First big project with Premiere, Audition and Encore

[PTN]

I am starting my first my project using Premiere, Audition and Encore 1.5. I have done some editing before and am now familiar with the Premiere and Audition, but this is the time I will be taking a large project by the horns and making a DVD out of it. I have about 50 GBs of video (in avi format) that I am going to whittle down about 45 minutes of rough footage, add the usual sound and visual effects and then burn to DVD which will be seen in a half dozen schools in 3 different countries. Needless to say, I don't want to screw it up I have a few questions that I hope someone can answer and if anyone has any other important tips please let me know.

1. Audio: The source audio is 32000 hz 16 bit stereo which has been conformed to 32 bit floating. The sound effects I will put into the movie are in a variety of formats, sampling rates etc. Is there any benefit in batch converting my sound effects files to 32000 32 bit floating beforehand? I know it will have a postive effect on any sound editing I do in Audition, but my main concern is having everything in the same format to start with. The less that has to be converted the better in my book.

2. File/ Project location: Project files, titles etc are put in the Premiere folder automatically and I assume that is the best place for them. I have a 40 Gb ATA 100 system/application drive (75% percent full at the moment) and a 120 GB ATA 133 drive (60% full) for the video which also has the sound effect files. None of the drives will be getting any fuller during the project and I am going to clean them out as much as I can before starting. Are the files where they need to be?

3. Projects/Sequences: I have planned to edit the film in about 5 minute sequences which has worked well for me in the past and will keep things neater. When I am finished each project, I will encode it and I will about 8-10 5-minute files that I can easily make into chapters in Encore. Is this how you do it or is there an easier way?

All of the usual tweaks will be done (frequent defrags, tweaking services.msc etc) but if you have any tips particular to the Adobe products listed above I am all ears.

Thanks,
PTN

[Alan Mills]

3. Projects/Sequences: I have planned to edit the film in about 5 minute sequences which has worked well for me in the past and will keep things neater. When I am finished each project, I will encode it and I will about 8-10 5-minute files that I can easily make into chapters in Encore. Is this how you do it or is there an easier way?

This is not the way Encore works I'm afraid. In Encore you will not be able to piece together your segments into one timeline and make each one a chapter point. In Encore a single clip is a single timeline whcih will equate to a single track on your DVD. You can create multiple timelines and have them play one aftre the other but they will all be chapter one of different tracks.

create each segment as a different sequence in Premiero Pro. the nest the sequences into a new one. Export this and you will have a single segment with all your footage on it. building a menu to jusmp into part as a new chapter will them be easy.

[PTN]

If it's possible, I would prefer to do each segment as a different project, not a different sequence to keep a low number of items in the import list without having to organize everything into bins etc. I would render each separate project in avi. Then, in light of your advice, I would start a new "final" project and import all of the five minute long avi files into this project, put it all together and export as a 45 minute avi file and then build the DVD in Encore. The downside would be twice a many avi files as I need - each five minute file would be really be duplicated twice. If most people work in sequences and not in projects in a similar situation maybe I just quite haven't figured out the best way to organize how Premiere Pro looks (windows, bins etc) when I am editing.

Thanks,
PTN