Keyword Collections

I've read articles and posts on this board from people who love keyword collections and how much time they save and it has eliminated a rough cut. I was wondering if someone who uses them a lot could explain their workflow? I've tried using them, but truthfully they seem to make me take longer to complete a project. I'm editing a lot of work in weddings/mitzvahs/fashion show type pieces. Thanks.

Could you describe your current/normal workflow? How do you organize your footage?

I usually receive .mov files on a hard drive that were shot on Mark III's. There separated into folders for each card that was shot on. Painfully there's high res photo's mixed in which makes importing the folders crash FCPX...my system isn't strong enough. Basically means I have to import said .mov's individually, losing their folders. I start from the top and work my way down every clip constructing my rough cut and making adjustments to clips as I see the need. Once the rough cut is complete I re-organize the clips in my timeline and get down to the serious editing.

Rbelfi wrote: I've read articles and posts on this board from people who love keyword collections and how much time they save and it has eliminated a rough cut. I was wondering if someone who uses them a lot could explain their workflow? I've tried using them, but truthfully they seem to make me take longer to complete a project. I'm editing a lot of work in weddings/mitzvahs/fashion show type pieces. Thanks.

I've done a few Vietnamese Weddings and my keyword collection consists of bride prep, groom prep, tea ceremony, american ceremony, reception, speeches, MOH, MOB, FOB, MOG, FOG, BM, B-Roll...just to list a few. I try not to get carried away but they're useful when cutting those scenes and then I weave the story in & out from each scene but not too much that it distracts. I keep the tea ceremony in tact and just multicam with soundtrack.

If you're a Canon DSLR shooter, you can reset the file numbering and the camera will create a new folder when doing so. Each folder will be a scene (or Keyword Collection) so when you transfer your files to your harddrive, you can just rename the folder in Finder and then FCPX import with folders as Keyword Collection.

For a wedding, you're shooting the bride prep with a 5D3 and then move on to shoot the rings/dress/whatever - reset your file numbering in the menu settings and a new folder will be created for the rings/dress/whatever. Repeat the steps for each scene. Each folder will be a scene, rename in Finder, then import folders as Keyword Collections in FCPX.

For a fashion show, I'd shoot the wide exterior of the location and a few other shots, reset numbering, move on to people (b-roll) as the event is getting started, reset numbering, shoot model preps, reset numbering, etc. etc. Then when you transfer the folders to your drive, look at your shots in each folder & rename the folder based on the scene or subject that's inside, then import folders as Keyword Collections and you'll have your collection read for rough cut. I would do a rough scrub over each clip in the Event Browser for In/Out ranges, Ratings, adding other Keywords, and Favorites.

That is actually a great workflow that probably would make me re-thinking my whole perception of keyword collections! Only problem is I don't shoot what I'm editing. I get hard drives sent to me from a company to edit. They only organize their footage by each card and those cards have a lot of hi-res jpegs mixed in with them that mess with my system. I could delete those before import. I could ask them to have the shooters re-set the file numbering on different sections as your explained since their using Mark III's, not sure if they'll do the extra work for me, but it's worth a shot. Thanks for the detailed explanation.

Rbelfi wrote: That is actually a great workflow that probably would make me re-thinking my whole perception of keyword collections! Only problem is I don't shoot what I'm editing. I get hard drives sent to me from a company to edit. They only organize their footage by each card and those cards have a lot of hi-res jpegs mixed in with them that mess with my system. I could delete those before import. I could ask them to have the shooters re-set the file numbering on different sections as your explained since their using Mark III's, not sure if they'll do the extra work for me, but it's worth a shot. Thanks for the detailed explanation.

If the large jpegs are messing with your system, then I would move it to another folder and don't import that folder. For everything else, you can import all the folders as keywords (assuming they're not the same named folders) and rename them in the FCPX. Also, verify that there aren't any subfolders that has similar names with others because it will throw your keyword collections out of wack - it'll give you a headache looking for files or sorting clips. The best way is to change your workflow from the pre-production (shooters) down to post production (you). It's 3 steps to reset numbering, menu, left key a few times, select. It will save everytime time. That's my .02 - hope it helps.