Do you want to create a level constant for all of your diverse video sources or are you, as one of the directors, imposing a certain look? Collaborative editors, especially those working for free, tend to have their ideas of what is good video.
Why do you want to use Automator?
I'm not familiar with Tom's recommended but here's what I'd do even if you've got forty hours worth of material. From the FCPX help system:
Save video effects presets
You can save any combination of video effects and video effect parameter settings as a video effects preset, which appears in the Effects Browser and functions like any other video effect. You can create an effects preset from any combination of built-in effects and clip effects. After you create an effects preset, you can share it with friends and colleagues so that the same preset (with its specific combination of effects and parameter settings) is available in their Effects Browser.
Save a video effects preset
- Apply any combination of built-in effects and clip effects to a clip in the Timeline, and make any needed adjustments to the effects.
- Select the clip in the Timeline.
- Do one of the following:
- Choose File > Save Video Effects Preset.
- Open the Video inspector and click Save Effects Preset at the bottom of the inspector.
The Save Video Effects Preset window appears, with any applied or adjusted effects selected in the Attributes list. - Enter a name for the new preset in the Name field.
- Click the Category pop-up menu and choose an Effects Browser category in which to store the new preset.
- In the Attributes list, select the video effects you want to include in the preset.
- If you made any keyframe adjustments to the source clip, select either Maintain or Stretch to Fit.If you select Stretch to Fit, Final Cut Pro adjusts the keyframes in time to match the duration of any clip to which you apply the preset.
- Click Save.The new video effects preset appears in the Effects Browser category you chose, ready to be applied to clips in the Timeline in the same way as any other video effect. To apply the preset to a clip, see Add video effects to your project.