How to View/Organize Video Clips

[Aperture_Star]

Hello All,

I recently began shooting video with my 7d and i am wondering how i can Play/Organize my video clips.

I come from a photography background. So i am use to using Adobe Bridge to Star and color code my clips. I would like to use something similar however i don't want to have to open them in a viewing software every time. I would love it if i could just play it in a thumbnail size and then I can just star the clip. I can actually star them in bridge however again i have to open them in an external viewer every time.

Is there any way to view and tag a clip in the same software?

Also after a shoot i have dozens of individual clips what is the best way to view them without opening each one into Quicktime?

Thanks for all your recommendations.

[Black Lab]

As you are obviously aware, a video clip is not the same as a still photograph. With a still, the thumbnail is what it is. The thumbnail of the video clip is just the first frame. Unless you can identify each clip by the first frame you will have to play it. You can play the clips from the VS library - they will play in the preview window - thus you don't have to use QT or WMP to play them.

[Aperture_Star]

Hey,

Thanks for your reply. However my real question is with regard to tagging. How can i tag or star the video clips. Is there any way in VS or another software to tag/star video clips and play them in the same software.

thanks

[BrianCee]

Perhaps you could explain - at least for my benefit - what exactly you mean by 'tag' or 'star' a video clip - what physically do you do to the clip ? - how do you know when a video clip is 'starred' ? - what advantage does it have in using the clips ? - how do you use a 'starred' clip.

It is a phrase I have never heard and it is quite possible that I know the process under another name - so if I knew what it does I may know a different name.

As Jeff has said if you have a lot of clips to view the easiest way is to simply import them all into a VS library (which you can do in one action) - then clicking on each thumbnail in the library will play it in VS one after the other - You can then rename the thumbnail (not the actual video clip) within VS if that helps.

[Aperture_Star]

Hello Brian,

Thanks for your reply and yes here is an explanation. Coming from a photography background photographers are use to starring and tagging there photos. For example in Adobe Bridge you can pull in a bunch of pictures and then Star 1 the best ones and Star 2 the ones you think are ok and then Star 5 the ones that are not good. Then you can filter out different star levels. For example you may want to only see Star 1 or maybe Star 1+2 etc.

Because of the DSLR and all the crossover that is happening. I am basically interested in organizing my clips and starring them. When edited a piece i would love to say ok Star 1 all the ones that should be in the intro and Star 4 all the ones that are at the end etc etc.

To clarify what i mean by starring is actually a STAR that is placed directly under the thumbnail or in this case the video frame.

let me know if that helps and maybe you guys call is something else.

But either way how do you organize your clips before you star editing?

[BrianCee]

There is no reason why you could not put any symbol you like under the thumbnail of a video clip in the video libraries - you can rename thumbnails very easily and call them what you want, like 'intro1', 'intro2', 'intro3' etc and even 'end1', 'end2' etc. You could even have different libraries for each category - it is easy to add libraries and move thumbnails between them if that would help with your 'pre' editing - then just drag clips from each library down into the timeline.

But I still do not see the need for it - I do not arrange my video clips BEFORE I start editing - thats what editing is about - I re-arrange, move, cut bits off, throw bits away - add the same bit again for emphasis - whatever, all in the timeline WHILE editing. If I don't like something then I just re-do it a bit differently. I do not see why you would want 'good' video clips at the beginning, average bits in the middle or poor bits at the end - each video clip would be inserted in the best sequence to tell a story - or convey a message.

I'm sorry if I'm missing something but I see no advantage at all in your method. perhaps someone else has different views.

[UncleBoo]

If I understand correctly what you're requesting, it's basically to have a feature that lets you rate the thumbnails, or otherwise tag them, and then sort/filter according to the ratings/tags. Yes, that feature is common today in many photo software packages and websites. No, the feature doesn't exist in VS, and I suspect it's not likely to appear in the forseeable future. The number of photo software users dwarfs that of video software users, and that translates into much higher development budgets for the photo apps. If there isn't any development money available to fix basic problems such as DVD authoring, then that doesn't bode well for luxuries such as thumbnail tagging.