2    What Is a Workflow?

A workflow is a plan.

If every postproduction project is a journey (and most are), then the workflow is a map with your intended route highlighted. Like any journey, it is sometimes permissible to take a detour, or to alter your route on the way, but the workflow is the plan you make before you embark.

There are certain steps in every postproduction project, and therefore a generic workflow that is adapted to fit the needs of each particular project (see Figure 2.1). In addition, workflows extend both before and after the editing process, and are applicable to the production and delivery aspects of a project (for instance, DVD interactivity).

The focus of this book is using Final Cut Pro as a versatile and robust tool that fits centrally into many different postproduction workflows. However, the ideas here can (and, if possible, should) be implemented before any footage is shot, through final delivery of a project.

Understanding workflows and workflow thinking will help your projects be much more efficient regardless of what role you have. It will make communication within your team and with outside vendors clearer. Ultimately, good workflows will save you time and money.

We use a specific set of symbols and icons to show workflows, but boxes and arrows are not what make the workflow. It is more a matter of telegraphing each step of the process in detail. This can be done on paper or computer, in writing or with diagrams, or any combination. It is important to document your workflow so that it can clearly be shared with other members of the team.

The Generic Postproduction Workflow

The Ingest Stage of the project covers the process of getting media into the Final Cut Pro environment so that you can edit with it. Often, when we talk about ingest, we will be talking about Log and Capture (see Chapter 7). However, these terms are not always synonymous.

Log and Capture refers specifically to ingestion from tape formats (usually a large part of the content for a video project). Ingest is a broader term that includes preparing all assets for use in Final Cut Pro, including scanning and adjusting photographic elements, preparing and importing audio assets, and graphics.

Figure 2.1 Generic postproduction workflow.

Postproduction technology changes just as fast as other areas of computer technology. Recently, these developments have led to the term “ingest,” incorporating new and exciting hard-drive, solid-state, and optical acquisition formats such as P2 and XDCAM. These IT-friendly formats offer exciting new possibilities in the postproduction workflow, offering the ability not only to save time and money, but also to open the door to new resolutions and frame rates previously not found in one acquisition format.

Whether the initial source is film, printed material, recorded audio, digital videotape, or solid state, all of your media need to be converted to a digital file that can be saved or transferred to a hard drive that is accessible to FCP, and imported into an FCP project, where it is represented in the browser to then be used in your project.

As you might expect, the ingest stage is key in workflow thinking and media management. Along with “sucking in” media, the ingest stage is also your first and best opportunity to apply organizational thinking. You can rarely have too much organization in the early stages of a project.

For the purposes of the generic workflow, we define The Editing Phase broadly, as everything between ingesting the footage and making the final outputs. This includes assembly and editorial, as well as graphics, compositing, audio mix, and color correction. Of course, these are distinct steps, and they are treated as such, but in the simplified generic workflow, the edit phase is just the wide middle where you do all the stuff with your media.

Many of the individual steps in this category can be performed within the Final Cut Pro interface. However, this is not always the case. Indeed, the interaction between different postproduction tools is an important aspect of workflow thinking. This interaction involves various types of outputs and exports. These small outputs that occur at key stages of the project are also very important to workflow thinking.

We could have chosen to include a finishing stage of the generic workflow. This would logically denote steps such as audio mix and color correction. However, we chose to combine all of this work under one large step to make a point: the distinctions between these steps are no longer as clear as they once were. There are two reasons for this, and both are creatively empowering:

1. It has become possible to do high-quality finishing work on the desktop, both with Final Cut Studio and other software. When more steps are done in the same environment, it can be less clear what the specific steps are. For instance, where color correction used to be something that happened in a separate room and only once a project had been editorially completed and outputted to tape, it now can take place in downtime of the editorial process. (Though this is not always a good idea!)
2. Aesthetically, what was traditionally considered finishing work has become a more creative endeavor, contributing to the emotive storytelling power of the medium. Thus, specialties such as sound effects and color grading (tinting the image for a visual effect), which were once considered elements of technical finishing, are also now considered creative storytelling tools.

We choose to group all of this work under one large category in the generic structure, but deal with each individual step in detail in the chapters that follow because we embrace these ambiguities. Part of the power of Final Cut Pro, and the accessibility of professional-quality postproduction tools, is being able to do more of the traditional finishing steps, and to use them creatively.

The Output Stage is taking a project from Final Cut Pro to its final distribution medium. Like the ingest phase, this is particularly important when it comes to workflow thinking. And again, this is an instance where considerations about the final product should enter into the planning throughout the process.

Outputting may involve recording to tape, making digital files or compressions, or some combination. It is not uncommon for output stages to involve interactivity, alternative versions, and intricate organizational schemes. When video content has more than one intended output, we talk about a workflow being “branched,” indicating that at some point, the path of the workflow will split into two to provide for the alternate outputs (Figure 2.2).

Figure 2.2 Branched workflow.

Workflow Documents

Although there is no strict way to design or document workflows, it is important that these plans are committed to paper and that a good record of your workflow thinking is made for all who are involved with the project. The definition of a workflow document can be looked at broadly. Workflows are represented not only with flowchart diagrams. Is a schedule a workflow document? Yes. How about a paper edit with timecode references for an assembly in FCP? Sure. Documenting your plans and workflow concepts is something that producers have always done, whether they called it that or not.

Documenting your workflows—as diagrams, schedules, job descriptions, and so on—serves at least three interrelated functions:

1. It gets everyone on the same page. It is relatively easy to sit with people on a team and verbally agree to the direction or plan for a project. However, when everyone looks at the same sheet of paper and endorses it, it is more likely that they are actually in agreement as to the plan.
2. These documents become stakes in time. Meaning that even as workflows adjust in the course of the projects, people can go back to earlier documents as a record of what was planned by the team and when.
3. Sometimes new people join the project, and workflow documents are a quick way to get them up to speed.

   If you choose to make a visual diagram of your workflow, here are some tips:

• Draw iton paper first. There is a great advantage to drawing your workflow on paper before you try to make it pretty on the computer. Graph paper is your friend, and don't be afraid to trash a lot of sheets—but please recycle!
• Use a vector-based drawing program. Adobe Illustrator is a common vector-based drawing program. OmniGraffle is a more pared-down tool, made for diagramming. Both tools are vector based, which means that items are inherently scalable and resizable.

Sometimes these visual representations are the best way to express the entire workflow on one page. Remember, they are generally only good as an overview, and more-traditional schedule and specification documents are also needed.

The Power of Workflow Thinking

The power of workflow thinking is not much different from the power of good planning. A workflow is a plan that focuses on the technical process of a project and the roles needed at each stage to accomplish the final goal. You could easily make a workflow for starting a new business or moving to a new apartment.

The more complicated a project, the more that detailed planning and workflow thinking are necessary. Although media projects have gotten more affordable, and Final Cut Pro is a key tool making this possible, they are no less complicated. Without good planning, FCP is a powerful tool that is often not fully utilized. With a good workflow, FCP can be part of an integrated, cost-effective solution.