FCPX Will Win the WAR

Simple, Final Cut Pro X will win the editing software War.

Okay, like Alec Baldwin in Glen Gary Glenross' character would say "Have I got your Attention..."

The only 2 questions in this "war" are WHEN and HOW. 

I have been a Editing with FCP since version 1.0 and I "battled" with naysayers at post transfer houses through the digital transition years, the doubting Producers and the many versions/iterations of Final Cut Pro; until it finally rose to its peak with FCP 7,where it has been accepted in TV, commercials and on Feature Films by the some of the great editors of our industry. However, when Apple took a few giant steps backwards to move forward it was sad. Sad to see Apple stuck down by the Post Community like a war hero "pig" in the final act of Richard III. FCPX in hindsight wasn't a high powered imovie but really just half baked.

When it was first announced, many panicked and there was a "general mass hysteria" but I was the first to say it is a tool . I still believe it is just a tool and humans are good at adapting after the first knee jerk reaction. However, after I actually took FCPX for a test run; I silently and slowly backed away from the "train wreck" shaking my head a little confused. Apple sent a clear message to everybody in the Film industry that they are not in the filmmaking business but in the "selling as much software to the biggest customer base" business. In all fairness, Apple and their rivals all have the similar objectives but Apples was clearly aiming for volume. A mistake. At that point I started to look at the usual suspects for alternatives: AVID and Premiere.

I quickly remembered why I liked FCP better then the rivals. However, I was reminded how Avid is a stable robust environment that is very responsive and over the years it had improved it's tools trying to adapt to regain some its user that FCP7 had lost over the years. It is still a the Cadillac of Editing but I don't want to drive a Cadillac in this "war" and producers don't want to pay for that fancy ride all the time.

Adobe fixed up their LADA since '99. It's a whole new beast that is tricked it out to blend into a workflow making it a cool Jetta for After Effects users like myself but the Speedgrade program in CS6 needs some work. Unfortunately, it is crashy and resemble FCP7 in many ways with some great upgrades; that make it what FCP8 would have been if Apple didn't prematurely jump to FCPX. Both are valid fall backs options but I do lots of out of the box projects that require the ability to be flexible, mobile, robust like FCP7 permitted. I might as well keep on going with the "Devil I know" which is a fully operational FCP7 until the WHEN and HOW happens.

So when will the WHEN begin. This is the X-factor in my statement "FCPX will WIN the WAR". Apple has to realize that FCPX is for a professional Film market. When they realize there mistakes that is when they will start winning some battles. Apple has made some mistakes in the past but usually they fix them DL (down low). However, this "girlfriend" doesn't apologize, Apple's M. O. is fix it and act like it never happened, circle puck, the Cube, itunes features, MobleMe... When will Apple fix FCPX professional post missing features? It seems like this process has begun. Even if this mistake have been made, they are in the positions of playing catch up, as oppose to being ahead of the curb and setting the trends in post software. They have effectively given hope to the competition. So, the battle rages on.

The HOW of this fight is easy. After giving FCPX a second test run recently. I saw that Apple starting fixing there "mistakes". FCPX 10.07 is very different from the 10.0 version. Many features that I wanted are back from FCP 7: Dual Viewer, Position tool, Output to external monitor, Multicam and more to come. The more I worked with FCPX, the more I liked some of the new features: Multicam sync, magnetic timeline when editing dialogue or inserts, smartlist, Keyword and its stability, auto render, preview effects and itunes integration. Wow I think I can go on but you get it, lots of new goodies.

The main cause of frustration was the absence of the tools that the many versions of Final Cut Pro had worked out over the first 7 versions. Thus, discarding everything they learned from the post community; combined with the fact that it resembled and took many features from imovie instead of FCP7. This is still a little bit of a mystery to me.

They still have lots to work on. Let's use the Color correction tools for example. It is clearly suppose to replace Color 1.5 because it has been left for dead with the other programs in the suite except for Motion (ughh). So many omissions that are pretty basic stuff when it comes to color correction: the ability to finesse a mask selection, various views of mask selection, the Color Board... It is great to reinvent the wheel but I would like to use the wheel sometimes. Apple should give me the option to use the 3 color wheels or the color board. Why force one way of working. Which brings use to the main oversight and the key to win the "War".

The beauty of the previous versions of Final Cut Pro and its defining characteristic was the fact that you could work like your mind works. Basically, FCP was flexible. This is the real feature that Apple has removed and must put back into the software. Price is great, new tools are great, but making it work for which ever way a creative mind wants to use, the modularity, is the real selling point for the users.

Finally, I was looking how to save my windows layouts. which you can't do by the way, when I stumbled on this great article. 

http://alex4d.wordpress.com/2011/07/19/secret-fcpx-4/

After reading that some of these elements are in the code, I started to realize that they are not fixing but porting features and it Is just a matter of time. All the FCP7 features that are worth having are going to be back into FCPX and with the added new features. FCPX should be the victor. 

SOME LINKS THAT I FOUND HANDY IN MY RETURN TO FCPX:

http://www.fcp.co/final-cut-pro/tutorials/1017-superb-walk-through-tutorials-on-making-trails-with-final-cut-pro-x-on-shared-storage

http://daredreamermag.com/2013/02/28/a-radical-workflow-idea-for-final-cut-x-users/

http://provideocoalition.com/ssimmons/story/kicking_the_tires_on_final_cut_pro_x_10.0.6/

B Camera or Not to B an Editor's Best Friend

All B Camera operators should be editors and vice versa. Everybody focuses on the main camera aka A camera. Director, script supervisor, producers, the list is longer but nobody is too concerned with the roaming maverick. 

Why do I know this... I have B camera operated on many a shoots in my career and when I approach the Key people, the only one who is concerned with what I have shot is the camera man/DOP. 

It is treated as a bonus camera, but in this day an age of digital media storage, DSLRs and GoPros, it has become a standard to multicam shoot. I can't remember a production that I have worked on that didn't have 2 cameras rolling at all times. Most smaller productions are even more prone to use 2 to 3 cameras to increase their shooting efficiency. 

I have recently worked on 2 small projects with the new FCPX (which has improved leaps and bounds from it's release by the way but I should tackle this in another post). Both projects have been multicam and when I look at both angles simultaneously in the viewer, I find myself talking to the screen like a TV director "move out of the shot", "closer", "farther"...  Hmm "everyone goes a little crazy sometimes"

On one of the projects, I was B camera and the other was with a more traditional small documentary crew. I saw the difference in ease and of editing and the end result with my operating vs. the other. My operating felt like there was 3 cameras and the other was filled with editing tricks to mask the less than stellar operating. Let me say the operating wasn't poor from a film production side but from an editor's perspective it didn't maximize the use of a second camera.

B camera operating is always a little bit of a dance with the A camera, even more so in a documentary situation. 

So, I thought I would outline some simple concepts to follow that will hopefully help some future B camera operators from making some crucial mistakes that make "saving it in post" not necessary.

1. Look at your dance partner: Be aware of what A cam is shooting. You might not need 2 sizes of a talking head.

2. Talk with your dance partner: I always coordinate with A. You shoot Medium and wide shots. And I will stick to close ups and extreme wide shots. You get more options. 

3. A-B-M: Always, Be, Moving. Especially in a documentary situation. A talking head is great info to shoot but if A is locked in on the subject, you want to get everything else.

4. A-B-S: Always, Be Static. Yeah, I know. But seriously, hold the shot for a few seconds before moving on to the next great angle. Also, if A cam is moving position. Freeze! You just became "A cam" and the only useable angle. Be a Hero. 

5. Arms length to you dance partner: If your close to A cam you making it hard to cut. If your worried about 180 rule/jumping the axis. Don't. Priority would be the jarring jump forward angle or even worst the identical wide shot as A Cam. Dowt.

That's my 2 cents on that subject now back to dark edit room. 

Guidestones 2 - Production Diaries got me to talk about editing.

Jay Ferguson, the director/Producer of Guidestones, got me to chat about editing the first season.
He is hard at work between award shows ceremonies and writting at preproduction of season 2 of Guidestones.
Not sure how you put even more twist and turns but Good Luck there Mr. Ferguson, Good LUCK. 

I am really better at behind the camera but hey sometimes you got to talk it out.

2012: For A Few Good Projects More

Despite the fact that I am taking a little hiatus/Freelance paternity Leave from Post Production work, as I look back at the few projects that I worked on in the past year, it was an eventfull one. I worked on more French speaking projects and more Big Brand/Mega Corporation work than ever and I saw a webisode project flourish.

In the mist of all this, we had another child. Woooufff, what a year. 

It has been a little bit of a rollercoaster with the new little girl and to alleviate some familly stress I took 6 month Hiatus of my post work but most of my projects were still reaping what we sowed.

I freelanced for many cool projects and interesting companies in the past year. My new "BatCave" aka office space is almost up and rumning and I can't wait to jump on that horse again and dive into a great project.

Welcome 2013, now on to the Next Big thing.

** If your in Toronto Canada area and need some Post work done please feel free to contact me. I'm itching to end my Hiatus early!

Awards Season Started Early This Year at Gorilla Productions

My new Home office walls are up and painted. Starting to move in the gear and I am close to finishing my hiatus from Post work. Here's a look at the office/Batcave.

I might not be working it but some of the projects I have worked on in the year have been hitting the award circuit pretty hard.

The Guidestones Web Series has been nominated in a whole bunch of catagories and has gotten crital acclaim from wed and traditional media. Just this week they won the Digis 2012 Award for Best Web Series. Early this year won a Rockies Award for Best Web Series Fiction and Official Selection at the Geneva Internation Festival.

Also, it got nominated for Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Female Performance (Supinder Wraich) and Best Supplemental Content at the IAWTV Awards. Oh Yeah and it got a Nomination for Best Editing too. Still haven't checked it out. Whaaaat. It is on Hulu, YouTube and guidestones.org. Watch them all, it's a fun ride.

Some work that I did for ALP Communication, some mini-docs for BMW have been awarding it up.  BMW: The Ultimate Driving Machine is a Silver Winner at the 2012 Summit Creative Award^®and a Platinum Remi for New Media – Web Series at the 45th Worldfest International Film Festival

It is nice see that all the hard work that I put in to some of these projects are being recognized but the best is to know that they are being seen by an audience. 

Almost back...