Understanding digital video metadata workflow

Efficiently track, search, and organize assets as they travel between Adobe Production Premium applications.

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Requirements

To complete the tasks demonstrated in this tutorial, you need the following software and files:

Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium

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Prerequisite knowledge

Intermediate knowledge of video production in Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium

Understanding the digital video metadata workflow

Metadata has been an important part of image workflows for some time. It allows valuable text information to be embedded in an image file. In this tutorial, you will learn to locate, search, sort and that text data in a variety of Adobe® applications.

The Metadata panel in OnLocation

Several Adobe Production Premium applications expand the use of XMP metadata in video files, making them searchable in ways not previously possible. Plenty of useful information is embedded in captured video and audio files automatically, both when you capture, and as you make changes. This feature can help you find source footage based on all kinds of criteria that were recorded by the camera, deck, or other device. You can even add your own information and customize how it is organized so that the criteria work for you. The final result is embedded directly in the file. The process of gathering metadata begins in Adobe OnLocation™, where video is logged. To access metadata in OnLocation, you open the Metadata panel.

To access the Metadata panel, connect your camera or deck to the computer. Start a new project in OnLocation and import your footage. Navigate to the Metadata panel to view the metadata embedded by the camera. If the Metadata panel is not open, choose Windows > Metadata.

Figure 1: Identifying metadata in OnLocation

Working with metadata in Adobe Premiere Pro

You can search and view metadata embedded in video files in other Adobe applications, such as Adobe Premiere® Pro. Adobe Premiere Pro project files can store metadata generated by Adobe’s speech recognition technology known as Speech Search. In the past, if you were looking for a particular word or phrase in an edit, you would have to play through the clips in real time. Speech Search makes the process of searching through audio much more efficient.

1. Open a project in Adobe Premiere Pro. If the Metadata panel is not open, choose Windows > Metadata.
2. Double-click to open a clip containing dialogue or voiceovers from the Project panel. The clip opens in a separate Source panel.
3. Click the Transcribe button in the Source panel. The Speech Transcription Options dialog box opens. This dialog box contains settings for language and quality.

   

   Figure 2: The Speech Transcript Options dialog box
4. Click OK. The clip is automatically added to the Adobe Media Encoder queue to be transcribed.

   

   Figure 3: Using the Adobe Media Encoder
5. To begin the transcription process, click Start Queue. Adobe Media Encoder creates a transcription of the audio track.
6. Return to Adobe Premiere Pro. The completed transcript appears in the Speech Transcript text box. Not only can you find relevant dialogue using the search text box, but the results are also time accurate.

   

   Figure 4: The Speech Transcript text box

Working with metadata in After Effects

You can also work with metadata in Adobe After Effects®. To use metadata:

1. Start a new project in After Effects. Import the sample file and choose File > New Comp From Selection to place it in a new composition. The composition contains a series of layer markers cued to the dialogue. You can use this feature to time animations and motion graphics or to export the composition.
2. Choose Composition > Make Movie to export the composition. When the Output Movie To dialog box opens, give the movie a new name and click Save. The Render Queue panel opens in After Effects.

   

   Figure 5: The Render Queue panel
3. Click the yellow text next to Output Module in the Render Queue panel at the bottom of the After Effects window. The Output Module Settings dialog box opens.
4. If you export to Adobe Flash®, you can use ActionScript to access the layer markers embedded in the XMP Source metadata to add animation or other effects to your project.

   Once the Output Module Settings dialog box opens, click Format and choose the Flash Video codec, FLV, from the menu. Click OK.

   

   Figure 6: The Output Module Settings dialog box
5. Back in the Output Module Settings dialog box, make sure Include Source XMP Metadata is selected. Click OK to close the dialog box.
6. Click the Render button in the Render Queue panel to start the Flash Video export.

   Note: In addition to the ability to export these dialogue markers to Flash, with embedded XMP metadata, search engines such as Yahoo and Google can search clips for the precise places where keywords are spoken. XMP metadata makes video more searchable and easier to edit thanks to the automated metadata features in Adobe Production Premium CS4.

Where to go from here

• Creative Suite CS4 Help and Support
• Learn CS4 Production Premium
• Working with metadata and keywords, by Chris Orwig
• Using the online library, by Liz Myers
• Converting metadata and markers to cue points, by Todd Perkins
• Lynda.com

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License

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