9. FINAL CUT PRO - MEDIA AND FILE MANAGEMENT TOOLS [7:30 min]
🛠.
What You'll Need: Final Cut Pro
TRANSCRIPT
Hi I’m Kiarra Drew with We Make Movies.
By this time you have completed a first edit. And started to use more of the features found in Final Cut. We touched upon the basics of media management in our introduction video. Let’s expand your understanding of how media management works in this video.
In this tutorial we are going to show you some of the ways to manage your Libraries and Media in Final Cut Pro 10.4.9.
CREATING A LIBRARY ON AN EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE
For the purpose of this tutorial. We are going to work from an External Hard Drive. While you can create and store your libraries on your Internal Mac Hard Drive, The best practice is to keep your Library and files on a different Hard Drive than the internal Hard Drive of your Mac.
Some of these steps you will be familiar with from our Intro to Final Cut Pro X Tutorial.
Have an external Hard Drive connected to your Mac.
Open Final Cut Pro.
Close any Libraries that are already opened.
(Right Click-Close Library)
File > New > Library
On the right side of the Finder Window, make sure under the Locations header that your External Hard Drive is selected.
(A yellow external drive icon will be displayed in the pull-down menu under Save As:)
Save As > Name your Library ‘Smart Phone Studio External’
Click on the Event that has a date on it to rename it:
Rename it: Copy Files To Library Event.
Hit Return.
Command-N to create new Project:
Name the Project: “Media Management Project”
Click OK.
IMPORTING MEDIA FROM AN EXTERNAL DRIVE
Initially you had imported airdropped media from the Internal Downloads Folder. There will be times when you will have media that is on an external hard drive, that you want to bring into your library.
Select External Media Event and hit Command-I to import.
On the Right Side of the Import Inspector Window, Select the External Drive.
Scroll down to the folder or files you want to import.
For the purpose of this Tutorial I selected the “Joker” folder.
You can select the whole folder, or open the folder and Command-Click the files you want.
For the purpose of this Tutorial I am going to select the whole Folder.
NEW STEP (FROM INITIAL TUTORIAL)
On the right side of the Import Window there are two couple different options that we be using in this tutorial
Under the File Heading you have options to Copy to Library or Leave files in place.
Copy to Library:
Keeps a copy of all the media you have imported in the Library.
This is preferred if you are editing between different Macs, have imported the media from multiple external drives or locations, or just want to keep your Libraries “Self-contained”
This will also make your Library files size bigger, because you are making a copy of those files and storing these copies INSIDE the Library (Original media).
Leave Files In Place:
Create “links” to the location of the original media. This will make the Library file size considerably smaller as no original media is stored in the Library. All the media is stored in their external locations OUTSIDE the library. (External Media)
COPY TO LIBRARY:
Select Copy to Library Option.
Click Import Selected.
Your Media has been imported and copied into your Library.
To Verify that the media is in your Library.
Select a clip in the browser > Right-Click > Reveal In Finder > Shift+
Command+R)
A Finder Window opens up. On the top of the Window a file icon with the name “Original Media” appears. This is the location where all the copies of the original media are stored.
Close the window. (Command-W)
Select the Library, and look at the Library Properties. Note the file size of your Library. Remember this number for the next part:
LEAVE FILES IN PLACE:
There are times when the media you are going to use and your Library are on the same drive. In order to save space, you can use the Leave Files In Place Option on Import.
Consider this an advanced workflow option, because if you delete the original media on your hard drive you will not have it in your Final Cut Pro Library.
Command-I to import media.
Select the Folder or Group of files you want to import.
For the Purpose of this tutorial I am selecting “Above” Folder.
Choose
Add to existing event:
or
Create new event in:
For the purpose of this tutorial Create new event in: Name it “Leave Files In Place Event”
Select: Leave files in place option.
Click Import Selected.
Thumbnails of your media are in the Leave Files In Place Event.
To Verify that the media is in its original (external) location:
Select any thumbnail in the Leave Files in Place Event.
Shift-Command R to Reveal in Finder.
The Finder Window comes up with the file selected. In the top of the window the location shows the folder “Above”
Final Cut Pro calls these files External Media.
Command-W Close Window.
We now have our media for our project in different locations.
Select the Library, and look at the Library Properties. Notice the file Size of your Library. It has barely changed.
CONSOLIDATE MEDIA LIBRARIES AND EVENTS:
You may feel more comfortable with all of your media inside the project. Or you have completed your project and want to backup all of your media used into that library. For these instances you can consolidate all of your media (Internal and External) into your Library.
To consolidate all of your media into the Library:
Select your Library:
Go To File > Consolidate Library Media
Consolidate Library Media Box appears:
Media Destination: Select In Library (The name of the Library appears here)
Include: Select Original Media
Click OK.
Select the Library, and look at the Library Properties. Notice the file Size of your Library. The file size has changed, as all of the media is stored in the Library.
CONCLUSION:
We wear lots of hats when we create our videos in Final Cut Pro. When you put on your “Media Manager” hat, know that there are a few different ways to import your media and manage your libraries. We have just scratched the surface of this topic. For now, you know that you have different ways to import your files and manage your libraries. As your projects start to increase in size and complexity, consider what is the best way to manage these libraries.