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Suggestions for organizing my footage
I am working on editing a bunch of aerial footage we shot throughout our state and I was hoping someone had some tips for me on how to organize my clips in Final Cut, since they are going to be used over and over again. We have about 14 1-hour HDcam tapes that were digitized into 14 QuickTime files.
1. Should import all of the 14 QuickTime files into my Final Cut Project or should I start a new project for each of the files?
2. How should I identify each new location in each QuickTime file on my timeline (for example I have placed my QuickTime file from Tape 3 on my timeline and this file has footage of a dam, a river, a mountain range, etc. that I want to identify so that when someone from our office needs a shot of a particular location I can easily find it. What is the best way to cut these clips and “name” them their proper location so it is easy for me to look-up and find? Should cut the clip into locations and then paste the clip into a new sequence for each location and name the sequence?)
3. I guess an easier way to put this is how to I “log” this QuickTime file that contains various locations so I can find the appropriate clip I need easily?
I hope this makes sense!
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2 Replies
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I have been trying to find a way to attach metadata to all my clips and I finally realized that the people who design file formats seem to have completely forgot to allow for metadata.
Anyways, the only real way to attach metadata to the clips is in the file names. I have been naming my files with as much info as possible. I also have the date on the front.
Here is an example.
20081031-cessna-172-first-lesson-new-jersey-cloudy-windy.mov
You can use tags on a Mac but the metadata does not transcend the computer. If a file gets ftp’d somewhere the metadata is gone.
Anyways, I am interested in other replies. I am still trying to figure this stuff out!
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I would not have digitized the entire tape as a single clip. It saves time on the front end, but later its a pain. I would have logged each shot or series of shots in one location as a single clip. After a tape is logged, perform a batch capture, then you don’t have to worry about how to label multiple shots/locations in one larger clip. I would have labeled each clip something like this:
Tape#_Location_description of shot_shot#
If knowing what tape they came from isn’t needed, then I’d leave off the tape #.
Mike Johnson
Final Cut Pro Editor
Drury Outdoors
http://www.druryoutdoors.com
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