Projects vs. Timelinesposted by MythMaker at 11:30 PM on December 2, 2009 [2 favorites]
Avid is a project-centric system, organizing all media, edit decisions, and elements into a single project. With FCP, it is the timeline that counts and the project is much less important. The media, music, graphics, etc. can come from anywhere or any project. In fact, we essentially ignore the project concept and organize media using the basic Mac file and folder structure. This is the essence of FCP’s strength: media can live happily outside a project. Therefore, in Avid terms, your entire SAN becomes the Project.
Media File Structure in the Finder
Think about this. You now have instant access to any media that exists on the entire SAN. (Tip: Try using Leopard’s Cover Flow feature to browse media, it will forever change how you search for shots!) We typically have 4-6 shows destined for different networks in progress simultaneously with multiple episodes per show in editing and up to four editors working per show. At peak times, that is almost a hundred people accessing two separate Xsan systems. Trust me when I say if this workflow didn’t work, we couldn’t possibly handle this volume of work.
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But Where’s My Metadata?
Markers. Comments. Subclips. These are time honored tools that many editors simply can’t live without. Unfortunately, these metadata items can ONLY be created within an FCP project and are not attached to the basic QuickTime files. The key to sharing this info amongst a team of editors is FCP’s ability to open multiple projects simultaneously. For example, an assistant will create a project called ‘B-Roll’, ‘Music’ or ‘Interviews’. This project is saved to a common area on the SAN accessible to the entire team.
An editor starting work on an episode will first find on the SAN the latest project containing shared items and copy that to his local system. He will then create another project specifically for his episode and copy across the relevant clips. It is within this ‘personal project’ that all of the metadata is created and retained. If another editor wants the same folder and file structure, they can easily use a copy of that project and go to work. Typically, any editor will have 3-6 projects open simultaneously, some common, some unique.
Sharing Timelines: Work Locally, Share Globally
My mantra is to back up everything three ways: locally, globally, and ‘mobilely’. Locally means to your local internal drive. Globally means to the SAN, and ‘Mobilely’ means to a USB drive. When editors do this, their work is instantly accessible to anyone else on the SAN. Depending on whatever show an editor is working on, there is a logical folder structure in place to save their work.
Practically speaking, this means that you do not need to pass huge projects back and forth, only economical, slim projects containing little more than a single timeline. Think about this. Even with Avid, only one editor can work on a timeline at a time. Otherwise, you’d be chasing each other’s tail, overwriting each other’s changes. The same is true with FCP, but the management is manual, not automatic.
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So what’s the difference?
I acknowledge that FCP requires a more manual approach to media organization and versioning. However, I would argue that the same attention to filenames and structure is required for any Avid project of similar size and complexity. The only difference is that with FCP, that organization takes place at the Finder level and not within an FCP project. The ultimate outcome is the same: Multiple editors are easily able to share the same media and work on the same episode simultaneously.
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posted by shmegegge at 1:59 PM on December 2, 2009