[Alexander Gao]

Hmm… if you are asking if Final Cut will ever be capable of producing CGI like you saw in Transformers, then the answer would be no. Final Cut is a non-linear editing system that is used for editing and cutting film and video. The CGI you saw in transformers, on the other hand, was created with high-end 3D packages. I’m not sure what program, but among the industry standards are Autodesk Maya and Softimage XSI. Final Cut is used in many many hollywodd blockbuster films, but it is not a CGI tool, nor is any other non-linear editor out there such as Avid.

Thanks,
Alexander Gao
USC School of Cinematic Arts
John C. Hench D.A.D.A.

[Alexander Gao]

LAST question!

If I’m planning on using this external for media and as a capture scratch, should I also run projects from FCP from the external, or should those be saved and run from the computer’s internal hard drive? (Macbook Pro, 5400 rpm internal I believe).

Thanks,
Alexander Gao
USC School of Cinematic Arts
John C. Hench D.A.D.A.

[Alexander Gao]

Oh, one more thing…

Is it worth the extra money to get the 1TB external hard drive and use it in RAID 1 mode, rather than just buy a 500GB single-drive external HD?

Thanks,
Alexander Gao
USC School of Cinematic Arts
John C. Hench D.A.D.A.

[Alexander Gao]

Mostly DV footage, maybe some HDV. But those drives do fill up Quickly, so it’s really tempting not to use the extra 500GB… But hey, extra space can be bought, but valuable data can’t be bought, right? I think I’ll go RAID 1.

Thanks,
Alexander Gao
USC School of Cinematic Arts
John C. Hench D.A.D.A.

[Alexander Gao]

Do you think I should go RAID 0 or RAID 1? How unreliable really is RAID 0?

Thanks,
Alexander Gao
USC School of Cinematic Arts
John C. Hench D.A.D.A.

[Alexander Gao]

I just did something quite similar to this. Just export out from FCP, don’t bother going throuhg compresor. In the settings, make the frame size something like 320×240 as Shane said (or even smaller), and then maybe send audio out as 48khz/16bit AIFF. For the video codec, just make sure it’s not a lossless codec.

Thanks,
Alexander Gao
USC School of Cinematic Arts
John C. Hench D.A.D.A.

[Alexander Gao]

Nobody has mentioned the software-based plugins for After Effects and FCP that do a decent job of taking NTSC footage at 60i to 24p. Magic Bullet from Red Giant works well, and I have heard good things about Nattress filters.

Thanks,
Alexander Gao
USC School of Cinematic Arts
John C. Hench D.A.D.A.

[Alexander Gao]

Thank you guys for your input. As for the amateur nature of the narration and the lake not being an ocean, I should mention that I made this for my friend’s 7th grade sister’s class, so consequently the budget was 0 dollars, pre-production was non-existent, and shooting time was about 2 hours. Can’t say that I live near the ocean either!

Thank you for the actual text critiquing though. All of the titling was done in AE. I will keep in mind all of what you said. Either tried-and-true or I had better pull it off extremely well, right? If you have any more tips, they would be much appreciated!

Thanks,
Alexander Gao
USC School of Cinematic Arts
John C. Hench D.A.D.A.

[Alexander Gao]

Did you interpret your footage correctly to 30p w/ the right pixel aspect ratio in the “Interpret Footage” dialog box? Just a check.

Thanks,
Alexander Gao

“When the revolution happens, I’ll be leading it.”

[Alexander Gao]

There is tons of hard lighting, creating hard shadows. Almost to the point where it looks like someone’s just shining a flashlight on the actor (of course they’re not though!). Costumes will also contribute to the overall look.

Thanks,
Alexander Gao

“When the revolution happens, I’ll be leading it.”