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A Question for Working Professional Editors Using FCPX.
So, I participated a bit in the original flare-up of outrage and shock when FCPX was originally released. I put a fair amount of effort into working with it, wrote down my objections in a handful of online forums, talked about it over a couple of beers, and then pretty much gave up and went back to work.
My question is pretty simple, and it’s intended for editors who are working with FCPX in a professional work environment, for paying clients.
How do you deal with the one edit per project architecture of FCPX? I think there are many, many issues to spiral out of control over with FCPX, but this framework that Apple is created — where a project IS a single timeline, and therefore IS a single cut — baffles me. And I have no idea how I would work around it.
The idea that, with clients in the room asking to see a subtle difference between two versions of an edit (“here’s one that starts with the wide, here’s one that starts with a medium,” that kind of thing), I need to actually click between different PROJECTS is just… well, I find it laughably useless.
Anyway. So. Now that it’s been out in the wild for a year, what do you do?
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62 Replies
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[Kevin Zimmerman] “How do you deal with the one edit per project architecture of FCPX? I think there are many, many issues to spiral out of control over with FCPX, but this framework that Apple is created — where a project IS a single timeline, and therefore IS a single cut — baffles me. And I have no idea how I would work around it.”
I don’t know what the problem would be if you understand how FCPX works.
You can certainly create multiple projects (timelines) tied to an event.
I create a folder in the Project Library for all Projects (timelines) tied to a specific job.You can create Compound Clips in the Event (rather than the timeline) so you have many “sequences” you can edit if you like building elements first.
[Kevin Zimmerman] “The idea that, with clients in the room asking to see a subtle difference between two versions of an edit (“here’s one that starts with the wide, here’s one that starts with a medium,” that kind of thing)”
If it’s just shot changes that’s what Auditions are for.
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adding one more thing.
You can play the Projects inside the Project Library.
You don’t need to click on them to open the Timeline unless and until you’re actually going to edit them.
This is, in part, how I use folders in the Project Library. Only the client’s folder is open and I can go through the different projects with them.Think how much faster it can be to work this way.
Rather than having to double click on sequences after sequence to either open the timeline or drop into the viewer, you can just play them right in the project library. That can save a number of clicks.Some of the criticism of FCPX has to do with either trying to mimic old methods or simply not understanding it well enough to use new (and often faster) methods. Between this (for entire sequences) or Auditions (for individual shots) or Compound Clips (for playing built elements), there’s a lot of speed and flexibility.
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[Kevin Zimmerman] “How do you deal with the one edit per project architecture of FCPX? I think there are many, many issues to spiral out of control over with FCPX, but this framework that Apple is created — where a project IS a single timeline, and therefore IS a single cut — baffles me. And I have no idea how I would work around it.”
I just create folders in the Project library for each job. Versioning is done by duplicating the Project (timeline) and re-naming. Pretty simple.
Cheers,
LoganVertical Online
https://www.verticalonline.com -
Ditto. It’s really just semantics. Projects are sequences. And just for media management purposes, they are tied to an event. Events are more akin to “projects” from FCP 7.
Think of it this way, groups of bins are events, and sequences are projects. You can’t have more than on sequence open, but you can click between a couple almost instantly for the purposes of copy/paste sections and elements.
I also create a folder to group various sequences together. I just duplicate sequences(projects) and append v1, v2, etc just like in 7.
Avid essentially works the same way. While they do have projects that group bins and sequences together, bins exist separately of project files on the hard drive. Sequences must exist in a bin. You can only open one project at a time in Avid, BUT, you can open other project bins, and like X, the bins are attributed to particular projects.
It’s really nice that in X, you can open up the project browser and bee any project, or export any project, without opening it to edit. It’s still in an infantile stage of development, but it’s a much better media management system than FCP 7 overall.
If you really want sequences in bins, you can take an entire project and make it a compound clip. Then, for all intense purposes it’s now a sequence, in a bin, in an event. That’s what Hodgetts 7toX app does to get FCP 7 sequences into X.
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OK, it sounds a bit like you haven’t been ‘assimilated’ into X yet. I get where you’re coming from, I ws the same until I had a Eureka moment. Treat projects as you would timelines in 7, and if you want to organise them more sensibly separate them using folders – a folder for each ‘Project’ (using FCP7 parlance). You can switch back and forth almost as quickly in this way as you can in 7 – OK not quite as fast as tabbing, but usably fast. Copy and paste between projects as you would in 7.
Use Auditions where possible, and compound clips work very well in X too.
Use Event Manager X to switch off unwanted events.
Once you get used to working in this way and stop fighting X’s organisational hierarchy, you’ll find it much easier.
HTH
Jason
_________________________________
Before you criticise a man, walk a mile in his shoes.
Then when you do criticise him, you’ll be a mile away. And have his shoes.*the artist formally known as Jaymags*
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[Kevin Zimmerman] “How do you deal with the one edit per project architecture of FCPX? “
They changed the nomenclature, which is a bit baffling.
If you’re trying to comply with a NDA for example, then the way to go is use .dmg and keep the stuff separate, by unmounting and mounting as you need.
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Just to echo the general opinion – it’s simply semantics if you think the flexibility has been stripped away.
Using the project browser is a pretty slick way to show a client multiple versions of a project and as Craig mentions, played in real time outside of the timeline.
Likewise, Auditioning (which has come in really handy for in-house comparisons of grades and FX as well as alternate takes) is a very slick way of showing clients comparative edits.
Not that it doesn’t need to catch up on a lot of basic niggling things and a few big ones, but a lot of the issues that seem to put people off about X are things that they don’t understand exist but are different.
And often better.
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I’d give anything for a ‘classic nomenclature’ preference to simply change the text of the words projects and events to what we’ve been using for years. That alone would drive me less crazy.
John Davidson | President / Creative Director | Magic Feather Inc.
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Kevin,
I suggest you watch some training. Where you feel FCPX is limited is exactly where it is strong.Auditions are very powerful to make different edits in one timeline.
Example: I have a spot that ends with …
a) a face
b) a familythere are also two versions of the brand´s corporate sound and 2 logos.
I take the face, connect the slogan and the sound in version 1.
Now I create an audition with the family shot, connect the other slogan and sound version.When I change the Audition (I made myself a new keyboard short ( CTRL-OPT-leftarrow) I immediately change the connected clips also. So with one click I change the shot, the graphic and the sound of the ending. And that´s all in the timeline (“project”)
In other cases I would duplicate the Project and make changes there and as some already suggested, show the version on the project library level. Very slick and every client who sees that the first time is in awe.
Depending on how you different versions look I usually end up with a mix of projects, auditions and compound clips ( e.g. if the graphics are finalized). If you add the timeline item list (on the left bottom of the timeline) and the involved metadata and roles this can work even in very very large projects.
This beats anything I ever saw in other NLEs. So while it looks like a limited paradigm at first, it is extremely powerful and flexible.
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While you guys all seem to be jazzed about the project browser structure, it strikes me as completely inadequate. “Management” is relegated to working manually in the Finder or using a third party product (Event Manager). I’m sorry, but that’s simply a workaround. In the inevitable Coke vs. Pepsi example, if I don’t want competing clients accidentally exposed to a competitor’s timeline or event content, I have to remove it from the visible folders that X looks at.
Second issue is RAM. Yes, you can place multiple projects into folders, but any open projects have to be buffered into RAM in order to enable skimming. If you have a lot of visible projects in the browser and these contain a lot of effects and Motion titles, it can take quite a long time for FCP X to initially open.
Add to this the broadcast monitoring issue where you have to exit FCP X and change format settings in the Pref Pane when changing between projects with different format settings.
Sorry, these items are not up to par, yet. Doesn’t mean you can’t work within these constraints, but it’s not as good as FCP 7 (or PPro or Avid).
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com
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