I'm still working on a FCP X workflow. I'd love to hear from doc makers who use it, how they label through their footage and what metada they enter to most effectively edit later without overdoing it. Any advice is welcome! I'm transitioning from FCP7 and most of my old techniques arent really good for X.
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I'd love to hear from doc makers using FCPX as to how they log their footage
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In FCP7, things were tough because you if you made bins it was difficult to have footage in more than one bin. You could make duplicate subclips, but it was asking for trouble sometimes, especially in a conform or online later on.
In FCPX, I make a class of keywords that apply to the project. The example I grabbed in the screenshot was a road doc with multiple cities. So the top level of keywords was cities. Then "Interview". Then "Fan". Then "Show", "BRoll" and so on.
I think it's important to choose these keyword tags based on either how the shoot went, or how the end product is going to be structured.
Then beyond that, I made Smart Collections based on combos of tags. So if I'm cutting together a segment about the bands fans, I could first smart collect "fans" + "interview" to cut the base interview, and then move to the smart collection of "fan" + "Broll" to put inserts on top. Plus "Show" to find concert footage.
There might be better ways, but this is working for me. It's all about finding the right tags for your footage and not getting too specific...you can get specific by comboing keywords together in smart collections.
In FCPX, I make a class of keywords that apply to the project. The example I grabbed in the screenshot was a road doc with multiple cities. So the top level of keywords was cities. Then "Interview". Then "Fan". Then "Show", "BRoll" and so on.
I think it's important to choose these keyword tags based on either how the shoot went, or how the end product is going to be structured.
Then beyond that, I made Smart Collections based on combos of tags. So if I'm cutting together a segment about the bands fans, I could first smart collect "fans" + "interview" to cut the base interview, and then move to the smart collection of "fan" + "Broll" to put inserts on top. Plus "Show" to find concert footage.
There might be better ways, but this is working for me. It's all about finding the right tags for your footage and not getting too specific...you can get specific by comboing keywords together in smart collections.
Do you use the notes section much or add roles to your clips? Those are two other elements I'm trying to decide what to do with.
I'm thinking I'll go through my clips, favorite parts I like, then go back through again to keyword. Part of me think this might be one step too many. But I feel like I want to get into a good flow and if I'm constantly keywording, I won't have that.
I'm thinking I'll go through my clips, favorite parts I like, then go back through again to keyword. Part of me think this might be one step too many. But I feel like I want to get into a good flow and if I'm constantly keywording, I won't have that.
at the beginning i only used keywords and smart collections. i don't favorite first and then assign a keyword - that sems too much work for me (but i use the favourite and reject - label. favorites for, em, favorites and reject to weed out bad clips). i usually have some smart collections that i copy from project to project, e.g. "audio only" , "images", "multiclips"...
now, before i start with keywording, i use the clip info to label everything with camera, scene & reel first - that gives me more options to sort clips later. (as max girth said: don't get to specific, better combine later)
i also work hierarchically, starting with the more common keywords and go into details later.
i don't use the notes section and roles only, when i have to render a clip with multitrack audio or export to logic. sometimes i use the automatically assigned roles for quickly turning audio off (e.g., when i'm color correcting and listening to music from itunes). roles can also help you to get a quick overview over your timeline.
now, before i start with keywording, i use the clip info to label everything with camera, scene & reel first - that gives me more options to sort clips later. (as max girth said: don't get to specific, better combine later)
i also work hierarchically, starting with the more common keywords and go into details later.
i don't use the notes section and roles only, when i have to render a clip with multitrack audio or export to logic. sometimes i use the automatically assigned roles for quickly turning audio off (e.g., when i'm color correcting and listening to music from itunes). roles can also help you to get a quick overview over your timeline.
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