flattening a sequence in Adobe Premiere (collapsing included sequences)

Question

I'm using Adobe Premiere -- I'm trying to convert a project to use a single sequence, with all the media clips in that sequence.

At the moment I'm in Adobe Premiere 5.5, but I have Adobe CC available.

Any leads are welcome!

Question

Q: What is the fastest and easiest way to replace these subsequences in my main sequence, with their component clips, such that the main sequence still renders to exactly the same video?

If you have any leads or even partial ideas, please feel free to leave a comment. Also, please mention which version of Premiere you are using.

Current State of the Project

This is a simplified view, the actual number of clips and subsequences is much larger!

• Main Sequence A
  • Clip 1
  • Clip 2
  • Sequence B
  • Clip 3
  • Sequence C
• Sequence B
  • Clip 4
  • Clip 5
• Sequence C
  • Clip 6
  • Clip 7

Desired State of the Project

• Main Sequence A
  • Clip 1
  • Clip 2
  • Clip 4
  • Clip 5
  • Clip 3
  • Clip 6
  • Clip 7

Difficulties In Flattening

• Sequence A doesn't use all of Sequence B, and it doesn't start at the beginning
• Suppose I just copy the clips from Sequence B
• ...pasting them in Sequence A where Sequence B is now
• the clips will not start at the same time they do when in Sequence A

Flattening Techniques

Attempt 1: Nesting

• Select the clips in Sequence A, including Sequences B and C
• choose "Nest"
• now only one sequence is in Sequence A!
• ...however that sequence still has nested sequences.

Attempt 2: Trim project

• I selected only Sequence A and chose Project Manager...
• Premiere made an entirely new, simplified ("trimmed") project
• the media used in that Sequence A, and therefore B and C as well, were included in the sequence, and no others
• the media used were copied to the new location (so they are in two places on this drive now)
• ...but when I opened the new project, Sequence A STILL has nested sequences.

Attempt 3: brute force

Why bother? Why not fix all these manually? Well...

Here's the process I have at the moment to replace a single sub-sequence. Bear in mind this is a large project and I'll have to do this dozens of times.

• in Sequence A, select Sequence B and duplicate to another layer
• ...we'll call this "Sequence B2"
• extend Sequence B2 in length to the very beginning of its earliest point
• cut B2 to where Sequence B begins
• the new first half of B2 is the length of B that elapses before showing the part used in Sequence A.
  • This half we'll call B2a
  • the part that plays in Sequence A we'll call B2b
• now, in Sequence B, use timecode/frame arithmetic to go to the exact point in the clip
• make the cut in the same place in Sequence B as it began in Sequence A... we'll call this B3, which is theoretically starts at the same point as B2b
• copy the cut clip B3 in Sequence B...
• ...and paste in Sequence A on top of B2b and use a separate layer
• set B3 to a partial opacity to verify Sequence A is EXACTLY THE SAME as it appeared before B3 was pasted in!
  • if it's off, you'll see B3 and B2b as two distinct and overlapping images

Answer 1

(1.) Open the master sequence containing the nested sequences.

(2.) MAKE SURE that the "Insert or overwrite sequences as nests or individual clips" selector (the leftmost icon under the timecode display in the sequence panel) is NOT highlighted. This will force a nested sequence in the Source Monitor to be edited into the sequence as the individual clips contained in the nested sequence.

(3.) Park the playhead in the middle of one of the nested items in the main sequence

(4.) Choose "Marker / MARK CLIP" (I have this programmed to "X" on the keyboard.") You need to make sure your track selection toggles are correctly set to target the track containing the nested item.

(5.) Choose "Sequence / MATCH FRAME" (I have this programmed to "F" on the keyboard.) This opens the nested sequence into the Source Monitor.

(6.) Choose "Clip / OVERWRITE" (I have this programmed to "B" on the keyboard, like an Avid.) This should have replaced the nested sequence CLIP ITEM with the clips contained in the nested sequence. This overwrites (from IN to OUT as selected in step 4) with the contents of the nested sequence.

(7.) move the playhead to the next clip and press X, F, B

(8.) repeat step 7 until you're done.

[This is tested on Premiere CC 2015.2]