[Ben Watts]

We got the same error message when we were trying to media manage an entire feature film shot on the Alexa for our colorist. When we simply tried to “Copy” using Media Manager, the files wouldn’t work at all. However, we figured out that we could use “Recompress” to ProRes 4×4, and it worked just fine.

The only problem is, everything doesn’t seem to be fine. All the files were there, but not as QT movies, as others have stated. Solution? Batch rename everything (free download from anywhere on the web) so that they all ended in .mov, and problem solved. Brought everything back into FCP, pointed to the media managed folder, and everything lined up perfectly.

Hopefully this will help with some of your issues.

Ben
Final Frame Post

[Ben Watts]

Thanks Bouke,

let me explain the workflow that or client did that we no need to fix. The shot huge amounts of footage more than 1000 hours so they didn’t have the storage space to keep all of the footage @ Sony ex resolution so they logged and transferred the material into FCP and then down-converted the material to DV data rates for the off line. Then they threw away the EX QT files leaving only the MP4 originals and the DV files. We can reconnect to the MP4 files in cases where the media wasn’t spanned across two files. We have more than 900 files that were spanned so we have 900 files we can’t relink to. So we are trying to figure out how to relink the the spanned files but because they are not actually QT files I don’t think your software will do it. We are using creative’s Sony EX QT software and I don’t think you can work with that.

Please let me know if you have any thoughts

Thanks,

Will

[Ben Watts]

Hey Bouke,

Just a couple questions about your XDCAM Extract for FCP:

1) Does it still exist?!

2) Does it work from hard drives or just from the discs? I ask because I see in your documentation that it’s meant to work from the discs, but will it also work if the footage is sitting on a hard drive?

Here’s the workflow and why I’m asking:

Client shot most of their footage on EX1, but didn’t have the space/computer power to edit with ProRes, so they converted everything to DV. Ended up being about 15 TB. We have all that footage on a hard drive, but need to convert it ProRes for the online edit and color correction; we simply don’t have the time or space to convert what will end up being roughly 150TB of footage, so we’re hoping to reconnect to the original MP4 files, then media manage ONLY what’s in the timeline–saving us valuable time and space. Does this sound like something your Extract can do or am I overreaching?

Ben
Final Frame Post

[Ben Watts]

Here’s the thing, guys:

We’re all getting prematurely worked up about an update we don’t even have specifics for yet.

The thing you have to ask yourself is this: even if FCP goes to a more “consumer-based” model (which is not likely if you ask me), will that really keep you from using FCP–even if it’s an old version? Just because the average, everyday consumer may be able to afford it, does that change what you do? No. It should be quite the opposite; if you are talented, and you do great work, it shouldn’t matter how many other people use the same program. Can’t you tell the difference between a professional PhotoShop job and someone who obviously just opened the box? Do you think Walter Murch is going to stop using FCP because more and more people may be able to figure it out? Hasn’t stopped him yet. And just because someone has the program doesn’t make them Walter Murch.

This fear of the “everyday” consumer is the same fear that a lot of people have of DSLR’s. Yes, there are cheap(ish) cameras that can shoot high-quality footage. Does that make everyone who owns one a great filmmaker? Of course not. What we have from people owning DSLR’s is a lot of good-looking, but overall crappy filmmaking–terrible audio, composition, acting, editing, and direction. Yes, we’ve made everyone a filmmaker, but in all honesty, it just makes you appreciate the “good” stuff when you see it.

I think the same will be said “if” FCP goes the way of the consumer-market.