Musings on FCPX’s most powerful feature.

[Franz Bieberkopf]

[Charlie Austin] “Explain how that works.”

Charlie,

I certain won’t speak for all here, but sequence-based editing tends to be subtractive rather than additive – at least in the initial stage. So selects are made by removing the unwanted rather than adding the desired.

It’s different than using the viewer – because it’s all in one place at the same time.

Franz.

[David Lawrence]

[Charlie Austin] “Explain how that works. say I’ve got a spot I’m cutting in a sequence. So I open another timeline?, drag my 2 hour source into it,”

Yep.

[Charlie Austin] “drag the playhead to an in point and… then what?”

Whatever you want. Add a marker, select a range, set I/O, whatever.

[Charlie Austin] “i guess I don’t get it, but how’s that different from using the viewer?”

It’s in a timeline. You have space to play around. You can easily skim and edit all in the same place. Doesn’t matter how long the clips or finished sequence. Works great for me.

_______________________
David Lawrence
art~media~design~research
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[Charlie Austin]

[Franz Bieberkopf] “It’s different than using the viewer – because it’s all in one place at the same time”

[David Lawrence] “It’s in a timeline. You have space to play around. You can easily skim and edit all in the same place. Doesn’t matter how long the clips or finished sequence. Works great for me.”

😉

————————————————————-

~”It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.”~

[David Lawrence]

[Charlie Austin] ”

;-)”

LOL! Try it! You’ll like it!

_______________________
David Lawrence
art~media~design~research
propaganda.com
publicmattersgroup.com
facebook.com/dlawrence
twitter.com/dhl

[Bill Davis]

Have we revealed a schism in the church of pro editing?

It sounds like some editors here are “Preparationists” who spend significant time working with their source material before they hit the timeline.

And there’s another class of “Reductionists” who are most comfortable tossing the maximum amount of material into the timeline – treating it essentially as a large scratch pad, then eliminating material until they reveal their preferred edit “in situ.”

Both approaches appear to be perfectly reasonable to me. Just different approaches to the same problems.

Makes me wonder (particularly noticing that some of the loudest voices traditionally arguing here against the X approach – appear to be pretty reductionist by leaning) whether part of the resistance is that X flies a bit more in the face of the reductionist view than a preparationist approach?

(BTW, I know it’s no where near as simple as this is making it sound. But it’s still kinda interesting!)

Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.

[Neil Goodman]

Ive used timelines in the past as bins pulling selects, multiclips, syncmaps,marking etc, but would always copy paste to an empty timeline. I like to start with a empty slate and i feel like id be constant,ly wrestling with other clips on the timeline but to each his own. Whatever gets the job done.

Neil Goodman: Editor of New Media Production – NBC/Universal

[David Lawrence]

[Neil Goodman] “I like to start with a empty slate and i feel like id be constant,ly wrestling with other clips on the timeline but to each his own. Whatever gets the job done.”

I work that way too. What’s nice is you can name each sequence and have them all at your fingertips in tabs.

_______________________
David Lawrence
art~media~design~research
propaganda.com
publicmattersgroup.com
facebook.com/dlawrence
twitter.com/dhl

[Sandeep Sajeev]

Charlie,

That’s what I thought as well. So not sure what Bill means. I use X almost exclusively for offline now, and I find that Skimming, Ranges, Keywording and Smart Collections are what make the biggest difference in speed for me.

Not having to patch Audio Tracks is also great, when I sit on Smoke to finish, this drives me up the wall now.

But the actual process of constructing a scene/montage/film is pretty much the same, with some random terminology thrown in.

Sandeep.

[Nick Meyers]

i use the timeline as a rushes preview & select area.

i edit mainly long form drama, some long form doc.

rushes for a scene are put in a timeline.
i watch the rushes, marking bits i like.
those parts get promoted to V2 & whatever audio tracks (I use a macro to do this, one keystroke and it;s done)

when i have made all my selects, i select all on v2, and edit them all to the end of the timeline (drag/drop into canvas)

now i have a library of “best moments” which i copy and work with.
during the edit, if we ever need to look for other shots, or moments, this library is first port of call, and usually has went we need.
if it doesn’t, i can instantly see way HASNT been selected as all my V2 clips are still in place,
and i can search again.

i can’t stand having to click open each clip just to view & select.
much prefer being able to “skim”
i haven’t used X yet, but the skimming sounds good.

nick

nick

[David Lawrence]

[Bill Davis] “Have we revealed a schism in the church of pro editing?

It sounds like some editors here are “Preparationists” who spend significant time working with their source material before they hit the timeline.

And there’s another class of “Reductionists” who are most comfortable tossing the maximum amount of material into the timeline – treating it essentially as a large scratch pad, then eliminating material until they reveal their preferred edit “in situ.”

I think you’re on to something, Bill.

Back when tape ruled, I’d log and select during capture. As storage got cheaper, I moved to capturing whole tapes at a time and I think my work style evolved out of having these whole tapes as single clips. Much easier to throw them on a timeline and start prepping there. With tapeless, I now do the same with the card files. Sequences became my main log, prep and scratchpad space and I continue to use them that way.

I’m editing throughout the prep process so for me, it’s not so much about “carving away” as it is carving, collecting, building piles and gradually sculpting the piece into shape. It’s feels very fluid and organic.

It’s different than say an “organize and assemble” approach, which I think FCPX supports especially well.

I don’t think one way is better than the other – both are a matter of personal style and production need.

Interesting line of thought, thanks!

_______________________
David Lawrence
art~media~design~research
propaganda.com
publicmattersgroup.com
facebook.com/dlawrence
twitter.com/dhl