The decision to go X

For the music documentary I'm editing in FCPX, I was introduced to the director Jesse Lyda by producer Jason Wehling. Jason and I have known each other for a few years now and had worked together on a previous project, but this was the first time I met Jesse. We hit it off and shortly afterward I was hired.

Jesse left the decision for which NLE to cut with up to us, but he did say that he had already bought a copy of X. I don't know how aware he was of the backlash against it at the time, but Jason and I were.

When Jason asked me what I thought of working in X, I lit up. "You're probably the only producer in town right now crazy enough to consider it," I told him.

We had to weigh the pros and cons carefully. I told him about my experience working with FCPX on a short profile I made about one of my film students. This video was something I made on my own specifically to see if I could adjust to X's new ways of working.

It took a little while to adjust. I didn't change the clip names to something that would be more useful in the browser. I didn't quite know the best way to utilize a Smart Collection vs. a Keyword Collection. I did use the Notes field in the Inspector so I could search for specific keywords.

I relied on keyword search a lot the first time I used X, and while my skills have since evolved, I do remember having the epiphany that the search tools in X were so much improved than how they operated in FCP7. I quickly realized how useful this would be on a longer form documentary.

The magnetic timeline seemed almost too simple to me. I started off by finding a structure to the piece with my interviews. I went reviewed the interview with my student, Annie, and favorited what I thought would be her best quotes. After favoriting, I switched the browser to the Favorites view and laid out her quotes next to each other. This would be the spine of my edit.

I did the same for the five other interviews I had shot and laid those out on the timeline. I used gaps to separate different quotes or different interview subjects. Because video and audio are bundled together, I moved quotes around like index cards on a cork board till I felt I had a rough audio edit. It came together surprisingly fast.

Once I had an audio edit, I understood the concept of Connected Clips, but it took a little stumbling around to figure out how best to utilize Secondary Storylines or Compound Clips. Laying B-Roll down as Connected Clips made sense, though it took some getting used. It was strange I would have to pay attention to audio levels in clips that were above what is the equivalent to V1 in any other NLE.

The more puzzling question was how to handle verite scenes. Do these scenes go in the Primary Storyline even though that's where I placed my interviews? Do they go above my Primary Storyline as Connected Clips/Secondary Storylines?

I decided to edit most of my extended verite moments in their own timeline (by editing within a compound Clip). Once edited, I connected that Compound Clip to the Primary Storyline (which, again, contained my edited interviews). If I needed to make a change, I opened the Compound Clip, made the change, then jumped back to my main timeline. I also discovered how useful adjusting audio to one Compound Clip is rather than adjusting the audio for individual clips.

I showed all of this to Jason. I  also showed him how simple Multicam is in FCPX. We talked about the possibilities X presents for the organization demands of a documentary feature. He was excited. I was excited.

(I'll admit: I couldn't help but think to myself how fun it would be to edit a project on a platform everyone else hates too much to even bother trying out... and discover it can hold its own with any other platform out there).

We figured we were going to color correct in Resolve. Could we export to Resolve from FCPX?

We figured we were going to sound edit and mix in Pro Tools. Could we export to Pro Tools from FCPX?

While FCPX has vastly improved its organization features, could it handle the demands of a feature as it is currently built?

In the worst case scenario, could we go back to FCP7, if we had to, after starting in X?

Having only edited a couple of tiny projects in X, could I utilize FCPX's new timeline features so that I wouldn't be slowed down with learning it? Would our editing be just as efficient, if not faster, as it would in a more familiar NLE interface?

Most importantly, could we still tell a story effectively without being distracted by the technology?

Jason was on board if I was. Ultimately, I was left with the final-final decision. I had to do just a bit more research before giving it my final Yes.