Craig Alan
Forum Replies Created
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took some experimenting but i remember being about to toggle between my preferred lay outs for 3 or 4 stages of the edit. mostly assembly, audio, color correction. I also remember using the spreadsheet in the browser to sort by various metadata and creating sub-clips in the browser.
So I don’t consider FCP X revolutionary in terms of this but it is far more advanced and
nicely designed.I also remember getting the audio out of sync far too often and really struggling to get it back in sync and feeling like I was an idiot. I also remember hooking up firewire cables to ingest in real time and sometimes the camera or VTR would get seen by FC and sometimes not. Just getting the footage into the program was a major step. And then having to use compressor to get it back out in a form that was good for distribution or playback on different devices was another time consuming stage.
Sometimes I think people think that FCP X is so much faster because media itself is so much faster. The sync issue was end user error and I watched the pros touch type through their edits and get things back in sync with a couple of keyboard strokes. There are times the same applies to FCP X edits but not nearly as much. And the google searchers bring up solutions much more readily.
It’s all a wash for me now. I’m as advanced in X as I was in 7 and I do like a lot of its features though would like others to improve. What I don’t want is to have them improve, my skills to get more fluid, and then suddenly it’s EOL and I have to learn a new program. I’d much rather evolve as a film maker than learn a new interface which accomplishes 95% of the same stuff.
Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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Even if you forget the short cut its so nice to have the layout that works for you.
Again Apple did a nice job in the browser to give you different looks. and little radio buttons with a short cut reminders if you prefer it that way. The different looks do not resize anything which also would be nice. Then again they also expect me to type with my thumbs on little digital keyboards that three year olds seem to have no trouble doing.
Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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Two problems for me – I’m not a full time editor and a lot of the ones that apple has already to toggle specific windows on and off is hard to remember and more importantly its not just turning on one window or another. It’s a specific set of windows resized a specific way given the monitor you are on. legacy let you decide on a size and configuration for each window for each lay out.
Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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Apple’s good at layouts. Wouldn’t mind them giving you a bunch of presets with the ability to tweak them or create your own. I’d also like the active window to be a little more obvious and by default if i just E, W, or Q-ed an edit that the timeline become active. sure there are times I’m putting a bunch of clips on the timeline from the browser but as soon as you click on the next clip to select it or trim it in the browser, the browser is active. The number of times I assume the clip will play on the timeline and I go “what? oh yeah command 2…” too many.
Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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I think we are on the same page. I like the browser for the organization that it gives me both automatically and by allowing me to organize the way I wish. But its in the timeline that I make artistic decisions. And I like magnetism and connected clips in the timeline for quick and easy edits playbacks and experiments. I liked FCP legacy on the timeline because the keyboard short cuts to toggle between specific layouts was ergonomically vital. FCP X needs to add this feature. custom layouts which you can toggle between. For audio for color correction for cropping for rough cuts etc etc.
Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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Does this work the same for a stereo track. Just expand it in the timeline and adjust? Are there other ways of doing this?
Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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I see browser organization as homework, prep and the fun/creativity takes place on the playing field, the timeline. How much homework you have depends on the type of project and how much media you have imported. Some projects don’t require any key wording and some require a great deal – otherwise causing you to be seeking and re-reviewing and getting more and more confused.
I think FCP X certainly has a powerful browser but FCP legacy also used similar types of organization. I really don’t believe that X created a new way to edit. I think it added some new features and lost some others. But the most basic concepts are the same and the end results are the same. So its just a matter of which feature set works best for you. And I have noticed that other NLEs are stealing some of the good features that were introduced in X. Just as X put back some that were missing.
Even the so called trackless timeline in X is really a hybrid. For example when you open a multicam clip in the timeline and angle viewer everything is laid out in tracks on the timeline.
Isn’t nesting and compounding addressing the same needs? Aren’t connected clips following the same basic rules as layers in photoshop or track dominance in track based NLEs? I still would like X to move to tracks with connection points – i think that would be the best of both worlds.
I feel we live in strange times in terms of information and learning. Knowledge has certainly become more democratic with the revolution that the internet has created. But the constant practice to change how digital tools/interfaces work is in part counterproductive. There is such a thing as mastering a craft in order to be a more fluid artist/creator/producer. If people have to constantly be re-learning how those tools work, they will never be able to master them and will not be able to pass that knowledge on to the next generation. The tool is an extension of the worker not the other way around. And when it is the other way around, it’s not art. If you do all the heavy lifting in the browser and then just transfer the sequence to the timeline wholesale then its just a giant organized spreadsheet of media. Kinda like when screenplays were nothing more than a formula in which on page 90 you have a plot point which comes as a complete surprise (to no one) increases the conflict between good and evil to the point of being life threatening and drives the story home to its happy ending – boy gets THE girl on his way to blowing up THE bad guy.
Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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try this. great price. great mike. rock solid. requires phantom power.
mine have stood the test of time and rough handling and many different shoots under many different conditions. Generally good aim and close to the source is way better than not. These are small and easy to keep out of frame and get close.
at the price the best bang for the buck.
Audio-Technica AT4053b Hypercardioid Condenser Microphone
$600 free shipping and no tax unless you live in NY.
Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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That’s what I was thinking. Use individual drives in a dock for back ups – first incremental then archive when finished. Then use cloud service for failsafe back ups just in case disaster strikes. But if cloud is too pricey then consider tape. Thing though is you have to store this stuff off site to really be safe. I would imagine tape needs to be kept in a temp controlled environment.
As of now I have maybe 20 TBs of projects sitting around and I’d guess only half of those that I really think would be important to me in the long run. Doesn’t yet seem the investment in a $5000 tape drive would be worth it. But when I start shooting 4K and longer form films then yeah. Who knows what future tech might bring. Really need a revolution in terms of storage.
Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.