Premiere CC uses vertical aspect ratio in multi-camera shot

Question

I have 2 clips. One (from an iPhone) was accidentally shot with a vertical aspect ratio. I want to make a multi-camera sequence from them. Adobe Premiere CC is giving the multicam sequence a vertical aspect ratio (1080 width X 1920 height) instead of landscape. If I rotate the vertical clip in the timeline so it's horizontal, the sequence is still vertical and the left and right edges of the clip get cut off. I tried a few other things with no luck. (Can't remember where I found them.)

Any ideas how to rotate the multi-cam sequence and that clip?

Answer 1

I have to thank @ProfessorSparkles for getting me to this solution, which doesn't require saving and reimporting, or making a duplicate of the source footage. Here are the steps:

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1) I started with the 2 clips I'm using in the same bin.

2) Drag the landscape-oriented clip to the timeline. That creates a sequence with landscape orientation in the bin.

3) Select the clip in the timeline and delete it. (The sequence is still in the bin.)

4) Select both of the clips within the bin.

5) Right-click and select "Create multi-camera source sequence...."

6) In that dialog box, click "OK". Premiere will synch up the 2 clips.

7) When I first did this, it asked me a question before creating the sequence. It was something like, "The settings on this sequence don't match the existing sequence. Do you want to keep the source sequence settings?" CLICK NO. That will make your new sequence match the settings (landscape orientation) of the existing sequence!

8) You can then select the blank sequence you created a minute ago and "Clear" (delete) it.

9) Drag the new sequence to the timeline.

10) Hold down Ctrl or Cmd and double-click on the new sequence in the timeline. A new sequence will be created that shows each clip separately.

11) In that new sequence, select the clip with portrait orientation.

12) Go over to "Effects Controls". In "Motion", rotate the clip either 90 degrees or 270 degrees.

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What a relief it was to figure that out!!!

Answer 2

You will have to rotate and transcode these videos before making your multi cam sequence. You can either do that by making a 1920x1080 standard sequence, inserting the video there and rotating it by -90° and export it, then re-import the newly encoded video.

If for some reason Premiere doesn't play along or you happen to do this automated because you have hundreds of video files like that (not the case here but maybe in the future). You can also use FFmpeg to rotate the video.

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vcodec mjpeg -vf "transpose=2" output.avi

Transcoding to mjpeg here to not loose that much quality. You can also use a lossless codec like JPEG2000 by using -vcodec j2k

Transpose takes these options:

0 = 90° CounterCLockwise and Vertical Flip
1 = 90° Clockwise
2 = 90° CounterClockwise
3 = 90° Clockwise and Vertical Flip

Answer 3

I believe this should only require setting up a landscape sequence for the vertical clip and rotating it in to place. I believe you can then use the sequence rather than the original clip as the multi-cam source in your final sequence. I haven't specifically tried it this way before, but I often use nested sequences for this general type of problem.