Log & Transfer Clip Naming

One of my favorite new features of FCP7 is the fact that you can now almost completely customize the automated naming process in Log & Transfer.

Previously, you could tell it which of the 5 or so categories you wanted it to include in the name, and then each incremental clip would get a number at the end.

Now there’s a Naming Preset dropdown menu at the top of the L&T window that has a handful of basic presets, and the ability to edit them and create new templates of your own.  Click it and select Edit or New to bring up the plethora of options now available to you.

Okay, the preset you use or create is going to have a lot to do with the subject matter you’re editing, and the format of the show.  Currently, I’m editing a hunting show which is unscripted.  There are always several different hunts, sometimes with the same person, sometimes with multiple different hunters.

Hypothetically, let’s say you’re cutting a 30 minute unscripted episode following one person through several hunts on several different days. You might want to set up a preset that pulls the camera date & time info, then adds your clip name, and the scene information.  Since FCP organizes alphabetically in the browser by default, this will help keep your clips in chronological order, which will in turn keep each hunt grouped together and displayed in order.  Just by putting the camera information first.

Now let’s say you’re cutting a 30 minute unscripted episode following a group of 4 people through a few hunts on a few different days.  For this, I’d name the clips by the name of the hunter, enter the scene info into that field (ex. “Intro”, “Hunt”, “Update”, “Kill”, “Close”), and create a template that creates a clip name from the Clip Name_Counter_Scene.  That way, all the hunts will be grouped by who was hunting, then in chronological order (at least if you load them in order) with a counter that counts up incrementally, and then the scene name.  You would get clips like “Dave_04_Update” and “Dave_07_Kill”.  Everything in order, and easy to find what you’re looking for.

There are tons of different fields you can choose, from the camera metadata to the custom fields, etc.  It’s a great option, a great tool, especially for those of us who like to use the Log & Transfer process as the first rough cut.