Compound Clips = New "Sequence" ?

KyleProhaska

KyleProhaska

Veteran
Media management is the biggest hurdle for me in Final Cut Pro X. Trying to figure out how to group my files, manage projects, etc. Well, I sorta stumbled upon a possible solution that I plan to use from now on until I either find another way to do this, or for whatever reason FCPX limits me in some way.

A Compound Clip is basically a nested sequence right? Well, who's to say it can't be the project? You don't need to setup a new project to put your edit into. As far as I know, Compound Clips don't have any length limitations. This is what always annoyed me about FCPX, is you didn't have your Sequence within your Event, which is what makes more sense to me. Instead, they're both kept separate. I want my Sequence in my Event. So by doing what I'm describing, I basically make my Event my Project, and my Compound Clip my Sequence.

You can simply choose a clip in your Event (any clip) and make a new compound clip out of it with the proper project settings. Bingo, a new sequence to edit in just like we used to in FCP7 only this time it's listed inside my Event, NOT in the projects section in the big list with all the others. This will let me keep everything in one place. I can also make a Keyword Collection called "Sequences" or something of the sort, and keep multiple Compound Clips in there. Just delete the clip you used to make the Compound Clip from within it, and you have a blank empty "Sequence" to use! (Note: without some form of media in the Compound Clip, it won't allow you to drag it into a Keyword Collection)

Hopefully you understand what I mean here, but to me it's much easier especially for smaller projects to have all my files for the Event in one folder on my HD and not in two separate places like it currently does. There's a "Final Cut Pro Projects" folder, and a "Final Cut Events" folder. Now everything can stay in one place...phew.
 
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Yep- you can use them as you might have sequences before. The one caveat is once you place a Compound Clip created in an Event into a Project timeline it becomes a new instances. In other words, the version of the Compound Clip you have in the project doesn't connect to the one you had in the Event. Changes you make to one do not ripple across to the other. This can be a good thing and a bad thing- but understanding this difference is key to how you approach it in your workflow.

-Noah
 
Thanks for the info Noah! :) One thing that could solve that though (or I could be wrong) is can't you drag your Compound Clip (the changed one) from a Project back up into your Event?

Either way, if I never even use a "Project" for a job but instead just use Compound Clips nested within each other, there's no need to ever create a Project in the first place...right? I can just use the first Compound Clip as my Sequence then treat any others inside of it as my "Compound clips" lol. Makes your head hurt a bit, but I think it's pretty easy. Now the only thing to be seen however, is if the same thing happens to Compound Clips within other Compound Clips...the thing you described above. If it updates the Compound Clips in your Event, then it's a viable option to do away with Projects altogether.

EDIT: Hmm...it seems I found a restriction and that something similar DOES happen. Ah well, for most edits I do, I never ever need to nest sequences anyways so what I'm describing can still work in this case.
 
I go through all of this in my Media Management in FCP X video seris at macProVideo. My suggestion is to create CC's in the Browser and name them "Scene 1", "Scene 2", etc. Make a Smart Collection for "Compound Clips" to get to them easily. Once each scene is done, create a Project for your final assembly and export. And there's variations on this, too, but that's the basic workflow that seems to be working for most folks.
 
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