Workflow for sports highlight in FCPX

[Michael Garber]

Hey Claude,

Two main things I would do here. Start with broad keywords (game, date, etc) and whittle down by passes (goal, pass, player name, etc..).

Then, favorite your selects.

A few options here:
1. View by favorites will whittle down your selex and show them as if they were subclips
2. Create smart collections based on search criteria. Game+Move+Player+Favorite, etc… Name the smart collection for easy selection. Treat those groupings of clips as you would treat timelines. Think of it like a timeline that, well, isn’t a timeline 😉 Problem is it might be hard to label shots you’ve used easily. You could reject the shot, but that would cause issues with showing favorites “like subclips.”
3. You can still do a combination of 1 and 2. But, like you, I still prefer to pre-edit in separate timelines. It’s a habit, but I think it is a healthy habit. I like to see my footage laid out in a timeline. To do this, I would create Keyword Collection called “Sequences” or “Selects” or whatever. Inside that Keyword Collection, create a series of compound clips and use those as you would use your original selex sequences.

You won’t be able to see them open at all times in tabs. But at least you don’t have to hit CMD-0 each time you want to open a new timeline. And, if you keep moving between the same timelines, you can CMD-{ or CMD-] between timelines. It’s kinda wonky and feels like you’re editing with your eyes closed sometimes. But you can remember where you were and going to most of the time. Also, if you click-hold on the left-right arrows on the timeline, you can see a list of recent timelines.

Hope that helps.

Michael Garber
5th Wall – a post production company

[Alban Egger]

Michael has pretty much explained it.
We do alot of Football Highlights. The trickier parts are, when you have mixed audio on separate files and not-matching timecodes.

If all you want is a highlight reel of goals and hits etc. it is best to use keywords as explained.
This is actually where FCPX shines and where the Event and Project paradigm shows its strength.

You have several events /games. You set favourites and keywords for each goal/hit/save/playername.
Then you have different projects…e.g. a highlight reel for player X´s goals.

I have one event for a season of an American Football Team. I have all sacks by number 44 in a second at hand. It takes a bit in logging for the first game, but once all keywords are in place I have 9 shortcuts (the playmakers, the TD, sack, hit, FG, big play). So for the following games I am very fast going through a game and keywording and setting favourites.

Now the tricky part as said is when I have a game-livefeed, a timecode sheet and an additional live-commentary, which I don´t have on the same file. And I make 15 minutes for broadcast out of this.

In this case I usually bring the game into the timeline and align the audio to it. I set the timecode start to my file-start. Now I go through the game with my timecode sheet and use the buttons “c” and “v” to select and toggle portions of the game on/off. By holding “B” down I activate the Blade to split the files, without needing to change the pointer-tool. I usually end up with a 20 minute show after deleting all OFF parts.
Now I make a compound clip out of it (no more original timecode needed) and cut it down to 15 minutes in this revision. In the end I clean up the commentary sound with J-L cuts which are so easy in FCPX.

A 3 hour game takes me about 2,5 – 3 hours for both highlight keywording and 15 minute edit. In FCP7 last year I needed longer just for the 15 minutes and I never had season-worthy highlights and logs at hand like this…..

[Claude Lyneis]

Thanks for the detailed response. Your workflow for the game summaries is similar to what I have done by loading the whole game onto the timeline and then deleting the parts that are unneeded. I use the option [ to trim the beginning of clips and option ] to trim the back side. I agree this goes much faster in X than 7. For the highlight reel, though I didn’t do the keywording up front wish there was a way to take the edited game clips and sort them quickly. They are already selected and edited down to about 8 minutes a game and that would be very fast to sort compared to the 70 minutes of raw footage in the event file. One of the earlier responses suggested a way to tie the edited clip back to the original event file and keyword it. I know it is backwards, but my FCPX workflow is a work in progress.
I am impressed at how fast you can edit. Takes me more time. The lacrosse clips are typically 30s to 60s long and in the end, only 10 s of action comes out of some clips. Football editing might be easier, since it is very episodic and structured. I also need to memorize for key short cuts so I can go faster.
Claude

[Claude Lyneis]

I tried out going from the edited shorts and using shift f to select the right section of the clip, control K to bring up the keyword editor and then choosing the keywords for the clip. This is an excellent way to keyword after the fact and I was then able to collect all the goals into one segment, all the hits etc. Took me a while to understand the steps and how to make and use smart collections, but should be easy from here out.
Thanks for the tips.
Claude

[Bret Williams]

[alban egger] “Now I make a compound clip out of it (no more original timecode needed) and cut it down to 15 minutes in this revision. In the end I clean up the commentary sound with J-L cuts which are so easy in FCPX.”

I’ve still yet to figure out how jl cuts are “so easy” in FCP X. I find it to be the worst part of X. Literally 5 steps instead of 1. How are you doing them?

[Alban Egger]

@Claude: until the next project you could fill your need with roles.
Create a role for goals, one for saves, one for hits etc.

Now in your timeline apply the roles to the clips. As replacement for missing keywords this could work, unfortunately we can´t assign keywords in the timeline (yet).
Eventually go to the item list (bottom left of the timeline) and select your goals for that game….copy to a new timeline/project……that could work rather fast.

@Bret: J-L Cuts? Double clicking the audio will bring it down a layer and you can trim as needed. The magnetic timeline will make room, while in a track based and locked environment I needed several keys to make room first.
When I make such an audio revision I select “Expand all audio” which brings down all audio tracks and I save the constant double clicking…..

[Tom Wolsky]

Expand the audio Control-S and drag the audio or roll the video to make the split edit.

All the best,

Tom

“Final Cut Pro X for iMovie and Final Cut Express Users” from Focal Press
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

[Richard Herd]

If I understand it right. YOu have a collection of timelines with the footage you want to use.

I would one by one, select a clip, hit Shift-F, then F.

With the View Favorites option selected, they should all show up.

[Bret Williams]

Yep. Both methods much more intensive than option drag in FCP 7. Just was wondering if I was missing something. Apparently not.

I don’t want the other audio to get out of the way when doing a j or l cut. I want to roll the audio. Don’t want to roll the video.

However, if you didn’t know, you can roll the audio. You have to have the audio open, and the cut selected or be directly on the edit. Then press “shift+” and from there both sides of just the audio are selected and the audio will roll either via <,> or extend. If I try to drag it Still quite a few clicks and keystrokes. Now if you keep the audio open all the time it’s a little better but it takes quite a bit of real estate to do that.

However, I’m enjoying audio mixing overall. Especially editing with audio units. Find it more convenient than CS6’s version. And the real time editing of keyframes and levels right in the timeline while the sequence is playing or looping.

[Bret Williams]

In FCP 7 there is generally no need to ever lock tracks. Especially for a J or L cut. Just option drag the edit point of the audio with the roll tool.

Or option select the audio edit and press <> or extend(e). Of course you could option double click and enter a real trim mode and do it on the fly either via dynamic trimming or just marking out on the fly while you play.

But anyway I still love audio mixing in X. And I’ve gotten used to the weak audio roll and JL trim tools.