To get to know Pro 8, I decided to jump in, feet first, and do some fairly ambitious testing. As I alluded to earlier, I recently finished working on a documentary about an orphanage in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, with some film students. It was a project I started on my own, and is actually how I first came to meet Jeremy Hanke. I had intended to shoot on a small scale (i.e. me and a consumer HD camera). Fortunately, however, I ended up with a crew of seniors from the School of Visual Arts in NY. The final shoot employed two Panasonic AG-HVX200 cameras, light kits and audio gear for a much more professional shoot, with some very talented filmmakers, who are going to submit the documentary as their thesis film. (As a note to other low budget filmmakers, never fail to look into schools with strong film programs, as they often have students who are willing to help you on films for thesis projects or for internships, and can often bring equipment with them in the bargain.)
Although the editing of the 30 minute “film school version” is taking place at Northern Lights in New York, I am scoring the film and I am working on short informational pieces to help secure financing for a new, longer edit and also to inspire people to support the orphanage. I said all that to say that I am dealing with all sorts of formats, from P2 footage from the HVXs cameras, to consumer AVCHD footage captured with my personal camera camera, to hundreds of digital and still photos, and, finally, to a variety of lower resultion videos shot at the orphanage over the years with various consumer cameras. VegasPro 8 has come through like a champ.
The new full screen option in Vegas Pro 8 allows you to see your film much more clearly.
Depths of Options
MFM Editor, Jeremy Hanke did an in-depth review last April of Vegas 7 +DVD. It is worth reading that review if this is your first Vegas product.
However, I am going to cover the newer features offered in VegasPro 8. Every new version of Vegas has added features that users have been asking for and this is no exception. Sony has included support for the AVCHD format, which they took part in developing. I own a Panasonic AVCHD camera and, because Vegas7 would only except AVCHD files generated in Sony Camcorders, had been using a couple of workarounds to convert the footage into something that Vegas7 would like, without losing quality. Now, with Pro 8, you just drag the files to the timeline and edit away. It is a very welcome addition. (The AVCHD format has been a thorn in many sides because it was introduced with no real way to edit. If Sony can continue adding support for other camera manufacturers besides Sony and Panasonic, that will obviously make Vegas increasingly attractive to the owners of those other cameras.) After the AVCHD clips are edited, you have the choice of any of the popular formats for your final project. You can also burn the edited footage to a Blu-Ray disc, BUT this is just for direct-play discs as it only utilizes the timeline. (So at the present, there is no way within the Vegas 8 Pro package to make a Blu-Ray disc with menus, etc.)
The ProType Titler will give your projects some sparkle. I made a snazzy little “Welcome to my Home Theater” intro to play before movies, when friends come over. It is a nerdy thing to do, I know, but I enjoyed myself. And it turned out great. The Titler offers almost too much customization, if that is even possible and, as such, allows for really impressive results. You get full control of zoom, movement, shadows and the like, through simple keyframe programming. Truth be told, with all that VegasPro 8 added, I think I had the most fun with the improved ProType Titler. The only downside was that I found myself playing around instead of working. It is definitely light years ahead of the titling features of earlier releases.
One thing that really makes the word "Pro" belong in VegasPro 8 is the Multicamera editing workflow. For those shots where more than one camera is employed, your editing is done much more quickly. You can display up to four video streams simultaneously of both SD and HD material. (On my older machine, Multicamera HD editing was not possible, but SD material worked superbly. If you have a faster processor, you will most likely not run into the issue I had with HD material.) While only four streams can be on screen at one time, a simple keyboard command will let the more ambitious among us switch between up to THIRTY TWO shots. I didn’t quite take advantage of that, but it is cool to know I could.
The enhanced ProType Titler gives you many more options for modifying and customizing the appearance and layout of your text.
I am really stoked with another new feature, as well: Full Screen Preview. If you only have a single monitor, you can switch to a full screen playback at any time. I have a dual monitor setup but I actually added a 42” Runco Plasma display as an option to my standard second monitor, so I can really preview full screen. It makes it much easier to see what you’ve done, but even on a 17” LCD monitor, it looks nice without any residual titlebars taking away from your production.
And, as an audio persion, my audio needs were met in this release, for sure. They gave us a virtual mixer, which is similar to a real world console. The workflow is more like Pro Tools now, with routing, automation and effects, all just a mouse click away. I have always relied on Pro Tools for audio editing, sound design, etc. I will still use it extensively, but VegasPro 8 is the first NLE that I have tried that would make me perfectly happy if I couldn't turn to my Pro Tools system. With the audio features present here you won’t feel like you are settling for or making do with something that is not quite good enough.
