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FCPx in local TV
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[Andy Neil] “If you have time to drag and drop, you can organize with keyword collections.”
I think a lot of people miss this bit of info. Dropping a clip on a keyword collection tags it. Once you have the collection, it’s about as easy as dragging to a bin. Often, if you’re marking in and outs for any purpose it can be as little as a keystroke to tag that.
My own hunch is that Apple is going to be extending the management side of this further on the server/san side of things. Just a hunch but it just “screams” for that sort of capability given the metadata capabilities. Good large library management would be a great feature.
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The deliverable will be onto Freeview (DVB-T) which I believe is MPEG-4. I believe the idea is to used dedicated transcoding hardware. As this is a startup, and if FCPx is the chosen option, the other components will be built around this.
Ben
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Ben Edwards – Freelance Filmmaker
https://www.funkytwig.com -
Are you saying with AVCHD everything is not transcoded into ProRes. Apples’s ProRes fetish is my main issue. If I understand correctly the ProRess ingesting has to be finished before the final project is output.
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Ben Edwards – Freelance Filmmaker
https://www.funkytwig.com -
I’ve ingested AVCHD and haven’t bothered to transcode. You don’t have to transcode to ProRes. Not even in the background . . . assuming a reasonably fast system.
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It’s a very good point that keywording is a simple as drag and drop. The hard part is a keywording system which get created, then consistently used, by the multiple users in a broadcast facility. You’ve got Photogs cutting packs, you’ve got producers cutting packs, you’ve got anyone who happens to be on staff covering the weekend cutting packs and stories – unless one person comes up with the system to use, it will become a nightmare in a matter of days.
Case in point – the database used to log news stories for playback had keywords in it. In their skewed, knee-jerk logic (or lack thereof), the News producers called the first instance of the story “Hanover Robbery”. As soon as a suspect in the robbery was nabbed, the story, and clips were called “John Doe Suspect”, with no reference at all the “Hanover Robbery”.
While it’s all a nice thought, remember that this is a News department, used to running around like chickens with their heads cut of, and, as soon as a story airs, flushing their brains, so they have no thought in mind except what the next story is going to be. And don’t even talk about having an archivist (which is exactly what is needed to develop a good, usable keywords system). They use interns for producers half the time. The only big budget is for the News Director, Assistant News Director, and Chief Photog. Anyone else can make more at McDonalds.
Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media
http://www.bourkemedia.com -
Craig Seeman – “I think a lot of people miss this bit of info. Dropping a clip on a keyword collection tags it.”
Not to be contentious, but I think many of those people you think “miss” simply require more data that the system, as it exist, will allow. Attaching an “interview” or “broll” moniker to a clip is handy, but a far cry from the amount of information needed to create a practical database of searchable footage. That being said, I agree that Apple realizes the need when they state partnerships with companies like Square Box. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, they have deemed it necessary to pitch their history in exchange for their vision.
One of the very important aspects of starting a data system such as this is being able to anticipate the future needs of such data. Kinda hard to plan for this when the company you deal with refuses to give provide any sort of a roadmap for doing so. Perhaps, in time they will, and those who are just starting up will benefit greatly, but… in the meantime it would seem Apple has put themselves in the position that experience should be penalized. Guess that’s one way of “leveling the playing field” to create a broader market. Totally legal in business. Ethically questionable, but who really thinks that “business ethics” hasn’t become an oxymoron, in this day and age?
Marvin Holdman
Production Manager
Tourist Network
8317 Front Beach Rd, Suite 23
Panama City Beach, Fl
phone 850-234-2773 ext. 128
cell 850-585-9667
skype username – vidmarv -
I was the chief editor for the Fox affiliate in San Diego from 2000-2007. In that time I oversaw the use and integration of both Avid and FCP edit bays, 7 years of news and stock footage archives for a facility that was one of the first news operations in the country who operated with a tapeless to air workflow. I think I know a little bit about the issue asked by the OP.
I say this so you know my suggestions regarding the FCPX database are not suggestions in ignorance. I know EXACTLY how a news operation works and I still believe, FCPX can be a valuable asset in that workflow (depending on whether it can overcome the issues I stated above).
[Joseph W. Bourke] “News producers called the first instance of the story “Hanover Robbery”. As soon as a suspect in the robbery was nabbed, the story, and clips were called “John Doe Suspect”,”
That happens everywhere, but it also has very little to do with what I was talking about. The news stories themselves (written, not video) as well as connection to their respective airchecks were archived in our iNews system. We also had an independent search engine that could parse the iNews database an return stories to users which would give date and aircheck info based on simple boolean keyword searches.
What I was talking about was the creation of a stock footage library which is very necessary in the cutting of news. Generic footage of city buildings, police, money, locations, etc. in which many news stories rely upon. That kind of database, controlled and maintained by the edit staff themselves can be easily created, and organized. I did that myself with the help of my staff of 9 editors. We came up with a system and stuck to it (more or less). It wasn’t all that difficult.
And having a sports system with collections containing plays and players over the course of a season is not only doable, but an excellent way to quickly access shots for a daily broadcast.
You talk about how difficult a proposition it is to do something like this when you have Photogs and producers cutting packages, but the problems you mention are the exact same issue you have with tape based archives, except for one thing. If someone forgets to put a clip into a keyword collection in FCPX, you can still find that clip in the event, or events, or search with metadata automatically created upon injest. What do you do when a reporter or producer decides to hide a tape on their desk?
Andy
https://www.timesavertutorials.com
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“I’ve ingested AVCHD and haven’t bothered to transcode. You don’t have to transcode to ProRes. Not even in the background . . . assuming a reasonably fast system.”
OK, I thought FCPx did this automatically.
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Ben Edwards – Freelance Filmmaker
https://www.funkytwig.com -
[Marvin Holdman] “Not to be contentious, but I think many of those people you think “miss” simply require more data that the system, as it exist, will allow. Attaching an “interview” or “broll” moniker to a clip is handy, but a far cry from the amount of information needed to create a practical database of searchable footage.”
I agree. I would never keyword like that. It’s very easy to create keywords specific to people, events, locations. FCPX is especially good at using multiple keywords for a single clip as well. What’s missing is better facility level management features and I would think (hope) that that’s on the way.
[Marvin Holdman] “One of the very important aspects of starting a data system such as this is being able to anticipate the future needs of such data. Kinda hard to plan for this when the company you deal with refuses to give provide any sort of a roadmap for doing so.”
One would hope that they would at least say, we’re developing server level management for all that metadata. I don’t know if revealing that would give competitors and advantage, knowing that was in the works.
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Andy,
Thanks a lot for that. Archiving is defiantly a bit issue and the workflow/technologies needs to cater for this, and I guess in some ways the size of the station is not relevant. I guess being ably to quickly find cutaways is the key thing here.
Lots to think about,
Ben—
Ben Edwards – Freelance Filmmaker
https://www.funkytwig.com
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