Organizing clips to edit Music Video

[DVX100Shooter]

This will be the first time I am cutting a music video that was shot with a Canon 5D camera. I have already converted my clips with Mpeg Streamclip but I was thinking that I open a sequence and drop all my GOOD takes on the timeline and then export that out as one big file. Import that file back in FCP and use that to cut from. This is more of a personal preference kind of question and I was just trying to get an idea of how some of you prepare yourselves to edit music videos.

 

[Alex H.]

I don't get it. You have all the clips... why go through the trouble of combining them into a new, larger clip, only to have to go back and chop it up again?

Are they all complete takes of the song, or are there some that are pick-ups? Generally, I will get all my complete takes lined up on the time line, and sync them all with the source music. Then, I'll start chopping away the bits of each take that I know I won't use (places where I reframe, adjust focus, etc.). Then, I will start cutting what remains of the multiple takes down to a single sequence, based on the storyboard if there is one. Last, FX/transitions and CC.

If you have pickup takes, get them aligned at the beginning as well.

 

[DVX100Shooter]

Does it matter the kind of video it is? The one I directed is a Hip Hop video. I can see where lining up the clips on the timeline would make sense if I was shooting a band. I have a total of 87 clips and yes some are pick up takes and several were full song takes. I don't have a storyboard but I am the one that wrote the treatment and shot sheet so I already have some sort of vision of how I want to cut it.

 

[Alex H.]

Does it matter the kind of video it is?

Absolutely not. Where I was confused was your process of combining all the clips into a single, long clip, only to re-import and cut it up again. It just seems like an unnecessary step. I'm sure you have an idea of how to cut the images together; I was never questioning that at all.

For anything that's non-sync, I'd organize the footage into bins and cut it on a clear video layer after you've gotten the sync material in place. If need be, create a scratch sequence where you can cut scenes together, then copy and paste them into the main time line and adjust as needed.