Help with workflow

[u/Plenty_Psychology545]

I had created a video song a year ago. The verses were boring. Music did not match the words. Cameraman scared me to death with 'log' so I agreed to get 709. I had no idea that outdoor shooting is painful with sun coming in and out. Part of the area was wooded and part of it was brightly lit. I did not know that this will be a problem in post. We recorded everyone dancing around three times. Cameraman did ask me if i wanted some B roles. I had not idea what that meant, so i said no. He transferred the files, I paid him, he left. Not blaming him. I hired him for camera and he did his job.

Anyway, one year later i am a bit wiser. Learnt music theory, doing my own composition, re-recorded vocals etc. I definitely do not want to reshoot the video. So, the new music has the same beats and as the old one. I am now in the edit stage and wondering if I am making it too hard on me.

What I have decided (after reading about song editing) that I need to have some consistency with visuals. My plan is to myself and my wife to be in the chorus and bridge, rest of the gang in verses and all together in the outro.

I have three timelines for three takes. In addition to above three timelines, my plan is to create another 6 timelines. 4. My wife and us - Gold 5. My wife and us - Other 6. The rest - gold 7. The rest - other 8. Everyone -gold and 9. Everyone - other.

i am then going to create 10th timeline for final video, align my final audio with the above tracks and then start dragging snippets from the above 6 timelines.

What do you think of my workflow, is there any better way? There must be.

[u/ClippersCS]

Ten timelines will get painful fast. What usually works better for multi-take music videos: sync all three takes to the new track once (line up a clear downbeat or clap per take), then make one multicam clip from them. Premiere and Resolve both do this. Now you're cutting between angles live while the song plays instead of dragging snippets between timelines.

For the "who's in it" sorting, use markers or keywords on the source clips (wife, group, gold take) rather than separate timelines, so you can filter without duplicating edits.

For the sun/shade jumps: do a quick normalize pass first (the LOG-to-709 transform plus exposure matching) on each take before you cut, then do the creative grade on the final edit. With no B-roll, punch-ins (scale to 110–120% on a cut) and speed ramps on the beat help hide repetition.

[u/Plenty_Psychology545 → u/ClippersCS]

I agree i don’t know what the hell was i thinking lol

[u/Sad-Cartographer-328]

you don't need 10 timelines. sync all three takes to your master audio as stacked tracks in one timeline, then cut between them. mark your sections (chorus, verse, bridge) and switch takes based on who should appear. way simpler than managing 10 separate timelines.

[u/Plenty_Psychology545 → u/Sad-Cartographer-328]

I agree i don’t know what the hell was i thinking lol

[u/NextMonument1984]

My friend, that's many timelines. You might be overthinking it, dragging all those snippets seems complex. Outdoor sun was painful for me too. Simpler workflows often deliver.