Workflow for 2 people anylysing and clipping interview material?

[Jeff Greenberg]

[Mark Dobson] “I presumably would still copy the interview media onto the laptop which also has FCP X on it.”

Yup, just copy any events into the Final Cut Events on a drive. Make sure it has the NAME.fcpevent and the Original Media folder.

[Mark Dobson] “Can she then create an event that can be emailed or transferred?”

I’m pretty sure that if you grabs the Folder with the name from the Final Cut Projects, that can be emailed. You probably don’t need the render files that are in there. it’s the folder + the NAME.fcproject file.

[Mark Dobson] “How does one create subclips?”
Closest I’ve been able to get is to select parts of clips and either Favorite or keyword them.
Then create a smart collection of the favorites or keywords

Best,

Jeff G

Apple Master Trainer | Avid Cert. Instructor DS/MC | Adobe Cert. Instructor
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[Mark Dobson]

Hey Jeff that’s great,thanks.

What I’ve discovered is that as long as the same media folder is copied onto the laptop I simply create an event, import the relevant files with the ‘copy files to Final Cut Events Folder’ left unchecked.

I then select parts of the interview, keyword and favorite it and work through the interview. Once finished I drag the event from Final Cut Events in the movie folder on the laptop and email it back.

Once that Event is placed in the Final Cut Events in the Movie folder on the editing computer and FCP X is restarted it appears with the media missing symbol – then all you have to do is import the files and it all works!

My only concern is that here I am trying to recreate old FCP 7 workflows when I should be learning new ones.

Mark Dobson
Producer and Director
Alembic TV
http://www.alembic.tv

[Bob Pierce]

To me this is one of the greatest shortcomings of X. If you’re the kind of editor who just skims over clips and bangs them into the timeline, great. If you need to carefully review footage and make copious notes, not so good.

The only way to log footage in X is through keywords (creating what we used to call “subclips”), which can then be brought into keyword collections (this would be the “bin”). OK, fine, but then go to view the keyword collection and you’re faced with the choice of either seeing the clip keyframe (with no information), or in list view, a listing of clip names with the all important keywords hidden. You have to manually, one at a time, click the little triangle to see your notes. Did they ever talk to editors before they designed this thing?

Proponents will say that keywords are infinitely flexible, but editing is visual – if I can’t view my logging info what good is it? If it’s going to be a usable program the must be addressed.
Bob

Director of Photography • Editor
http://www.lightstreamassociates.com

[Geoff Dills]

My sense this is where smart collections come in. Seems a bit backwards to work this way, but once you see the power it will make sense. The beauty of this is the collections are dynamic, as you add keyframes to clips, they pop up in the appropriate smart collections.

Best,
Geoff

[Bob Pierce]

Nope, doesn’t work.

Smart collection is a search tool, which is fine for creating a list of keywords. Keywords are great for classifying things, which is fine for basic organization, such as separating b roll from interviews say. But if you want to apply information to a specific range on a clip that is unique and easily viewed you are out of luck. If you’re logging an interview say, and someone says “FCPX is a debacle”, you can enter that phrase as a keyword, which is searchable, but so what? I want to be able, at a glance, to review all the notes from an interview. Databases are fine, but that’s not how you edit a film – at least not me.

I’ve literally spent a week obsessed with this problem, and I’m kind of amazed that it can’t be done. In the info viewer – nope, the metadata has a gazillion options, none of which is keyword. I the timeline – nope. In the “Notes” field of the event browser – nope, that applies a note to the entire clip. I keep trying because I simply can’t believe anyone would design an editing program that doesn’t do this. Incredible.

Director of Photography • Editor
http://www.lightstreamassociates.com

[Mark Dobson]

I’m with you there Bob. In Fcp 7 I have a bin for each interviewee, I can create subclips, colour code them, number them, spread them out etc, make subclips of subclips.

So these new workflows are really going to really slow me down initially.

However, I’m an optimist and I think that Apple will make changes if we let them know about issues like these.

I also remember how completely impossible I found FCP 3 and how I slowly learnt how to use it. And that’s without the huge online training resource available now.

So how smart do I have be to use these new smart workflows.

Mark Dobson
Producer and Director
Alembic TV
http://www.alembic.tv

[Bob Pierce]

One of the many “features” they need to add is a logging function. It’s fine if it’s keyword based, but it needs to be easily viewable and flexible. I’m optimistic that they’ll eventually get this right, but the more I work with this the more I think it’s got a very, very long way to go.

Director of Photography • Editor
http://www.lightstreamassociates.com

[Geoff Dills]

What I think about doing is selecting a soundbite with the range tool, then key wording the main points, name, the fact it’s an interview, and anything else I think of. Then when I make a smart collection, I can do so by person, or the point they make, or any combo I can think of. Then I will have just those clips in front of me with only the selected range visible. Seems fairly straightforward, but certainly different than what we are used to. Plus you can have all the bites about the same point all in one place. Or all the bites from one person.

Best,
Geoff

[Tony Silanskas]

[Mark Dobson] “I have a bin for each interviewee, I can create subclips, colour code them, number them, spread them out etc, make subclips of subclips.”

I know this has been talked about a bunch on here, but you can use Compound Clips as subclips. Besides color coding, you can do everything you did in FCP 7, even add notes/keywords/markers that only apply to that Compound Clip.

tony

http://www.HungryCliff.com

[Mark Dobson]

Thanks Tony,

yeah I’ve tried that out and it could work. I’ve not really learnt about markers yet. My biggest problem is that I am still working intensively on FCP 7 and will be for the next month. So in FCP X I find myself automatically trying file save the project all the time etc etc.

I do know however that the tools are there in FCP X to really organise the material and have almost instant access to specific sections of clips.

Mark Dobson
Producer and Director
Alembic TV
http://www.alembic.tv