Advice on best workflow for large Motion project

I am a part-time video editor/designer/motion graphics creator/etc. Normally, I work on projects with pieces no longer than 5 minutes, even if the projects themselves might be 30-40 minutes of total material--mostly video support for conferences and awards shows.
Right now I am embarking upon a mark larger project--10 30-minute segments, each of which is 100% motion graphics. They all involve a speaker against a green screen for the entire segment with the motion graphics keyed in front of and behind him.
We recorded this directly to hard drive in a studio that had a VT4 (Video Toaster) system, so the best Mac-compatible codec they could provide me for clean green-screening was full-resolution component video. This is giving me great keys, but I also have about 500 GB of raw footage.
In this project, I need to first edit all the takes from each episode into a clean 30-minute piece, and then add the motion graphics. And this is where my question comes in. It seems to me FCP is much better for editing the raw video, but that Motion is where I want to do just about everything else. I need to somehow bring the video into Motion, because I want to create "real" shadows against my background from my keyed footage.
When working with a long project, and with a full-resolution codec, what is my smartest workflow? I am trying to spend the least time possible rendering back and forth, and also avoid generating huge in-between files each step of the way. It seems that any way to approach it has plusses and minuses, so I want to hear from people who have been there which path gets me to my goal with the least hassle.

I need to somehow bring the video into Motion, because I want to create "real" shadows against my
background from my keyed footage.
"Real shadows are only faked in Motion. You have many options including a simple drop shadow or a copy of your matte layer filled with a gradient and a gradient blur applied with a distortion filter so it appears to be projected onto the wall. Be sure to take the time to make this a template effect and to keyframe the shadow angle if the foreground subject moves.
When working with a long project, and with a full-resolution codec, what is my smartest workflow? I
am trying to spend the least time possible rendering back and forth, and also avoid generating huge
in-between files each step of the way. It seems that any way to approach it has plusses and minuses,
so I want to hear from people who have been there which path gets me to my goal with the least
hassle.
Well, you've got two conflicting interests. One, you have to sync the Motion work with the video of the keyed speaker and, two, you have to edit. But it seems to me that your planning must include lots of design work up front, media you can re-use or modify slightly, text formatting that can be precomped, a large stock of effects you will apply over and over again. Do all of this stuff first.
You also want to explore working at lower rez through your planning and roughing stages. for instance, there's no reason to pull a full rez copy of your foreground into Motion if all you need to do is sync to his audio and get rough positioning. You can put him over black and export all of his clips using any medium to low rez codec at reduced frame rates and just use the Screen Blend Mode to drop him roughly onto your Motion projects.
You'll get lots of advice over the next few days. If you're posting to other Motion or motion graphics forums, please do us all a favor and return someday to all of your threads and tell us what you did and what you learned.
bogiesan

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I have a 13 minute sequence in FCP (filmed in HDV108050i) where the subject is filmed in front of a green screen. I need to use Motion to key out the green screen, which I have done successfully on a couple of 1 minute samples. (I export to QT uncompressed and then import QT file into Motion (As a side point I think the Primatte RT keyer in Motion rocks!)
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Mikeyred wrote:
I have a 13 minute sequence in FCP (filmed in HDV108050i) where the subject is filmed in front of a green screen.
Assuming you've got a good key because you shot it properly. You're WAY ahead of everyone else.
Mikeyred wrote:
My question is how do I go about keying the entire 13 min video?
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Mikeyred wrote:
I presume I don't just send an uncompressed 13 minute clip into Motion and try and key it (and add other effects as Motion might throw a fit?) The video is essentially a training video, and in FCP I have edited it into approx 12 clips , each clip separated by a transition effect that I don't want to lose (that has happened when I use the send to MOtion project option in FCP)
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Advice on best workflow for large Motion project

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