Processing your footage
Yes, you’ll have to process your 360° clips before you can work with them. While most 360° cameras record their images in dual fisheye format, you can’t edit these files directly. As each camera uses a slightly different setup, you’ll have to use software from the camera manufacturer to convert the camera-original files into a format you can edit. The best-known 360° camera manufacturer is probably Insta360, who provide the Insta360 Studio desktop app, with a new app version named for each year. GoPro also provide software for their 360° cameras, and there are independent apps too.
Whatever app you use, start by stitching the dual fisheye original frames into equirectangular 360° video clips for editing, because that’s what FCP requires. A monoscopic equirectangular clip shows the full 360° video frame in a 2:1 format, taking up the entire video area. In this format, which you can view as you edit...