Workflow And Advice, please.

Hi there.

I am a long time Avid Editor and know FCP7 pretty well also. I have been asked to cut a short film in FCPX for end post reasons (colour, sound and VFX). I am working with multiple formats, including 4K.

I have Sony F55 footage, from which I will be cutting with the Camera Generated .mxf proxies.
We will eventually want to relink to the proper 4K versions.

I have drone footage. This is MP4 and will be cut as is.

I also have Canon 5D2 footage, which is currently in .CR2 format.
I need to encode this (maybe to 422 HQ?). I have Adobe Media Encoder - any advice on this appreciated for best workflow.

My audio is recorded with A1 as the Mix and all isos are A2-A6.

Any ideas for best workflow would be appreciated as regards getting the media in. I do have direct questions, also.

1. In working the F55 proxies, I am unsure if I should create synchronize or compound clips for cutting. The video comes with NO Audio, and the TC against the audio is WILDLY different. I am attaching Markers to the clips and syncing that way. The TC of the newly synced clip then matches one of my elements (usually audio as it is a MUCH longer clip), For conform purposes, how does this work? When I want to head back to relink the non proxy video media (whether I do this or colorist does), how does it work? In Avid, when you create sync clips, they always relate back to the parent clip. Is that the same in FCPX? I need to ensure whatever I cut reverts back to the originals.

2. For encoding the .CR2 to a ProRes file, does anyone have any advice on this?

3. For the audio, if I turn off tracks A2-A6 so I am just cutting with the Mix, that should be fine for the Sound people to then find the isos... Yes?

This is a very new piece of software for me, so any help/knowledge you can impart will be appreciated.

Thank you. Emma.

Emma wrote: Hi there.

I am a long time Avid Editor and know FCP7 pretty well also. I have been asked to cut a short film in FCPX for end post reasons (colour, sound and VFX). I am working with multiple formats, including 4K.

I have Sony F55 footage, from which I will be cutting with the Camera Generated .mxf proxies.
We will eventually want to relink to the proper 4K versions.

YOU CAN SKIP THE (CAMERA) PROXIES, IMPORT THE 4K INSTEAD AND LET FCPX MAKE THE PROXIES THAT WILL AUTOMATICALLY LINKED TO THE HIGH RES FOOTAGE.




I have drone footage. This is MP4 and will be cut as is.

BRING IN MP4 FOOTAGE AND LET FCPX MAKE OPTIMIZED & PROXY FOOTAGE THERE.


I also have Canon 5D2 footage, which is currently in .CR2 format.
I need to encode this (maybe to 422 HQ?). I have Adobe Media Encoder - any advice on this appreciated for best workflow.

IF YOU WANT TO ACCESS THE RAW CONTROLS OF .CR2 FILES (IMAGE SEQUENCES?) I WOULD MAKE PRORES FULL SIZED FILES (ASSUMING THE SIZES ARE 5616 x 3744 LARGE) WITH AFTER EFFECTS (WHICH HAS ADOBE CAMERA RAW CONTROLS) OR DAVINCI RESOLVE, WHICH USES ITS OWN RAW INTERPRETER. FCPX WILL RECOGNIZE .CR2 FILES BUT ONLY SHOW THE JPEG THUMBNAILS. BEST TO RIP PRO RES IN EITHER OF THESE PROGRAMS.



My audio is recorded with A1 as the Mix and all isos are A2-A6.

Any ideas for best workflow would be appreciated as regards getting the media in. I do have direct questions, also.

YOU CAN DISABLE TRACKS A2-A6 FOR CUTTING PURPOSES AND STILL REFERENCE THEM FOR THE MIX LATER IF YOU NEED THEM ON INDIVIDUAL CLIPS.

1. In working the F55 proxies, I am unsure if I should create synchronize or compound clips for cutting. The video comes with NO Audio, and the TC against the audio is WILDLY different. I am attaching Markers to the clips and syncing that way. The TC of the newly synced clip then matches one of my elements (usually audio as it is a MUCH longer clip), For conform purposes, how does this work? When I want to head back to relink the non proxy video media (whether I do this or colorist does), how does it work? In Avid, when you create sync clips, they always relate back to the parent clip. Is that the same in FCPX? I need to ensure whatever I cut reverts back to the originals.

USE FCPX TO SYNC YOUR FOOTAGE USING MARKERS. IF THERE'S NO GUIDE TRACK ON YOUR SONY FOOTAGE (I ASSUME THE DRONE AND .CR2 FOOTAGE ARE NOT SYNC SOUND), THEN FIND SYNC POINTS AND LET FCPX MAKE THE SYNC FOOTAGE.




2. For encoding the .CR2 to a ProRes file, does anyone have any advice on this?

AFTER EFFECTS OR RESOLVE. MAYBE MOTION, BUT I HAVEN'T USED THIS. AVOID QUICKTIME 7 BECAUSE IT DOES NOT ACCESS RAW CONTROLS.

3. For the audio, if I turn off tracks A2-A6 so I am just cutting with the Mix, that should be fine for the Sound people to then find the isos... Yes?

YES.

This is a very new piece of software for me, so any help/knowledge you can impart will be appreciated.

IF YOU CAN, WATCH ANY OF THE RIPPLE TRAINING VIDEOS TO GET A LITTLE MORE COMFORTABLE WITH FCPX WORKFLOW. THERE ARE MANY IMPROVEMENTS IN FCPX THAT MAKE A LOT OF LEGACY PROCEDURES COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY. YOU WILL ENJOY THE SPEED AND FLEXIBILITY OF FCPX! ENJOY!

Thank you. Emma.

Emma wrote: ...long time Avid Editor and know FCP7 pretty well also. I have been asked to cut a short film in FCPX...I am working with multiple formats, including 4K...I have Sony F55 footage, from which I will be cutting with the Camera Generated .mxf proxies...We will eventually want to relink to the proper 4K versions....

As PaulG said, you can probably just import the original full-res camera files. If you need proxies, FCPX can generate those upon import or afterward.

However unless you will be delivering a 4k product you can just use a 1080p project. The native 4k resolution will still be available, you can still do pans/zooms without losing resolution, yet the internal render files will be smaller, hence performance will be better. You can also create proxies after doing that if you want even more performance.

Emma wrote: I also have Canon 5D2 footage, which is currently in .CR2 format...

I think .CR2 is for raw stills, whereas the 5D2 records video to Quicktime .MOV files. The .MOV files can be imported the normal way.

For stills there are two schools of thought:

(1) Import to FCPX, tag and rate them similar to video
(2) Import to Lightroom or similar photo editing, select the keepers, process those then export/import to FCPX. I personally prefer #2, since we often shoot 2,000 raw stills per day and may only use 5-10 in a video. It seems quicker and faster to do initial processing of raw stills externally, although this is less integrated.

Emma wrote: ...My audio is recorded with A1 as the Mix and all isos are A2-A6....The video comes with NO Audio, and the TC against the audio is WILDLY different. I am attaching Markers to the clips and syncing that way....

You're saying there is NO on-board scratch audio for the camera? That is unfortunate since both FCPX and 3rd party tools like PluralEyes do a good job of syncing via audio.

Yes markers are another way. That is not too bad if you have a few cameras and the takes are long. If it is a 3+ camera shoot and there are many clips from each camera, it can be pretty tough. If each camera's time of day was set correctly, you can put the Event Viewer in detail view and sort by date/time, which can help. The FCPX multicam sync also allows doing this based on clip date/time, if the cameras are set to the same time of day. Larry Jordan discusses some of these here: larryjordan.com/articles/fcp-x-sync-multicam-clips-video/

FCPX is very fast and powerful but it can be disorienting to experienced editors coming from track-based systems. It is best to understand this up front and try not to get frustrated when you encounter different aspects. There is a tremendous amount of high-quality training content and documentation, including:

Ripple Training: www.rippletraining.com/
MacBreak Studio (free excerpts of the above): www.pixelcorps.tv/macbreak_studio
Final Cut Pro X Beyond the Basics by Tom Wolsky: amzn.com/B00MHUXNIW
The Focal Easy Guide to Final Cut Pro X by Rick Young: amzn.com/B00OM1I3MA

Emma wrote: Hi there.

1. In working the F55 proxies, I am unsure if I should create synchronize or compound clips for cutting. The video comes with NO Audio, and the TC against the audio is WILDLY different. I am attaching Markers to the clips and syncing that way. The TC of the newly synced clip then matches one of my elements (usually audio as it is a MUCH longer clip), For conform purposes, how does this work? When I want to head back to relink the non proxy video media (whether I do this or colorist does), how does it work? In Avid, when you create sync clips, they always relate back to the parent clip. Is that the same in FCPX? I need to ensure whatever I cut reverts back to the originals.

Sorry, I was a little brief before. I'm assuming that the Sony MXF footage (which does not need transcoding in FCPX and can be used natively) is your sync sound footage and the drone/CR2 footage is B-Roll without sync. When you sync with FCPX, the picture name prevails with -Synchronized clip appended and the audio beyond the extents of the picture is still there but with black picture. FCPX will keep this audio in sync whether you're switching between Proxy or Optimized footage. If you're staying in FCPX, then no worries. If you're going out to work in ProTools for mix, for example, you will need to export an XML making sure to name your audio rolls (which will show up as tracks in ProTools), convert it to AAF using XtoPro (you need to buy this) and importing the AAF to ProTools. ProTools will reference the original WAV files and will be in sync with the reference QT you create.




Thank you. Emma.

joema wrote:

Emma wrote:

Emma wrote: I also have Canon 5D2 footage, which is currently in .CR2 format...

I think .CR2 is for raw stills, whereas the 5D2 records video to Quicktime .MOV files. The .MOV files can be imported the normal way.

For stills there are two schools of thought:

(1) Import to FCPX, tag and rate them similar to video
(2) Import to Lightroom or similar photo editing, select the keepers, process those then export/import to FCPX. I personally prefer #2, since we often shoot 2,000 raw stills per day and may only use 5-10 in a video. It seems quicker and faster to do initial processing of raw stills externally, although this is less integrated.


I agree that if it's MOV files from the 5DM2 then import as normal.

If it's still photos that are CR2s, then you can import them directly in, but you have no access to RAW controls. So I would use either Photoshop, Bridge, Lightroom, Aperture to expose them properly and export PNGs or JPEGS for editorial.

If the CR2s are image sequences, then using After Effects or Resolve to do a baseline correction and render to ProRes is the most straightforward way to create good looking video.

The other option would be to convert the image sequences to JPEGs and import them into FCPX, put them into a compound clip, set all stills to a duration of 1 frame and use the clip as footage in your timeline of choice.

Wow. Thank you both so much for taking the time to respond to my questions and post in such clear, simple ways.

I have read through everything and feel much more informed. I am 100% going to pay attention to what you have written, and implement your suggestions. I can not tell you how appreciative I am. I have been reading forums and chat boards today and it is great to have my questions so directly answered.

I apologise for repeating myself, but I just wanted to double check one thing about the sync clips that FCPX generates... I will give a direct example.

Video starts at 01:02:22:17
Audio starts at 10:13:42:01

When I make the sync clips (using markers), I am asked what I want the start TC to be. Is that TC unique to the sync clip?
Right now, it defaults to take the Video TC, however...
The audio clip is MUCH longer than the video. The audio starts first. This means the sync clips uses the video TC, but places it at the head of the sync clip... The video starts (in the sync clip) at 01:02:46:18 - which obviously does not correspond to the parent video (likewise the audio in the sync clip, which now starts, in the sync clip, at the video TC)...
I hope I don't sound completely oblivious - but the Video and Audio used in the Sync clip retain their metadata yes? So, while the sync clip has unique TC, the clips within the sync clip remain in tact?
I know this is a simple question, but I can't get my head around it.

Again, thank you so much for any response. I am going to look at my workflow and take on the suggestions given thus far. Also, I am grateful for your advice as regards websites to visit and books to look at...

Best wishes. Emma.

Emma wrote: ...I just wanted to double check one thing about the sync clips that FCPX generates...

Video starts at 01:02:22:17
Audio starts at 10:13:42:01

When I make the sync clips (using markers), I am asked what I want the start TC to be. Is that TC unique to the sync clip?...Right now, it defaults to take the Video TC, however...
The audio clip is MUCH longer than the video. The audio starts first. This means the sync clips uses the video TC, but places it at the head of the sync clip...

I am not highly experienced in this area, but will try to answer. Others can correct me as necessary. Timecode in this context is probably SMPTE timecode, which not all audio/video devices support. Even if supported, if the timecode is not "jam synced" between devices prior to starting, they won't be lined up. Also on long takes they can drift apart.

The ideal approach is having wired or wireless timecode between all recording devices using something like Timecode Buddy: www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/992535-RE...dy_wi_fi_master.html or Tentacle Sync: www.indiegogo.com/projects/tentacle-sync...-to-sync-different#/

However these are expensive and/or add complexity so my group just uses audio sync via PluralEyes, which works very well provided all cameras have scratch audio. This also does "drift correction" on long takes to keep them in sync: www.redgiant.com/products/pluraleyes/

In your case you apparently have a camera with no audio whatsoever, so the only option might be a manual sync.

It is common to have a single long audio file and several shorter video files. If you have one or two long video files to sync with the audio it is pretty easy to just do it by sight. In the Event Viewer, skim through the video/audio files looking/listening for an obvious event. Put a marker on each one, then select the those clips, right-click and do Create New Multicam Clip.

In the MC sync options don't use audio or timecode, just markers. If the sync is a little off you can open the multicam clip itself and drag the clips left/right to adjust them.

If you have many short video files from various cameras -- all without audio -- that is a difficult situation. In general you always want on camera audio to help with cases like this.