EphraimP Posted February 15, 2021 Share Posted February 15, 2021 I'm starting on a new video project for a client making a 60-Minutes style piece that will include outtakes from several old videos that various people have edited at different times. I would of course prefer to working with all original camera files and NLE project files, but this isn't going to be possible. So I'll be forced to cut sequences from videos that were already rendered for YouTube mostly. In one case I'm in contact with the previous editor. I may be able to get him to rerender his video in a beefier codec, so I don't loose as much quality on the re-render. Is it worth it to ask him to rerender in ProRes 444. Or is there a better codec/compression for doing something like this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzynormal Posted February 15, 2021 Share Posted February 15, 2021 I do this often for a corporate client. I think your answer lies outside of worrying about the technical. Simply ask them what their expectations are regarding deliverables. If needed, educate them about the reality of working with the lousy YT compressed video. Unless they really want to pay you to jump through all the hoops to re-gather all the source footage and make the cut as pristine possible (they may be willing to pay for it), I wouldn't do it. Use the footage they offer and make it happen with that. Moreover, to ask someone else to re-deliver footage unto you should also incur a fee that the client needs to cover. I mean, I wouldn't do that for another production completely gratis. Hope you're not expecting a colleague to do so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EphraimP Posted February 15, 2021 Author Share Posted February 15, 2021 41 minutes ago, fuzzynormal said: I do this often for a corporate client. I think your answer lies outside of worrying about the technical. Simply ask them what their expectations are regarding deliverables. If needed, educate them about the reality of working with the lousy YT compressed video. Unless they really want to pay you to jump through all the hoops to re-gather all the source footage and make the cut as pristine possible (they may be willing to pay for it), I wouldn't do it. Use the footage they offer and make it happen with that. Moreover, to ask someone else to re-deliver footage unto you should also incur a fee that the client needs to cover. I mean, I wouldn't do that for another production completely gratis. Hope you're not expecting a colleague to do so. Good points. I think you are right about getting over the technical details. I know what they think is acceptable is way below my personal standard, so I really shouldn't worry so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kye Posted February 16, 2021 Share Posted February 16, 2021 13 hours ago, EphraimP said: Good points. I think you are right about getting over the technical details. I know what they think is acceptable is way below my personal standard, so I really shouldn't worry so much. Something that comes to mind is their expectations about the colour grade. It's one thing to re-use compressed files, but if you have to change WB or levels significantly to be able to intercut footage from different finished pieces then the footage can fall apart pretty easily. If your edit isn't really jumping around between lots of differently sourced footage then it wouldn't be a problem, for example if each scene was from the same source, but if you're telling a non-linear story or something like that then it might get very crunchy very quickly, and then be something that is worse than their expectations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EphraimP Posted February 16, 2021 Author Share Posted February 16, 2021 11 minutes ago, kye said: Something that comes to mind is their expectations about the colour grade. Their expectations about the color grade, that's a good one. The more I think about it, the more I realize I'm beating myself up over nothing. This client is currently having me edit short videos sent in by authors and musicians on random phones and cameras in random resolutions (lots of 720p, even 960 X 540 or 568 x 320 for crying out loud, in a 1080 timeline). Some of the video landscape, some is portrait. Half is shot way too dark so the noise is insane. They don't notice, or don't seem to care. Their pain threshold for video quality is really high. Mine isn't. That's why I was worrying. I shouldn't. I'm not going to really mess with WB or levels too much with this one. It should be fine. kye 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tupp Posted February 16, 2021 Share Posted February 16, 2021 It might help to insert a "footnote" within the frame identifying the source of the footage. For instance, while the third-party footage runs, "Source: PewDiePie/YouTube.com" appears in the lower right corner of the frame. That way, the viewer realizes that the quality of the footage comes from the original source -- not you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EphraimP Posted February 16, 2021 Author Share Posted February 16, 2021 1 hour ago, tupp said: It might help to insert a "footnote" within the frame identifying the source of the footage. For instance, while the third-party footage runs, "Source: PewDiePie/YouTube.com" appears in the lower right corner of the frame. That way, the viewer realizes that the quality of the footage comes from the original source -- not you. That's a very good idea. I'll have to talk to the client about whether this works for the project, but it would solve the problem and help bring context to some of the pieces we're going to use. tupp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kye Posted February 17, 2021 Share Posted February 17, 2021 19 hours ago, EphraimP said: Their expectations about the color grade, that's a good one. I'm here all week - tell your friends! EphraimP 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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