FCP to iMovie workflow

[Debe]

The biggest problem I see is that iMovie doesn’t use timecode.

There’s really no way to do this that I can see.

iMovie is a consumer-level product, It’s not meant to do what you’re/she’s thinking.

If she already knows iMovie, and she just wants to move stuff around on a timeline, the learning curve for that on FCP is minimal.

Seriously, once she has her media captured (which I’d assume you’d do and give her copies, along with a pre-built timeline for her viewing pleasure), all she needs to know is how to pick up a clip in the timeline and move it somewhere else without blowing anything away. Pretty easy.

Find a diplomatic way to explain to her that what’s “easiest” for her is not the best practice. iMovie isn’t the right tool for this job for so many reasons. You’ll end up taking way more time to finish this project to cater to her “need”, and iMovie is destructive editing. Changes are not easy. You have far fewer options with graphics in iMovie, and bending iMovie to your will is not easy. You really have to do what it wants. Consumer-level products are usually like that. Limit the options to keep it simple for the novice and the home hobbyist.

Talk her out of it. It’s a bad idea, it’s unprofessional, and it’ll create a ton more headaches than her having to learn 6 new things.

debe

[Jeff Carpenter]

I keep thinking to myself: “Well, it’s possible that this project is simple enough to make using iMovie make sense.”

And no matter how much I think about it, here’s the conclusion I reach:

If it really is a simple enough project for iMovie to make sense then it is simple enough for your boss to do ENTIRELY on her own. Whatever she needs to learn should take her an hour to learn with the ‘help’ file and she should be able to do it all on her own without much help from you. (At worst, YOU can spend 20 minutes with the help file and then 15 minutes to teach her.) But after that much, it should be hands off on your end.

And if that works out…great! It shouldn’t matter to you how she gets this done. Particularly if this really is just a storyboard and it won’t be used for anything or seen by anyone else. It sounds like she wants to organize her thoughts somehow. If that’s how she wants to do it and the project never grows from there, then it shouldn’t matter one bit.

But if there is any chance at all that she can’t do it all on her own, or her work will then be passed on to you to finish, then yes, take all of debe’s advice seriously and make sure it’s all done in FCP.

[Debe]

Oh, and one piece of possibly flawed insight…not knowing this woman of which you speak.

She may be afraid/scared/leery of learning something new because of perceived difficulty. It may be easier for her to say she doesn’t have time to learn anything new when in fact she’s afraid she will be hit with this huge learning curve and that she won’t be able to easily learn what she needs to do. Human nature.

It may be your job to convince her that since it’s so easy and it’s the right thing for the project, that it’s just plain silly not to take the hour to go over the basics she’d need. Heck, an hour would be over kill. I’d be surprised if it took more than 20 minutes.

debe

[Gunleik Groven]

Big problem is: FCP is actually much easier than iMovie in lots of cuting and printing aspects.

Go FCP!

G

[Kevin Monahan]

You can open an iMovie project in FCP. File>Open will do it. My experience at least.

Kevin Monahan
Take My FCP Master’s Seminar!
fcpworld.com

[Debe]

But do you get timecode information, Kevin?

It seems to me that if iMovie discards TC info, then it’s a bad workflow.

Or I’m prepared to be accused of chicken-littleing it…

debe

[Jerrold Le tourneau]

I hear all of you… I have the same arguments back to my boss but she won’t change. I’m tempted to edit in FCP (DVCAM with timecode superimposed when capturing via monitor out) and export out final clips to use in iMovie.

Guess the bottom line is I don’t want to use iMovie — to me it’s like riding a bike with training wheels when I have already been riding a 10 speed for years.

So what FCP export settings for the clips will work in iMovie? I need the clipos to play nice with clips my boss will capture herself for use in the iMovie?

Jerry

[Debe]

I understand her not wanting to change. I don’t agree with it, but I understand it.

I’ve never even launched iMovie, so I can’t help you with settings.

I would recommend that if you don’t already, track your hours on this.

It may take a 30% increase in your workload and therefore a 30% increase in her budget to make her reconsider.

You do charge hourly, right? Don’t do her any favors on the extra time it’s going to take you to work within her parameters. That’s her problem, not yours! If she wants a deal, she’ll have to learn the 6 new things!

debe

[Kevin Monahan]

I think that TC does come in via XML. How else would your cuts line up?

Check out my article. https://www.fcpworld.com/fcpfx_5.htm

Kevin Monahan
Take My FCP Master’s Seminar!
fcpworld.com

[Tom Wolsky]

iMovie assigns zero as the start of all clips it captures or imports. The tape TC information is lost. iMovie builds the project as you cut it into a composite QT file, which contains the shot information but no real TC information.