Trouble making QT movie from FCP 5.1.4

Hello. I could use some help. I have a rough cut of a documentary I am making on FCP 5.1.4. The cut is about 1 1/2 hours long. I am able to make a FCP version of it but cannot make a stand alone QT movie of it. My MAC is OSX version 10.5.8. I am using an external hardrive which has 113.77GB of free space. I tried to export it overnight with QuickTime Conversion but this morning it said I had 32 left and only 30% of it had been completed.

I am not an expert and FCP but have been able to do ok for the past several months. Any thoughts, suggestions, ideas? I appreciate the help. Thank you

Sonya

Export - QuickTime Movie to make a full-quality version. Then, if you need a compressed version of it, run the flattened QuickTime movie through Compressor or MPEG Streamclip.

> I am able to make a FCP version of it but cannot make a stand alone QT movie of it.

That doesn't mean anything. "FCP Movie File" is an entity that hasn't existed since FCP3 or so. After that, all movie files exported by FCP are simply QuickTime movies. You probably just have Mac OS set to open QuickTime movies using FCP, by default. If you exported a movie file, just select it in Mac OS, COMMAND-I, and choose QuickTime Player as the default application. The icon will change to a QuickTime icon.


www.derekmok.com

Also, what format are you exporting? Some codecs are very big, and it sounds like you're going out to one of those. Hundreds of gigabytes for a one and a half hour show would not be out of the question.

thanks Derek and Jude,

Derek,
I have tried exporting the way you've suggested but it takes forever and I'm not sure I am using the correct settings.

Jude,
Sorry, I'm not sure I understand your question...what format are you exporting?"

What format, what codec are you trying to make the quicktime movie? What are you converting your footage to with the QuickTime conversion export? A conversion is used to export the current selection at a different codec to the one you cut in.

I say this all the time...if you don't have some basic knowledge on the above topics, you really need a good assistant editor. You can't just ingest/capture the footage willy-nilly without knowing what your clip and Sequence settings are, what format you're exporting to, what your finishing medium is, and all that.

> I have tried exporting the way you've suggested but it takes forever

Unfortunately, since you're missing basic knowledge, troubleshooting this long-distance, sight unseen, will take a long time. Every single step you took from the first stage could be wrong.

First of all, what format was the original camera master on? Tape? Film telecined to tape? Tapeless? P2? DSLR?

Second, what did you capture (tape) or ingest (tapeless) as? What intermediate editing format did you use?

Third, did you conform Sequence Settings to your clip settings? If not, and especially if you might have bungled something fundamental like frame rates, you would find yourself with a 90-minute special effect and any render or export would take a loooong time, and possibly compromise your picture quality.

I really believe, in this case, you should hold your horses and hire somebody who knows the tech side of things. Bumbling around is not the solution; you may make things worse and add even more to the time needed to fix the issue, because you don't understand the whats and the whys. It's never an unprofessional thing to say, "I don't know" and get help. In fact, a professional knows his/her limitations, especially given how multifarious post-production has become.

Speaking of professionalism, I assume you just locked picture, or at least finished a version. Have you taken the safety steps to guard your work, such as manual backups and long-term archiving?


www.derekmok.com

Thanks Derek, I'll try that!

Sonya

Jude, you are undoubtedly correct however, as I have self-funded the documentary thus far, I did not have the luxury of hiring an editor. I am now applying for grants to do just that. I actually need a cut to show to prospective financiers so, in this case, I have had to do it myself.

Anyway, I shot on HD and imported it that way to FCP (although my version of FCP does not accept HD and perhaps that is where the problem occurred).

Thanks

Sonya

thank you Derek! That worked!!! I appreciate your help.

Sonya

>>Anyway, I shot on HD and imported it that way to FCP (although my version of FCP does not accept HD and perhaps that is where the problem occurred). <<

I agree with Derek. You really need an Editor. I'm not trying to be nasty, but it's obvious that you're lost on a lot of levels here. At the very least you need to understand codecs. 'HD' is not a format. Here is a guide that might help on that front : [www.webvideoguys.com]