ( I add a some extra stuff in)

then once you figure out what your style of comments angles and effects are you can probably do most of the editing on your camera.

just remember dont get soo fancy with the edit that it takes all day to do it.. the whole thing should be about two songs long one song before exit and one song from exit til last interview.

if you film too much of the flight you will have to do some editing after a while you just kinda know what types of things to film and for how long.
I dont like to film the same thing on every flight. I.E we have some land marks etc but I dont film the same stuff every time

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[indyz 1]

First and foremost, an experienced editor on a linear system (what your DZ is using) will always get the customer their video faster than an experienced editor on a non-linear system (what you want to do). But that doesn't mean that it isn't a workable solution. You will need to design and practice your workflow until you have it nailed, then decide if the improved quality is worth the trade in time. It might be, it might not be.

Capturing the video from your camera is a realtime operation. If you record 15 minutes of video, it will take 15 minutes to get it into the computer. After that, you will need at least 10-15 minutes to edit. After all that you run into the real time killer: rendering the final product, authoring, and burning the DVD. The exact process depends on what software and hardware you are using. Premiere Elements, for example, can do the whole bit from start to finish within the program. After the edit is finished you just mark the chapters, click Burn, and walk away.

Pentium Ms are not the fastest processors on the planet. On my 1.5Ghz Pentium M laptop, rendering and burning a tandem-length video is significantly slower than realtime (so a 20 minute video will take much more than 20 minutes to render and burn).

[Peej 0]

Thanks for the advice guys, those are the answers i was looking for!

I have no problem learning the linear system, in fact i had a feeling it would be the easier way to do things.
I plan on using the lappie to mess about with at home and put some freely vids and stuff togther for myself and to show my folks and friends, but i guess it'll be linear when i'm running to and from loads and trying to get things done.

Cheers and thanks again!
PJ

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[jtval 0]

good idea.

the lap top will be great when you can edit fun jumps on your own time

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[StevePhelps 0]

Quote

Capturing the video from your camera is a realtime operation. If you record 15 minutes of video, it will take 15 minutes to get it into the computer. After that, you will need at least 10-15 minutes to edit.

I gotta ask, why would anybody record 15 minutes of video for a tandem or AFF? I shoot 4-5 minutes (1 - 1:30 prejump interview) 2 minutes plane and out the door (1-2 minutes landing and post interview.) With that we turn out an eight (8) minute video with slow motion and stills added along with the music and credits. Are you sure you need 15 minutes of footage?

[PhreeZone 20]

I'm putting out about the same (with no leader or credits) but then after the whole video I replay the exit and freefall in realtime with some wind noise. Total video time is some where between 9:30-11 depending on the video. We film kinda a leader of some stuff around the DZ, but its totally custom on each video.

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[riggerrob 643]

Like you, I film 5 to 8 minutes of raw footage.
I add a two minute leader and hand the customer a finished product 7 to 10 minutes long.
... much longer ... and you lose your audience.
Dubbing VHS on a linear editing suite takes about 20 minutes ... two minutes longer if I have to burn a DVD.

[indyz 1]

Quote

I gotta ask, why would anybody record 15 minutes of video for a tandem or AFF?

I was just trying to give an example that illustrated that capturing from a DV camera is real-time operation. I was not trying to imply that most video people shoot 15 minutes of tape per tandem (although I'm sure some do). I'm a newbie at tandem video and I tend to shoot more video than most of the other people on the DZ, but you're right, it's still not near 15 minutes.