Multi-camera editing workflow

Create a project

Click New Project from the Premiere Pro Welcome screen, or select File > New Project.

In the New Project dialog box, enter a name for the project, and click OK to accept the defaults.

Import footage

Select File > Import. In the Import dialog box that appears, navigate to the directory containing your video and audio files. Select the files to import, and click Open.

Create a multi-camera source sequence

Create a multi-camera target sequence

Right-click the source sequence in the bin and choose New Sequence From Clip to create your target sequence. In the target sequence, select the correct mix track type (stereo or multichannel) for your intended output format. Use stereo tracks for an all-stereo workflow and mono tracks for a multichannel workflow.

 Tip: If the existing timeline is empty, drop a multi-camera clip onto the timeline to change the sequence settings to match the multi-camera clip settings. This action retains the previously configured Audio Tracks and Mix Track.

It is not recommended to use the Sequence from Clip command or drag a multi-camera clip to the new sequence button in the Project panel. It creates a sequence with adaptive audio tracks which are typically used in advanced audio routing workflows.

Enable multi-camera editing in the Program Monitor

To enable the multi-camera target sequence for multi-camera editing, click the  icon, and choose Multi-camera from the pop-up menu in the Program Monitor. The Program Monitor is now in Multi-camera mode. 

In the Multi-camera mode, you can view the footage of all cameras simultaneously and switch between cameras to choose footage for the final sequence. 

Enable recording of multi-camera edits

Click the Multi-camera Record toggle button on. If the button is not visible in the button bar, click "+" in the lower-right corner of the Program Monitor to open the Button editor. Drag the Multi-camera Record button to the button bar.

Edit the multi-camera sequence

In the Program Monitor or Timeline panel, press the spacebar or click the Play-Stop toggle button to begin playback. While the sequence is playing, press the number key on the main keyboard to cut to the camera with that number. For more information about using keyboard shortcuts, see Keyboard shortcuts for multi-camera editing.

Adjust and refine edits

After you have recorded your multi-camera edit, you can do the following:

• Rerecord the final sequence and substitute clips with footage from one of the other cameras.
  
• Edit the multi-camera source sequence as you would any other sequence—using the standard editing tools and techniques, adding effects, compositing using multiple tracks, including adjustment layers.
  
• Change cameras after they have already been recorded.
• Cut to a new angle.

Export the multi-camera sequence

With the sequence active in the Program Monitor or Timeline panel, select File > Export > Media. Specify the export settings and click Export, or click Queue to send the sequence to Adobe Media Encoder for encoding. For more information, see Workflow and overview for exporting.

Mark clips for synchronization

Before creating a multi-camera source sequence, it is important to mark clips for synchronization. Open each clip and then do one of the following at the sync point:

• Mark an In Point at a sync point at the beginning of a clip. For example, mark an In point where the clapperboard (slate) is clapped at the head of a clip.
  
• Mark an Out point at a sync-point at the end of a clip. For example, mark an Out point where the clapperboard is clapped at the tail of a clip.
• Make a clip marker at a sync point at any point during a clip. For example, if there is action at any point during a clip that can be used as a sync-point, like an audio cue, cymbal crash, or a camera flash. Rename each marker so that they are identically named for synchronization. Type the same clip marker name for each clip in the Marker dialog box, and then click OK. (See Add markers in the Timeline.)
  

Timecode can also be used to synchronize clips, and it does so automatically. However, timecode must be identical on all clips for them to synchronize properly. If the timecode is identical on all the clips you plan to synchronize, you do not need to mark clips for synchronization. If you use the hours value in source timecode as a camera designator, select the Ignore Hours option. Premiere Pro then uses only minutes, seconds, and frames to synchronize clips.

To stamp identical timecode on all clips, record the cameras with jam-synced timecode on location, or modify the timecode for each clip in Premiere Pro. (See Set timecode manually for a clip.)

Multi-Camera Follows Nest Setting

With the sequence contextual menu option called Multi-Camera Follows Nest Setting, you can decide if the option to cut in sequences as nests or individual clips should be applied to Multi-Camera sources as they are cut into a sequence or if it should be ignored.

Manage Multi-cam thumbnails in the Project panel

You can control which camera angle is in the thumbnail in the Project panel. The default thumbnail for the Multi-cam thumbnail is the first camera angle.  

You can set keyboard shortcuts to set the camera angle in Premiere Pro. Use the "Select Camera #" keyboard shortcuts to switch your Multi-Cam thumbnail in the Project panel.

• In the keyboard shortcuts window, search for "Select Camera" to find and assign the shortcut to a key. For more information, see Keyboard shortcuts in Premiere Pro.
  
• Select Next Camera and Select Previous Camera shortcuts will also affect the Multi-Cam thumbnails in the Project panel.
• You can use these shortcuts on one or a selection of Multi-Cam clips.

To set camera angle using keyboard shortcuts:

Adjust poster frames

In Icon or Freeform View in the Project panel,  a clip’s thumbnail (also known as poster frame) defaults to the first frame.

To change the poster frame, select one or more clips and use keyboard shortcuts to move the poster frame ten frames forward or backward. 

To clear a poster frame, use the Clear Poster Frame keyboard shortcut, which works on single and multiple clip selections.

Organize and select camera angles to view in monitor's multi-camera mode

Premiere Pro lets you organize and select the angles to view in the Source Monitor's multi-camera mode.  

From the Source monitor's pop-up menu, select Edit Cameras.

In the Edit Cameras dialog box, all the clips are listed in the original order that they were arranged in the sequence tracks. You can drag-and-drop the clips to change the sequence order. You can also enable or disable the clips by selecting or deselecting them.

You can organize and select cameras in multicam view across multiple pages. You can set the number of camera sources per page and navigate between pages as needed. You cannot drag-and-drop cameras to different pages or within a single page. However, you can use the Edit Cameras dialog box to change the order of cameras in a multicam sequence and the pages reorders accordingly.

In the Program Monitor, you can browse through the multi-cam pages using the controls that are highlighted in the following image.

Import Multiclip sequences from Final Cut Pro

You can export a Multiclip project from Final Cut Pro, and import the Final Cut Pro project XML files into Premiere Pro. In Premiere Pro, the Multiclips sequences appear as multi-camera sequences with all the Final Cut Pro project settings intact. For more information about importing from Final Cut Pro, see Importing XML project files from Final Cut Pro 7 and Final Cut Pro X.