[John Burgan]

I’ve now edited several complex feature-length docs w/FCP back to back with high shooting ratios. FCP doesn’t always go smoothly with large projects, it’s true.

I’ve got into the habit of splitting them down into separate projects which you can have open simultaneously, thereby keeping the individual project file size down. Break them down initially into Media/Edits, then further in any way that seems logical (Slates, Interviews etc etc). It’s no problem copying and pasting from one project into another as you wish. It’s a workflow which I’ve managed to adopt with minimum hassle.

This won’t solve your speed changes (unfortunately), nor is this a solution for those working in multi-editor setups, but it’s certainly worth a try for any project that’s getting too unwieldy.

[John Burgan]

Australia is a PAL country

https://www.calfilm.com/list.htm

[John Burgan]

I imagine the poster is talking about burning a DVD in the US to send to Europe; region codes are really a separate issue. Basically almost all modern DVD players and TVs in Europe can deal with NTSC discs; the opposite (PAL in the US) is much more of a problem.

[John Burgan]

Check out Klaus Eiperle’s CGM Clone Area filter

https://www.cgm-online.com/eiperle/workshops/workshop23/workshop_e.html

[John Burgan]

Instead of attaching it to email you could send the clip using the file transfer function of iChat or Skype (freeware internet telephony app for Mac, Windows, Linux etc). Basically works as P2P, can be quite fast and without the size limitation of email.

FWIW

[John Burgan]

There is a workaround, apparently:

https://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/xml_export_FCP_5_to_4.html

[John Burgan]

Check out the following article for some tips on how to resurrect the project (assuming you’ve already tried the most recent autosaved file).

https://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/restore_corrupted_project.html

Your project file size is not too large, but it’s wise to keep an eye on it and if necessary, break the project down accordingly. A piece of advice from the late, much-lamented Ralph Fairweather which has kept me free from such problems since FCP 1.2

[John Burgan]

Mark, just realised you’re referring to the Real World multi-editor set up which is probably why you want to avoid multiple project files – fair enough.

I still think that for a single project/single editor workflow breaking things down has far more advantages than minus points.

[John Burgan]

It’s a pain in the butt having projects that go south or take ages to open. Archiving several project files is a fairly minor disadvantage in my book.

[John Burgan]

Mark – I’d be interested to know why you claim it is “impossible” to slim down large projects.

It’s just a question of organisation, surely. I’ve now cut several feature-length projects on FCP which would have topped 100Mb if they had been left as a single project file, but I have always managed to break them down to several, smaller size files as suggested in my first post. Ever since adopting this practice I’ve never experienced the problems being described here. It’s well worth the initial effort.