Visual QuickStart Guide [Electronic resources] : Final Cut Express HD for Mac OS X

FCE Protocol: What Are Offline Clips?

An offline clip is a clip reference to a media file that has been deleted, moved, or renamed. If you log and capture a clip and then delete the clip's media file from disk, the clip "goes offline" and a red slash appears through the clip icon.

The offline clips appear in the Browser; you can even edit them, but you won't see or hear anything on the screen while you're editing. The only difference is that online clips are linked to captured media files on disk.

You can restore offline clips that reference deleted media by using the Capture Project feature, detailed later in this chapter, to recapture the media from tape.

You can use the Reconnect Media command to restore an offline clip's link to a moved or renamed media file.

Or you can delete a clip's media file deliberately to recapture some disk space, and recapture the clip's media only when you want to use it.

The Art of File Naming

When you capture or import media into Final Cut Express, you name each file as a part of the process. You'll be living with these file names for a long time. Since it's not a trivial matter to change file names once you've assigned them, you should develop a file naming system before you start your project. Write it down, distribute it to your production team, and stick to it.

Much of the logic behind file naming schemes involves constructing file names in a way that allows you to make use of FCE's Sort and Find functions and to identify the file's content, file type, and version number. In Final Cut Express, an added level of flexibility is available to you because clips and their underlying media files do not need to have the same name.

A directory structure is the planned organization of folders you use to store your project's media elements. A complete file naming system should also be extended to the naming and organization of your files into folders. If you can, create your folder structure before you start acquiring your media elements. This will make it easier to file your elements correctly after the pace of production heats up.

Final Cut Express imposes an automated directory structure for captured media files, automatically generating folders named after your current project inside the Capture Scratch folder. This complicates the process of filing media elements according to your own system, but if you're organized, you can work around it. After you capture, you can move your captured clips into your own folder system and then import them into a project before you start assembling sequences.

Here are a few guidelines to help you develop file names that will remain useful throughout the life of your project:

• Incorporate file names into your shooting scripts, voice-over scripts, and storyboards early in production. Some projects actually enter the entire script into a database and use that script/database to track media elements.

• File names should contain the shot's scene and take numbers, if appropriate.

• Avoid duplicate file names.

• File suffixes are traditionally used as file type indicators. There are some standard file suffixes in use, but don't be shy about making up your own system of file type abbreviations. Be sure to document them.

• Audio file names should incorporate a code that indicates sample rate, file format, and whether the files are stereo or mono files.

• Your file naming system should include a code for version control. Don't rely on a file's creation or modification date as your only means of identifying the latest version of a file.

1.

On the Capture tab of the Capture window,

do one of the following :

• Click the New Folder button (Figure 5.4 ) to create a new folder inside the current capture bin and select it as the current capture bin (Figure 5.5 ).

  Figure 5.4. Click the New Folder button on the Capture tab to create a new folder inside the current capture bin and select it as the current capture bin.

  Figure 5.5. The new capture bin in the Browser. The clapstick icon indicates the current capture bin.

• Click the Up button to set the bin hierarchically above the current capture bin as the new capture bin.

2.

Click the Capture Bin button to switch to the Browser and open the new capture bin you created.

A little clapstick icon appears in the Browser next to the current capture bin.

1.

In the Browser, select the bin that you want to set as the capture bin.

2.

Control-click the bin; then select Set Capture Bin from the bin's shortcut menu (Figure 5.6 ).

A little clapstick icon appears next to the current capture bin.

1.

Load the source tape you want to capture into your camcorder or deck.

2.

Choose File > Capture; or press Command-8.

3.

In the Capture window, specify a Capture bin using one of the methods described in the previous task.

4.

In the Reel field,

do any of the following:

• Enter a name for the reel (the tape or other video source you are currently logging).

• Click the Reel Slate button to add a numeric reel name.

• Control-click the Reel field; then choose from a pop-up list of recent reel names (Figure 5.7 ).

  Figure 5.7. Control-click the Reel field; then select from a list of recent reel names.

5.

In the Description field,

do any of the following:

• Enter a name for the clip.

• Select the Prompt check box if you want to name each clip as you log it (Figure 5.8 ).

  Figure 5.8. Check Prompt if you want to name each clip as you log it.

6.

In the Description, Scene, and Shot/Take fields,

do any of the following:

• Click the check boxes next to the fields you want to incorporate into the clip's name.

• Enter any identifying text you want to use in the text field.

• Click the Slate button to automatically increment the corresponding text field's numeral (Figure 5.9 ).

  Figure 5.9. Click a Slate button to add an incremented numeral to its associated text field.

7.

Use the transport controls in the Capture window to control your source device and locate the footage to capture. If you have full device control enabled, you can also navigate to a specific timecode location on your source tape by entering a timecode value in the Current Timecode field.

8.

Mark media In and Out points for a clip

by

doing one of the following:

• Click the Mark In and Mark Out buttons (Figure 5.10 ); or press I (the letter

  i ) to set the In point, and press O (the letter

  o ) to set the Out point.

  Figure 5.10. Click the Mark Out button to set an Out point for the capture.

• Enter specific timecodes in the timecode fields at the bottom of the Capture window. Enter the In point in the left timecode field and the Out point in the right timecode field.

9.

Capture the clip using either the Capture Clip or the Capture Now button (Figure 5.11 ). Step-by-step instructions for each type of capture appear in the following sections of this chapter.

1.

To access the marking controls, click the expansion triangle next to Markers at the bottom of the Capture tab.

2.

Enter a marker name or comment in the Marker field.

3.

To set the In and Out points of the marker,

do one of the following:

• Enter timecode values in the In and Out timecode fields. You can Option-drag values from any timecode fields in the Capture window to copy them into these fields.

• Click the Mark In and Mark Out buttons.

4.

Click Set Marker (Figure 5.12 ).

The marker In and Out points and any information entered in the Marker field appear in the Marker Comment window (Figure 5.13 ).

These markers appear as subclips in the Browser once a clip is captured.

• If you need to modify your marker data after you've set the marker, enter the revisions in the Marker fields and then click the Update button to save your changes.

FCE Protocol: Auto-Incrementing on the Capture Tab

The rules governing the behavior of the Description, Scene, and Shot/Take fields on the Capture tab are too many to list in this sidebar. Here, however, are a few handy rules that should help you get more efficiency out of the auto-entry features built into the Capture tab:

• The check box to the right of a field's name controls whether the field will be included in the clip's name.

• The last-checked field is the one that will increment automatically. Here are some examples:

  • If you check only the Description field, just the Description field will increment.

  • If Scene is the last-checked field, the scene number automatically increments, even if you entered a number in the Shot/Take field but left it unchecked.

  • If Shot/Take is the last-checked field, the Shot/Take field increments, and the scene number remains unchanged until you click its Slate button to increment it. Clicking the Scene field's Slate button resets the Shot/Take field to 01 (FCE assumes that your new scenes start with Take 01).

• You can include a Shot/Take number only if you include a scene number.

Logging Tips

• Click the Capture Bin button to display the selected capture bin on the front tab of the Browser.

• Control-click the Reel field to access a pop-up menu displaying all the reel names you've used in the current project. Selecting your reel name from the pop-up list helps you ensure you're entering exactly the same name each time. That's critical to successful batch capture.

• Clear text from a field by Option-clicking the Slate button next to it.

• Use the Mark Good check box to mark your best stuff. You can use the Find feature to search the Browser's Good column and select only the clips you've marked "Good" for your first rough cut.