[Jeff Folland]

Sorry, I didn’t mean to suggest this is the BEST way ever in the history of editing. I simply meant that if you are using fcp x and editing in zones as suggested in the first post, this is what I have gathered to make most efficient use of the tools. Not that this is THE way.

However I don’t agree that this is any longer of a process when you suggest you would have half the edit done. I also work on content that I am very familiar with before the edit. You still at some point have to say this clip starts here and ends here and at this point it will work best tagged for this section. Tagging and key wording is no slower than sorting into bins and multiple timelines for me. You still at some point have to get your arms around the beast. And I don’t see how adding subtitles, titles and lower thirds is any less efficient. In fact I think with compound clips it can be easier to turn this stuff into one unit on the timeline rather than a stack that needs multiple selections.

I’m not trying to sell anyone on using fcp x. There are all sorts of issues I’ve had with it and I have a long, long running list of things which I think they should improve. But when I read this thread I thought that I could share my experience going from editing in the zone fashion to switching to the collections and tagging method. It is a mindset change and maybe for some it’s not for the better. And there are some longer, more complicated edits I still default to fcp 7 for because I am used to arranging on the timeline both horizontally and vertically. Maybe it’s comfort in how I’ve done it over the past twelve years or maybe it is that fcpx is flawed for me. There really isn’t a right or wrong or best or worst way and I did not mean to suggest that. But If you want to force fcpx to work like you did in the past with fcp it will be a long, hard, uphill road.

[Jeff Folland]

David you said…It’s not even close. I don’t work with a script, I make everything up as I go along. I may know something is “must have” but I have no idea how or where I’ll use it until I start building the piece. And as I build, I may change my mind several times. I never know what the finished piece will look like until it’s done. It’s a creative, organic process. The process is what defines the workflow.

I’m not saying it’s close to a final edit but it is a bin or a collection or a timeline (call it what you want) of all the stuff you marked as must use. And it really is no different than what you are already doing. You are going through a big long interview(s) in zone 1 and flagging the bits you really like with a green marker. Then when that’s done you go through and collate all your favorite bits into zone two and shuffle them around finding an order that works. Zone 1 has been replaced with the tagging and collection. Ripple preferences aside, you no longer have to go back and forth on the timeline from zone 1 and zone 2. Zone 1 and 2 are both open at the same time in x (the timeline and the collection). I don’t see how that is any less creative or organic. You are still arranging clips in the timeline to preference. You still have a marked subset of all your footage you are using as a palette. you still have freedom to place any clip anywhere. That is no different.

[Jeff Folland]

There really isn’t any reason you can’t cut exactly like this is fcp x. In fact its the same method I used in fcp7 so I’m very familiar with it (although I would usually shift delete the garbage out as I went). If you use the positon tool and gap clips in fcp x its exactly the same as old school fcp. In fcp x it’s easier since in the primary storyline when you get to the state of shuffling clips around to set their order and stitch your interview together, they ripple out of the way. No more having to do the dance of selecting everything down the line and making a gap. etc. It’s actually much easier and faster once you get the workflow.

But it’s ignoring the even better way of doing this which is tagging in the event window. Go through clip by clip like you would in the timeline. Set ins and outs and mark sections as favorites and tag them with various tags like ‘must use’. ‘interesting’ etc. Think of the tags as your markers. When you are done with this process you not only have the clips you want marked but also have rough ins and outs set. And with smart collections you can have the same content in multiple collections. Multiple tagging allows for a lot more depth like tagging by person or content as well as priority of use. This adds signifanctly to the speed of zeroing in on a clip you are trying to find. Then filter your events to show favorites and select the ‘must use’ collection. It’s like you already have a rough edit of the must use stuff in the event window. Then you drag them into the timeline in the order you see fit for fine tuning. All the usual controls work with keyboard trimming ins and outs to tighten up edits. But it’s doing much more heavy lifting in the event window than you would do in the old bin way of fcp 7 which you and I were making up for by cutting and tagging in the fcp 7 timeline. You could still use a gap clip to create a scratch section where you shuffle stuff around.

Now getting to the cutaway phase is a different mindset without tracks and I’m still wrapping my brain around the pluses and minuses. But for cutting long interviews into tighter edits as you described, I think fcp x is actaully much, much faster and easier to organize. I know that’s a very rare opinion in these here parts!

J