FCP self contained movies

Hi FCPUG,
Question: I have a 1 hour video which is completely edited and ready to go over to DVD. I want to export my work to FCP and make a self contained movie which I will save to my external HD, but will I be free to clean out my computer afterwards? The project is complete and I would like to clean out my system asap, but my question is, if for some rason I needed to redo a clip will I have all the attributes of a working timeline, browser, etc.. since I self contained, or will I go crazy trying to figure out what i have just done?
I know that this is a simple question, but I am scared to push the buttons immediately.
Thanks a lot,
Xerro

If you do that, what you will have is one movie file with no real relationship to your timeline. If you were to lay it over the timeline, all the edits should match to the cuts in the file, though.

You will not have the ability to go in and change anything, because it's taking all the media a squoooshing it into one file. It's like flattening a Photoshop document. All the layers are now gone. You will have no handles, no separate layers of graphics, nothing that's adjustable.

If you want to reduce your project to just the media that's in your timeline, read up on Media Manager. It can be quirky, though. Make sure you make your sequence clips independent, and COPY your files, don't move them. Double check that Media Manager does what you wanted before you nuke any of the original media.



Post Edited (05-10-06 15:53)

only make a self contained movie and trash your source files if:

you are ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN, that you are finished with the movie and will NEVER want to go back and re edit it.

> Question: I have a 1 hour video which is completely edited and ready to go
> over to DVD. I want to export my work to FCP and make a self contained
> movie which I will save to my external HD, but will I be free to clean out my
> computer afterwards? The project is complete and I would like to clean out
> my system asap, but my question is, if for some rason I needed to redo a
> clip will I have all the attributes of a working timeline, browser, etc.

NO, you will not. Do not dump any project files, media files etc. if you're going to change *anything* in terms of editing decisions, colour correction, titles etc. Self-contained movie files are great for tape outputs, conversions, web compression, talent reels etc., but they won't do squat if you want to move a cut.

If you have a deadline, I also recommend against using Media Manager. Even a perfect Media Manager operator can be screwed by one wrong operation or one computer quirk.

Sometimes its a good idea to just save the project files and graphics (if you used any)
This way, you can open the project and recapture all your clips automatically if they are logged properly.

I'd only do this if its very unlikely you will want to change the movie any time soon as rebuilding takes time.



Johan Polhem
Motion Graphics
www.johanpolhem.com

Well, I would recomment if you batch captured your movie without a time code break, then just keep the tape and burn the fcp project to a dvd..you would have to re capture the project if you would need to work on it later but the information isn't lost.

If not so, keep the project in your computer until you are done!!!

This is what I really enjoy about LAFCPUG, everyone is in the groove or they help you get there. I was contemplating initially just buying a 200G hard drive and dumping everything on it to begin with and then stashing it away. But thanks for the food for thought, My very best
to you all,
Xerro

most of what i do runs as DV at or around 20 to 30 min. i have yet to have a project in that vein go over 300 meg. i just build in an extra $400 or so into every project, which buys the client their own FW drive.

when the project is done, drive is unplugged and put in a box for storage - done.

and FWIW - i just bought an iomega branded FW400 drive, as ist athe closest to my spec of drive that this local vendor had (that wasnt lacie). and its seem sto be working OK, but id never even consider going to tape with it as it drops frames 50+ times dayly.

where my trusted promax drives simply - DONT.

Thanks Wayne,
yeah that's the way to go for sure, tape backup, but certainly not the primary. You brought up an interesting point about the drop frames issue and I am wondering if you could fill me in. There are two places in this hour long piece where I am having drop frames appear o my computer during playback and I am wondering if there is a way to solve that issue. I had the piece transferred over to a dvd and there were no problems, but is there a way to fix it in the timeline? Can you simply lay a new shot over it and fix it? I am curious, but don't really want mess around with the project at this point, I will if there is a solution that's for sure. Your feelings on this issue would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Xerro

> here are two places in this hour long piece where I am having drop frames
> appear o my computer during playback and I am wondering if there is a way
> to solve that issue.

Dropped frames could mean:

a) Your drive isn't fast enough, is filling up too full, or isn't properly formatted;
b) You are using the wrong file-transfer protocol, for example USB;
c) You are working with a format too data-intensive for your data-transfer protocol, for example trying to do Uncompressed SD through FireWire 400;
d) You have a lot of effects, especially stacked video tracks.

However, FCP is super-sensitive about playback dropped frames which may not even be visible to the eye. My advice is to turn off "Report dropped frames during playback". Because unless the dropped frames are severe and visible, you don't need FCP interrupting you while you're checking a cut in editing, and when outputting to tape, if the dropped frames are serious enough, you'll see it happening and don't need FCP to mouth off about it. Just make sure you check the tape output thoroughly after you do it. Remember that monitoring the output as it's happening does *not* give you an accurate picture of what gets recorded to tape, because you're watching the signal from the computer.