[Nick Meyers]

they way you’ve been doing it is the correct way,

using nests is the WRONG way,
That’s the way you lose the original TC
another way to lose original TC is to export the merged clips as new files.
maybe he thinks you are doing that?

a simple test should sort things out

nick

[Nick Meyers]

“We have 300 ProRes files, and we have 300 folders from H6, in those folders there are bunch of WAV files like “ZOOM0001_LR, ZOOM0001_Tr1, ZOOM0001_Tr2, ZOOM0001_Tr3, ZOOM0001_Tr4″”

FCP has no simple way of bringing those mono files in as multi-track audio clips.
each track comes in as it’s own clip.
you’d need to spend time in FCP first preparing the audio files / clips.

there’s probably some other apps that would do this, but FCP can’t

running PLuraleyes on those wild tracks could result in lots of missed audio clips (the quitter ones)

nick

[Nick Meyers]

do your clips have reel #s?
i have intermittent issues with clips that don’t have reel #s not remaining connected.

nick

[Nick Meyers]

you should probably post this in the FCPX techniques forum.

nick

[Nick Meyers]

yes, it will get big, too big for one project.
and yes, you have to be organised, no matter how big or small the project is.

as i say you have to break the show into smaller chunks.
not bite-size, something larger.
on dramas i work in 4 acts, sometimes with special projects for specially large sequences
that’s easy, it’s scripted.

the docs i’ve worked on have had clear-ish narrative,
one was defined by geographic locations, so we used that as our way to break it down.
my last one is more character driven, and we have projects for the main groups of characters.

now the final film is not all one place of person followed by another,
but building the various scenes, it’s great (essential, really) to have easy access to all the material from those same people or places.

i should say that one the important factors in all this (for me) is that FCP cannot maintain master / affiliate clip relationships between different projects.
a working master / affiliate clip relationship means you can match frame from a clip in the timeline to a bin in the browser.
this is very handy and makes editing a lot faster for me.
but NOT being able to do this between different projects makes file harder for us FCP editors
and that’s why i strategise the break up of the projects

but back to the organising of the rushes

our last doc was shot quite randomly, so we found it best to break down our shoots into what we called (like FCPX) EVENTS
these days, with file-based cameras, there are more files than ever
so we placed each event’s worth of files into it’s own dated folder
0915a on the street
0915b Bruce IV

that’s September 15, events A and B

the clips were also named accordingly, with the date, description, camera ID, and file number
0915a on the street_a001

for what it’s worth, a lot had been shot before i got it,
so we had an overview when we were creating the names

those folders were imported into FCP as bins.

we had separate projects for Log& transfer, and basic organising
separate projects for syncing our multiple cameras
separate projects for subtitling.

this simplified the processes, and avoided clutter within theses preparatory projects.
it also allowed multiple people to be synching at the same time, for instance.

on a drama, i work with a separate project for each DAY’S shoot,
and do all the various prep tasks for that day in the one daily project.
a doco may be worked the same way depending on the circumstances,
as i say we got a ton of footage all at once

at the finder level all these projects are kept in their own folders
ASSISTANT WORK, or SYNC, etc,
whatever, but mainly they are away form the EDIT projects, which are in an EDIT folder.
both in a *PROJECTS folder, of course

when the work is done, or as it is being done,
prepared scenes are brought into the various edit projects
this is for the mot part a simple copy/paste,
an important thing to note is that if you copy/paste a bin and a timeline of the same material TOGETHER
they can lose their master / affiliate relationship
copy the bin, then the timeline or vice versa,
or copy the timeline only, and then “Create Master clips”
or copy the bin only and make rushes sequences if you don’t have multiple cameras.

Pluraleyes also messes with the M/A relationship
and after using it, and fine-tuning the results, we would completely re-fresh the material, replacing the shots with new source clips.
boring, and complicated!

for viewing and selecting material, my preferred way is to work in TIMELINES
everyone is different, of course, but that method works well for me, as it’s primarily a visual process.
and as i mentioned these days, every shot is it;s own file/clip,
so being able to scoot though a lot of them quickly makes for much easier work.
(FCPX excels at this, with it;s “Skimming” in the browser)

i can use markers for important IV moments, or shots, but mainly i have a process of viewing the rushes,
and selecting the best shots / moments / comments, and placing them at the end of the timeline,
so i have all the rushes, then a collection of the best bits.
then i copy that selection, and start shuffling / editing it,
until i have my first decent edit,
which i copy into my main edit timeline, where i build up sequences of scenes.

main point i’m making is that having your rushes in timelines is the best way to quickly skim though them
having the material in “events” makes it easy to locate.

each show is a little bit different, and requires different methods and systems

if you have long interviews, and can afford transcripts, they can help immeasurably.

i once did a show with lots of crowd-sourced archival
we used a method of using comments columns for various keywords and ratings.

apologies for my long windedness
hope you get something out of it!
nick

[Nick Meyers]

is this a documentary of a scripted drama?

either way, 2 simple things I can say right now are:

don’t mix your capture / preparation work with your editing work.
they are two quite separate tasks, often performed by two separate people.

you cant contain a large show like yours in one project.
you need to strategise how you will spread the editing across a few projects.

Shane Ross made some training material specifically about project organisation in FCP,
you should see if you can find a copy.

cheers,
nick

[Nick Meyers]

the more colour depth you can get the better it will be,
but given your source, i’m not sure how much extra will help.

HQ may not offer any improvement over 422
it may… but i don’t think it will. i’m no expert in this, might be worth another post.

422 will be better than LT

obviously this would mean converting from the h264 again, not simply up-grading the LT

nick

[Nick Meyers]

[Sam Hurt] “1. When I go to click onto the window panes with the dropper tool it keys out the white window frames (at least part of them). “

what OS are you using?
i have found that with Yosemite, FCP’s eyedroppers don’t work anymore.
you have to find the colours manually
there’s a small key icon ion there that will switch the image around to just the key
working in that mode, and working the colour, luma, and saturation controls is pretty easy

[Sam Hurt] “2. If I try and playback after adding the second video track with the incorrect part keyed out I simply get an ‘unrendered’ message.”

there’s an RT menu top left of your timeline
set your timeline’s RT playback to “unlimited”

[Sam Hurt] “All footage has been converted to pro Res LT.”
this is a separate issue,
but LT, being quite compressed, is not as good for green screen work as 422 or HQ.

nick

[Nick Meyers]

“FCP is not supposed to support files wider than 2000 pixels, but if it does, that’s good to know.”

that’s what they say,
but in truth it does.

i don’t think you can manually make a 4k sequence,
but drop a 4k file into a new sequence, and it will conform itself to the file.
of course there’s no RT, but the file will play if your drive is fast enough.

nick

[Nick Meyers]

“I selected my laptop hard drive but it didn’t work”

didn’t work?
what does that mean?

maybe repairing permissions might help

is there a particular point that you can see on your splash screen that the loading stops?
like a particular plug-in or 3rd party effect?
if so you could remove those effects from the plugins folder.

4g of RAM is not much, by the way.
is FCP trying to open a specific project?

nick