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A working sandbox. No sign-up, no project. Sample data only.
- One flattened sequence per shoot day, brought in as XML from the assistant's sync bin.
- Recorder files are matched by length and folder as well as name, so the MixPre-003 from Georgia is never married to the MixPre-003 from London.
- Every bite taken from one marriage is cut at the same frame offset, so a two-hour sitting is still in sync at the end of act three.
- A coverage panel names which bites arrive with picture and which stay sound only.
- Works at 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97 and 30, checked against the project rate on the way in.
Three recorder files feed this cut. Two resolved on their own. The third shares its name with a file from another shoot day, so it waits for you.
How it works
Three steps from raw material to result.
Bring in the syncs
Set the project frame rate, then drop in the synced sequences your assistant already built, one XML per interview session. Camera files shot at a different rate are flagged as they arrive, before they can reach a timeline.
Confirm the marriages
Every recorder file your cut draws on is lined up against the camera files it was synced to. Confident matches are made for you, and the ambiguous ones wait in a list until you say which take they are.
Export with picture attached
The exported sequence carries the camera angles under the quotes, cut to the same frames. Bites with no synced picture come through as sound and are marked, rather than quietly disappearing.
Frequently asked questions
Where does the sync sequence come from?
From the assistant editor, out of the same Premiere project where the shoot day was synced by slate or waveform. Flatten that sequence and export it as Final Cut Pro XML. Nothing new has to be built for PaperCuts; you are handing over the sync work that already happened.
My recorder writes the same filenames on every shoot day. Does that break it?
That case is what the matching is built around. A shared filename counts for very little on its own, so length and folder name are weighed too. A same-named file whose length is off by more than a couple of seconds is rejected as a different recording rather than ranked lower, and anything still ambiguous is put in front of you instead of guessed at.
What happens to bites that have no picture?
They export as sound, in place, and the coverage panel lists them before you commit. A cut that is half-covered is a normal state during an assembly, so partial coverage is reported rather than treated as a failure.
Does it re-sync my footage?
No. It reads the sync your assistant already made and never second-guesses it. It also does not speed-conform picture, so camera files need to be at the project rate. Anything that is not gets a warning at import.
My paper cut already has picture in it. Will this overwrite it?
No. The synced cameras are added as further tracks below what is already there, so an existing angle stays where you put it.
Which frame rates are supported?
23.976, 24, 25, 29.97 and 30. You set one rate for the project and every imported sequence is checked against it, because a camera file at the wrong rate cannot lay 1:1 on the cut.
What if my media has moved since the sync was made?
The export writes the folder paths it knows about, and you can point it at the root your media currently lives under. If the paths do not match, clips import offline and relink by filename, which is the same recovery any conform needs. The conform guide in the export bundle spells out the steps for each editing system.
Related capabilities
Further reading
Background guides and comparisons.
FCPXML carries edit decisions, clip references, timecodes, roles, and markers. It does not carry media. Here is how Premiere, Resolve, and Avid handle it differently, and where timecode offsets and missing audio come from.
Transcript-based editing means selecting interview clips by reading the words instead of scrubbing through audio. Here is why it dominates modern documentary post and how the workflow runs.