multicam PROJECTS?

[Jeremy Garchow]

Multi cams are clips.

You can edit them in a Project, then being the edit on to new libraries.

[Kyrina Bluerose]

Sorry, I don’t follow. Maybe it’s because I’m inexperienced or I just don’t know how to ask.

For the new music video, I made a project of B-roll using multicam editing with clips to pick out the best parts, color, effects, some cool transitions. I have a “C-roll” of similar but different, and a couple other projects. I’d like to somehow import those projects into my main project, (parallel, synch with audio) so I can pick and choose from them into the main timeline, without having to open, copy, close, open, paste.

So my question is – is there a multi-project editing process?

THANK YOU

[Jeremy Garchow]

I see what you’re saying.

I think the best thing to do would be to make multi clips, but you may be too far down the road. Keep it mind for next time as multi clips are one clip with all the angles in it.

I think for now, the easiest thing to do would be to compound each Project, edit those compound clips in to a new Project, and then break apart the compound clips in the new Project to give you access to the clips back.

To break apart compound clips, select the clip and choose Clip > Break Apart Items which is also Command-shift-g

[Kyrina Bluerose]

thank you. Yes, I am using multicam clips in most of those projects. There were just way too many clips to work with to multicam them all, so it seemed to make logical sense to make a project with each group, and then make the final product using “highlight reel” from the others. I’m sure macprovideo will have tutorials about wrangling all the data, workflow, bins, etc. I’m still at the point I’m trying to make the program do what I want it to do, since I don’t yet best know how to work within the program!

[Joe Marler]

[Kyrina Bluerose] “…There were just way too many clips to work with to multicam them all, so it seemed to make logical sense to make a project with each group, and then make the final product using “highlight reel” from the others….I’m still at the point I’m trying to make the program do what I want it to do, since I don’t yet best know how to work within the program!”

I’ve done documentaries with over 150 multicam interviews and many other multicam b-roll sequences. In general don’t use projects (aka sequences) as an organizational tool. It’s better to use favorites, rejects and keywords on the MC clips themselves, not on the parent clips. In fact after making the MC clips it’s best to reject all the parent clips and always have the viewer in “Hide Rejected” mode.

This greatly de-clutters the Event Browser and avoids accidentally using a parent clip in the timeline, which then requires manual back-tracking to find that range in the MC clip.

There is a limitation in the current FCPX keywording/rating system for MC clips in that you can’t state what camera angle. You assign a keyword or rating to a clip range, which may include multiple angles. However to most editors it will be visually obvious why that range on a MC clip was marked.

The Event Browser cannot display clips in a specific order, so it can’t be used as a “string out” substitute. However you can easily define various “highlight reels” by using keywords on various clip ranges. Then those reels can be added to a project in whatever order you want, and the clip order re-adjusted.

The overall goal is do as much of your organizing within the Event Browser as possible, then (and only then) start adding content to a timeline. Don’t begin your organizing by dumping a bunch of stuff on several timelines and copying between them.