-
Massive P2 imports and suggestions
I’ve barely dealt with P2, but am now helping a feature documentary group import their footage and organize the FCP project before editing.
They are copying the P2 MXF files/folders to a hard drive in the field and this hard drive comes to me. I’m using FCP to load 1 card at a time, import into FCP/Quicktimes to a new drive, and then filing all the clips into folders based on which card they came from.
1) Is there any way to bring in multiple cards in one big batch and retain some note as to the P2 card they came from? I’d love to set it up overnight and let it burn
2) These godawful P2 file names, what’s with that? Adds to the potential for human error!
I’m pretty sure there’s no quick answer. But am hoping someone has a method for batching many hours of P2 into FCP importing.
3) -
6 Replies
-
[CharlieX] “1) Is there any way to bring in multiple cards in one big batch and retain some note as to the P2 card they came from? I’d love to set it up overnight and let it burn”
Yes. After you load one card into the Browser window in the Log and Transfer window, (or P2 Import window on FCP 5.1), just move on to the next card, then the next, then the next. It will load them ALL into the browser window. Then you can import them all at once.
[CharlieX] “2) These godawful P2 file names, what’s with that? Adds to the potential for human error!”
That is to ensure that you don’t have duplicate file names during shooting. Panasonic has “claimed” that you could shoot 10 cameras for 2 years straight and not encounter the same name twice. That claim has been de-bunked by a LOT of us here. I had two clips with the same name on the SAME DAY! Different card, but same day.
You can change the names all you want. And you should anyway. This allows you to see what you have and name it.
You can name them before you import, or after. Up to you. Both work.
Shane
Littlefrog PostGETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD now for sale!
http://www.lfhd.net -
Thanks Shane. I see it adds a REEL name in FCP column. Perfect!
The naming convention seems made up by engineers. If the camera man could type in “Asylum” and then it’d just append a number to each successive clip, a ton of work could be saved.
This is probably a dicey idea: but what about taking an entire roll of clips into a timeline, exporting a QT reference, and bringing that back into to Edit/Subclip? Obviously if anything got lost or corrupt, you’d have a lot of work to do getting back to ground zero, but it might not be such a mess. I can say I’ve NEVER used a QT reference in FCP, just seems like you’re asking for trouble, but has anyone given it a whirl?
-
[CharlieX] “This is probably a dicey idea: but what about taking an entire roll of clips into a timeline, exporting a QT reference, and bringing that back into to Edit/Subclip?”
That would be just about as WRONG of a thing as you can do. Because in doing that, you have broken ALL relation to the original timecode, so if anything happened, you’d be screwed. The P2 footage is already in clips…
[CharlieX] “Obviously if anything got lost or corrupt, you’d have a lot of work to do getting back to ground zero, but it might not be such a mess”
And you WANT more work? KNOWING that it would cause a headache, and doing it anyway? Dunno about that.
No, it isn’t a mess. It just might seem daunting at first. All you need to do is look at the footage, and name it. JUST what you’d do if you were subclipping. You can scrub thru and rename.
Shane
Littlefrog PostGETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD now for sale!
http://www.lfhd.net -
Ha ha. 10-4! I told you I thought it was a bad idea.
-
It’s really not as bad as it first looks, as long as you are using FCP 5.1.4 or later. Log the footage as you would any other footage. You aren’t changing the original metadata of the P2 card, you are just adding new metadata. For the reel names, I am sure to put the card number that it’s from (or whatever folder the RAW p2 footage is in form the original drive). If a card is spanned, I put in both folder names. Believe it or not, FCP is pretty smart about P2 these days. If you ever need to restore the P2 files later and the media is offline, simply load all of the cards using Shane’s method into the log and transfer window, then select all the clips in the browser that you need to reimport and select batch capture. The process at that point is really automatic.
Jeremy
-
Its very easy to work with P2, I love it to be honest. I make extensive use of the description and scene and comments fields. This is where I log all the footage and I leave the clip names as they were. Everytime you put an entry into one of the fields it becomes available via right-click. so for multiple clips you can then select them all and update with a right click of the mouse. you can also sort your clips by these fields and search for all clips making it very easy to find all your GV’s IV’s or Asylum shots.
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up