Workflow methods, any ideas??

Having just completed my first professional grade Final Cut Pro X edit, after having spent weeks working through the latest FCP X book from Brendan Boykin, I became very aware of just how under-prepared I was.

I thought this would be the case, and as it turned out, I have no way to really know how to fix the inefficient workflow method.

I work alone, I was doing this edit using video files "We-transfer" to me, a couple of long video clips, roughly assembled in the field, I had to pick and choose the best shots, the insert final duration ran 3:03.

I tried to use the method as highlighted by Ripple episode 275, the USED/ UNUSED method, maybe it was finger trouble but I found that some of the unused clips appeared in the USED and UNUSED and the used the same, I thought smart clipping would figure this out..Nope.

I was asked to have the natural sounds of B-Roll on channel 1 which the producer called LEFT, and interviews/stand uppers on channel 2, called RIGHT. To do this I went into the Inspector--Pan Mode--Stereo Left/Right and pushed the slider to the left or right depending on the material. I did this on each clip individually.

I was not sure if I needed to make the Channel Configuration Dual Mono or Stereo..

Do I create compound clips with the B-Roll which was on Secondary Storyline, The voicer and stand up was placed in the Primary Story line. I split each section of the up sound with gap clips, around 6 or 7 frames in duration, to create breathing room.

As I say, this was my first editing, the result was quite good, I was confused at the export stage, I wanted to change the frame size, which was fixed at 1280x720. Not sure what this frame size represents..

It is so hard to not have anyone to discuss more efficient methods of editing. I found that there was 1 clip with a portion of the frame overexposed, it was a white wall in broad sun, with the focus of the story sitting at a desk in a room, I did my best using a color mask to reduce the bright region, in the end, I gave up, I could not get the quality of the shot I thought I could get...

I have discussed this before, with Ripple and Larry Jordon, Alex4D, and to date nothing, that is the problem, you have wonderful technology, skype, hangouts on google, etc, where I can at zero cost, call in, discuss issues, learn from experts.

I said in a LinkedIn post that Lynda,com and other wonderful sites, including Brendan Boykin's new book, is not ideal to learn, as they do not teach real on the job methods, that actually work, they teach a method that in the end left me floundering.

Larry Jordon, Ripple and such could really be better used as coaches, someone that sees the work you need to finish, and helps develop an efficient method to speed up the editing, not leave the person swearing at the bad training provider.

I understand that most of this is self taught, can someone just throw some light on my mistakes, Please??

Thanks

You said the result was quite good, so what mistakes are you referring to?

- Ronny

Hi Ronny,
Thank you for the reply, where to start??

I sort of figured out how to do a "Ken Burns" effect, it sort of work, enough I guess to be used, I am not happy with how I went about constructing the effect, it was used on a screen grab movie of a web page, with the effect "zooming" into a portion of the web-page thus the image becomes full screen at the end, which I held for a few seconds.

What I really need is to talk to a professional, someone that understands FCP X, to figure out how to do small things, how to log footage, I tried to "sub-clip" using the used/unused method as per Ripple training, and yet used in some cases was incorrectly smart collection listed as unused, and so on, I checked the ratings, as per Ripple episode 275, should work, maybe a 10.1.2 bug? I wrote to Feedback!!

How to correct over-exposure on a portion of a clip, an overbright white limestone-washed wall, with the subject in the shot??? I tried with masking, all I got was less white, more and more black wall...So I left it uncorrected..Not good!!

The audio, what is the best method for sending natural sounds to one channel, and interviews to another channel, ie, left or right? Dual Mono, or Stereo???

None of this is discussed anywhere, and it was a requirement I was asked to do, so I did my best, this is the sort of thing coaching would help solve..In the end the insert work, ugly and inefficient use of technology...

How to explain this in text form is hard...
Justine

Hi MsJustine,

Tutorials and books are meant to give you a general understanding of how things work. Then it's up to you to find out by experience, which often means by trial and error, how you can apply this general information to the specific conditions of any particular job you have to do. If you always work with the same kind of footage and you always have to deliver the same kind of programs with the same specifications you will quickly establish a best practice for your particular workflow. But for many editors that's rarely the case.

Many of us get to deal with myriads of different video formats, audio configurations, delivery specifications, AFX and SFX requirements, graphics, etc... and when you think you have seen it all some clever camera manufacturer comes up with yet another recording format that once again does not fit in any workflow you have ever dealt with, or a client shows up with some footage and says "the people in the video don't look happy and there is no time for a re-shoot, can you make them look happier?" (believe me, this has really happened).

So you can understand there is no way any tutorial maker or writer can cover every single challenge every editor ever will have to deal with. That's why we have help forums. Here you can ask very specific questions about the actual work you are doing, you can post videos and screenshots showing the specific issue you have, and as there are many of us here there is a big chance someone will be able to offer you an accurate solution to your problem. To quote some of your examples:

"I am not happy with how I went about constructing the Ken Burns effect"
Show us what exactly you needed to do, how you did it and what you think didn't work well enough. There is no general rule, everything depends on the specific things you want to achieve.

"How to correct over-exposure on a portion of a clip"
Very hard to say without seeing the actual clip. Again, everything depends on the specific picture.

"What is the best method for sending natural sounds to one channel, and interviews to another channel, ie, left or right? Dual Mono, or Stereo???"
It all depends on how your audio was recorded. Did they record the interviews with just one microphone? Did they record a discrete camera mic channel and a separate boom or lavalier channel? All these details will change the way you need to deal with the audio.

You just need to be very specific to get the correct answers. And no manual can cover all this. So you can either pay for a one-on-one coach for every problem you have, or you can just come here and ask. You will always get the fastest answers when you ask very short and very precise questions.

- Ronny

ronny courtens wrote: ... or a client shows up with some footage and says "the people in the video don't look happy and there is no time for a re-shoot, can you make them look happier?" (believe me, this has really happened).

... when I worked in the ad-industry some hundred years ago, we got a client-report. It was about a photo-shooting with a herd of sheep; client's note (of real!!) "Most sheep look too dumb (!!) Please paste face of sheep #5/row #3 on any other!".......

aaarrrghghgh............... :evil:

I love these stories.

I was working for film VFX for several years. One time the crew forgot to film an angle of a scene (using a dolly) at Vienna airport. A few days later they saw an angle/scene was missing and they decided to film the scene at the old Munich airport. They send me the scans and said: Shouldn't be a problem to replace all signs in the Munich shot with those one from Vienna and the store windows should be easy as well.

Another scene from another movie required flying a poodle thrown from a stair into the blue sky. So obviously you can't do that with a living animal. I recommended to use an either green or black dummy with some markers.
When I got the scene they had used an all blue dummy – cause they had no other color available. Everything with "well illuminated" – nearly no shades.

- Andreas