[Jeff Meyer]

Lacking lighting and the need for sound sync it sounds like an SLR is a valid option, but I don’t think we know nearly enough about the product or the location to tell you what will do better. If you’re shooting something with small repeating patterns (like some suit coats, ventilation grills on high end equipment at a distance, etc.) you can get some nasty moiré patterns.

As for what rate to shoot at, if this is destined for one network shoot to that network’s specs, if it’s going to a few I would shoot it at 720/60, which will convert to 1080i and 1080p and web pretty easily. If you are delivering to a 1080i network be aware that SLR cameras do not shoot interlaced video.

[Jeff Meyer]

I would look at the JVC GY-HM100 or the Canon XF100. The JVC shoots at 35mbps to SD cards, the Canon shoots full raster 50mbps to CF cards. Both types of media are readily available and affordable. These are small format cameras, so there will be some handling compromises associated with them. I don’t have experience with the JVC, but the Canon works great in Final Cut Pro once you install the Log and Transfer plugin. I usually bring it is as ProRes instead of the native XDCAM422. The Canon XF series is not compatible with Final Cut X. The JVC shoots right to .mov, so it’s supposed to be as simple as importing the files – no Log & Transfer needed.

If budget permits Panasonic’s HPX250 looks fantastic, but that’s stepping into another class of camera and expensive P2 media.

[Jeff Meyer]

It’s the semi-transparent box that’s killing you on your render time. If you go with a solid box you can use Compressor which will be the fastest option.

Shy of using Compressor you can still expedite the process by dropping your sequence onto a new sequence and applying the generator to the nested sequence. This removes one export.

[Jeff Meyer]

From what I’ve heard X loves RAM. As stated above RAM needs to be purchased/installed in pairs. I would go with 16gb instead of 8gb if it’s in your budget. Apple doesn’t offer 16gb of RAM for their laptops, but recent models have been supporting that much. Here’s an article on the topic.
https://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-20125391-263/add-16gb-ram-to-your-macbook-pro/
Crucial has a system scanner that you can download. It’ll look over your specs and point you to the products on their website that are compatible with your system.

I wouldn’t be too worried about fan noise. I’ve had Macbook Pros at a full load in Compressor and Cinema 4D for hours on end. It’s designed to hold up to a professional workload. I have found that by propping the back up the fan seems to spend less time in high gear. Perhaps it’s easier for it to vent heat out this way. I wouldn’t suggest being paranoid about propping it up in the back.

The rule of thumb for external drives being used for video is make sure they connect over firewire. Thunderbolt will also be acceptable, but drives using this interface still command a premium. My brand of preference for external drives is G-Technology. I’ve had good luck with G-RAIDs and G-Speeds. I had a RAID slice go down on a G-Speed and tech support was rather helpful, and they have a sponsored forum on the Cow. Don’t get fooled by the G-Drive Mobile. It’s a consumer grade product that operates at 5400RPM.
Make sure you buy a backup drive of the same capacity when you purchase, even if it’s a more affordable USB drive. It’s important to acknowledge that hard drives will fail, regardless of manufacturer. Hard drive prices are up right now due to flooding in Thailand. In 6 months to a year storage will be much cheaper than it is currently.

Lastly, the Cow has a forum for Final Cut X. These were more generic Mac questions, but if you have FCX questions in the future they should be directed to the appropriate forum.
https://forums.creativecow.net/fcpxtechnique

[Jeff Meyer]

So for clarity’s sake the workflow is:
• Shoot to P2
• Archive cards to MacMini w/ Thunderbolt RAID-5 (disk images, folders?)
• Log and Transfer cards from gigabit-connect RAID-5 to scratch on a local RAID-0
• Project, scratch, and render files live on the local RAID-0

This sounds pretty workable, although you may do a test with one of your RAID-0 drives and see if they hold up to two people logging your flavour of DVCPRO. If it’s Intra 100 gigabit may not be enough to have two seats running Log and Transfer at once.

The main issue I see is when you have a drive fail on the RAID-5 you’ll be screwed if you pull out the wrong drive. You’ll also be screwed if the internal RAID controller on the Promise goes bad. RAID-5 is fault tolerant, not fault proof. Invest in some 1-3TB drives to also put your archives on for peace of mind. When they fill up take them to a bank vault. Storage is cheap relative to lost work – and in about 6 months the impacts from the Thailand floods should start easing up making drives much cheaper.

Also, make sure you’re backing up projects and graphics somewhere. Having your masters is one thing, having your project so you can continue working is equally important. Perhaps the autosave vaults should be on the RAID-5? This way there’s a copy of the project on another computer that automatically stays (relatively) current?

[Jeff Meyer]

Are you referencing against you computer monitor or a broadcast monitor?

[Jeff Meyer]

Convert them to ProRes through Streamclip or Compressor. The faux timecode (generated from the time of day when the file is written) won’t come along for the ride unless you go through Log and Transfer, but Final Cut editing will work normally.

[Jeff Meyer]

When you get to color correcting later you’ll be glad you went to ProRes now. That’ll be a painful process with H.264. At least change your Sequence Compressor to ProRes when you get to that stage.

[Jeff Meyer]

I think if you use drop zones you’ll hate your life. In my experience they’re nice for designing with media that hasn’t been created yet that you’ll add later, and nice if you are going to be doing the same thing several times with different media. As a general rule of thumb I don’t use them.

Just lay all of your clips out in Final Cut on V1, V2, V3, etc and sent to Motion. When you get into Motion bring them all into one group and move about. Stick to the crop tools instead of masks unless you need a specific shape – that’ll make things a bit easier.

Take care to keep edges square and pay attention to your keyframe interpolation in the keyframe editor. Don’t be scared by the word interpolation – it’s just how Motion handles the space between the keyframes. You can right-click on a keyframe and pick linear interpolation for abrupt changes, or beziers for smooth starts and stops.

[Jeff Meyer]

You can lay your clips out in Final Cut, then send your sequence to Motion (right-click on the sequence in the bin and pick Sent to Motion Project.

In Motion you’ll need lay your clips/text out in a Group, then move the group around on the canvas by keyframing its position. Another option is to move a camera over your group, but since you’re keeping it simple I think sticking to a 2D group without a camera will be a good choice. You can use the crop options or masks to re-shape your media. The techniques aren’t too difficult, but I would suggest starting with a scratch project to learn the skills.

For more help try the Cow’s Motion forum.