Your thought process for new project setup?

Okay, so I am getting much better with FCP. Just had to dive in and play around a bit. It looks like many people are confused with the whole Library, Project, Event file setup.

So, tell me if my thinking is efficient for setting up new sessions. I create a new Library on my external drive, create an Event, and the project within that event. I really want to try and do this right from the start before i get really deep into my project only to realize that I didn't do it the most efficient way.

I do realize too that setting up your files can be a very personal thing. What I want to do is setup my files under my Library for my new youtube channel I am launching and keep everything for the channel housed under that Library.

Please let me know too if you need more info. I will get there, just need to keep on working with it. I do love FCP and it is pretty amazing for a few hundred bucks.

One Linrary per episode. Keep files outside FCPX (leave in place). Create a seperate Event for template files, which also should be kept outside the Library.

knesaren wrote: One Linrary per episode....

funny, all threads about organizing instantly have that 'debate'… (no debate.. opinions, there's no right or wrong, just diff. workflows)

I would put each episode into its own Event. The Lib organizes a season...
Makes the suggested 'templates/standards' Event accessible for all shows.
Keeping it in another Lib doesn't allow search, smartlists etc....

… in case, each show isn't hours long.

Structuring the keywords depends 99% on content, no general advice possible. Keep in mind, Keywords are not just for pictures, but for audio and text too ... (is your show scripted? Or improvised?)

Just suggestions, but for simpler productions, I'd go with Karsten's suggestion, and I have do that most of the time. Event per episode, templates assigned a common Theme (see below), stock media to an Event. Super quick, easy, compact, easy to archive and backup.

On the reality TV show I'm involved with at the moment, it is a much more complex and sizable production. We're using one Library per episode, but then we are also cataloging 50 different cameras per episode, and multiple story lines. Each event becomes one of the storylines. One for Projects timelines. There are so many cameras, stories, locations, activities/tours, etc, it is really complicated and difficult to track and cross-reference everything. FCPX makes it infinitely easier to manage than anything else before it. But it is still a mad house, and individual Libraries works better for this unique situation. Reality TV is just insane... and I'm slowly losing my mind...

As for collecting "templates", we've made everything into Motion templates published to FCPX. We assign them all to the same Theme, named after the production. That way we have them all in one place, in the Themes browser. Generators, transitions, titles, effects, all in one easy to access place. And we can easily duplicate/modify them on a whim and have access to that in every Library no matter what.

BenB wrote: …As for collecting "templates", we've made everything into Motion templates published to FCPX. ….

I guess Kenneth and I meant 'template' not in its technical sense = Motion templates, but 'standards', such as openers, music beds, sound/fx, photos, whatever is in all episodes in use...

And your RTVshow is an excellent example, that there is no One way doing it.
With your tons of material and zillions of evolving storylines, you need a completely diff. organzing scheme....

... would love to see your left column … but most likely, you're not allowed doing so, while show is in the making .........

"but 'standards', such as openers, music beds, sound/fx, photos, whatever is in all episodes in use..."

I addressed that; "...stock media to an Event"

Gead to any of youtube's many FCPX video channels and search for your topic. Hopefully you will find real world examples posted by people who know hat they're talking about because, you know, it's youtube. What could possibly go wrong with advice from youtubers?

I am working on a ten-episode series of ten-minute shows. The media workflow (After Effects, Motion, Photoshop, Illustrator, music, narration, etc) is far too complex to be kept in a single library so I am using a separate library for each episode, external media management, and I must keep up to 20 incremental versions of each episode until we arrive at the program that will be released. I am working with many collaborators and we must exchange files and movies though a server.

The other reason I'm working on a library per episode is so I can consolidate and move the library off the media server to an offline storage server when each episode is complete.

However, the next time I do a series like this, I will design a different system based on using a single library just to see how that works out.

Karsten Schlüter wrote:

knesaren wrote: One Linrary per episode....

funny, all threads about organizing instantly have that 'debate'… (no debate.. opinions, there's no right or wrong, just diff. workflows)

I would put each episode into its own Event. The Lib organizes a season...
Makes the suggested 'templates/standards' Event accessible for all shows.
Keeping it in another Lib doesn't allow search, smartlists etc....

… in case, each show isn't hours long.

Structuring the keywords depends 99% on content, no general advice possible. Keep in mind, Keywords are not just for pictures, but for audio and text too ... (is your show scripted? Or improvised?)

Hi, I was kind of thinking along your lines. I have a library for Season 1 (year's worth of content) then I have an event with the project per episode. I thinking no more than 15 to 20 min long. The show is going to be semi-scripted in the beginning, but it will probably evolve over time and become what is ultimately going to be. So, I shot the intro video yesterday, and mastering the theme song to marry with that over the next few days. I just can't wait to get better and quicker in my editing skills. It just takes time and using the program.

I do think that a lot gets lost in the "semantics" of using some of these programs. It seems like a lot of the instructional vidoes I watch, people are using different words at times for the same thing. It can get a bit confusing . This forum is pretty rad though.


Thanks for the repsonses.

bogiesan wrote: Gead to any of youtube's many FCPX video channels and search for your topic. Hopefully you will find real world examples posted by people who know hat they're talking about because, you know, it's youtube. What could possibly go wrong with advice from youtubers?

I am working on a ten-episode series of ten-minute shows. The media workflow (After Effects, Motion, Photoshop, Illustrator, music, narration, etc) is far too complex to be kept in a single library so I am using a separate library for each episode, external media management, and I must keep up to 20 incremental versions of each episode until we arrive at the program that will be released. I am working with many collaborators and we must exchange files and movies though a server.

The other reason I'm working on a library per episode is so I can consolidate and move the library off the media server to an offline storage server when each episode is complete.

However, the next time I do a series like this, I will design a different system based on using a single library just to see how that works out.

I get how that workflow works for you. Definitely makes a lot of sense. Since you are working with others, makes sense how you are doing it. Yeah, I did watch quite a few youtube vids and some were helpful, but others a bit confusing. I think I am really starting to get a better grasp. I love and hate learning new programs. FCP is just so darn cool. Now somebody is financing my page, so I gotta deliver. Thanks for your feedback.

BenB wrote: Just suggestions, but for simpler productions, I'd go with Karsten's suggestion, and I have do that most of the time. Event per episode, templates assigned a common Theme (see below), stock media to an Event. Super quick, easy, compact, easy to archive and backup.

On the reality TV show I'm involved with at the moment, it is a much more complex and sizable production. We're using one Library per episode, but then we are also cataloging 50 different cameras per episode, and multiple story lines. Each event becomes one of the storylines. One for Projects timelines. There are so many cameras, stories, locations, activities/tours, etc, it is really complicated and difficult to track and cross-reference everything. FCPX makes it infinitely easier to manage than anything else before it. But it is still a mad house, and individual Libraries works better for this unique situation. Reality TV is just insane... and I'm slowly losing my mind...

As for collecting "templates", we've made everything into Motion templates published to FCPX. We assign them all to the same Theme, named after the production. That way we have them all in one place, in the Themes browser. Generators, transitions, titles, effects, all in one easy to access place. And we can easily duplicate/modify them on a whim and have access to that in every Library no matter what.

Wow, that's pretty insane, but I do kind of understand the insanity. lol. Aside from my new youtube venture, I am 3 years deep in development on a show I now have with Nickelodeon producers. I have done everything with a team across the country. It's animation which is a different beast, but I can feel your pain. haha.

Would love to hear more about your show. I was writing musical cues for the E network for awhile, but had to stop because I am going to blow up from overload. haha

Keep on creating.

Let me add, each season has it's own Folder in the Finder. Every Library for that season has season number and other metadata entered in at the Finder level. We make custom searches in the side bar of our Finder windows. So our organization goes beyond just inside FCPX, we use the power of OS X to do this, also. Siri will actually help do this even faster in Sierra.

We have three editors, in three different cities collaborating. So we start with Finder level organization, and all media is external. Just to throw that in.

Finder organization can add a ton of efficiency to a production, LONG before you even launch FCPX.