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.