Premiere Rush, a quick fix in a hurry

[Jorgen Udvang]

Sometimes, I am in a hurry to get material out, and most video editing software is by nature slow to work with, while the simple ones mostly lack versatility. Yesterday, we produced 90 minutes of footage that had to be consentrated down to 5 minutes before noon today, including colour corrections, branding etc.

I decided to learn Premiere Rush in a hurry, and finally, Adobe seems to have hit a good balance between simplicity and versatility. It still requires some resources to run (my 12" MacBook nearly caught fire during the attempt, or so it felt, so had to use the Pro), and final rendering took 15 minutes for 5 minutes of 1080P. But all the tools needed for a simple job were there, including individual colour corrections per clip, layers etc.

Here's a great tutorial that got me started (forget about the tutorial that comes in the program itself, it's useless):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVBdZegMIpM

Edit:
Another nice feature, one that I haven't tried yet, is that the whol "Rush" project can be opened in Premiere Pro for more advance editing later.

 

[iiiNelson]

Sometimes, I am in a hurry to get material out, and most video editing software is by nature slow to work with, while the simple ones mostly lack versatility. Yesterday, we produced 90 minutes of footage that had to be consentrated down to 5 minutes before noon today, including colour corrections, branding etc.

I decided to learn Premiere Rush in a hurry, and finally, Adobe seems to have hit a good balance between simplicity and versatility. It still requires some resources to run (my 12" MacBook nearly caught fire during the attempt, or so it felt, so had to use the Pro), and final rendering took 15 minutes for 5 minutes of 1080P. But all the tools needed for a simple job were there, including individual colour corrections per clip, layers etc.

Here's a great tutorial that got me started (forget about the tutorial that comes in the program itself, it's useless):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVBdZegMIpM

Edit:
Another nice feature, one that I haven't tried yet, is that the whol "Rush" project can be opened in Premiere Pro for more advance editing later.

Would iMovie work for you in this case?

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

Would iMovie work for you in this case?

I have only tried iMovie briefly, and didn't like the user interface. Premiere Rush was very easy to learn (10 minutes) while still offering many advanced options, and again, the possibility to import the project to Premiere Pro. My preference may be tainted by the fact that I have used Premiere Pro off and on for a number of years.

With all that said, I consider switching to DaVinci Resolve, partly because it's free and partly because it runs faster on computers with smaller processors as long as the graphics card is fast/has sufficient RAM and there's enough RAM on the computer in total.

 

[iiiNelson]

I have only tried iMovie briefly, and didn't like the user interface. Premiere Rush was very easy to learn (10 minutes) while still offering many advanced options, and again, the possibility to import the project to Premiere Pro. My preference may be tainted by the fact that I have used Premiere Pro off and on for a number of years.

With all that said, I consider switching to DaVinci Resolve, partly because it's free and partly because it runs faster on computers with smaller processors as long as the graphics card is fast/has sufficient RAM and there's enough RAM on the computer in total.

Have you tried Resolve 16 yet? If not you should. I've been using it more steadily over the last month (did about 3 or 4 video projects with it) and I think it's going to be my main NLE. The only thing it does not have is ProRES RAW support which is something of an issue as more camera makers seem to be adopting it as a standard fast than BRAW. The best thing about it is that you don't need to round trip projects to other pieces of software. BMD took a "Lightroom" style module approach in that everything is done there from color corrections, visual effects, cut/edits, sound design, compression/exports, etc. The nodes take a little getting used to but they make a lot of sense once you understand them and how to work with them a little bit. Essentially they're just flow charts of effects. I have FCPX still as well and I like it but the layout is a little weird to me and I don't find the color correction to be as intuitive as Davinci Resolve. I have the Studio version of Davinci that my cousin gave me because he recently bought a BMPCC6K to add to his BMPCC4K. I'd say it's worth the $300 if you have a high-end rig and want to utilize multiple graphics cards... or if you want to edit/deliver in resolutions higher than UHD (which isn't most users) but other than that I'd stick with the free version.

If Davinci Resolve isn't updated to support ProRES RAW, I would also love to see Atomos (I also recently got a Ninja V while Atomos was doing their $200 off sale and is easily one of the best purchases I made in a long time for video) start to support BRAW in their recorders too as an option because I don't want to have to buy a different external recorder for BRAW cameras (I've been considering the Sigma fp) and another for ProRES RAW. For now I just shoot most everything in ProRES 422 but Avid DNx is an option too. Unfortunately Blackmagic Design and Atomos seem to have something of an ongoing feud which also sucks because I like that I can use readily available SSD's with an Atomos recorder instead of the SD/SDXC cards that BMD uses in their recorders. The cost per GB isn't really close either. I've bought or received five 1TB SSD's over the last month at a cost of $115-130 each (between Samsung, SanDisk, and WD Blue brands) for higher end SSD's where comparable capacity (without the same speed) in a SDXC would cost $250-400 each.

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

Have you tried Resolve 16 yet? If not you should. I've been using it more steadily over the last month (did about 3 or 4 video projects with it) and I think it's going to be my main NLE. The only thing it does not have is ProRES RAW support which is something of an issue as more camera makers seem to be adopting it as a standard fast than BRAW. The best thing about it is that you don't need to round trip projects to other pieces of software. BMD took a "Lightroom" style module approach in that everything is done there from color corrections, visual effects, cut/edits, sound design, compression/exports, etc. The nodes take a little getting used to but they make a lot of sense once you understand them and how to work with them a little bit. Essentially they're just flow charts of effects. I have FCPX still as well and I like it but the layout is a little weird to me and I don't find the color correction to be as intuitive as Davinci Resolve. I have the Studio version of Davinci that my cousin gave me because he recently bought a BMPCC6K to add to his BMPCC4K. I'd say it's worth the $300 if you have a high-end rig and want to utilize multiple graphics cards... or if you want to edit/deliver in resolutions higher than UHD (which isn't most users) but other than that I'd stick with the free version.

If Davinci Resolve isn't updated to support ProRES RAW, I would also love to see Atomos (I also recently got a Ninja V while Atomos was doing their $200 off sale and is easily one of the best purchases I made in a long time for video) start to support BRAW in their recorders too as an option because I don't want to have to buy a different external recorder for BRAW cameras (I've been considering the Sigma fp) and another for ProRES RAW. For now I just shoot most everything in ProRES 422 but Avid DNx is an option too. Unfortunately Blackmagic Design and Atomos seem to have something of an ongoing feud which also sucks because I like that I can use readily available SSD's with an Atomos recorder instead of the SD/SDXC cards that BMD uses in their recorders. The cost per GB isn't really close either. I've bought or received five 1TB SSD's over the last month at a cost of $115-130 each (between Samsung, SanDisk, and WD Blue brands) for higher end SSD's where comparable capacity (without the same speed) in a SDXC would cost $250-400 each.

I have been using the previous version of DaVinci (15?) off and on for a while. I have now downloaded the latest (16...?), but my MBP 15" is very sick, and I need to do a couple of upgrades on my old (4,1) Mac Pro to make it run. New GPU has been bought and a later version of Mac OS downloaded, so it's on the to-do list for next weekend.

I have actually given up on Premiere Rush. While it's very fast to work with, one has no control over linked files and projects can't be moved between computers. In theory, it should be possible to open the project in Premiere Pro and continue working there, but so far I have only seen error messages when trying.

 

[iiiNelson]

I have been using the previous version of DaVinci (15?) off and on for a while. I have now downloaded the latest (16...?), but my MBP 15" is very sick, and I need to do a couple of upgrades on my old (4,1) Mac Pro to make it run. New GPU has been bought and a later version of Mac OS downloaded, so it's on the to-do list for next weekend.

I have actually given up on Premiere Rush. While it's very fast to work with, one has no control over linked files and projects can't be moved between computers. In theory, it should be possible to open the project in Premiere Pro and continue working there, but so far I have only seen error messages when trying.

Gotcha. Good luck with the upgrades.

I feel like the addition of the Cut Module and the general user experience upgrades make Resolve 16 possibly the most user friendly of the Pro NLE's to get into. I feel like they bridged the gap between Premiere users and FCPX users with Resolve 16. There's the FCPX like experience of the Cut Module that allows you to cut quickly through your clips and it also has "magnetic timeline" like features when you want them. The Edit Module generally works more like Premiere. Fusion Module is like having After Effects/Motion built in. Fairlight Module is like having Logic/Audition built in. Color Module is like Lumetri on steroids.

Personally, I'm beginning to love Davinci mostly because it provides flexibility in how I want to work for different jobs. For instance I used the Cut Module for a short family video I made for my sister's baby shower. I used Edit Module for a video I made for my website. I used both modules for documenting a video for my wife and myself that was longer form. On all the projects I did a quick clean up of all audio and a light adjustment to color before exporting to a format of my choice. That's the beauty... there's no wrong way and any edits done in one module automatically builds and applies across all modules. Now you can realistically do all of this in the other programs but most of them require the purchase of additional software to do to the same level. Premiere likely has the most support by far. There's a lot of support for FCPX because many stayed with it in an Apple ecosystem or for those that don't want a subscription. Davinci was always " the color program" tool but now it's a fully featured NLE IMO for most types of shooters.

 

[iiiNelson]

I actually found this video to be pretty helpful for an overview that goes over the different features in Resolve 16. He covers many of the common tools that can be used

https://youtu.be/gCyczNNk0J8

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

There are several good reason for using DaVinci, and you mention many. Let me add four that are important to me:

- They make it easy to make quick edits and advanced edit using the same application.
- Premiere Pro's user interface is too complicated, and in typical Adobe style, it keeps changing.
- After the fiasco with Aperture, I don't want to spend time learning FCPX, risking that the software is discontinued next week because the bean counters at Apple said so.
- Blackmagic seems to be an unpretentious bunch of people developing some very cool technology. I'm very happy to support their efforts, even though for now, I use the free version of DVR.

 

[iiiNelson]

There are several good reason for using DaVinci, and you mention many. Let me add four that are important to me:

- They make it easy to make quick edits and advanced edit using the same application.
- Premiere Pro's user interface is too complicated, and in typical Adobe style, it keeps changing.
- After the fiasco with Aperture, I don't want to spend time learning FCPX, risking that the software is discontinued next week because the bean counters at Apple said so.
- Blackmagic seems to be an unpretentious bunch of people developing some very cool technology. I'm very happy to support their efforts, even though for now, I use the free version of DVR.

With FCPX, if it’s not dead by now I don’t see it really dying... but I can see a future where Apple buys Lumaforge and merges LumaFusion with FCPX prior to everything being on ARM. Aperture dying was as much about a conversion to the everything needing to be rebuilt on Metal architecture and being Cloud based as it was a transitional time for Apple after Steve Jobs. I also assume Apple was aware of the percentage of Aperture users compared to Adobe and iPhoto users. It was a “skunk works” style project that Apple green lit to do so that they could flex but after years of no updates... Lightroom 4/5 had surpassed it in many ways... but I understand the sentiment. I liked Aperture too but it got to be to the point whereI stopped waiting on an update... ther’s too much riding on FCPX for video in big budget studios... especially with how much people rely on ProRES based codecs as something of a “standard.” I also understand not anting to jump all in too with it. I can see a world where FCPX and LumaFusion are merged (If Apple bought them out) and at that point you’d pretty much have Davinci Resolve.

Really the only issue I see with Davinci Resolve is that as a company the team over there has made many enemies with some major players. As a company they also are having a hard time breaking into the industry where ARRI, RED, Canon, Sony, Panasonic, and a few smaller players have a tight grip. As an NLE, it’s a great piece of software that doesn’t quite function with all of the most popular emerging codecs... and there’s no hope in sight that they will. Also they seem to rub several people the wrong way... in a way that you don’t hear other companies speak of each other in. Obviously I don’t understand the whole alleged history but you see how it affects their ability to do certain business as a company whether its codec support or the ability to break into certain niches on the business side of things. It’s a shame because they make some really interesting products on the hardware and software side... but it seems like a lot of manufacturers in the industry have a tense relationship.

 

[Goldfinger]

Have you ever used Camerabag... that's very fast and easy for photo and video...

Web

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

Have you ever used Camerabag... that's very fast and easy for photo and video...

Web

Thanks. Looks interesting. I might give it a try.

I've had another disaster with Rush:
Since I had one project edited in Rush, I had no other choice than continue with that project on the same platform. By enabling cloud, I could also edit on different computers. However... after one day of editing in the office (and luckily generating a file for uploading to YouTube), I was going to add some final touches on my home computer in the evening. For some reason, when I opened the project at home, the older version on that computer took priority and wrote over the cloud version. Nope, I was not able to reverse the process the next day in the office.

I'm not going to investigate. Enough time wasted on Rush. Time to move on.

My CC subscription is expiring towards the end of this month. I will probably try alternative photo and video editing tools for the time being. The Adobe pricing is absurd, and they've added another "feature": While earlier, it was possible to use the software for a while (a few days?) without an internet connection, that is apparently not any longer possible. I live and travel in a part of the world where internet connection is not always available, or the quality of the connection is not good enough. I had that problem during Christmas for several hours, and that is not something that I want to live with.

 

[Goldfinger]

Thanks. Looks interesting. I might give it a try.

Another very fast possibility for Video is Wondershare Filmora ... you can also try it first.

Web