Different Colours for Markers

Hi there.

So I prefer FCPX by far for my edits but I also cut in Avid and Premier when I need to on different projects. What I do miss from Avid thou is having the option of having different colours for your markers making it very easy for me to identify different sections in an interview etc.

I know I can mark clips as Favourites or Rejected and label each marker and use the index to find all these but often in a long interview where the person rambles and jumps between topics I would like to mark the sections that deal with a certain topic in a yellow marker which I can instantly pick-up on when I return to the older timeline.

Does anyone know of a plug-in that could do this in FCPX?

Many thanks.

Another no-brainer Apple missed out on. What you really need to look in to is an online transcription and marking service that lets you edit from the transcript directly. Scribeomatci, SimonSays and the other one or two out there. I've just begun to use Scribeomatic on a behind-the-scenes project and am loving how fast I get through editing specific dialog.

Why not keyword ranges, instead of colored bubbles?

You can't see keyword ranges on a timeline visually.

I use the three different style of markers that are built into FCP to do what you are asking about. Markers and blue, notes are red, and chapters are yellow.

Videopixels wrote: Hi there.

So I prefer FCPX by far for my edits but I also cut in Avid and Premier when I need to on different projects. What I do miss from Avid thou is having the option of having different colours for your markers making it very easy for me to identify different sections in an interview etc.

I know I can mark clips as Favourites or Rejected and label each marker and use the index to find all these but often in a long interview where the person rambles and jumps between topics I would like to mark the sections that deal with a certain topic in a yellow marker which I can instantly pick-up on when I return to the older timeline.

Does anyone know of a plug-in that could do this in FCPX?

Many thanks.

Do you want something like this?

Thanks, yes I was thinking of that but they do actually fore fill a function so was really hoping to keep markers as markers.

Hi there. This is Premier Pro, I'm looking at FCPX, thanks.

Videopixels wrote: ...often in a long interview where the person rambles and jumps between topics I would like to mark the sections that deal with a certain topic in a yellow marker which I can instantly pick-up on when I return to the older timeline....

In FCPX the best workflow for editing interviews is doing most of that work in the Event Browser. You have unlimited range-based (not clip-based) keywords and ratings. Markers in the Event Browser are searchable.

You want to minimize "talking head" time where possible. One of the most time-consuming aspects of interview editing is finding b-roll visuals for a given statement or finding interview dialog for a given visual. You do this organizational prep work in the Event Browser, not on the timeline. That is where you meticulously canvass and scrutinize the material, tying b-roll and dialog together with keywords.

Reuben Evans posted a very detailed FCPX workflow description for editing a massive documentary. He said 'This process places the majority of the work of editing into the browser. It forces the editor to organize, tag and review all the footage. The editor must resist the temptation to “get in there and start cutting.”': medium.com/@ReubenEvans/editing-a-massiv...t-pro-x-be305b445b96

But if you're looking for a product to expedite and streamline interview editing, the best one is probably Lumberjack Builder. It has text conversion and allows editing video by cutting/pasting the converted text transcript: lumberjacksystem.com

Setting subclip ranges with keywords (or rather: creating new subclips by assigning keywords to ranges) would be comparable to what is shown in the Premiere markers tutorial . Because markers can have a duration there, they are essentially subclips. I do prefer FCP's ability to do an overall search for all keywords instead of being limited to the clip at hand. Prefer? It's a major feature of FCP, and I find anything else unacceptable.

Minus the colors, what Ben calls missing visual cues.

However, I think together and fighting with the (deliberately limited range of) role-colors this feature would make the whole interface look too gaudy to be in any way useful.

You can - sort of - make the subclips independent from the main clip by adding notes like (the example above) "Avid" ,"FCP" and "Poser".

In which way was that better than adding these as keywords?

Well, since you can't rename ranges, you can use notes in the same way. Notes on ranges do not appear in inspector (I think they should), but in list view you can have notes to be the second or so column, and everything will look exactly like in Premiere in the video above.

Minus the colors / squares / triangles / circles.

You can even select the text of the note "Avid" and hit qwerdy.

You can make a "note-based" smart collection in the Simon Ubsdell style. It can be hidden when not in use (if you click once on the loupe icon on the upper right corner of the event viewer before opening the smart collection "notes", on the right side of the search appears a toggle icon show/hide search HUD).

Axel wrote: Setting subclip ranges with keywords (or rather: creating new subclips by assigning keywords to ranges) would be comparable to what is shown in the Premiere markers tutorial . Because markers can have a duration there, they are essentially subclips. I do prefer FCP's ability to do an overall search for all keywords instead of being limited to the clip at hand. Prefer? It's a major feature of FCP, and I find anything else unacceptable.

That is incorrect. Markers are not subclips but Keywords with ranges are like subclips. Premiere Pro can make use of subclips and metadata fields allowing Premiere Pro editors to edit in browser just like FCPX. Premiere Pro will allow you to search all subclips. Premiere Pro could do that 15 years ago just like finding content in the timeline.


Markers Vs Sublcips/keyword ranges?

If I have a 50 minute video a 40 minute video and a 30 minute video for an interview using sublcips and keywords with ranges will turn the three large video clips into 75-95 smaller video clips. With makers I only have three video clips that allow me to see the makers at a glance. It also goes to the part of the video if I click on the marker. You don't have to use different colors you can just tag markers with meta data. You also see the markers metadata in the timeline. I can easily tell in the timeline if I am talking about Avid, FCPX, Poser etc. Markers can be handy but there is always room for improvement.

arc wrote:

Axel wrote: Setting subclip ranges with keywords (or rather: creating new subclips by assigning keywords to ranges) would be comparable to what is shown in the Premiere markers tutorial . Because markers can have a duration there, they are essentially subclips. I do prefer FCP's ability to do an overall search for all keywords instead of being limited to the clip at hand. Prefer? It's a major feature of FCP, and I find anything else unacceptable.

That is incorrect. Markers are not subclips but Keywords with ranges are like subclips. Premiere Pro can make use of subclips and metadata fields allowing Premiere Pro editors to edit in browser just like FCPX. Premiere Pro will allow you to search all subclips. Premiere Pro could do that 15 years ago just like finding content in the timeline.

Let's not argue about specifics. What I meant was that the distinction between 'parent clips' and subclips is somewhat arbitrary anyway. It had been in the analog world, and it is even more in NLEs. And you are absolutely right that markers with duration can serve an entirely different purpose than a keyworded range or one with an attached note.

The best way to have it best of both worlds in FCPX was if I could choose a color for a range selection that would then appear as a thin line like i.e. used clips are marked in the browser.

And there should be an option for the timeline view to display the note text in the rectangle that represents the clip in the sequence, with the said thin colored line.

But then again, though this could be a missing feature in FCP, the reason why few - if any - complain or fill in feedback, may be that the ways to organize these things are different, as joema has pointed out.

Axel wrote:
The best way to have it best of both worlds in FCPX was if I could choose a color for a range selection that would then appear as a thin line like i.e. used clips are marked in the browser.

And there should be an option for the timeline view to display the note text in the rectangle that represents the clip in the sequence, with the said thin colored line.

But then again, though this could be a missing feature in FCP, the reason why few - if any - complain or fill in feedback, may be that the ways to organize these things are different, as joema has pointed out.

The marker options can be cool. Having said that Avid, FCPX, Premiere Pro and DR will all get better.

You are right. Markers should be extendable, have colors and show text in the timeline, everything else is a drag. Feedback given.

Hi guys, I'm sorry this is an old post but I just switched from Davinci Resolve to FCPX. And this is my first post. In DR you have many different colors you can use for markers. But in FCPX it seems like I am limited to todo, notes, and chapters.

I have a timeline, and I want to add markers(notes to myself) to add 4 different types of tasks. 1,nadd mid size titles, 2, add images, 3 add stock footage, 4, add sound effect. For my workflow I like to do 1, mid size titles, then move on to 2. adding images, etc.

I would like to see all the notes I made for mid size titles, images, etc separately. Right now they are bunched together.

I'm trying to find a way to do this using keywoard like the suggestions but I am struggling. I can't see how you can add a new keyword in the timeline like you would a marker. Should I be using tags?

I think I'm missing something fundamental, any help from the veterans would be very much appreciated!

You could use To-DO markers, just start the description of each with the labels you put forth; "Mid-Size Titles", "SFX", etc. Then in the Timeline Index (which everyone here missed mention of including me) you can search for Mid-Size and see all those markers listed and jump to them with a mouse click. Plus show the Notes column there and add additional notes to each marker individually. I think you need to look at To-To markers and the Timeline Index.

So throw the Timeline Index into the mix and you start to have a lot more opportunities to navigate your content. Same goes for Keyword ranges.

Hi Ben,

Thank you very much for replying so quickly.  I really appreciate it.  I will give the Timeline Index a go!  I think your advice is exactly what I was looking for.  I knew I was missing something!  

Many thanks,
Christian

I'd actually like to see colored markers, and don't understand why we don't already have them. They don't clutter up the interface until you use them. So if you don't like them, you'd simply not use them and thus never see them. But I have lots of times I wish I could use colored markers for a variety of things daily.

The timeline index is pretty good, but not as visual as captions. They can contain whatever text you want, have a range, and are visible in the Viewer. Unfortunately, you can't change the colour of specific captions, but you *can* put emoji into them!

@Joema
I have a question regarding documentary editing and interviews.
I can't seem to be able to send you a message on your profile.

Can you contact me: aboisvert@lematounoir.qc.ca

Thanks.