Problems synchronising multiple angles

Hello all
Recently ive taken to filming my sons ice hockey games
ive been trying a few different things to cover the whole rink, including using more than one camera
and ive watched the how to synchronise multiple angles videos on youtube a number of times
on youtube when they push the synchronise button the progress bar zips across the screen and whoosho they are ready to go
when i do it the progress bar hardly even starts and my macbook pro basically locks up until such time as i cancel the synchronisation.

any ideas on what i may be doing wrong ?
just when editing (with my very basic editing skills) trying to cut from one camera to another without them being synchronised is very difficult. (in fact i gave up trying)
here is a link to my youtube channel, as you can see I suck at this :ohmy:

right at the end of that video there is a slow mo of one of the players getting his clavical broken if thats the sort of thing that interest you
ive given up optimising footage as it just consumes so much storage, so i just use the original footage and leave it in place on the external hard drive

Guys i really am right at the bottom end of knowing what im doing when it comes to editing and for that i apologise to you all :oops:

Sync requires all cameras be recording the same, CLEAR audio that can be used for such. Ambient sound in a rink is not going to work. It's simply not "clear". There's nothing definitive for the sound to sync to.

ok so what is the best way to work with more than one camera ?

say you you have a goal from one angle then want to see it from the other, is there an easier way than hunting threw the other camera for the same event ?

One way would be to find something visual to sync to. Place a marker there on each clip, sync to the marker. In the old days before multicam, I used a small hand held photographers flash.

I'm editing my sons football ('soccer') matches, for years, using up to 5 unmanned cameras + me operating the 'main' cam.

based upon this experience:
• automatic synch by audio can work, I tried that several times…  but depends very much on situation, e.g. wind noise = not synch on cams a 100m away = doesn't work
• I'm synching 'by first marker': luckily, all cams record the refs whistle. So, I manually skim, in the event browser, to that point in each angle and set a marker.
• such markers don't have necessarily be at the beginning of the clips, e.g. in a theatre play, I set markers on applause at the very end of the play
• and, clips don't have to be single-shot, this technique works with start-stop/interrupted recordings too (e.g. when I miss 2min because of switching batteries)

To set a marker manually, you need a 'sign' on all cam angles, acoustically (whistle, clapping) or visually (flash lights, subject starts to move, lights go on/off)

When MultiCam is created, don't miss the biggest fun - TVtruck editing:
add a longer sequence to your project; set playhead at beginning; click play; and by hitting 1,2,3,4,5,6 you set the angle 'live', (“… aaaand close-up to #3 !") :lol:

With some routine, you don't need the angle viewer : 1 is my main cam, 2 is right wide, 4 is close right goal, same with 3 and 5. You 'know' which angle catches the action.

Plus: if you miss an edit point, or the angle does not show the ball/puck, you can cmd-z or trim or choose a diff. angle... it 'feels' like live editing , but luckily it isn't.

Big fun! Oh, and btw: I mix all sorts of formats and frame rates - Some of my cams are 50€ cheapos… 'sacrifice cams' = lost two over the years by some hell of a shot :woohoo:

just to add. As I think right zoom and slow motion is key for your videos have a look at blog.alex4d.com/2012/09/06/alex-4d-grow-shrink-effect/ that I use lately for zoom effects. Of course can be done as well with fcpx directly but for my it's more handy and easier.
In my videos I do the camera sync as well manually thanks to the help of keywords, markers and I&O favorite definitions.
example:

have fun and put a cam in the goal

thanks for the advice guys, ive kinda given up trying to do multiple cameras for now, i might have another go at it as i get better

Karsten there is just so much info in this response
im reading then reading again to try and understand what you mean

if i set markers (easy enough) how then do i tell it to synchronize by using the markers ?

Happyfingers wrote: …if i set markers (easy enough) how then do i tell it to synchronize by using the markers ?

Have you read the manual?

Have you watched the rippletwins? (although demoed in an legacy version of FC still legit)?
www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rippletraining+multicam

Or, just watch, how I edit sons yesterday match:

Step #1:
Import and conventions.



I used three cams, left, right (both unmanned) and a main on the stands. I'm no fan of renaming, so I simply apply in the Inspector the corresponding Angle names. And no, no proxies, no optimzed - AVCHD and mp4 'out of the box'.

Step #2:
Finding a synch point.



In my case, it's easy - all three cams record the refs whistle (more or less, sometime a bit tricky to hear it). So, in each three clips, I maneuver (J/K/L, or cursor keys) to that point and hit M = blue dot


Step #3
Multicam Magic



Next, I select ALL clips for that MC - notice: two cams created one clip, another five. Choose New Multicam, and some settings:
a) frame rate - I will add tons of slowmo in my lil' report, so I recorded in 50fps, but my project is 25fps.
b) Angle Synchronisation …'on First Marker' (audio synch unchecked) => that does all the trick! And because it's so simple, those three 50min clips are synched within a second ....



Done. ok, needs some arrangement, I like 'main' as first track, etc etc.

Step #4
TVtruck editing



in my Project, select a portion of my MC, add it to project. Hit play, and when the players reach the 'box' I yell to myself "… aaaaand camera 3!" - big fun!



when edit done, add rewinds, slowmos, packaging - Hollywood.
<cough> kinda …

big fun for me, big fun for the boys, a wonderful hobby wasting hours in front of glooming monitor.
… and, all done with a shabby, 5y old MacTubberbox and a few hundred €€ snaps from eBay ..... :woohoo:

Yeah, I'm going to repeat Karstan here in my own words. Start by reading the manual about multicams, for sure.
help.apple.com/finalcutpro/mac/10.3/#/ver23c76439

And if you still need more, get Ripple or macProVideo's video training on multicams.

FCPX.guru wrote: Yeah, I'm going to repeat Karstan here ….

… your maiden name is Echoe, I see …

i watched the rippletwins video and now im even more confused

3 videos on the timeline all with 3 videos on top of one another

it just made no sense to me

Happyfingers wrote: …it just made no sense to me

You told us. Several times.

But not WHAT you don't understand, where your problem is to understand the concept of MultiCam: one scene, recorded from several angles simultaneously = parallel, synched tracks. Switchable.

…

I think you're confusing the Angle Editor with editing the multicam clip in a project timeline.

FCPX.guru wrote: I think you're confusing the Angle Editor with editing the multicam clip in a project timeline.

hmmm, I think, the rippletwins explain the difference very well.


… perhaps, Apple should re-name the Angle-Editor an 'Angle Arranger' - to make clear: this is no Tracks-replacement, you don't 'edit' here :lol:

I make it very clear in my classroom training, also. But some folks get confused with it, as you said, thinking you edit in the Angle Editor. Since I get it a lot in live training, I figured that may be the issue here.