Cue sheets

Question

Level 2

475 points

Cue sheets

Is there a way using FCP to print up what they used to call "cue sheets" when mixes were done on mag and dinosaurs roamed the Earth?

I'm not talking about music cue sheets. I mean a graphical printout (on paper) of the timeline. Something you can hold in your hand and make notes on.

It doesn't seem to be a built-in function, but maybe someone has worked up a handy utility to do this? Something a little easier than taking dozens of screenshots?

G5 Tower, Mac OS X (10.4.2)

Posted on May 31, 2006 3:00 AM

Reply

Answer 1

May 31, 2006 5:59 AM in response to Kyle Gilman

It's a curious request but we see it every now and then. Place it in the feedback folder, for sure, but AFAIK, the only way to print the timeline is to use Grab or another screenshot utility.

bogiesan

Reply

Answer 2

MartinR

Level 6

19,243 points

May 31, 2006 6:18 AM in response to Kyle Gilman

Take a look at SnapZPro. More capabilities than just taking screenshots.

Reply

Answer 3

Jim Cookman

Level 7

23,435 points

May 31, 2006 7:29 AM in response to Kyle Gilman

Narration Dialogue A,B,C,D, FX A,B,C,D,E,F,G Music A.B,C,D

wow. I kinda actually miss that, editing all those little pieces of mag and writing out the cue sheets a couple of times, as a bunch of new effects got added after the first interlock.

Reply

Answer 4

Kyle Gilman Author

Level 2

475 points

May 31, 2006 7:45 AM in response to Jim Cookman

Well at least somebody knows what I'm talking about. I don't miss it one bit, but I do think it's handy to have a cue sheet. You can write notation to yourself during the audio editing that will help the mix go faster.

We're doing our audio editing in FCP since we don't really gain anything by doing it in Pro Tools. Would Pro Tools have this kind of functionality? Or do the kids these days just not worry about it since the mixer can see everything on the computer screen?

Reply

Answer 5

May 31, 2006 4:51 PM in response to Kyle Gilman

Many people here know what you are talking about.

Especially those of us who had to shave off all our facial hair so we don't look our age.

Reply

Answer 6

Jun 5, 2006 8:42 PM in response to Kyle Gilman

Missed this thread originally (my silly mistake - dinosaur grey matter?) but just read through it. Yes - basically that's what I want - an old fashioned cue sheet ptintout to put in my project file. To be able to print out the timeline would probably be my greatest wish in FCP.(At the TV station I worked at they were called "dubb charts").

Regards. Robert.

Reply

Answer 7

Kyle Gilman Author

Level 2

475 points

Jun 26, 2006 9:54 AM in response to Robert Downunder

I decided to make my own PHP script to do cue sheets. It works fairly well although I'm relying on web browsers to render the whole thing so it's a little dodgy. Right now I'm mostly happy with the way it looks in Safari although Safari doesn't print <THEAD>s on every page so it only has a header on the first page. Firefox will print the header on every page, but doesn't print

s with absolute positioning after the first page. It's amazing what browsers can't do when you try to print.

Anyway, you can see an example here. http://www.15framespersecond.com/cue_sheet/?file=Reel%205.xml

If there are more dinosaurs like me and Robert out there, I'll probably develop this further so you can upload your own XML files. But so far it seems like there's not much interest.

Robert, if you're still looking for a solution, email me and I'll set it up for you.

Reply

Answer 8

Jun 28, 2006 11:50 PM in response to Kyle Gilman

Hi Kyle

Had a look at your script - looks very very similar to what I was using all those years ago when mixing.

At the moment I've been taking screen snaps of the timeline, and saving them as PDF's. I can at least view or print them down the track if needs be.

Regards. Robert.

Reply

Answer 9

Jun 29, 2006 12:03 PM in response to Kyle Gilman

Hi. Asking for those of us who are new to this.... Would you use a cue sheet like this to track audio edits? Do oyu find a printed cue sheet an easier way to follow what you've done in the time line? Thanks.

Reply