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FCP-X for documentaries (with details)
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[Andrew Kimery] “For an historical doc I’d say the minimum info is who, what, when, where, temp/master, rights holder and original file name/tracking number from vender.”
Thing is I just did a “historical” doc, and when I say historical, not an event that happened 20 years ago but 70 years ago thru current day.
Things like rights holder information on photos and clips and music is not necessary “inside” the NLE for me. Those are things that need to be organized in the finder. That information is important when it comes to who I owe money to, but when I’m cutting I just need to find the elements quickly.
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[Shane Ross] “Is there any way to replace that other than over-cutting like we do in every other NLE?”
So I just did a quick test. Imported a 20 sec ProRes clip of a finished spot, called “Blue”. Put it on the timeline, aded a timecode generator and exported it as a 640×360 m4v file (simulating a viewing copy). Imported that file. Put in on a timeline.
I selected the m4v clip in the event browser and went to the relink clip dialogue. I relinked the clip to a second version of the original, called “red.” Same spot, same length, just a different color scheme.
The m4v clip in the browser now had the new “red” audio and video, and the m4v clip in the timeline also updated to the “red” version. The name still said “m4 viewer.”
Caveats here: must be the same length, must be the same frame rate.
So, Shane, the answer to the replace clip question is at least a partial “yes.”
In the case of replacing the timecode viewer footage with select hi-res pulls, then no. Just as with any NLE. Because the pulls are different clips. If, on the other hand, you got the hi-res version from which the viewing copy was made, then it would seem to work, assuming the same length & frame rate. -
[Jeff Markgraf] “Caveats here: must be the same length, must be the same frame rate.”
That’s the whole problem. They never are the same length. We will get 10 min to 30 min screeners with timecode burned in. On DVD, or a web download. And we then mine what we need from that…3 seconds here, 8 seconds there. So now we need to online and we have ten or so smaller chunks from that one, long QT file. It won’t relink, so you need to over cut.
The test you did…that works in Avid too.
There was a great app from video toolshed that allowed me to relink smaller clips (in FCP 7) to bits from a larger one…CLOSE to the same idea, but not quite.
So, I’m just saying that’s one feature I’d need to consider a switch…I need features that my current NLE doesn’t have…that makes my life easier. Thus far, I haven’t seen anything to make me want to make the big switch…other than the ability to work natively with some formats. That’s a major step…but not quite enough.
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
[Tony West] “Things like rights holder information on photos and clips and music is not necessary “inside” the NLE for me. Those are things that need to be organized in the finder. That information is important when it comes to who I owe money to, but when I’m cutting I just need to find the elements quickly.”
But isn’t it easier to find out how much you owe to the various venders when you can easily create selects reels and/or a spreadsheet of all the clips in the timeline broken down by vender? I started using Producers Best Friend (aka Sequence Clip Reporter) years ago and it does in minutes what used to take me hours to do by hand. The more info that’s kept just in the Finder or just in a spread sheet started by a producer means the less info a program like Producers Best Friend can automatically generate for me.
I’m used to working on projects though where the stock/historical media might be inventoried fairly often as opposed to just a few times near the end of the project. For example, on one TV show I was an assistant editor on it was almost a daily occurrence that the APs would need to see all media from Vender X in this episode or all media from Vender Y from that episode.
Even when cutting I find that info useful because inevitably I’ll want search for footage w/o being limited to just folder style organization.
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[Shane Ross] “So, I’m just saying that’s one feature I’d need to consider a switch”
Totally understand. Switching from Avid here in LaLa Land is a tough sell. At least for cutting shows.
That said, I really enjoy working in X these days. I’ve done promos, short comedy segments, a feature and a documentary on X in the last couple of years. It has its quirks, but I really find cutting in X to be fast and flexible. For “rough cuts” that need compositing (like anyone really does a rough cut any more – more like finished cut with temp graphics!) I find X infinitely faster than Avid.
Avid 8.4 (or whatever they’re up to) has really tackled the file-based and large format problem. And I say good for them. It’s been a long time coming. I could happily cut on Avid for years to come. But left to my own devices, I’m really digging X.
Someday, someone is going to crack the revise-and-replace nut. That will be a great day. Until then, over-cutting rules.
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Why not try the Ken Burns effect in FCP X. Ease in/out and right and left motion and also size. Works perfectly.
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[Brian Seegmiller] “Why not try the Ken Burns effect in FCP X. Ease in/out and right and left motion and also size. Works perfectly”
There was specific mention in the article that the Ken Burns effect was used on all the stills, and that it DID NOT translate to Resolve, where they were finishing the show. It would have round-tripped back fine, but they were finishing in Resolve. So they needed to redo all the moves on the stills another way.
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Except when you’re actually do a ken burns type photo montage where you don’t want easing.
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You can turn of the ease in and out if you like.
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[Andrew Kimery] “I started using Producers Best Friend “
I have never used that program so I can’t say, but most of my footage came from a site called critical past.
You can order format or frame rate to fit your timeline. Their search engine was whack but once you found whatever you were looking for it was really great quality. You could just download it.
I would use the temp footage from clips in the timeline to see how they cut and once I was sure, I replaced it with the real footage.
All my clip rights were stored as PDF files in separate folders. I like PDF files, I just like them.
It’s a big deal to know who owns the rights for everything you use of course so I was really diligent about that.
It just wasn’t information I needed in the timeline. I don’t need to know if I paid “The Post-Dispatch” for the still I’m using while I’m cutting.
I don’t even know if I’m going to use the photo or not. When the time comes to go to the public with your film you just need to have all your proof that you paid for everything where you can get your hands on it.
I stuck mostly with stills from the DOE, NRC or other government agencies. If it belonged to the government I knew I didn’t have to pay for it.
News papers made me cough up the cash : )
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