How do I edit my stop motion video in Final Cut Pro?

[striverdon]

Hi guys,

Just shot a stop motion sequence with my digital SLR. I have roughly 3000 photos making up all the action.

I've edited with Final Cut Pro a few times before but can't figure out how I can collectively bring down the duration the pictures are shown, instead of having to select each one and change the time individually.
Those anyone have a clue on how best to do this???

I put the pictures in preview and scrolled through just to get an idea of how it should play out eventually. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsWcHpFKAqs
Kind of going for;
http://www.vimeo.com/1275935
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe68r-SBQK4

Any clues would be very much appreciated.
Cheers!

[LethalWolfe]

*Before* you import the pictures change the image duration in FCP preferences to 1 frame (or how every long you want the default duration of each image to be). The Nash and West videos were most likely shot on video or film cameras w/various frame rates and shutter speeds to get the basic look and then further 'enhanced' in post.


Lethal

[striverdon]

Originally Posted by LethalWolfe

*Before* you import the pictures change the image duration in FCP preferences to 1 frame (or how every long you want the default duration of each image to be).

Lethal

That sounds like its right but I'm in FCP now and I can't see anything regarding image duration in user preferences. Maybe you are right. Could you direct me to where your referring to.

[bigbossbmb]

another quick and dirty way to do it is open the pictures in QT as an Image Sequence and then save a ref movie. toss the ref into Compressor and convert to whatever format you want to edit.

[LethalWolfe]

Originally Posted by striverdon

That sounds like its right but I'm in FCP now and I can't see anything regarding image duration in user preferences. Maybe you are right. Could you direct me to where your referring to.

FCP->User Prefs->Editing (tab)->Still/Freeze Duration


Lethal

[odbol]

I was trying to figure this out too, and I found that once you add your frames to your sequence timeline, you can just select them all, right click, and choose "Duration". Then you can change all the duration at once.

This is on FCP 5 by the way.

[spice weasel]

Originally Posted by bigbossbmb

another quick and dirty way to do it is open the pictures in QT as an Image Sequence and then save a ref movie. toss the ref into Compressor and convert to whatever format you want to edit.

Does the QuickTime image sequence option work for you? I've tried it before, and even if I do manage to get it to make a sequence properly, it always screws up the timing. Some images will go by with the proper timing/frame rate, but then it will skip by others too fast, making the whole thing jerky.

[knello]

Originally Posted by spice weasel

Does the QuickTime image sequence option work for you? I've tried it before, and even if I do manage to get it to make a sequence properly, it always screws up the timing. Some images will go by with the proper timing/frame rate, but then it will skip by others too fast, making the whole thing jerky.

Image sequences wrapped in Quicktime are the way to go. The problem you had was probably because your hardware couldn't keep up with the bitrate or resolution of the huge image sequence. That's why transcoding to 1080p ProRes might help.

If you don't transcode it, I'd still set the sequence settings to a 1080p ProRes preset.

FCP->User Prefs->Editing (tab)->Still/Freeze Duration

I don't like this method because it prevents a lot of normal tools from working properly, and that slows down my workflow a lot. You can't use slip/slide/ripple/roll tools anymore, and I hate that.