A To-Do List for Apple from a Non-Pro

[Morten]

Good list of functions, but from a pro viewpoint we also need:

– basic import of old FCP timelines, even if Apple says it is not compatible, it should be possible to export from FCP so each track becomes a separate storyline.

– XML export (yes I know this has been promised)

– Possibility for centralized storage of media collections and projects (or whatever they are called now) in order for multiple editors to work on the same assets

– Log and transfer like import interface, but with added keyword functionality (could actually be a separate program that can write to a centralized storage and database)

– ability to record surround panner movements for more dynamic keyframing

– option to use industry standard color wheel for CC instead of the easily cluttered color panel (keyframable)

– keyframe overlays in the timeline should only reflect keyframed effects (everything else just clutters it up) and there should be a possibility to adjust easing in and out, and copy pasting of keyframes

– possibility to mute / solo and rename secondary storylines

– extra timeline view option that only expands audio tracks for audio editing

– No Parking Production –

2 x Finalcut Studio3, 2 x MacPro, 2 x ioHD, Server w. X-Raid

[Tom Wolsky]

I guess you’ve posted these all to feedback?

All the best,

Tom

Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP7,” “Basic Training for FCS” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”
Coming in 2011 “Final Cut Pro X for iMovie and Final Cut Express Users” from Focal Press

[Oliver Peters]

[Matthew Schickler] “Support for cinematic aspect ratios”

Define this. The 4K and 2K sizes are based on DCP container sizes. That’s cinema. Some film ratios are padded/letterboxed within these container sizes.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Simon Ubsdell]

[Matthew Schickler] “Provide a good way to lay down clips over a music soundtrack other than connecting the soundtrack to the first clip”

The way to do this – and it makes quite a bit of sense to me at least – is to edit such a music soundtrack into the primary storyline, then all its associated “connected” clips will move with it or stay locked if you don’t want it to move.

This would apply just as well if your “music montage” is just a section in a longer timeline – that way for example if you wanted to move your music montage to another place in the edit you could do so very easily.

In other words if your music is the element that is currently “driving the story” then it is logical for it to occupy the primary storyline. (The same would be true in the much less common scenario where you had a non-sync audio source as your “primary story”, e.g. an audio only interview, or a narration track.)

Note that this way it is really easy to move your other elements around without having to switch modes (to the Position Tool) to do so.

As for the rest of your list, lots of good points but if there was currently a complete and definitive list of what needs fixing it would be seriously, seriously long! And as always one man’s absolutely essential feature will just as a likely be something only one other person would ever think of needing 😉

Oh and yes, I’d agree with Oliver Peters about the cinema frame sizes – the 2K and 4K options are correct as they are.

Simon Ubsdell
Director/Editor/Writer
http://www.tokyo-uk.com

[Matthew Schickler]

Hey Simon,

The problem with putting the soundtrack on the primary storyline is that you can’t do normal editing between connected clips, i.e. you cannot ripple/roll edit or add transitions. You’d have to group the clips as a compound clip and then open the compound clip in the timeline. But once you open the compound clip in the timeline you don’t have your soundtrack for reference as you’re editing. I guess that sort of gets to one of my other points about a mode where you could edit the contents of compound clips at the project level instead of having to open the compound clip as its own timeline.

If you’ve got some suggestions for how to overcome this, I’m all ears. I just don’t think there’s a clean workflow for this at the moment.

As for cinematic frame sizes, what I was talking about was not the lack of standard digital cinema formats (clearly 2K and 4K are the right formats) but things that, at least for a non-pro like me, are more aesthetic in nature, like cropping video to a super wide 2.39:1 aspect ratio.

-Matt

[Matthew Schickler]

I have : – )

[Matthew Schickler]

[Matthew Schickler] “The problem with putting the soundtrack on the primary storyline is that you can’t do normal editing between connected clips, i.e. you cannot ripple/roll edit or add transitions.”

OK, I partially take this back. I forgot that you can make a connected clip a “storyline”. That allows you to add clips to the secondary storyline as well as do ripple/roll edits and add transitions. Unfortunately, you cannot connect anything else to a secondary storyline. So, if you add a title, for example, the title gets connected to the primary storyline, even though your intent would almost always be for it to be locked to the secondary storyline. Again, the ability to connect clips to things other than the primary storyline and the ability to edit compound clips “inline” would go a long way to fixing some of the more obvious problems with the magnetic timeline.

[Simon Ubsdell]

I take your point about not being able to add transitions to anything other than storylines – which is just plain silly and a huge issue that Apple simply have to address.

But do you really want to ripple/roll edits when you’re cutting to a music track? Surely you’d just be throwing everything else out of sync? I’m sure there must be occasions when this would be a desirable thing but I can’t think of one.

Also I don’t quite get your idea that a title would want to be connect to anything other than the primary storyline in this instance – surely you’d want the title to be timed to the music?

I’m not saying you’re wrong – just genuinely interested to see what the issues are with this workflow.

Simon Ubsdell
Director/Editor/Writer
http://www.tokyo-uk.com

[Matthew Schickler]

My workflow for something like this would be:

1. Lay down the music
2. Lay down the clips in a preliminary order
3. Start at the beginning and ripple/roll edit the clips to get a rough cut where the video and transitions are in sync with the music
4. Possibly move some of the clips around. This is where being able to leave gaps is key (as you say, you don’t want your previous work to get out of sync)
5. Slip edit to fine tune the clips, slide edit to fine tune the timing of the transitions

As for titles and overlays, once the clips are synced to the music, I think of the overlays as being locked/synced to the clip, although that’s not to say there aren’t cases where you want them to sync to the music, e.g. maybe you want the title to get punched in on a particular musical note or beat. The main example of locking to the secondary would be if I had added an overlay that belonged with a particular clip (e.g. it describes something in the clip) and then in the end I decide I want to move that clip somewhere else. The overlay should move with the clip. If it was in the primary storyline, it would. If it was in a secondary storyline, I’d have to move the overlay manually. It’s no big deal, but since part of the power of the magnetic timeline is being able to lock down relationships between elements in the timeline, it’s a shame you can’t lock an overlay down on a secondary storyline.

I haven’t really shot anything lately, so I’m really just dealing with toy examples in FCPX right now. I’m going to pull some video off my archive drive and try to cut a short music montage together and see how this all works out in practice.

Thanks for the civilized and constructive discourse.

[Simon Ubsdell]

[Matthew Schickler] “My workflow for something like this would be:

1. Lay down the music
2. Lay down the clips in a preliminary order
3. Start at the beginning and ripple/roll edit the clips to get a rough cut where the video and transitions are in sync with the music
4. Possibly move some of the clips around. This is where being able to leave gaps is key (as you say, you don’t want your previous work to get out of sync)
5. Slip edit to fine tune the clips, slide edit to fine tune the timing of the transitions”

I’d say that the way to do this would be to lay the music into the primary storyline as I suggested, then cut your clips roughly into a secondary storyline (or storylines?) where you can easily ripple/roll edit them.

Once that stage is done, you can “break apart” the secondary storyline and start the process of moving stuff around without rippling, as well as doing all the slip/sliding you want which is so much easier and quicker with connected clips.

I take your point about titles but I’m not sure it’s a huge disadvantage having them connected to the primary storyline.

The other easy way of keeping a title locked (“connected” as it were) to a non-primary storyline clip would be to make it a compound clip with the clip you want it locked to – though I’m not a fan of compound clips as they end up “hiding” bits of your timeline from you which I don’t like.

I do wonder whether Apple will introduce the ability to make connections outside the primary storyline as you suggest which would make for greater flexibility – though this may be outside the scope of the design for all we know.

Anyway, I’d be interested to hear how you get on with your test music edit – a lot of what seems problematic in theory isn’t so in practice, and of course vice versa 😉

Simon Ubsdell
Director/Editor/Writer
http://www.tokyo-uk.com