Taking Your Video Editing Project on the Road.

This post is based on using Premiere Pro 1.5. However, the principles should apply to most other worthwhile video editing programs.

I was recently asked to show the members of a Premiere Pro Workshop how I made a particular piece of video. To do so, I copied my Premiere project file onto my trusty USB drive, and off I went to the workshop. When I went to open the project on the computer at the workshop, I was asked “Where is file ‘x’?”, then “Where is file ‘y’?”. Without these files, I could not properly edit my project on the computer at the workshop.

In order to understand why these messages were coming, you need to understand the relationship between your project and these missing files.

I like to use the analogy that using a computer to compile a video is like using a kitchen to bake a cake:
You turn on your computer / You enter your kitchen
You open your editing program / You open a recipe
You browse your hard drive and import files such as video clips, still images, music and sound effects / You open your pantry and take out the ingredients
You arrange the assets on the timeline / You mix the ingredients in a bowl
You render your project / You cook the mixture in an oven
You burn your project to DVD or other media / You put your cake on a plate
You show your video / You serve your cake

If you were going to take your cake to Grandma’s house, you’d take it along as a finished cake. However, if you wanted to go to Grandma’s and re-make your cake in her kitchen, you’d take along the recipe and all of the ingredients. If you don’t take the ingredients, you can’t make the cake.

Back in the world of video, my problem was that I did not take along all the ingredients (assets) that went into making the video.

If I took my cake ingredients to Grandma’s I’d probably not take along my pantry and fridge. I’d put the ingredients in a basket and take that. For my video, I’d gather the assets together, and put them on a USB drive, or a CD or data DVD.

Gathering those assets together can be very tedious. While some will be in the folder where you save your project, others couoldbe anywhere on your computer; in sub-folders in places such as “My pictures” or “My Music”.

Fortunately, Premiere Pro can help.

When you have completed your project, or have it at the stage that you want to take it on the road, save your project, then click on Project > Project Manager. The Project Manager dialog box should open:

Under Resulting Project, select Collect files and copy to new location.
Make sure that under Project Destination the path is to the same folder as your project. To make sure all of the assets can fit on the disk space available, and onto your USB drive, CD or data DVD, click on Calculate under Disk Space. If it will fit, Click OK.

All of the “asset” files will then be copied to the same folder as your project.
Copy the entire folder to your USB drive or burn it to CD or DVD.
As long as a compatible version of Premiere Pro is running, you should be able to open and work on your project on another computer.

PS: Do not eat your cake while editing…the crumbs are not good for the keyboard.