Tracks and Primaries: Question for FCPX Users

[Mark Morache]

[Franz Bieberkopf] “do you feel like you’re going against the grain of the software here, or is it really just the mechanics of dealing with the assumed hierarchy”

I don’t feel like I’m going against the grain of the software at all. They make it very easy to pull and push a clip from/into the primary storyline. I figure it’s there for a reason, so I tried making use of it.

For example, if I want to cover up the last 10 seconds of a soundbite on the primary, I can easily set the in-point of the range, the out-point will be set to the end of the clip, and then I hit Q to connect the clip. Now because I like to keep things in the primary as much as I can, I select the connected clip, and push it down into the primary storyline. This will automatically create an L-cut with the interview, with the audio of the soundbite extending under the b-roll. Now I have the freedom to use my keys to set the in and out points to edit a small sequence of shots in the space that I put the b-roll. I can replace ranges and mix the shots up to my hearts content.

My other reasons for lifting/overwriting has to do with pecularities of the interface. Since you can’t “slip” a clip without affecting the connected clips, sometimes I lift a clip, slip it, then overwrite it back to the primary. Likewise, I can’t “roll” to extend a clip, to the end of the clip it’s next to. It will always leave one frame of a clip, (or a zero-length piece of gap). Here’s where someone suggested that I lift, then extend, then overwrite to extend the end of a clip thereby replacing clips around it.

I expect that the one-frame remnant and the slipping issues will be taken care of in a future build of FCX.

———
FCX. She tempts me, abuses me, beats me up, makes me feel worthless, then in the end she comes around, helps me get my work done, gives me hope and I can’t stop thinking about her.

Mark Morache
Avid/Xpri/FCP7/FCX
Evening Magazine,Seattle, WA
https://fcpx.wordpress.com

[Thomas Frank]

[Franz Bieberkopf] “How do you decide what your Primary Storyline is? Does it change through your process?”

Hmm my quick answer would be no different then FCP7
Storyline = Track 1
No change on my side.

[John Moffat]

As a alternative technique you can still use the play head as an “in point” to perform a 3 point edit directly into a secondary storyline. As well as using the range select tool to set in and out in a secondary. You also use the timeline index to mark I&O on any clip to perform a replace edit.

Not as efficient as using I & O keys by any means but there are still options.

[Franz Bieberkopf]

Thomas,

Thanks, but it does lead to the question of how you treated V1 in FCP7.

Is it just another track (among many) or did you use it in ways you didn’t use other tracks?

Franz.

[Tom Wolsky]

For me V1 was the primary video track. Most of the program was laid out on that track. Trimming was much easier when clips were in line. the other tracks were used primarily for B-roll, cutaways, titles, effects. I rarely got above four or five video tracks. If I did for any effect I’d usually comp them into a nest.

All the best,

Tom

Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP7,” “Basic Training for FCS” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”
Coming in 2012 “Complete Training for FCPX” from Class on Demand
“Final Cut Pro X for iMovie and Final Cut Express Users” from Focal Press

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Jeremy Garchow] “I’ll post a pic of the timeline on Monday.”

Here’s a timeline of the organization of one scene from my current project.

fcp7_organization.png

It’s fine, it’s works, it allows decent access to all the takes. Each one of those markers up top signifies different lines of dialog, I can right click on the top of the timeline and choose which marker from a drop down (or I can right click in the canvas time indicator) which helps when I need to find/search for different lines/variations.

But, this would be different in FCPX.

In X, I would have all of this organization in the Event. The Project would be the “Best” takes in audition clips below it (essentially, the edit)

This means I can watch selects and quickly add them to a timeline without having to go back and forth between two timelines as I will now in FCP7. So, in essence, I actually find it a bit better in X as I have more of a birds eye view of both the selects and the edit at once and can easily jump back and forth. It’s rather fluid, although it does work differently and therefore takes a bit of getting used to.

I believe this is one of the ways FCPX is designed to work. In order to gain access to a lot of footage at once, we almost have to use timelines in FCP7 to gather all selects as the browser only shows us one clip at time via the Viewer (which you view by double clicking each clip), and have them all string out in a timeline with no reference to what’s in the “Edited” timeline. In FCPX, I can skim a whole batch of organized selects in the browser, or skim what’s on my timeline really easily and quickly and always see the relationship between the two. I know I am in the minority in this regard, but I do find FCPX to help me get a more encompassing view of my footage (both edited and selects) in fairly short order with minimal fuss/double-clicking/copying/pasting. I find this helps the creative process, but what do I know? 🙂

I know this doesn’t have to do with Tracks vs Storylines per se, but I thought I’d throw it out there anyway as I read your other post about how you use timelines in FCP7, Franz.

To me, FCPX defines the relationship of your clips very differently from any other NLE in both organization in the Event and on the timeline in Projects. I welcome it. Yes, it’s needs a great deal of fine tuning for timeline actions (Mark’s example of rolling a clip and keeping the connected clip in place is a fine example of that), but those types of fixes can be made and I believe will mature over time as long as we send feedback to Apple.

Jeremy

[Steve Connor]

[Jeremy Garchow] “In FCPX, I can skim a whole batch of organized selects in the browser, or skim what’s on my timeline really easily and quickly and always see the relationship between the two. I know I am in the minority in this regard, but I do find FCPX to help me get a more encompassing view of my footage (both edited and selects) in fairly short order with minimal fuss/double-clicking/copying/pasting. I find this helps the creative process, but what do I know? :)”

For me this is part of the core advantage of FCPX, this is the part I find the most exciting but also something that is hard to get across without using FCPX in a real world situation.

Steve Connor
“FCPX Agitator”
Adrenalin Television

[Franz Bieberkopf]

Thanks Jeremy – I think that’s interesting as it relates to how you would work in FCPX with the same material.

What I immediately react to, however, is the inability to see certain relationships in the browser (or “event”) that you can see in a timeline.

I have an example that is similar (I think) to your process of selection. Here is a timeline from a performance short (dance) that I did last year. It was a single camera shoot with playback, multiple takes. Note that this timeline is selects only (one iteration after raw sync).

What I have here is relationships of coverage that I think would be impossible to see in a browser.

I actually approach most material in a similar manner so what is true for me here (performance to playback) is also true for scripted performance and to a certain degree unscripted material.

Franz.

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Steve Connor] “For me this is part of the core advantage of FCPX, this is the part I find the most exciting but also something that is hard to get across without using FCPX in a real world situation.”

I agree. It seems to me the part that Apple really spent a lot of time on is really defining the relationship of your footage to the edit. Yes, it’s not perfect (with the project bloat and other oddities) but all of that “bugginess” can and hopefully will be fixed. There are certain higher level functions (reconnect/interchange/connection-with-the-outside-world) that are simply not there yet. It’s still very early. Some of the timeline functions can and probably will change over time. I can understand how people might not trust Apple at the moment and understandably so, but from my perspective, I am OK with this exploration.

At first blush, there are certain aspects of FCPX that make things “easier” or as some might say “not professional” there are other aspects that make things more creative, even if the process is a bit easier to execute. I am OK with creativity. We, as professionals will spend time leveraging that creativity. There are also other things that aren’t quite as easy and you have to think about it a little bit, which is what this thread is about, really. Nice work, Franz. You brought up a great question.

Jeremy

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Franz Bieberkopf] “What I immediately react to, however, is the inability to see certain relationships in the browser (or “event”) that you can see in a timeline.”

You are right, FCPX can’t do everything quite yet (the lack of sync markers would probably kill this project right away).

As an aside, multicam is coming. We don’t know exactly what this is going to be, but my hunch is that it is going to allow to watch multiple angles/tracks/whatever, at once from the browser.

Right now, the way that you have that organized, you could actually still use a timeline in X, but that timeline would be in a compound clip in the Event (which is skimmable). Of course, you might have to “Open in Timeline” to see the different stacked takes that you have there in your FCP7 timeline. So it will be a bit of back and forth, similar to FCP7 now, but you will be able to skim that “collapsed” clip in the Event, and still have your Project open at the bottom. If you need to see another clip from it, you’d open in timeline and Enable/Disable what you need.

So yes, FCPX might not lend itself to this right at this moment, but my hunch is that it will.

You could also work something out with Audition clips the way you have it stacked now. Which means that you have one timeline with all of your clips in it, and you’d simply choose which angle to view. I’m hoping this will get even easier with multicam as you’d be able to watch multiple takes at once if you’d like, in context of the overall edit.

A question for you:

In your timeline example. Will that be the final length of the timeline (more or less)? Meaning, if it’s a performance, you will probably have one long audio/guide track correct? I understand that you might trim some fat from the middle somewhere, but more or less the beginning/middle/end of your timeline
is the beginning/middle/end of the finished piece?