Any reason to keep Contents folder once logged and transferred?

R

redman

Active member
Is there any reason to keep the Contents folder once you've logged and transferred the footage? I can understand maybe storing the Contents folder on a backup disc somewhere for future use rather than the logged and transferred .mov clips but other than that is there a reason to keep the Contents folder?
 
If you plan to hand over the footage at some point to another NLE then you need to keep the Contents folder. ProRes is an FCP only codec and isn't compatible with anything else.
 
Keep it as another back up. If you lose the .mov files you will need the Contents folder to remake the movs, or as already suggested, if you switch editing systems you'll need it. The better question is, is there a reason NOT to keep it? No.
 
my practice is to NEVER log and transfer from a card. each filled card is transferred to a hard drive then i log and transfer from that to the projects scratch volume. that way i have a source archive of the footage.

yes, it takes more space. but hard drives are CHEAP. time travel is NOT.
 
Thanks everyone for the answers, I think I'll be keeping the ones for the big $$$ clients and trashing the ones from the little projects.
 
Any reason to keep the tapes when you shot with taped formats? I mean, you captured the footage, so you can just throw them away, right?

No.

Those are your master tapes. Guard them like you would your tapes.
 
Hang onto the original content for dear life. No matter what you shoot, save it. You will most likely need it some day.
 
As others have said, the main reasons to hang on to the originals are that:
1) they are your camera-original masters, and may include information (such as metadata) that FCP's log & transfer may not have copied over, and
2) they are cross-platform compatible. FCP's log & transferred footage is not. The original MXF files can work on Mac, Windows, and Linux, the files can be used in Flame, Smoke, Inferno, Combustion, Avid, Premiere, After Effects, they can be converted by Telestream Flip Factory into any format for use in any post or editing system or color correction system or ... well, anything. FCP's log & transferred Quicktime files will only work on a Mac, and only on a Mac that has FCP installed on it.

If you ever think your footage will or could have a life beyond its current existence in your current timeline, then you're going to find that the original files are far more flexible and compatible and more widely supported.
 
yup, your better off trashing the log & transferred .movs if your pressed for HD space since you can rebuild them from original MXFs.
 
Good thread.

I had a job last year which was finished on FCP pro res. I did not keep the originals. This year the agency wanted to sell the footage to another agency to be in a different show. Well of course they were going to edit on a PC/Avid which is a no,no for Pro Res. Long story short, Had to dub all the footage to tape in order for them to use it!

:badputer:
 
Yeah I tend to keep them as backup for all the reasons listed above, plus the fact that the folders from the P2 cards are easier to keep track of than giant folders full of .mov files...plus you never know when you might misplace a piece of footage and need to relog it!
 
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