So now you can't add photoshop files?

Er....are you mental?

Video only in Audition doesn't work!

If you have selected 'video only' and drag clips to the timeline you get a mute clip right?
Not if you drag the clip into an audition.
That's fucking stupid isn't it?
Yes it is.

Want an 8 Point Garbage Matte for FCPX?

Here's one:

http://www.rippletraining.com/using-the-8-point-garbage-matte-in-final-cut-pro-x.html

Importing an image sequence into FCPX

This should be easy, but it isn't....well, it is when you know how.

FCPX Credits

This is a nice interview with MF Doom and Bishop Nehru.
However, what interested me was the credit sequence at about 3 mins, which looks like one of the FCPX credit presets called trailer.

Core Melt TrackX

Jonathan has mentioned Mocha before, but I think it's worth another go because it looks amazing.

Go To Beginning/End

Why is there no keyboard shortcut for 'go to beginning' if you are using a laptop keyboard? It's one of the most useful shortcuts, so it should be pretty universal don't you think? While we're at it, why can't you change keyboard shortcuts from preferences? Final Cut Pro/Commands/Customize is not an intuitive place to find keyboard shortcuts is it? Rubbish.

Can't make clips shorter? WTF?

I can't make this clip shorter.
What's going on here?

Don't Edit Stuff

The Videographers Guide Ep. 1 - The Music Video from Hypebeast on Vimeo.

This is a nice article on lack of money for music videos. People bang on about how cheap and easy it is to make films these days: Everyone's got a 5D or a phone that shoots 4K, but that's not the problem. Post production is the problem. You may be able to shoot a film in a day but you can get stuck in weeks and weeks of costly post production.

You'll start being a perfectionist, then the client will want changes, then you'll come up with a new idea for some graphics, then you'll decide you want to spend longer grading. Suddenly your simple one day shoot for one thousand bucks is taking a month.

One of the best things you can do is think of an idea that doesn't require any editing:

Or, how about preparing? How about doing a script or a storyboard? How about working out what you are going to do in advance.

My recent short film was such a joy to edit because it was so well storyboarded that everything just slotted together where it should.

A Most Annoying Ghost from Damien Sung on Vimeo.

Think about your post during your pre. That's what pre is for. Remember boring things like the fact that if you're not using FCPX you may need to spend a whole day converting footage to a usable format before you can even start doing any editing.

If you know what you're shooting it also makes your shoot a more pleasant experience. I once shot a music video in a huge derelict shop on Oxford Street. Each set up was on a different floor and there were no working lifts or escalators and it was very easy to get lost in the maze of rooms and corridors. So, what did I do? I went to the location a day before the shoot and did a location rehearsal with the DOP and the 1st AD. We timed how long it takes to get to each set up and orientated the crew so we knew our way around the place. This enabled us to create a realistic shot list with timings we could keep to so we didn't overrun and we were all in the pub before closing.

There's really no excuse for not preparing. Prior to a documentary shoot a few years ago I asked to see the script. I was laughed at. 'It's a documentary, there is no script', I was told. 'OK, how about a shooting schedule?'. Again, laughter, 'do you not understand? It's a documentary, we don't know what's going to happen'. You can imagine what the shoot was like. Chaos. And the post? Fuck me. A nightmare.

The Damage is Done

Is FCPX good now?
Does it satisfy all our professional needs?
It probably doesn't matter.
Three months ago I had three main post production clients who were still using FCP7
Now I have one.  Two have gone Premiere.

And that last one just called to ask my thoughts on Premiere vs Avid.

I told them my thoughts honestly and asked if they had considered FCPX.

They politely chuckled as if I'd made a bad joke. 'People say  it's awful'.

Yes. I guess they do. It's a shame that most of those people have probably never used it. Just like the person on the end of the phone.

No matter how many updates and new features they bring out. The damage is done.

Core 2 Duo vs i7

Ive been completing a FCP7 project on an old Macbook Pro because it's the only machine I have that will run Final Cut Studio.

The film is a 27 minute documentary shot on a mix of DSLR, HDV and DV and the computer handles it well as you would imagine.

Exporting a full Rez copy takes a few minutes, but recompressing that in QuickTime to a web friendly H264 version takes an age. Any guesses how long? Yes, you at the back, Jonathan Sanderson? 4 hours you say?  You're absolutely correct.

Now that's fine. I just let the export run overnight or while I'm doing something else. But today I decided to see how long the same export would take on my new Retina Macbook.

Any thoughts on how long the same export takes?

We're not talking a 3 minute web movie here. It's a 27 minute long film. I was thinking anything around the hour mark would be pretty good. 30 or 40 minutes would be ideal.

If it helps it's the top spec 15inch fully erect model.

Any guesses?

No?

4 minutes.

Creating DCP Packages

If you are going to submit films to festivals you may need to create a Digital Cinema Package. This video give you all you need to know. There's some useful links to free DCP software on this website.

GoPro Edit Software

GoPro Studio is a free piece of editing software that looks pretty interesting. There are templates that allow you to drag and drop your footage onto pre-edited sequences. This is great for people who have never edited, but in addition, the colour correction, speed options and file conversion capabilities make this look like a decent iMovie competitor.

Those boys at GoPro are a clever bunch. The hardware was quite limited for a number of years and it was fucking difficult to use, but the results were always amazing. Time-lapse, wide-angle, hard-as-nails, water-proof. What more could you ask for? Well, now you can monitor and control the Hero 3 on your phone as well as shoot 120fps. Well done GoPro. I'm a big fan. And this editing software is going to allow so many GoPro users to quickly get their footage edited and up on the net. And that's one of the problems isn't it? You shoot all this stuff and never have time to edit it. This software should alleviate that problem for many an amateur film maker. Word.

Dropbox and FCP7

Backing up and sharing projects is a constant concern for the professional editor. It's especially important for us freelancers who maintain our own suites.

My preferred solution when using FCP7 is to keep all my .FCP files in Dropbox.

Dropbox acts like a normal folder on your hard drive so you can open and save as normal, but it's also continuously backed up to the cloud as well as all your other computers.

This means you can edit on your studio Mac Pro, then go home to your loved ones safe in the knowledge that you have a copy of the edit on your laptop*.

If you client has all the media you can also log in to DropBox online and get the .fcp file anywhere in the world.

Plus .fcp files are only ever a few meg so you are pretty safe with a free DropBox account.

For me it is a great way of working for backup reasons alone.

So how does this all work with FCPX? What about all those stupid events and project folders? What's with the new library files in 10.1? Can you store them in DropBox? Or are there too many associated files hidden inside?

I have no fucking idea.

But I'm going to find out.

*Providing you have all the relevant media on you of course!

Wanted: FCPX Editor!

Well, well, well, this is a first.

This is the first advert I have ever seen for a FCPX Editor on ProductionBase. Actually it's the second I've ever seen, but the first was posted by myself so that doesn't count.

Is this the future? Are we going to see more and more FCPX jobs in the coming years? Have we finally got over the I-heard-it's-shit mentality? Was Jack The Ripper really the Loch Ness Monster? Only time will tell.

I hope so. I do like FCPX.

Installing FCPX 10.1

Wow, 10.1. This is a big update! They are bound to fucking charge us for it aren't they?

What? It's a free upgrade? Amazing!

Oh, you need Mavericks to run it?

OK, no worries, that's a free upgrade too. Aren't Apple awesome?!

What's that? My Mac Pro 1.1 won't run Mavericks? Oh.

Ok.

What about my Intel Core 2 Duo laptop? Fuck that. That won't even run FCPX 10.0.6.

Oh.

Oh Shit.

Maybe it is time to upgrade my computers.