XDCam clip names in FCPX

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Oren Hercz] “Hi, just joining this thread,

In theory I don’t have a problem with FCPX managing my clip names for me, however, in practice I can see a problem, for example with DSLR footage.

Because of the ways DSLRs number clips, you will end up with many clips with the exact same name in different events. Wouldn’t this cause problems for the database in the event that clips ever need to be reconnected? That’s what worries me.

So, being able to give each clip its own unique name is important to me. Wish there was an easy way to do this.”

In theory, the NLE should be able to handle this. Every file should get a Unique ID. So even if files have the same name, they have unique ID numbers, and the NLE will relink to the appropriate ID instead of just a file name.

FCPX assigns unique ID numbers.

If file renaming is what you want, then, use a tool that renames files for you like Batch Renamer in Pro Media Tools from Digital Rebellion: https://www.digitalrebellion.com/promedia/

Just be sure to rename any backups of the media as well.

Jeremy

[Tangier Clarke]

Is there at least a way to see the original name as a column in the event browser (list view)? That would help me in a lot of situations.

Tangier

[Rick Garside]

I’m also just joining this post and am also a ‘non-technical’ director who also edits, and I had the same question the first poster did, and – please correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems the track got off tangent talking about changing names at the root level (i.e. changing the file names in the finder where the original files sit).

I think that first question had more to do with actually changing the name in the ‘Event’ window. Because – like him, I have a lot of files with the same name from my Canon 5D shoot. All I want to do is click on those names in the event window and change them to ‘2-shot, Nick & Vince’, ‘CU – Heidi’, etc.

I think it’s okay to do that – like the poster that said if it’s easy to click and re-name in FCPX, it’s probably all right. Does anyone want to answer this question? Because I’d hate to go through and rename my files (in the event browser) and somehow have that mess up my linked original files. Thanks!

[Jeremy Garchow]

Renaming your files in the Event is A-OK.

[Oren Hercz]

Hi Rick,

Yes, you are fine to do that. I decided to use a program “better renamer” to rename my DSLR files before importing into FCPX. This is because we do a lot of shooting, and I want to always have unique file names, with the project information baked into the filename just in case just in case I need to find it later without the app. But for your purposes you are fine in the Event browser. Rename away!!!

Oren Hercz
Editor, Post-Production Manager
Journeyman Film Company
http://www.journeymanfilm.com

[Benjamin Epps]

I’m working with Panasonic P2 for a documentary and am looking to edit in FCPX.

What happens if my media drive craps out with my FCPX events on it?

In FCP7, I would reimport the reels I needed in my project from the camera originals. I would know which reels and clips I would need because of the file level filename.

But in FCPX if I want to reimport from my original camera reels and reconnect, how am I supposed to know which reels and clips to reimport if they are all named by FCPX with Time and Date Stamp filenames?

These filenames don’t correspond to traditional camera logging practices. So what’s the point of archiving original camera reels if they can’t be used to rebuild a project in case of an online media hard drive failure?

Seems like now I have to have four copies of my footage.
1) The original camera reels
2) Backups of the original camera reels
3) Online level footage with FCPX assigned filenames
4) Backups of the online level footage with FCPX assigned filenames

This is a lot of storage to get anything done safely!

Any thoughts?