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Serious X Editing for Speed
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[Herb Sevush] “So at some point you have to make a decision as to what is to stay and what is to go – with Ppro I tend to do it before I move anything, with X you do it after the move.”
A lot of times I don’t have to do it at all after. The audio becomes a cross fade leading in from whatever new position I placed it in.
His examples are great but they are only dealing with one video clip and sound below.
I’m often moving multiple video elements also. Like the b-roll that goes with the person talking and the font that is over the person talking.
I might have 10 layers of video along with all of that audio that I am moving at once. It’s a snap because you are only grabbing one clip that everything else is connected to. Not having to select all of those elements before you move them.
I just prefer to grab one thing and move 20 at a time, than selecting 20 and then moving them.
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The issues I have with moving clips around with a lot of dependent connected clips are these.
1) Often you spend more time moving the connecting points to attach them to the desired clip before a move is viable, than simply moving them the PPro way, or using copy/delete/past insert on any system.
2) There is no “move to” function. For example, if you want to move a clip 10 min. down on a long-form timeline, managing the timeline movement while dragging the clip is quite unwieldy.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
I made the switch from FCP 7 to X a while back. I am a generalist and do not look for free lance gigs as an editor nor do I devote the majority of my time to editing. I like being in production more than editing.
I find that X, after the initial learning curve, is a joy for rough cuts. I like having connection points and find I can experiment on the timeline faster than I was able to do in 7 without getting things out of sync or results which were not my intent. In 7, I needed to concentrate harder on each individual edit.
But once I have my rough cut finished, I find the opposite is true. I start thinking about X’s interface and overlapping connected clips and the different rules for the secondary vs the primary timelines and what should I compound and is that the best option. ETC. What I did for the previous project doesn’t necessarily work for the this one.That said: I liked the 3 way color in 7 but am now very comfortable with color in X. Love the transform tool in FCP X. Gotten used to X’s key framing ability with audio and visual. A bit tough ergonomically but the auto key frames are cool but at times feel hit or miss.
Now I’ve worked with editors that were full time pro editors and watched them touch type there way through edits at will, whatever they imagined they created quickly both in 7 and AVID. I’m sure there are X editors who are like that.
In my mind, I would love a marriage of these two approaches: magnetism, connection points but (like the position tool) have the option to organize elements in tracks.
Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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[Herb Sevush] “Just went back and re-read your original post and now I have to apologize and say that I read stuff into it that you didn’t actually say. It read into it that you were making claims when you were actually discussing the subjective experience. My bad. I have a lot of long exports today and too much time on my hands.”
Absolutely no problem at all. I’ve done the very same thing in the past.
All is good.
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[Oliver Peters] “2) There is no “move to” function. For example, if you want to move a clip 10 min. down on a long-form timeline, managing the timeline movement while dragging the clip is quite unwieldy.”
Select clip(s).
Type “+10 period period enter”
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[Oliver Peters] “Often you spend more time moving the connecting points to attach them to the desired clip before a move is viable”
I don’t really find this the case for me. I would say that anyone having problems with connected clips in X should avoid X all together IMHO The entire TL is based on connected clips.
[Oliver Peters] “managing the timeline movement while dragging the clip is quite unwieldy.
“I don’t really have trouble with this either. I like how that blue line pops up in the timeline as if to say “are you trying to put that here?” As soon as that line come up I just release the group of clips and they pop right in. I don’t even have to be that close to it.
It’s funny, the entire timeline is based on you being able to swap clips around easily. That’s the whole point of it. It’s almost like saying, the thing about a school bus is it’s too hard to load kids on it : )
I guess it’s in the eye of each editor. It’s the whole reason I started really looking at X
In my first project with it I wasn’t really sold. The client wanted a lot of shots swaped around and after doing that, I started really liking it.
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With any edit software I find the greatest speed difference is the operator not the software. Familiarity, learned shortcuts and technique seem more important but software does make a difference but I think less significant from my observations. These very forums so often remind me that complaints about how inefficient software is usually results in someone saying do this, hit this key combo etc so often it is the operator who just hasn’t found the best way to drive it.
Sometimes I don’t want to go fast but as long as the software can and will when I want to then fine. I do hate repetitive or redundant keystrokes so all I will say is that all NLEs that I have seen using mouse & keyboards are inherently less ergonomic and slower than using a dedicated controller.
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[Jeremy Garchow] “Type “+10 period period enter””
Nope. Doesn’t work at all and in fact that function seems to be broken. When I just now tried that on a test project, instead of shifting an exact 1 min. (the value entered) it only shifted it 1 sec. And it did this as a trim, by overwriting the clip afterwards and extending the preceding clip. Not “magnetically” by swapping clip order.
In any case, that’s not what I want it to do. I’m not trying to move the clip an exact 10 min. I was only using the example to say I’m moving it into a slot about 10 min. later. It’s irrelevant what the exact interval is. I’m trying to use the magnetic function to move the position of a clip or clip with connected clips, which I find valuable at short distances and useless at long distances.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
[Michael Gissing] “With any edit software I find the greatest speed difference is the operator not the software.”
That’s not universally true when one application has specific features that greatly improve productivity of a given task over another application. For example, let’s say I have a 30 min. informercial program with a “call to action” phone number graphic that appears periodically through out the program. Let’s say 20 times. Now let’s assume that I have to make alternative versions of the program, each with a different phone number. In Premiere, once I’ve created the phone number variations, to change the number is a simple as selecting the title clip in the bin, selecting all the phone number clips in the sequence and choose “replace from bin”. All 20 instances are instantly updated. That sort of feature is a significant time savings and has nothing to do with the operator.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
[Bill Davis] “Believe that I’m honest and that I’m reporting actual personal experience. Or believe that I’m so besotted with X that I have lost track of how to use a calendar, clock, or read the start and stop timestamps on my FCP X projects. “
I choose the latter. . .
. . . just kidding.
Right.
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