Multi Cam

I am currently editing a multicam project all the cameras are jam sync but they turn off and on throughout the shoot. What I am wondering is if there is a way to prevent FCP from creating a new clip when one camera shuts off and turns back on. Cam A shuts off and comes in a minute later can I keep it on angle 1s view. And if not who do I talk to at apple to add this to the next version.

I'm afraid I don't understand your question. If you go into your User Preferences you can tell FCP to Warn After Capture instead of Make New Clip when it hits a timecode break. But that defeats the purpose of having cameras with Jam Synched TC.

Your problem is with the way it was shot, not how FCP is dealing with the clips that you capture. If you wanted a single clip for each camera, then the photogs should not have turned their cameras on and off. As it is, you'll have to figure out how to proceed.

One possibility is to arrange the TC for all the cameras, each in their own track and then export each track separately and reimport so you'll have 3 discrete camera angles.

Andy

I think what digs is asking is if there is a way to make a multiclip sequence from auxiliary timecode. Something I've wondered myself.

For instance if I have all my camera angles in sync with each other on the timeline, is there a way to tell FCP to make a multiclip sequence based off the clip's placement on the timeline? I think Avid does this? Yes , no maybe?

Yes this is what I'm asking. I am cutting a 3 camera shoot and I have 5 or six camera angles because for instance CAM A shuts off for a min while B & C are still running but then comes back in. How do I tell FCP that I dont want to create a new camera angle in the multi clip?

You can't have a multiclip when different angles have different, multiple start/stop times. The only way is to do what Andy suggested -- remake the angles with the gaps built in and continuous timecode.


www.derekmok.com

You can make a multi using Aux time code. What isn't easy is turning a sequence that you've built, where everything is synced, into a multiclip.
Andreas at Spherico has some tools to make your life easier for some of this (Sequence Liner) but nothing gets you all the way there.
My method is to build the sequence of synced clips, make the sequence TC something wildly different from the camera TC and then assign that TC to the AUX TC for every clip in the sequence. It helps to map the "Timecode..." menu option to a keystroke for increased speed.
The problem with this is every clip is a new angle, so the other method of rendering out continuous clips with black holes where they weren't shooting makes your final Multi much simpler.
One caveat though; I am of the belief that Multiclips are one of the causes of random project file size ballooning. I don't think it's the stablest of FCP functions and a search here will reinforce that.

ak
Sleeplings, AWAKE!

We have definitely seen lots of project file size jumps in multiicam jobs, so I'm with you AK. It seems to be random when it occurs, but in a series of 8 shows, each one ballooned alarmingly for no particular reason.

And yeah, generally when you're syncing during a shoot no-one stops rolling. Sometimes this is unavoidable though, as in my last multi job where the clips were captured to firestore, which has a 10 minute limit before it creates a new file. Can be rather painful.

For the times when we had multiple problems like someone was running the wrong timecode and there was a GOP drop and the clips were over ten minutes long, I assembled and synced on fresh timelines, exported, re-imported and multied those. In the end it's a lot faster than trying to force the multi to work.

why not export Reference movies of each track from the timeline where you laid them all out?

yeah they'll be black spots in between but then at least you can edit the whole thing in one go? plus with reference movies there's minimal file size and no further compression. Just keep those movies firmly connected to the source media and you should be good.

I agree that would be an awesome tool tho, i doubt we'll see it in FCP 7 tho...

I think when you have multiple camera starts and stops like that you need to smack the camera people. Seriously, how stupid is that? Whip off your hat (a really good reason to wear a hat) and start whacking them with it.

"What the heck were you THINKING you big footage galoot?" *whack* *biff*

Or, if you abhor violence, bring them in and tell them that part of their job is now SYNCING all of those cameras together on the timeline so that the editor can do their job. Guarantee they will not do that again.

Might whack them on the head while they do that anyway...it'll make you feel better.

Or forgo the FCP multicam feature and use Plural Eyes by Singular Software:

[www.singularsoftware.com]

[www.villagegamer.net]

Are they live YET? I saw them at NAB, and I tested the software with a DV camera, HVX-200 and a cel phone camera...all sync'd up fine (sunk?). Amazing stuff.


www.shanerosseditor.com

Listen to THE EDIT BAY Podcast on iTunes
[itunes.apple.com]

Here's the thing to understand about multi-camera editing in Final Cut: The feature is based on the assumption that each multiclip contains one and only one clip per camera. If you imagine that the individual camera shots in your multiclip are separate tracks on your timeline ? 'cause that's how it was before multiclip came along ? then V1 contains exactly one clip, V2 contains one clip, V3 contains one clip and so on.

If the A camera shot for two hours straight, but the B camera shot for half an hour then stopped then picked up again ten minutes later, you can't have a single multiclip containing all the footage from both cameras. You can have one multiclip that has the shot from camera A and the first shot from camera B, then a second multiclip that has the (same) shot from camera A and the second shot from camera B. But you can't have one multiclip that has both shots from camera B in it.

I'm cutting a show right now that has this problem, albeit in a more forgivable form. There was some kind of technical glitch on the A camera ? a tape drop-out or something ? that for whatever reason necessitated that the A take be split into two clips, while there's only a single B take. I have two multiclips: one with A-part-1 and B, and one with A-part-2 and B. I had to sync up twice, obviously, and on both of the multiclips there's a big area with footage only on B and not on A, but apart from those hitches, it's working fine.

(It was an event shoot, too, and not only did the shooters not jam timecode, they didn't even shoot a slate or clap or anything. So I had to find the sync points for the multiclips by hand each time. Pretty much this is a worst-case-scenario multi-camera situation, and for what it's worth, once I did the necessary setup, Final Cut is handling it just great.)

For material that is timecode stripped with time of day this is exactly what the make multiclip sequence is designed for. It should run everything into one sequence with the media built into a multiclip.

Duh, Tom. I completely overlooked the fact that he said the cameras were jam synched. You're absolutely right, and I'm a moron.

I am editing several episodes and was lucky that the first episodes time code from all the cameras were in sync. So I did what Jeff said and had to make several multi clips to cover all the action.

But all the rest of the footage is out of sync by 6 or more seconds is there a way to punch in say 6:16 into the multi clip and slip the time code instead of using shift control mouse?

lastly thanks to everyone for taking the time to respond.

<"What the heck were you THINKING you big footage galoot?" *whack* *biff* >

Shane,

One thing I learned from another editor (and I don't know if this is fact or an assumption) is that sometimes cameramen (especially younger ones) turn their cameras off because they are afraid a producer might look at their footage and see a 10 minute shaky shot of the camera pointed at the ground and assume that the camera operator is doing a bad job and/or wasting tape. So regardless of what they're told, some are too preoccupied with trying to make every second of footage look perfect instead of realizing that they're wasting time in the post production process by turning their cameras off. Psssh!

Well I got on this project months after it was shot and hopefully if we do this again I will have an opportunity to speak with the camera people and clear this up. Thankfully they shot long takes 13 min so its not a total nightmare just kind of a headache.

I wish there was a way to slip the timecode instead of the mouse, but I haven't found it if it exists. You might be better off syncing by in point on those messed up ones.

You can slip the timecode on a shot in a multiclip. Cmd-Shift or Control-Shift, one of those, and you get the hand scrubber tool. It will let you slip the timecode on a shot. If you've got a long way to good it can be very tedious, and of course you do have to have some reference point you can match up to. You could also add an aux timecode to the clips and make them match up and sync the multiclip based on the aux TC.

Its also a ridiculously hard to control hand drag - not at all accurate. There really needs to be a way to type a TC offset and have an angle slip by that amount of frames.

Absolutely. Need to be able to right-click in the multiclip shot, select offset and dial in a new TC number.

Hand tool is Control-Shift. Fully concur about an offset field.

- Loren
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