Should I use Avid or Premiere (or Resolve)

As a professional editor of over 15 years, the most common technical question I hear from serious beginners is what software should I use for editing.  Now as of recent people have been starting to talk about DaVinci Resolve a lot more.  I use DaVinci Resolve all the time, but more for coloring, but it does seem like a promising software to learn for the future, especially because they have a free version, which always bring in more users, hence clients becoming more used to the program.  But I don’t use Resolve yet as I don’t think the shortcuts and organization fit editing quite as well as the two dominant editing systems in the industry right now: Adobe Premiere and Avid Media Composer.

Author Justin Joseph Hall in 2013

This is about the strengths of each of these applications, in my opinion, and when I would choose to use one or the other.

Top 4 features in Adobe Premiere

1. Modern simple workflow  that is customizable and accessible.  You can use almost whatever codec, timecode, and type of video file you have and just start editing.  There are some limitations, but overall it is much more flexible and you can decide to make proxies or not.  It adapts to your workflow and allows you to adapt to the system you’re working on and the footage that you have.

2. The Adobe Suite integration is amazing.  There is no other company that does so many visuals as well as Adobe does.  Photoshop is the industry standard.  It is what everyone has used for years for still images.  It’s what Avid Media Composer is to video, but it has even more of a hold on the industry due to its flexibility and ease of use.  Same thing with After Effects and simple motion graphics.  It’s included in the suite and you can do so much in the program.  On top of that there are other great programs and all of this comes at the same price as Avid Media Composer.

3. The ease of editing still photos and simple motion graphics in Premiere is much more flexible and intuitive than the very old system of add ons and nesting that Avid Media Composer makes you do.  It took the ideas of Final Cut Pro 7 and took them to the next level when Apple went a different direction with their video editing program.

Exports are also much easier with a separate program Encoder, and the easily editable outputs.  It’s much simpler than Avid’s confusing export console where exports really tie up your whole system and it’s very slow at encoding.  Even when I work in Avid I usually create a quick export (maybe even a reference export where there is no render made) and then re-encode in Encoder.  

Encoder leaves out options in lieu of simplicity which can really be frustrating at times.  For example Avid does make different color spaces much easier to navigate, but timecode and resolution differences are simple and as straight forward as typing in the values you want in Premiere.

4. Finally the process of reconnecting and managing media is much easier in Premiere.  It’s the main reason why you want to edit there.  Not only can it handle any codec in the timeline naturally (although making proxies is still recommended no matter how powerful of a computer you’re using).  But you have the option to cut natively and it’s easy to connect and reconnect footage.  I should mention Resolve is even better at reconnecting footage as it’s almost automatic, but Premiere is modern and intuitive while Avid’s system is outdated, protective and it erases most of your original file names and folder structure which makes it difficult to figure out things for yourself in finder, which is a hell of a pain.

Because of this ease, Premiere doesn’t require a technical person on the project like Avid does.  This can save money.  You need someone experienced in Avid to run the technical aspects of the system, Premiere is much more quickly accessible and a quicker gateway into creating something in Post without studying too much about very technical facets of moviemaking.

Top 4 Features in Avid Media Composer

1. Avid has all the bells and whistles you can imagine needing for the job.  Although Avid can feel slower, it is more thoughtful and the tools in the end, as you learn them make you work faster, so you can get your ideas from your head to the timeline in the least amount of time.  It’s customizable and is the standard in editing because it seems they thought of everything.  I hear of editors all the time that learn of a new Avid tool after working for 15-20 years.  It does really seem like they listen to editors and are inclusive with ideas, never throwing away old ones, just adding to the toolbox you can use.

2. Markers and script synch are a godsend to anyone who uses them in their workflow.  Organizing scripts, and written information about footage is so easy to manage, export outside of Avid and compile different visual ways of looking at your footage.  First off for anyone who does paper cuts (which I really don’t love, but it’s a common workflow), Script Sync makes it so easy for anyone to quickly find footage from a transcript.  It uses technology to click on the word and it’ll bring you directly to the audio in the video.

On top of that, the marker system is easily editable, color coded and easily navigated in many ways.  You can export markers and send them to Producers, or use them internally using Avid’s search engine to create databases that you can bring elsewhere or search right within Avid.  When you’re making a program with hundreds of hours of footage, this capability can vastly, vastly improve your show as if you prepare properly and are organized, when it comes crunch time at the end of a project (as it always does), you can fix small problems in 15 minutes from your database, versus taking a day to find a phrase, or a specific B-ROLL shot.

On top of that because it’s so easy to edit, the markers are able to be used as a visual indicator on the timeline  You can visually show where interesting sections of the footage are, or color code by person or place to visually see in the timeline different information.  This does take time to prepare, but it’s so excellent and isnt’ as frustrating as Premiere’s uncomfortable marker panel.

3. Avid’s system seems to be everlasting.  Jon Alpert who I’ve worked with, made two movies that spanned about 30 years on and off in the edit room, and the Avid projects could always be recovered because they use the same system as back when Avid started.  The project files still open many versions later.  Editors once they learn Avid will always feel comfortable there. 

4. The main reason Avid is the best is because no matter how large the project gets, it’s still usable and still possible to keep together in one project or a smaller set of projects.  This is because Avid uses bins that hold some of the project’s information, but doesn’t tax the computer with opening the entire project’s information at all times.  Only when you have certain bins open are you reading the information and taxing your computer’s memory with that information.  This makes it feel like your always just working on a small bit of the project and makes everything manageable.

If you do happen to use multiple projects, you can easily transfer bins between projects as long as the media is available wherever  you’re bringing it.  This means Avid is so easy to use with a server on huge television projects, or series of any kind.  If you have full teams working together on complicated archival or cutting multiple shows at the same time, Avid is a no-brainer.  Premiere is a sports car meant for one or two people, whereas Avid is like a vehicle where you can always add an extra seat for anyone you want at a standard predictable costs of a computer and a license.

In the end, both systems have carved clear spaces for themselves in the industry.  Premiere on projects under 20 minutes, for speed of use, exporting ease, and ability to work in the Adobe Suite.  For commercial projects it’s just so much more simple when you’re exporting a lot and switching shoots and footage often enough that you just want to quickly edit, send a project away on a drive and be ready to work for an individual person who can execute in Post-Production.

Avid, I’d use for projects over 15 minutes where organization of the footage content matters most.  Where you expect to spend a lot of time with footage to mold it into perfection and likely are working in a larger team.  Especially projects that will last longer than two or three months.  It’s so worth it.

As a final note, DaVinci Resolve again, doesn’t beat either of these projects when editing, but it’s getting there to compete with Premiere.  Because it’s an industry standard in color correction and media management, the ease of using DaVinci Resolve can speed up finishing especially if you have an editor color the footage.  It takes out a variable of switching software one less time which is great.  It’s just not as comfortable in managing screen space for editing as it is organized for finishing and not for sifting through lots of clips.  So it definitely is not on the way of replacing Avid, but look out Premiere.  Work in here if you want to future-proof your workflow or add a skill to your résumé.

If you have any other questions about Post-Production, please contact me at justin.joseph.hall@fourwindfilms.com

Writer’s biography

Justin Joseph Hall has held positions as Editor for networks such as HBO, NBCUniversal, and PBS.  At Downtown Community Television he helped pitch and develop the show Axios (2018-2021), the Emmy-winning documentary series.  Abuela’s Luck (2018) was picked up by all HBO’s streaming platforms and slated to be adapted into a full-length feature movie.   His mastery of post-production and the visual arts has awarded him opportunities to work with Major League Baseball, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, National Geographic, Discovery, and BMW, to name a few.

Advice for Filming a Documentary in Cuba as a Foreigner

By Piper Werle

This article is based on an interview with Emily Feng. Answers have been edited for clarity.  

A young male ballet dancer in Havana divulges his passion for the art form in a culture known for fostering machismo. A successful Chinese restaurateur who fell in love with a Cuban man gives insight into her daily life.

Film still of Carlitos taking a private ballet lesson in Havana, Cuba. Photo courtesy of Emily Feng.

These are the subjects of documentary filmmaker Emily Feng’s two short docs: Carlitos and Tao Qi, named after the dancer and the restaurant owner, respectively. A couple of years ago, Emily took the NYU course: Documentary Video Production in Havana, Cuba. The course website is enticing: “From rhumba and salsa, Revolution-era art and literature to the recent opening of American influence, Havana is a landscape that is overflowing with possibilities for documentary storytelling — and it’s yours to discover.” The U.S. and Cuba have a fraught history, yet since Obama eased travel restrictions, more and more people from the U.S. are visiting the Caribbean island. 

This is not an article about how to determine your eligibility to film in Cuba. Rather Emily shares her experiences and biggest takeaways for anyone who can benefit from a first-hand perspective. 

The poster for Tao Qi, courtesy of Emily Feng.

Censorship and Checking Your Privilege

“Be aware of censorship, permits, your privilege, and your Western point of view. It’s really important to have an open mind and don’t let any past prejudices or judgments hinder you from telling the story that's true to their world,” Emily advises. All of the students in her program had to write up film treatments prior to travel and get them approved. On that, Emily shares:

“Anything related to the government, U.S.-Cuba relations, or anything political was kind of —  I guess the program also wants to be careful because it wants to maintain its relationship with Cuba. So they have to be super careful about the films we’re producing there.”

Fourwind Films actually considered filming in Cuba for the documentary Frames of Reference, but director Justin Joseph Hall was advised by Jon Alpert, director of Cuba and the Cameraman, not to bother. Frames of Reference examines the successes and failures of education systems around the world by talking to people directly impacted by them, and getting access to educational systems in Cuba was not predictable due to budgetary concerns. Justin ended up shooting in Colombia instead.

Having a Translator or Local Guide

Emily is not a Spanish speaker and was able to secure a local peer to help her conduct interviews and get around the city. Being with the NYU program gave her a special “in” to securing a translator she could trust and work with, though she emphasizes how friendly, open, and helpful the locals she encountered were, and how this friendliness reflects the wider culture: 

“In the first few days we got there we were roaming the streets trying to figure out where to go to find our subjects. And this lady saw that we were just a bunch of foreigners roaming around and came up to us and was like, ‘what are you doing here?’ We told her and she started naming all these ideas for us. She was like, ‘my husband’s brother works at this place, you could go talk about him, you could go interview him.’ Or like, ‘my friend’s friend does this, you can go talk to her.’ Everyone was so helpful, and so much communication is word-of-mouth.” 

Emily’s guide, a Cuban student who had worked with the NYU students to make his own film, was also instrumental in helping Emily get around, as public transportation and even taxis can be difficult to navigate. If you need a translator, Emily has this advice, which works for any language: 

“One thing I learned was that to build a stronger connection with my subject, even though he couldn’t understand me and I couldn't understand him, we had to talk to each other. I had to ask my questions looking at him instead of looking at my translator. So that the relationship is between me and him and not my translator and him. In order to build a more intimate bond with my subject I needed to ask like this, even though it felt really weird.”

Film still of Carlitos with his ballet tutor. Courtesy of Emily Feng.

Finding People to Interview 

Though it depends on when you go, Emily had limited access to the internet, and it’s not something that you can count on working. This makes for a far less regimented process than one might have while making a documentary in the U.S., or another country where Internet access is more ubiquitous. Emily says:

“I had limited internet access and social media usage, so finding subjects solely stemmed from talking to locals and getting referral after referral. It was a fascinating experience to make documentaries without the usual technology we have like emailing back and forth and calendar invites. It was definitely more of ‘a show up and hope they remembered that you had scheduled an interview with them’ situation. I think the most important thing was finding subjects that I connected to in some way, even though our lives were so different.”

Emily knew before arriving that she wanted to make docs about a male ballet dancer and a Chinese restaurant owner. Once she got there, she just needed to do the work of finding subjects. While that search took a lot of work, having the specific intention helped her find Carlitos and Tao Qi. Tao Qi caught her attention immediately:
“I remember when I arrived at the restaurant (named “Tien Tan”) she was just sitting outside by herself smoking a cigarette, she just looked so badass. She was wearing all red and looked so powerful. Seeing a female restaurant owner really drew me to her, and I was really interested in what her immigrant experience was compared to mine. Growing up in the Western countries I didn’t really hear about Asians in other parts of the world.”

Film still of Tao Qi in her home. Courtesy of Emily Feng.

Research and Mindset

I asked Emily if she had any skills or mindsets that helped her:
“I think it requires a lot of openness. I find that sometimes it’s very easy for people to go to a non-Western country with their Western points of view, and I think that that is not beneficial to the truth of the storytelling that you want to portray. You have to understand where they’re coming from, what their culture is, what their background is, to really tell their story. And I think that you need to be really brave. I’m a pretty shy and introverted person, especially since I didn’t know Spanish that well, so it was difficult for me to go up to people and talk to them, but I learned that people are so nice there.” 

She also recommends learning some Spanish if you don’t speak it in order to build stronger relationships with locals and doing research, including watching other films set in Cuba. Her class found Cuba and the Cameraman by Jon Alpert (who is a guest on one of Fourwind Film’s Feature & a short episodes) especially helpful. If you’ve seen Jon’s impressive documentary, which is currently streaming on Netflix, it only affirms all of what Emily shares. 

Emily Feng’s documentaries are making the film festival circuit! You can learn more about Carlitos here and Tao Qi here.

Emily Feng, director of Carlitos and Tao Qi.

About the filmmaker: Emily Feng is a writer, director, and editor based in New York City. She has worked on music videos, narratives, brand campaigns, and documentaries. Most notably, her documentaries shot in Havana, Cuba have been selected at Best Shorts Competition, PopDoc Awards, Asian Film Festival Los Angeles Hollywood, and Seattle Asian American Film Festival. She is currently working on writing her first feature film as well as working as a videographer and video editor for The Chelsea Music Festival in NYC. She aims to make space in the industry for stories of underrepresented voices and to connect people, despite our differences, through our shared humanity and emotions. 

If there are other questions you want to be answered in a blog post, let us know at info@fourwindfilms.com or visit our website at www.fourwindfilms.com. Also, we work with a large, diverse community of crew and artists working in most aspects of the filmmaking process and are always happy to help make connections. And we are always building our community! Send us your work for review or feedback.

6 GOTV Videos That Actually Work

by Piper Werle

Any U.S. voter spending time on the internet has noticed a huge influx in ‘get out the vote’ (GOTV) videos. My full-time job is curating social media content, and GOTV material has made up the majority of posts for the past two months. The sheer amount of people working to encourage and educate voters leading up to what may be the most important election of our lifetimes has made me a little numb, but these six videos took unique and effective approaches in a saturated market.

My fascination with the GOTV video is two-fold:

As evidenced by the 100 million people who didn’t vote in 2016, motivating people to vote is hard to do. This isn’t surprising given the barriers to voting that many may face in a process that should be simple and accessible to all, as well as the fatigue and disillusionment a lot of folks feel towards the current political system. A great GOTV must find ways to acknowledge this and still show people why casting their ballot is worthwhile. Ideally, it will make a cynical voter excited to participate in a less-than-perfect Democratic process in order to make it better in the future.

As a video producer, it’s educational to learn from content creators who got it right!

6. Diane Guerrero’s steamy voting PSA*

This is worth a watch for the double entendres ALONE. “Because it’s healthy to have fantasies! To imagine a world beyond the binary of two choices!” This video’s spokeswoman, clever script, and campy concept do not pretend that everything is fine here in the U.S.A., yet I still left feeling ready to travel to my ballot dropbox, and send postcards to voters in swing states.

Audience: progressive Latinx voters, immigrants, and their allies.

Call to Action: GOTV for the presidential race.

Fill that box. Wear protection. And make a plan to vote safely. This is no time for abstinence! https://vote.org Featuring: Diane Guerrero Written by: Josh H...

5. “Preaching to the Choir” with Mandy Patinkin and Kathryn Grody*

The presidential election gets all of the attention, but we need to talk about the pivotal Senate races on the ballot. That’s not even the real reason I’m including this video though. The true motivator is the puns. Just watch the first six seconds and you’ll see 👀 what I mean 😠. Hey, if a hook works, it works.  

Audience: children, parents (and apparently me, a weary millennial).

Call to Action: GOTV for various Senate races. 

Hey kids! Come learn about flipping the senate with us, it's fun AF! Don't believe the polls. Trump has inverted reality. Help get out the vote in swing stat...

4. “What Trump Fears More Than Coronavirus”* 

This video takes a meta “Scream” approach to its storytelling. No, Ghost Face does not make an appearance, but the first section of the video is dedicated to showing exactly what is wrong with past GOTV videos, showing some welcome self-awareness. The narrator, Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, an environmental activist, and hip-hop artist, then uses examples from the Civil Rights movement and other points in history to show who the real heroes are behind iconic laws that passed. (Hint: Lyndon B. Johnson needed a ton of pressure to get to the point of passing civil rights legislation.) This video takes a huge risk by being twelve and a half minutes long but pulls off a nuanced, unique, and compelling argument for their candidate endorsement.

Audience: Sunrise Movement supporters, mainly youth activists and adults supportive of environmental activism.

Call to Action: GOTV for the presidential race.

Young people have the power to crush Trump, and he knows it. That's why he's trying to steal the election, but we're going to be there to stop him. Once he's...

3. Get Your Booty To The Poll (NSFW) 

The hook: civically engaged exotic dancers. The payoff: FACTS about why it’s so important to vote down the ballot for more local officials that have a huge influence in communities.

Using sex appeal to get out the vote is not a new tactic, but what sets this video above and beyond its predecessors like this one with Madonna, and this one by— okay never mind actually, this one by Grindr is pretty good. But ‘Get Your Booty to the Poll’ is GREAT for two reasons. 

First, this whole video is a grassroots effort by Black Georgians. A Black woman named Angela Barnes directed it and raised the funds via GoFundMe with a producer, Paul Fox. On their fundraising page they explain that any funds not going toward the campaign will be donated to “the Black Male Voter Project, Fair Fight, and other non-profits committed to educating voters and fighting voter suppression in our communities.” It’s clear the dancers care greatly about the cause as well, and the campaign has an excellent website. Also, the fact that this lacked the resources of most famous GOTV videos, doesn’t have a single celebrity and still managed to go viral is a testament to its brilliance.

Secondly, the video hones in on a topic very few other voting videos touch: voting down-ballot. The only other one I’ve seen that does this is this video by Yellopain, but he doesn’t go as hyper local. For example, one of the lines in Get Your Booty to the Poll is, “Want trades and coding taught in our schools? Then vote for the school boards that will prepare us for the job market.” I love the specificity that goes above and beyond throwing “VOTE” in my face over and over again. Now watch the video and, hey. Get your booty to the poll. 

Audience: Black voters, particularly Black male voters.

Call to Action: Research and vote for candidates down-ballot.   

Are you already planning to vote? Good. This video isn't for you. This is for men who are undecided about VOTING.We encourage everyone to get out, research t...

2. This Is The Time (music video)* 

Shout out to Youth Vs. Apocalypse for making a GOTV music video that acknowledges this significant moment in history for environmental and racial justice. Using dance, rap, song, and an array of young and talented performers, their tone is engaging and demanding. “We don’t just want to be inspirational, we want you to meet our demands.”  

Audience: Youth, adults, Spanish speakers, supporters of Black Lives Matter.

Call to action: Encourage youth to vote and/or to encourage the adults in their lives to vote. 

ThisIsTheTime to fight cuz we have the power, and when they try to silence us we just speak louder" Text "THETIME" to 56525 or go to thisisthetime.org or to...

1. SPOILER for a feature-length film that just came out: 

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Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (aka Borat 2)* 

The payoff of this wildly over-the-top satirical film is that it’s a get out the vote effort. 

Audience: Anyone willing to listen.

Call to action: GOTV for the presidential race.

BORAT 2 Official Trailer (2020) Sacha Baron Cohen, Comedy Movie HD © 2020 - Amazon Prime

If there are other questions you want to be answered in a blog post, let us know at info@fourwindfilms.com. In addition, we work with a large, diverse community of crew and artists working in most aspects of the filmmaking process and are always happy to help make connections. And of course, we are always building our community! Let us know if you need help making a video, film, or multimedia project of your own.

*Partisan content.