changing Reel #’s with fcp

[Shane Ross]

YOu can click YES. What this means is that if you change the REEL number in the Browser, that FCP will modify the Quicktime file so that the REEL will now be embedded into the metadata of that clip. So that if you bring that into antoher project, the reel name will be what you are not changing it to be.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Marc Roussel] “I can change the Reel name within FCP but I get this warning “Changing timecode data will modify file on disk. Do you wish to continue?” Not sure what I should do.

Any help/ideas would be greatly appreciated. “

That warning is telling you that you are going to change the reel number and that change will actually be written to the QT file and not just change in the FCP Project. When you then go to recapture that footage at anytime, it will call up that number as long as you know where it is and on what tape. In FCP reel number = tape number and it’s what FCP asks for when recapturing video.

Jeremy

>>Edit: oops. Sorry, Shane beat me to it.

[Marc Roussel]

Thanks so much guys. I just did a test and it works.

Now…I am working with 2 editors. I load the material on my FCP then copy the capture folder to each of their raids, depending whose episode is shooting. Does that mean I also have to change the reel numbers on their systems so that when I bring a sequence over to my side to pull lists everything matches up?

Thanks for the quick replies,
Marc

[Lars Fuchs]

What happens if there are several editors editing several episodes out of the same pool of footage?

I once worked on a reality-show where they were shooting 2 cameras 10 hours a day 6 days a week. For months. over a 1000 hours of footage by the end. 3 editors were working simultaneously from an XSAN. Often the assistant editors would give poor reel names to clips, but I was reluctant to change them. I knew that FCP would update the QT files’ metadata directly, and I didn’t want to mess up the workflow of the other editors.

Deadline pressure on that job really precluded spending time figuring it out, because we were afraid that screwing something up might multiply the delay by 3!

Does anyone know what would happen in that situation, and how to deal with it?

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Lars Fuchs] “I knew that FCP would update the QT files’ metadata directly, and I didn’t want to mess up the workflow of the other editors.

Deadline pressure on that job really precluded spending time figuring it out, because we were afraid that screwing something up might multiply the delay by 3! “

That would be something to test/ask an XSAN person. I simply do not have the experience with it.

I’d imagine that it would knock those files offline for the other editors (they were working separate projects, no?) and FCP would say that the file’s reel doesn’t match and would you like to connect anyway. That’s just speculation though. I’d try it with one clip and see how much it ripples across the network if something like that wouldn’t cause too much trouble? Don’t know. How were you keeping all the separate projects organized?

Jeremy

[Lars Fuchs]

[Jeremy Garchow] “‘d imagine that it would knock those files offline for the other editors (they were working separate projects, no?)”

That’s what I figured, I just didn’t want to try it… too much at stake.

The Project management was annoying; everybody was working in different projects as far as their own sequences went, but all of the footage was logged in bins in projects everybody could pull from. It got a little tricky sometimes. The head ‘assistant editor’ often had to spend a lot of time ‘normalizing’ different copies of project where two editors had made different changes to sequences in it. We did have occasions where the master file fell out of sync with changes that were being made, and we had to trace down the correct edits. It wasn’t fun, and made me long for Unity.

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Marc Roussel] “Does that mean I also have to change the reel numbers on their systems so that when I bring a sequence over to my side to pull lists everything matches up? “

It should track with the media as it’s embedded in the QT file and not FCPs project.

Lars, this also goes to you (but should be taken with a grain of salt):

I just did a test with two projects (Test1 and Test2) I imported the same clip to both projects. I then changed the reel name in Test2 and got the warning about modifying the clip, blah blah, I hit yes and then switched over to Test1. The clips reel name was updated over there as well and the file was online. Same happened starting in Test1 and going to Test2.

So, as long as the editors are accessing the same exact media, it should work (pending any sharing permissions issues). If they are working on duplicates of the footage on separate scratch drives, you will have to either update their projects or their media. Dragging over new media might be easier from a project updating stand point, but might be more difficult from a logistical stand point. Plus you might have to reconnect certain files that don’t take and perhaps re-render sequences. If you choose to update their projects, you will have to of course do it twice, once on each machine and make sure that you put in the exact reel numbers you need, otherwise it might cause organization problems later.

Test test test.

Jeremy