Avid Media Composer Post Production (2021)

Avid Media Composer Post Production (2021)

About a year ago, Avid decided to ditch the annual version release, replacing it with a more regular cadence of monthly updates. In this video, we’re looking to recap some of the top new features released over the past 12 months. And, who knows- maybe we’ll get a tease of what’s to come. Corey Tedrow will be joining us shortly to get us all up-to-speed on the latest version of Media Composer. When I think of Avid Media Composer when comparing to other editors- the core thing that comes to mind is best in the business. When film and television production is your business- television, feature film, tv broadcast, news, or a corporate marketing department- Avid has always been the video editing software of choice for video teams that need to collaborate together as storytellers, creating the highest-end content in the business. (I know, I was there, how do you think my hair got this color) Some of the most notable Avid Media Composer features include:

• Project & bin locking – Project & bin locking has been giving editors, assistant editors, producers, etc the ability to, share bins, and sharing timelines across a network since before the turn of the century.
• Script Sync & Phrase Find – Syncing the script to your timeline. Using Phonetic indexing of media. Efficiency tools that allow editors to quickly jump to a part of the timeline or media- are a huge time saver- especially when you’re dealing with large multi-cam or multi-takes in a project.
• Symphony – a super easy-to-use conform, finishing, and color toolset that doesn’t require an advanced color science degree to use. It has become the de-facto standard for news and reality TV shows looking to get a quick professional color grade before it goes to air.

There are many other reasons to use Media Composer- like Plugi-n support, high-performance shared storage, and overall third-party integration with professional video hardware and software solutions- but that would need to be a whole separate post.  

Defining Media Composer & Media Composer License Options in 2021

Before we get into features, I want to quickly define the flavors of Media Composer that people can purchase. Avid Media Composer The basic Avid Media Composer subscription comes in 1-month or 1-year subscriptions. You can work in Any Frame size, HDR, ACES, and stereoscopic 3D media and will receive all the new releases and standard support. Important note here – This version of Media Composer will work with NEXIS storage but does NOT SUPPORT bin locking or permissions management with shared projects for multi-user workflows. Avid Media Composer | Ultimate The Avid Media Composer | Ultimate subscription includes the same specs as standard subscription but also adds ScriptSync, Phrasefind, Symphony for color correction, Newscutter for the news folks, and you’ll have access to all previous versions of Media Composer- so you can change your license to sync with whatever version the editing project requires, that your hardware can support. Avid Media Composer | Enterprise Enterprise is a customized version of Media Composer experience. With the ability to Creating custom interfaces for different roles within a team. And gives you overall control of all Media Composer licenses from a management level. Avid Edit-On-Demand Avid also just released Avid Edit-On-Demand which is Avid’s answer to Cloud-based remote post production needs. A virtual Avid NEXIS with all your media, and using virtual seats of Avid Media Composer | Ultimate Hosted in Microsoft Azure to let you collaborate together- Work From almost anywhere.  

New Features In Media Composer 2021

In the video above, Corey Tedrow gets into some- but not all of the latest features added to Media Composer between 2020 thru March 2021. The main updates she covers include Bin Status, Find/Replace, Docking and Tabs, Find Bin from Timeline, Strip Silence, Select Muted Clips, support for the popular codec (H.265, Mp4, IMF), Variable Frame Rate sans Quicktime, and Apple After Burn support. Here are some additional features NOT covered in the video: Mix audio with ultimate speed and ease With the new Audio Mixer, you can mix dialogue, sounds, and music faster and more easily than ever before. The modern channel strip layout is dynamically responsive, enabling controls to be displayed or hidden—based on your visibility priority—when you resize or reposition the Mixer window. You can also copy, paste, and move track effects to other slots, map fast menu items to your keyboard, and have always-present access to the Master fader to accelerate mixing tasks. Decode and export H.265 content Work directly with HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) video (aka H.265), which provides the same or higher level of image quality as AVC (H.264) but at up to a 50% smaller file size. That means you can open, link to, play, and edit H.265 video files captured by mobile phones, GoPro cameras, and other consumer devices directly in Media Composer. Plus, you can export H.265 media* too. Create stunning titles and text more easily Titler+ now includes two new modes—Text and Move—that make creating text of any kind much easier. Text mode enables you to click and type anywhere to create a text layer at that location and return to edit it at any time. Switch to Move mode and you can move the text layer and even change its attributes without fear of editing the text itself. Edit easier with new enhancements and improvements The latest Media Composer offers many new capabilities, including some highly desired feature requests we’ve received from you all.

• Dock together tools in floating panels, giving you more freedom to configure and organize your windows and layout the way you want
• Drag and drop content from one bin into any other open bin in the sidebar
• Customize your interface further with new brightness sliders in bins, the ability to set your own viewer and Timeline background colors, and more*
• Export only newly referenced media files in an AAF sequence, eliminating media duplication*
• Export only newly referenced media files in an AAF sequence, eliminating media duplication*
• Get support for ACES CLF and CDL files, furthering compliancy with ACES specifications*
• Deliver content in different color spaces with the ability to select a custom color space when exporting a sequence to a MOV or MP4 format*
• Reveal and save a copy of your user profile to another location for backup or to bring to another system*
• Get support for Indonesian, Dutch, Tagalog, and Swedish languages in PhraseFind and ScriptSync*
• Transcode imported matte keys and classic titles to other resolutions, including cross-frame rate*

Gain more control over your organization’s workflow (Media Composer | Enterprise only) No need to search through a long Send to Playback (STP) menu to find the desired device. With the latest Media Composer | Enterprise, administrators can now specify which STP targets are visible to team members, simplifying the experience while reducing human error. Administrators can also enable and disable access to Media Composer | PhraseFind, ScriptSync, Symphony, and NewsCutter at the group or individual level.

Why Purchase Avid Media Composer From Key Code Media? A Team For Your Team

Quick informercial for why we at Key Code Media is doing this presentation- We have been the #1 Avid dealer for over the past 20 years! The secret to our success comes from our large nationwide bench of Avid ACSSR engineers who help design, install, train, and support media teams with video edit suites, finish suites, audio suites, shared storage networks, and asset management systems. Let the Key Code Media engineer crew become an extension of your team. Contact us to get started.