Completely confused by Final Cut x Libraries, Events and Projects???

Question

Hi,
I realise there are lots of different explanations about this topic but still, none of them make sense to me in that, no-one seems to eb able to properly explain the differences between these things and when I follow the guidelines I can never seem to find the video I was working on.
First of all, I have absolutely no idea what 'Libraries' are in Final Cut X
I have used FC7 but forgot everything because X is so different, so I am basically a complete beginner.
When I start a completely new video from scratch I go file>new event> and title it 'whatever footage' for example. I then import all of my footage from that day.
Within that 'Event' I go file>new>project and called it 'whatever' music video, for example.
That way, my 'event' is the whole collection of footage. My 1st project is a music video using that footage and then I have the freedom to create new 'projects' like 'behind the scenes' etc. from said footage.
Yet, whenever Ive done this and come back to FCX  I can never ever find my original video timeline with all my editing. Events seem to be a mixture of everything ive ever imported and projects are nowhere to be seen.
Due to the lack of being able to just simply save a project, there doesn't seem to be a concise list of past projects anywhere to choose from?
Can someone please tell me what Im doing wrong or their standard order of workflow? And what the difference between each of the above items are?
Libraries, Events, projects - totally confused!???
many thanks and please pardon my ignorance, just very frustrated by this.
Ash

Answer 1

I can show you an example of a standard workflow.
Lets say I am booked to edit 3 Movies for a client. A Music Clip, an Interview, a behind the scenes clip.
Lets say worst case you get everything  in a single folder.
First thing I do is creating a library in FCPX where all the footage (also future generated media, Logos, Photos) will go in.
Now you can create three different events in the browser for each video you are going to edit.
Start ingesting your footage to the different events. (You will see the option in the second window after you’ve selected the clips to import.)
Now you have your library where everything has been imported to but also three events with assigned material.
Selections from the library.
If you want to start with the interview click on the appropriate event, create a project (which will be your timeline) and start editing.
Duplicate your project to keep backups and alternative edits.
Same thing for the Music Clip. Import your Audio, Animations, Graphics to the event. Create projects and save versions.
The next thing you should do is creating keywordcollections in your events to keep your material in order. These are like bins in FCP7
but much more powerful. For example you can add the same clip to several keywordcollections.
The internet should be full of examples by now. I won’t go further.
Now you start with the behind the scenes and at one point you want add Footage from the other events to your behind the scenes event.
Choose the clips you want to use and drag them (holding alt) to your event. You may have created a keywordcollection named footage for behind the scenes e.g. while keywording for the other two videos. This keywordcollection will be imported to the third event.
The clips will not be duplicated on your harddrive since they are in the same library. Events are selections from the library just the same as keywordcollections are selections from an event and a project (the timeline) has selections from keywordcollections.
Its up to you and your “job” how fine you want to organize your material. I would always suggest to create a library for every new job coming in.
Or at least for every new client. For bigger projects you want to create events for each day or even libraries for each day.
There is much, much more to say about libraries e.g. that you can leave your files where there are, letting the library refer to them.
Its a great concept and you are able to manage your material in FCPX like in no other NLE.
Watch tutorials on youtube or buy some from licensed trainers like ripple training for constant quality.
Good luck