-
Anyone on here cut a feature in FCP X?
Anyone? I’m about to start a feature project. In the past, I’ve used FCP for feature length cuts, with Avid, Edius & Premiere for short form.
I was just wondering if it can handle native Red & Arri files, multiple rushes formats on one sequence, going from offline to online, coforming, exporting for sound & grading, having masses of rushes, nested sequnces, share multiple sequences with other editors, and the state feature projects can get into
I’m curently looking at trying out Avid 5 or CS5.5 (maybe 6) for this, but was thinking it could be interesting using & learning FCP X. I’ll be cutting at a facilty, hardware won’t be an issue.
Cheers!
-
37 Replies
-
I haven’t cut a feature in it yet, but am also curious. I have been looking at the options. As far as RAW support… No. ARRI files in ProRes, no problem. Pomfort also makes a LUT filter for LogC. RED files would have to be first converted using REDCINE-X Pro. I would plan on an offline-online route, either converting the files externally and reconnecting or using the proxy function. You will absolutely have to go outside of X to hand off for mixing and grading. There are various utilities to do this, but the easiest is to use Xto7 to go to FCP 7 and then send your various outputs from there. I’m doing this now on a commercial project that involves OMFs, EDLs and relinking graded files from the colorist.
Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
I’m editing one this summer, and I plan to edit it entirely in FCPX. We are shooting all on 5D’s so this shouldn’t be a problem. We are currently doing VFX tests seeing how FCPX handles them. So far so good.
As a stress test I imported and merged Kill Bill Parts 1 and 2, adding up to a 4 hour project (timeline) it stuttered quite a bit, but once rendered it was perfectly fine. Edits caused a little lag. But not too bad. I even exported it and it turned out great!
Case in point, FCPX as it stands now is capable of handling a project of a feature’s length.
Hope your feature goes well CS6 is pretty awesome too. 🙂
RED support has been promised by the end of the year. So fingers crossed its sooner than that.
-
[Marcus Hardy] “As a stress test I imported and merged Kill Bill Parts 1 and 2, adding up to a 4 hour project (timeline) it stuttered quite a bit, but once rendered it was perfectly fine.”
That’s hardly a stress test. Loading in 4 hours of footage? Making a 4 hour timeline? That isn’t a test. Feature films can have 40 to 300 hours of footage. And be hundreds, if not thousands of clips. Putting in a 4 hour movie is nothing.
[Marcus Hardy] “Case in point, FCPX as it stands now is capable of handling a project of a feature’s length.”
Sorry…that statement makes zero sense given your testing method. In order to test properly you need to load at least 75 hours of footage and break that footage up by scene and…basically all things involved in editing a film. Not dropping in a long movie and making a sequence out of it.
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Why would you need to go back to FCP 7? I thought .04 update solved these issues? Davinci can read XML from X and AD can export omf’s no?
-
No need to get aggressive, I wasn’t trying to defend FCPX in its ability to handle media, the guy asked if it could handle a feature length project, and from a timeline standpoint it can. That’s all I was saying, I wasn’t advocating for him to use it. Purely trying to be helpful.
No flame wars.
And lest we forget I did state that CS6 and for that matter Avid are excellent options as well.
Sorry if I offended.
-
[Marcus Hardy] “No need to get aggressive, I wasn’t trying to defend FCPX in its ability to handle media, the guy asked if it could handle a feature length project, and from a timeline standpoint it can. That’s all I was saying, I wasn’t advocating for him to use it. Purely trying to be helpful.
No flame wars.
“Marcus, I don’t think Shane was being aggressive. I think he was simply being adamant about concerns that I happen to agree with. Several hours of video is one thing; source material for even a small film is quite something else. You undoubtedly know this, but you also made claim that “FCPX as it stands now is capable of handling a project of a feature’s length.” That statement is quite a bit broader than simply being about what the timeline can hold. I don’t know if Shane was reacting to that statement in particular, but it hit me as being pretty strong when I read it.
One of the many elements you might want to take into consideration when you embark on your feature is project bloat, which is currently a very sensitive issue for X, especially if you intend to use compound clips. Have a look at this concurrent thread as an example:
https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/335/34573
Break a leg on your project. You are certainly braver than I am.
-
This article been posted here before but check it out and I think it answers your questions.
https://www.apple.com/finalcutpro/in-action/electric/
Of course it’s a 60 min show. One thing you need to be careful with is using plugins. I’ve noticed certain plugins can cause projects issues. Just make duplicates of edits periodically or use that new Pro Versioner to make backups. I’ve cut a feature on it in ProRes444 worked out fine for me.
The key thing is organization. It keeps the projects running smoothly.
In terms of cutting, I love the fluidity of the interface. I work with Premiere and FCP7 daily for my job but I love how FCPX works. I wish they would add a machine with FCPX because from what I see it’s more then capable to working on most of the jobs. It’s funny how a lot of people have missconception and haven’t even touched it. First thing they say, “Wow you can edit on it.” They acted surprised that it even works.
Anyways, happy cutting on whatever you decide to use.
-p
-
Hi Paul,
I’m interested in this too, as I’m sure are a lot of others.
Maybe a good way to test is use 7toX one of your FCP7 features with all the source footage and post back your conclusions.Jon.
-
I’m just in the final stages of a feature on FCPX at the moment, 2600 clips, mostly shot on Sony F3 with Nanoflash and Canon 7D. I split it into 6 projects to avoid any slowdown issues ( I would have done this in FCP7 too) Finally compiled to 100 minute Project when 10.04 was released with it’s performance improvements.
Grading is being done in Resolve and Audio in Protools via X2Pro.
It was a very enjoyable if not slightly nerve wracking experience, when I get time I’ll write an article!
Steve Connor
“Sometimes it’s fun to poke an angry bear with a stickl”
Adrenalin Television -
I just finished a feature with FCP X. Finished length was 96 minutes all in one master project. Material was shot mainly with Canon 5D and some additional scenes with Red Scarlet totaling about 25 hours plus lots of 4K still pictures. The editing went super smoothly using proxy media. Never had to render although I had widescreen and S-curve filter on one adjustment layer all the time.
For bigger screenings I switched to optimized media (ProRes 422) and rendered.
I used Macbook Pro i7 late 2011 with 16 of RAM and Lacie 2TB Thunderbolt drive for the material.I used Xto7 to output the project to FCP 7 sequence for the post house so I had to go little backwards there. For the sound post I used X2Pro to get an AAF of the project.
All and all the editing experience was most enjoyable so far in my career and I’ve used them all since Steenbeck. I must say I like this new storytelling machine called FCP X.
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up