How long can a video be?

[hayasidist]

thanks for the replies -- I've been mentally wrestling with this for a long time and still haven't got to a firm conclusion -- I guess some of the causes of my dilemma are because of the difference in the approaches for shooting (and editing) live action compared to creating (and "assembling") animation footage; that plus how "fixed" or detailed the storyboard is (i.e. how much creative freedom an editor gets / needs in live action as distinct from animation).

[slowtiger]

As for re-using stuff: I made it a habit to use group layers a lot. So I don't translate and resize the car layer with the rotating wheels, but first translate the car layer so the wheels keep track with the ground, then place the whole thing in a group and re-size that. This way, I can always import updated stuff from a master file without having to adjust it to a certain scene again and again.

[Greenlaw]

For animation, I've found that scene lengths and order are more or less locked once the animatic is approved. At least, everybody tries to stick to it as much as possible. Compared to live action, the editorial process for animation is kinda 'backwards' in that you try to do all your editing before any scenes are animated. Then, as actual animation footage gets completed, you're mostly just over-cutting the animatic footage on the same timeline.

Of course, scenes will sometimes need to be reworked after the animation is brought into editing, and you want to be flexible enough to address these changes. This is generally avoided though because completely re-working a scene or sequence after everything else is in place can get time-consuming and expensive. It's a lot quicker and cheaper to figure this stuff out during the animatic stage. Obviously, it's important for the editor to be able to visualize the motion and timing for the animatic so you don't wind up with animations that are unnaturally too fast or too slow in the final edit. (A lot of the timing may be determined by the 'scratch' audio track.)

In 3D/CG shows, we often render 8 to 10 frame handles to the footage. This gives the editor a little room to play but obviously not much. In 2D, at work I render exactly what's been asked for, and on my own projects, I usually give myself a few frames of handle in case my timing is slightly off and I can't change the audio track.

[hayasidist]

all good stuff there! thanks. I must get my head out further out of a live action workflow!