The Sweet “Log Clip” Workflow [UPDATED]

In another post, I talked about using SHIFT C to “capture now” and I discussed the scenarios where that was appropriate. I also alluded to the fact that, if you have lots of “takes” or repetitive material where you will only actually need to ingest some of the footage, you might prefer to “log” clips in the capture process and then go back and batch capture them later.  I’d like to expand on that a bit today and discuss the keyboard shortcut workflow (such as it is) for doing this.

Of course you will first invoke the CMD 8 shortcut to open the log & cap window. Note that once that window opens and assuming your deck is recognized (if not, you might want to read this), you are ready to issue JK and L shortcuts without further mousing or clicking. Be sure to select your in and out points with I and O and, once you have marked a clip, you can now simply hit F2 to “log it.”

Hitting F2 Brings up the “Log Clip” window with the “clip name” field already highlighted (nice) in case you want to name it, but the default is the automatically generated name (that you configured in the “Logging” tab of the log & cap window to the right). If you now hit RETURN, you’ll see the clip (with the offline red strike-though mark) appear in your Browser and you’re ready to hit JK and L again to slew tape and, as the shampoo bottle says, repeat the process.

Once you have set up all your offline logged clips, you can use CTRL C to initiate the batch capture process and you can read about that here.

You might be wondering if there’s a shortcut for the “capture clip” button (next to the “capture now” button in lower left corner of the log & cap window) for those cases where you might want to log a clip and then immediately capture it in. I’m sorry to report that there is not, but I don’t see this as a problem really because I think it’s highly preferable, if you are in the “log clip” capture mode, to simply log the clips and batch ‘em in when you’ve worked your way through the whole tape.

Think about it: if you are logging clips and then immediately capping them, you are sitting there waiting for the cap and twiddling your thumbs while waiting to go on to log each content selection. Also, one of the efficiencies of this “log & batch cap” method is that you can go through the tape logging each take and then, once you have reviewed all the material, you can go back and cherry-pick only the clips you really need in the batch capture process (this might be based on your notes or “good” check-offs). Besides, while you do the batch capture, you can go make a snack or play Angry Birds on your iPhone! If you are looking to log and capture each clip, why not just do a “capture now” and do the sorting and reviewing in the browser later (and save wear and tear on your playheads).

UPDATE: Shortcutter friend and FCP doyen, Kevin Monahan (of FCPWorld) left a comment to point out that “you don’t have to type O before F2, just type F2 instead of O and the clip is marked out.” Kevin, I never noticed that and thank you for the future time I will save!  Great catch!