Sift Workflow

  1. Sifting Breakdown

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.

Below are our 2 most popular packages. There is also a chart and samples on our videos tab.

Deliverables may include:

  • Cutdowns / Home Videos

    • 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 lead editor takes the project from the sifter, 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 music. If needed, we can then review previous earlier editions of a sequence and find a less desirable clip that still fits a space in a final edit.

  • String Out

    • 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

    • Example Title: 1.z SEQUENCE NAME - OT

    • Duplicate SO, delete unusable footage, and rename sequence

    • This sequence is pretty much done right away

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

    • Remove…

      • Most detail shots

      • Most clips without audio

    • Go back to SO, duplicate, and create cutdown

  • Cutdown

    • Duplicate SO, delete unusable footage, and rename sequence

    • Example Title: 1.C SEQUENCE NAME - CD

    • 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”

    • Once complete with this phase, the cutdown 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

  • Selects

    • 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

    • Then I’ll 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

    • 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 Process

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

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

  2. Sync multicam 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 and 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

  3. 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 CD

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

      • You can use actual quotes or subject abbreviations

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

    • Delete most disabled clips, 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

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

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

    2. 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

  6. 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


Sample Project Screenshots

General Assembly View:

Timeline Breakdown:

One note, #. Moment - Scraps are clips that were usable but didn't fit the flow of that particular timeline's montage. Sometimes you just need one or a few clips to keep the highlight reel on beat with the energy of the song.

Outtakes / BTS:

Typically I reserve filing #. Moment - BTS / Outtakes into their BTS & Outtakes folders after completing the highlight reel and moving onto the outtakes. This way, those sequences are near those I am working on. In case I see a BTS clip I copy or cut (if unusable for client videos) / paste it into respective timelines.

Since completing this sample project we've also started doing

  • #. Moment - BTS - Photo

  • #. Moment - BTS - DJ

  • #. Moment - BTS - Video

  • etc.

2. Music and Color Correction

Music isn't necessary for sift phase montages though encouraged for playback reels. Sync & Replace background music from Camera Audio or Zoom with the original song for the ceremony and maybe the first dance video if included in package.

As per color correction, sometimes in the sifting phase I'll zero in on a particular clip to see if it is salvageable though generally I have 2 adjustment layers on each timeline.


  • The top adjustment layer may be a general lut, orange / teal is pretty universal, 15% intensity - depends on how the footage looks (optional)

  • Second adjustment layer would be a general color correction for the scene

    • I do this just so I'm not sifiting dark footage or poor white balance, etc

2nd adjustment layer's Lumetri:

Obviously these settings are unique to the footage though here’s a glimpse into general color workflow

Not expecting full color correction per clip - that'll be time consuming and may warrant local adjustments later anyway.

3. 1 Month Sift vs. 1 Week Preview

I personally go hard on the Social Media Minute since they're probably our most trafficked content.

Clients love a quick preview though the final Social Media Minute is typically delivered with the rest of the client videos since there tends to be a larger palette to pull from once the highlight reel, ceremony etc, are complete.

2 options for quick turnaround of 1 minute preview, pending if the sifter is feeling inspired or the complexity of transferring back and forth

  1. Sifter produces 1 min preview which I'll likely revamp or redo later

  2. Sifter makes general progress within a week, sends project file back to me and pauses on the project

    • I'll produce the one minute cut and wind up expanding on sift progress, send client their preview and send the evolved project file back to Sifter

      • Ideally Sifter brings playback reels near completion

        • Definitely don’t need much progress on toasts and ceremony prior to 1 minute preview

        • toasts and ceremony for sure, sometimes additional pending coverage / client agreement

          • Ex; grand entrance, cake cutting, special dances, bouquet, etc

I've included an example of a preview sent to the client in early stages vs. the final social media minute delivered upon completion of all edits. Referenced in #5 Project Samples.

4. DaVinci Preferred, Premiere Welcome

If interested in DaVinci I will say it's become my preference over premiere. The interface is smoother, load times are faster, and the color options are endless.

There is a free version of Resolve which can export projects for the $300~ studio version (one time payment, unlike adobe) to use. Also sifting isn't limited by the free version, just some of the functions for finishing touches.

That said, up until a few months ago I used Premiere exclusively for 10-15 years. Either is welcome.

5. Samples

Various exports from the sample project referenced are available for review at this Dropbox link.

Dropbox Folders Explained

  • 1. Sift Samples

    • Within this folder you'll find a few timeline exports - the montages similar to what Sifters produce

      • Generally Colored (timeline adjustment layers as mentioned in #2, no local adjustments)

      • Transitions Optional

        • There may be a few transitions if inspiration hits but not required since things will change as montages are dragged into the highlight reel timeline

    • Included Final Cocktail Merge (0. Cocktail), as well as the 3 sub-timelines that went into it

      • Compilation of 0. Cocktail not expected though welcomed, shared for insight into next level workflow

      • “Portraits, Cocktail OG, & Pizza” are similar to what Sifters generally produce

    • Included 12. Dancefloor exported from the Dancefloor timeline prior to splicing into the highlight reel

      • I probably spent a full day narrowing down a ton of dancefloor footage while listening to music on my own just to vibe it out (not cutting to a beat)

      • I created some general speed ramps and used footage as light leaks (bistro lights, etc.)

      • I don't expect Sifter montages to be this evolved.

        • shared for insight as to what level Sifter can produce

        • or what Editor will wind up doing when reviewing montages

      • From this phase I'd cut 12. Dancefloor with other timelines from this portion of the night (photobooth, bouquet, etc) just as I did with “Cocktail, Pizza, and Portraits”

  • 2. Deliverables (this is the exact folder we sent to the client)

    • Home Videos were a freebie

  • 3. Preview vs. Social Media Minute

    • Preview

      • Rough color

      • Mostly hard cuts - few cross dissolves, no light leaks.

      • Seldom audio

    • Social Media Minute

      • Final color (copied from highlight reel)

      • Audio snippets (vows, etc)

      • Light leaks, overlays, etc

      • Titles

  • 4. Sample Project Files (pending)

    • Rights of Use contract required prior to access

Thanks! Let me know if you have any questions.
-David