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So now that we have Libraries, why do we need Events?
I have been playing around with 10.1 over the holiday break.
I haven’t been a ton of real editing, but rather, trying to use all of the different media management options and trying to see what happens with Projects, Events, and Libraries. There’s some great and needed functions. It’s still not perfect, but for the most part, I feel that Libraries are a nice and necessary upgrade.
But I can’t figure out why I would need more than one Event in a Library, unless of course I want an Event that is Projects only.
If I needed an Event with Projects only, can’t this all be done with Keywords and Smart Collections? I can have a Smart Collection to gather my Projects, and Keyword Collections to separate what I would normally separate in Events, and folders to do any further separation in the Browser.
In FCP < 10.1, I used one Event per job and use metadata to keep everything organized. I can still do this in FCPX, but now I have a Library and an Event to twirl down in the Browser.
Now, it seems that clips in the same library can’t be in more than one Event without holding option and copying the clip. But that copy now it’s a new instance. Any annotations I add to that clip in one Event (in the same Library) do not translate to the other instance in the other Event.
This means I can have one clip in a Library with completely separate annotations and uses with no relationship to each other.
Is this a good thing? Why would I use this?
How do you go about using this feature?
If I use one Event in a Library, then why do I need an Event at all?
Jeremy
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58 Replies
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[Jeremy Garchow] “If I use one Event in a Library, then why do I need an Event at all?”
It’s for flexibility with different organizational structures. For example. Let’s say you’re a facility who cuts commercials for many clients. You cut spots for: Coke, Pepsi, and Budweiser.
You have a Library for each client, but you have an event for each separate commercial project that you do for them. This way, you can compartmentalize the clients from each other while still making it easy to share media between commercial spots from within each client’s library.
That’s one use off the top of my head.
Andy
https://www.timesavertutorials.com
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“You have a Library for each client,”
Of course.
[Andy Neil] “but you have an event for each separate commercial project that you do for them.”
But why? If there was no Events, and Projects were able to live in the Library, why wouldn’t I have a Project for every project?
[Andy Neil] “This way, you can compartmentalize the clients from each other while still making it easy to share media between commercial spots from within each client’s library.”
I get the form and function of Libraries. I like them. That’s not what I am asking.
I don’t see why I need a separate Event for every spot I do for Budweiser. I’m not saying it might not be useful, but I am trying to understand how this might be useful. I mean with FCPX’s awesome metadata cataloging, why do I need an Event when I can do the same thing and more all through metadata?
In your example, you’d have a Bud, Coke, and Pepsi Library.
Then, I have Events within each Library that are tied to every spot that I do for them.
What if the spots share media across Events? That means I will have the same clip in many events in one Library. It just seems redundant, no? It adds a level of sort to the Library that separates clips in the same Library.
Jeremy
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[Jeremy Garchow] “If there was no Events, and Projects were able to live in the Library, why wouldn’t I have a Project for every project?”
Forget that FCPX calls “sequences”, “projects. You telling me you’d only have one sequence per commercial or other project? If I have 20 or so sequences for SPOT #1 for Coke and 20 sequences for SPOT#2, this starts to get quite complicated especially when you’re not sharing all your media across all your commercials, but just say the heads and tails which are your brand logo or whatever.
So, without events you have to organize everything with keyword collections, only this becomes problematic when you want to archive SPOT #1, but can’t because it’s inexorably connected to SPOT #2 and all the other commercials you’ve done for Coke. Having an event for SPOT #1 gives just another layer of top-level organization for people.
Some may need it, some may not.
andy
https://www.timesavertutorials.com
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I think the idea is that each Event can be a closed off grouping of footage. This way you could have someone logging material from Location Shoot B, while you’re working footage from Location Shoot A. Then, when that material is logged and ready, the editor can be sent an XML of that Event to add to the overall Project Library (with footage already located on common networked storage).
It’s a lot less likely to cause problems when integrating new footage then being sent a new currentversion.event file, or trying to merge Events.
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[Andy Neil] “You telling me you’d only have one sequence per commercial or other project?”
It depends on what needs to happen, but yes. Typically, there’s one sequence per output. Even if there’s multiple outputs per spot, I usually have one sequence for them. If a commercial gets 20 different tags, I make 20 sequences.
[Andy Neil] “So, without events you have to organize everything with keyword collections, only this becomes problematic when you want to archive SPOT #1”
Select all 20 Spot #1 Projects
FIle > Copy Projects to Library > New Library
Make a new Library called SPOT #1 Archive.
Choose to include Optimized or Proxy media. Consolidate media in to the new Library and archive it.
[Andy Neil] “Having an event for SPOT #1 gives just another layer of top-level organization for people. “
But why can’t this be done with a collection? Today, you can copy Events just like I outlined above. What if instead of Events, you could do it with a collection? Whole Projects can also be keyworded now so they could be part of the Collection just like they are now part of Events.
I just see the Events as (perhaps) an unnecessary separation of media in a Library.
Jeremy
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[Marcus Moore] “I think the idea is that each Event can be a closed off grouping of footage.”
That is absolutely the idea, and the idea I am having trouble with. It is almost like bringing back bins, and I was kind of happy to be rid of bins.
[Marcus Moore] “This way you could have someone logging material from Location Shoot B, while you’re working footage from Location Shoot A.”
Only one person can be working on a Library at any given time. So, in this scenario, we are working in two libraries anyway.
[Marcus Moore] “Then, when that material is logged and ready, the editor can be sent an XML of that Event to add to the overall Project Library (with footage already located on common networked storage).”
Why not just send the whole library and ‘merge’ the libraries? Or send an XML of the clips as a collection instead of an Event?
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[Jeremy Garchow] “Select all 20 Spot #1 Projects
FIle > Copy Projects to Library > New Library
Make a new Library called SPOT #1 Archive.”
Sure you can do it the way you describe. You can also do it the way I describe. I think it’s a good idea for the program to be a little more flexible for how different people think and or want to organize. I for one hate the idea of putting 20 spots inside one sequence.
I don’t think events have to be necessary in that they are needed to specifically perform a function that can’t be done in any other way. Folders aren’t necessary in the event/collection paradigm, but they make things easier for some people and the way they like to work.
Andy
https://www.timesavertutorials.com
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Isn’t it:
Library -> Event -> Project
Bin -> Folder -> Sequence?
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More
Library -> Event -> Project
Project -> Bin -> Sequence (i.e. folders are optional, events are not but possibly should be)With more custom searching capabilities but less flexibility
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Ah, ok, cheers. So inside an Event can you also have folders as well as projects and keyword collections – like you could have folders in the Projects pane before to put the projects/sequences in?
So if the Event is a bin then inside that we can organise as we wish? or is it that inside the Event/Bin we are limited to keyword collections and Projects/sequences.
Cheers
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