Adding Music

Yeah, so it's really convenient being able to add music directly from iTunes.

Except it isn't is it? Because you can't scrub through the tracks. You have to listen from the beginning.

The point of editing is editing. I love the ability to use the middle of one track and the bridge of another and the end of another. I don't want to have to listen to the track all the way through.

And while we're at, fuck quick view. I really miss the ability to scrub through tracks in finder. Why get rid of that? I used to be able to scrub through a track and then leave it playing while I did something else.

What about using iTunes I hear you say. Fuck off. I don't want hundreds of tracks of shitty production music in my iTunes.

I want jungle in my iTunes.

Dza

Background Tasks Window is Gash

When you rack up a load of exports it would be really useful if the Background Tasks window showed you the file names instead of just 'Master File' wouldn't it?

Yes it would.

Relinking media is bullshit

In FCP 7 when you relinked media it offered a suggestion as to a file with the same name.

In FCPX it is completely up to you to find the correct file.

It does seem a little odd that FCPX does things shitter than FCP7.

FCPX? I heard it's shit.

As an editor you get asked what you cut on.

Walter Murch would say all edit software is the same: in, out, add to timeline. What he says is true and a skilled editor shouldn't be constrained to particular software. For years I turned down jobs that weren't on FCP and how foolish I feel now.

It was quite liberating when FCPX came out. For years people only cared about FCP and suddenly everyone realised that there were other options: Avid, Vegas, Premiere...

I swallowed my pride and I learnt Avid. But I still use FCPX at home, so when people ask me what I cut on I say, FCPX.

The resounding response is, 'Oh, I heard it's shit'.

Well, yeah, I heard that too. And to be honest, when it came out it was shit. But it isn't any more. It's actually rather good. And when I use Avid I really miss X. Although I miss FCP as well because Avid is fucking irritating, but that's another post.

The other thing people say is, 'it's just for students isn't it?'.

When I first heard that I found it quite interesting because that is what people were saying about FCP when it first came out.

Student editors are the editors of the future. So if they are using FCPX now, then it's a good bet we'll all be using it in the future. Apple make an analogy about aiming for where the puck is going, not where the puck is now. I'm with them. I use FCPX.

10.0.6 Who gives a shit?

The 10.0.6 update is here! Woohoo!

Oh please, so it's got a bit better, but who cares, get back to your editing you monkey!

Oh you want to know about the new features?

I'm sorry, but we just haven't got time. I'm busy preparing for the Soho Editors Avid Event.

What do you mean, you really need to know? Oh ok.

UNIFIED IMPORT WINDOW
Boring.

PICTURE TRANSFER PROTOCOL FOR DSLR CAMERAS
So you can see pictures that are on your DSLR when it is connected to your computer....ooooh, wow, amazing. Not.

SET DEFAULT TRANSITION
Errr.....good....thanks.

RED RAW IMPORT
About fucking time!
You'll need to download the R3D plugin here.
There's a quick tutorial on the Red.com if you need it:

RED Apple Workflow: Introducing the FCP X Plugin from RED Digital Cinema on Vimeo.

MODIFY THE RAW CAMERA DATA
What? Seriously, what?

XML 1.2
Yeah, yeah, whatever.

NEW SHARING INTERFACE
Who cares?
Actually, it is better. And you can now carry on editing while you export.
But they told us that the first time.
Yeah I know, but it actually works now. And you can even create multiple different version of the same film using Bundles. And you can assign metadata to the exports. Check the attributes section of the share window.
Oh, ok, that is good. I wonder if they are gradually phasing out compressor.

BLADING MULTIPLE CLIPS
SHIFT-COMMAND-B to cut through all clips at the playhead.
Yeah, fine, great, good, well done, about time.

COMPOUND CLIPS ARE ADDED TO THE EVENT BROWSER
Yeah, whatever. Although apparently if you use multiple copies of the same compound clip any changes you make to one affects all of them. I guess this might be useful. Perhaps if you make stings or something that are repeated throughout you film.

PERSISTANT SELECTION RANGE
I'm sorry, what? So the ranges I select don't disappear when I click on something else?
Shit, that is cool. And about fucking time too!
In fact you can even make selections in the import window, so you only import the stuff you need. And if that wasn't enough you can make multiple selections on the same clip using COMMAND-SHIFT-I and COMMAND-SHIFT-O. Nice

EVENT VIEWER
Sorry?
You know, a viewer window.
What?
Like in FCP7. Two windows for video.
Oh. Nice. But...
Don't say anything....just keep quiet or they might take it away again.
So are we just headed towards FCP7, but with a magnetic timeline and background rendering?
I said be quiet.

PASTE ATTRIBUTES
Piss off!
No seriously
Yes! Yes! YES!
At FUCKING last! [CMD SHIFT V]

CREATE FREEZE FRAME
Yes, well done. It's only taken 18 months to get the ability to make a freeze frame. Like I said. Well done.
For those of you not familiar with FCPX, previously you had to do this weird 'hold frame' thing. Anyway, now you can do a proper freeze frame.

EXPORTING RANGES
Now you're taking the piss,
No. At last. In, Out, export, I mean share. Good.

CHAPTER MARKERS
Press M and M again to give your chapter marker a name. There are 3 types of markers: Normal, to do and Chapter markers. Useful for DVD and BluRay obviously.

AUDIO COMPONENT EDITING
Audio editing was always a bit shit in FCPX. Finally you can expand multiple channels of audio without breaking the components apart. Right click then click Expand Audio Components to see all your audio channels. You can now skim, trim and adjust the volume of each channel independently. Word.

All in all there are some pretty fucking necessary updates there. So well done Apple, keep um coming.

If you want a sensible appraisal of the new features check out Ken Stone.

Sort Out Your Audio First!

This is a nice Larry Jordan piece about the precision editor.
The precision editor allows you to see edit points in detail including unused frames before and after your edit point.

However, the most interesting point he makes is an off-hand comment about adding black frames to help with the rhythm of the dialogue.

Larry adds a couple of black frames to create a short break between sentences. This helps hide the edit and make the dialogue flow more naturally.

Larry adds that he will cover over the black frames with B-Roll or cutaways later.

This is probably one of the most important pieces of edit advice you can give:

Sort out the audio first and make sure everything flows nicely. You can easily make the video look nice later.

Backgrounds and Generators

Gotta love Larry Jordan, especially when he starts chuckling to himself.

Here's a nice quick introduction to some of the many backgrounds and generators in FCPX. The important thing to remember here is that within each generator you have many, many more options available to you in the inspector.