Sifting in DaVinci Resolve

We are not looking for full final edits but sifted timelines / edited sequences from each portion of the day (montages). From these montages the next editor will have the best clips sifted so that they can get creative with the non-linear highlight reel.

Deliverables may include:

  • Cutdowns / Home Videos / Outtakes

    • All usable footage

      • This may include MultiCams or without, allows the client to watch all the footage chronologically

    • This is one of the first steps in editing anyway so we take a little extra time and clean this up so that a client may enjoy

  • 1 Minute Montage - Short highlight reel

  • Full Highlight reel - 5-15 minutes, pending package booked

  • MultiCams

    • Base package includes:

      • Ceremony

      • Toasts

    • Add on’s

      • Grand Entrance

      • Cake Cutting

      • Special Dances

      • Anything else filmed from multiple angles

Culling Process

Why?

All of our projects are archived in a RAID set up.

Occasionally we revisit past projects to create compilations for promo materials.

When we review projects a year from now or when the project is passed to the lead editor, they will be able to trace the breadcrumbs back and review previous edits.

Sometimes in the final stage of editing we just need one more clip to tie a scene together with the length of the music. If needed, we can then review earlier editions of a sequence & find a less desirable clip that still fits a space in a final edit.


FULL DESCRIPTION BELOW BUT FIRST, SOME screenshots:

Example 1

Screenshots of a short Bride & Groom portrait sequence.
The editor didn’t create a BLD montage since they only needed a few clips to splice into other BLDs already created

Example 2

Screenshot from a section of the dancefloor.
DJ’s recorded audio was synced with clips in the SO.
A BLD was created & then merged with other BLDs to create the nonlinear highlight reel.

  • String Out (SO)

    • Example Title: 1.D SEQUENCE NAME - SO

    • Drag & drop all footage from a particular portion of the day (from all cameras) into this sequence to start

    • Begin scrubbing:

      • Cut & disable any unusable footage, move disabled clips to bottom video track

      • Add markers to describe different sections

        • ex; bride puts on dress or bride with bridsmaids, etc

      • If you see great clips while scrubbing, cut them & lift them to a higher video track.

        • As you go through, a video track hierarchy will be created.

        • Once complete combing through once or twice you may duplicate the Sequence and delete the bottom channel of unusable footage.




  • Outtakes (OT)

    • Duplicate SO & rename sequence

      • Example Title: 1.z SEQUENCE NAME - OT

    • Remove…

      • Most detail shots

      • Most clips without audio

      • Anything that is purely Behind the Scenes (BTS) of our Vendors from client’s OT

        • Include BTS in Cutdown, see CD notes below

      • Further trim anything the client won’t want to see

        • If there are camera adjustments on clips capturing moments the client may enjoy, leave them in but keep on the bottom of the “video track hierarchy”

    • This sequence is pretty much done right away

      • All OT sequences can be compiled to create a Home Video

      • Once complete with this phase, the OT should be playable start to front without spaces.

      • We will copy all Sequence cutdowns into one chronological Sequence to deliver a “home video” to the client

    • Go back to SO, duplicate, and create cutdown…




  • Cutdown (CD)

    • Duplicate SO or OT, delete unusable footage, and rename sequence

      • Duplicate OT if nothing usable has been deleted otherwise start from SO again

      • Unusable footage from the OT may be usable for the client’s final edit

        • Clips without audio are fine for highlight reel

        • Some clips work well as slow-mo but not when played in real time

          • Might be too short for real time playback but 120 or 60 fps may be cool for highlight reel

        • Detail shots were too boring for OT but good for highlight reel

    • Example Title: 1.C SEQUENCE NAME - CD

      • Move anything that is purely BTS to a separate sequence

        • Example Title: 1.Y SEQUENCE NAME - BTS

    • Refine cuts and hierarchy further

      • Disable new portions of clips as the absolute best of each clip is narrowed down

        • Don’t delete till SLX (below)

      • Some moments are cool for playback in OT but aren’t cool enough for a highlight reel




  • Selects (SLX)

    • Duplicate CD, delete unusable footage, and rename sequence

    • Example Title: 1.B SEQUENCE NAME - SLX

    • You are welcome to add spaces between clips, mostly maintaining the chronological order unless there’s an obvious combination of clips that would work well together

    • Highlight all clips and apply slow motion to everything

      • 20% for 120 fps

      • 40% for 60 fps

      • 80% for 30 fps

    • Scrub through and refine the exact points each clip should start and end

    • Apply speed ramps to the best clips

      • Often Normal Speed > Slow > back to normal, though whatever makes sense for the motion of the clip

      • Exact speed ramps aren’t necessary, just key points for triggering speed can be enough for when the editor puts everything on beat with music and stretches clips to match the rhthym.




  • Build (BLD)

    • Duplicate SLX and rename sequence

    • Example Title: 1.A SEQUENCE NAME - BLD

    • This is the final edit phase for each sequence. Herein you’ll essentially create a video from all of the clips, rearranging the order of clips if need be to tell a story. Remaining / unused clips may be kept towards the end of the sequence

    • You may shorten clips to prepare transitions between matching clips

    • Once all is done, at the very least the editor could place all BLDs from each Sequence of the day in order and have a video. Realistically we will take portions of each BLD and place them over audio clips and “quotes” from toasts, ceremony, etc so that we may arrange clips and organize them based by the story they tell / the subject matter of the quotes used

Multicam (MC) Process

For MultiCams, instead of creating an OT or CD after SO, we create an MC. Here in we do most of the edits but may duplicate the sequence at times if were going to delete clips.

Adjustment layers were used for coloring, hence additional video tracks for each camera angle.

Adjustment layers move up and down on video tracks when the color changes in the adjustment layer. Highlight all adjustment layers on a track & copy/paste color correction if wishing to change the color to a batch of similarly exposed clips.

  • Place all camera angles & audio files on different tracks together in #.D SEQUENCE NAME - SO

  • Sync MC footage & audio

    • Pluralize is a great tool though DaVinci works pretty well with Auto Align Based on Waveform

    • Sometimes auto align it gets pretty close but not perfect, other times clips fail to align

      • If there’s music playing, you can find a snare drum in two clips & align them manually based on that

      • If no audio, two clips may show the same person doing a sharp motion (hand clap, etc) and you can align it visually

  • Clean Up SO (remove shaky footage, choose best angles)

    • Proceed angle by angle / track by track

      • Create Video Track Hierarchies for each angle, often 3 tracks tall sometimes more

      • Bottom track should be disabled - this is all the shaky / unusable footage - do not delete until MC

    • Add markers along the way to indicate what is being discussed in the ceremony or toasts, etc

      • You can use actual quotes or topic abbreviations

  • Duplicate SO & Rename as #.C SEQUENCE NAME - MC

    • Delete disabled clips of unquestionably unusable footage

    • Begin disabling clips to reveal the best combination of angles.

    • Keep unused clips disabled / do not delete - allow the lead editor the ability to adjust choices and apply split screens

    • Split screens?

      • Can leave it to the lead editor though sometimes its helpful to turn less desirable clips into a epic collage

      • If feeling ambitious, click the link below

  • Duplicate & Rename as #.C SEQUENCE NAME - CD

    • Everything beyond the MC can be a bit creative, if not feeling up to this task leave it to the lead editor

    • Herein we begin deleting any unexciting quotes, and isolating the best story telling clips

      • For ceremonies, will often splice his & her vows together so that they finish each other sentences

      • For toasts, will often find similar topics or stories told by multiple speakers and then splice them together in the SLX

  • Separate different topics and rename accordingly

    • Here we’ll typically start creating additional sequences per topic - this may be left to the lead editor

    • Ex; “How they met”

      • We’ll take quotes from multiple speakers talking about how they met

      • Then we’ll find B Roll from the First Look, Special Dances, Dancefloor, etc and splice it to cover edits between different quotes

    • Ex; “Bride or Groom”

      • Quotes about how awesome the bride or groom is, B Roll of the bride getting ready etc