[Fabrizio D’agnano]

[Victor Vazquez] “Does anyone use FCP X at work?”

I do. I am now cutting about the tenth 26′ documentary for a television on FCPX. As most of the current users, I bought it as soon as it was available, was very disappointed with it and refused to really try it, then after some time, I bought a Ripple Training tutorial, tried FPCX with a different mind, and adopted as my only editing software. I would never go back to FCP7, as I have found FCPX much faster and more pleasant for my workflow. I am sure I can edit much faster because these last ten documentaries are the tail of a much longer series, all of the same format, I edited the previous episodes in FCP7, and the difference is relevant once I got used. Maybe the skimmer, maybe the background rendering, maybe the media organization that is really great for my workflow, maybe the magnetic timeline, maybe all this together, or maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m the only one, but I like the audio part too..

Fabrizio D’Agnano
Rome, Italy
early 2008 MacPro, BM Intensity Pro, early 2008 iMac, 2011 MacBook Pro, FCP7, FCPX, OSX 10.8.3

[Fabrizio D’agnano]

Yes Bret, I agree. But wouldn’t it be the same mess if one used Roles or “camera angle”? Say one is working on project y-1 and label as used via Roles or fields the clips that lay in the timeline in the Event browser and then go to the same routine of duplicating to y-2, then y-3 or y-4 version and later deleting one or more of the projects. Wouldn’t the clips retain the labels in the Browser unless one manually unmark them? Maybe it could be accomplished in automatic whenever a project is deleted from within FCPX in an imaginary automatic marking process. However, in my kind of workflow scenario I’d rather have the clips marked for use in previous versions or non existing projects where I could figure if that project is still used (I don’t work on a very large number of projects), that not having them marked at all or having to do it manually. I understand it could be different for people working on a very large number of projects or in a shared multiuser environment.

Fabrizio D’Agnano
Rome, Italy
early 2008 MacPro, BM Intensity Pro, early 2008 iMac, 2011 MacBook Pro, FCP7, FCPX, OSX 10.8.3

[Fabrizio D’agnano]

[Bret Williams] …..”while the clip may have been used in a project, that project may have been deleted or is simply offline. It really has no way of knowing.”
Well, what I know about programming software is less than nothing, but I think FCPX could know if a clip is or has been used in a project or not. Simply, it could fill a field whenever a clip is dragged onto an active project, with the name of the project itself, and empty it whenever the clip is removed from an active project. It would not matter if a project is later on deleted or hidden or put offline, the tag would be retained, and there’s no way to modify a project outside of FCPX. I think it would be helpful. For example, if you shoot nature documentaries, you could gather a lot of footage of a particular fish on a trip, and just use a few clips for one doc. A few months later you could need footage of that fish on a different project for a different client, after you sold exclusive rights for the previous doc. That’s when knowing if one of the clips has already been sold could be useful. I guess event videographers or feature film editors don’t have that need though.

Fabrizio D’Agnano
Rome, Italy
early 2008 MacPro, BM Intensity Pro, early 2008 iMac, 2011 MacBook Pro, FCP7, FCPX, OSX 10.8.3

[Fabrizio D’agnano]

Thank you Jason.
It seems “camera name” is the only field that will carry from the project to the event browser. It’s a pity because I use that field for multiple camera shots, but I think the “used in project Y” is more useful. It will stay in the event so if I want to pick up a clip for another project, I’ll know what media is usable and what not. Using roles is also a good idea, but maybe the “camera name” is better as I use roles for export, and the camera name also appears in the “reel” field.

Fabrizio D’Agnano
Rome, Italy
early 2008 MacPro, BM Intensity Pro, early 2008 iMac, 2011 MacBook Pro, FCP7, FCPX, OSX 10.8.3

[Fabrizio D’agnano]

[Morten Ranmar] “What I really wanted to point out is that there is a reason why people specialize in the professional world. One person can simply NOT excel in all fields. If you try to do everything, it WILL be moderate.
“

I think some professional may want to specialize and excel in being a top notch sound editor or colorist, another in being a good event videographer making decent videos at a decent price. There are not only big money top quality productions in the professional world. And maybe there are a lot of professionals who are earning their money shooting, editing and delivering a complete, maybe moderate, video at a moderate price, at least adequate to the money they get offered. And are possibly building their own web page, because they are filling a niche the market requires, and that does not allow them to feed a specialized team. This does not make them less professional on my opinion.

Fabrizio D’Agnano
Rome, Italy

[Fabrizio D’agnano]

Would portability be an important feature? I can’t make any real edit on a laptop screen, so I’d go for an iMac with a second display connected. Given that, however, portability not really being an issue, I’d rather go for an old but still working MacPro, so that I can profit of a larger number of ports and pci-e options.

Fabrizio D’Agnano
Rome, Italy

[Fabrizio D’agnano]

Sorry, I’ve read MacPro , but maybe you meant Macbook Pro. In that case, I have a 2011 2Ghz i7 with 4GB RAM for first cuts and footage arrangement on the field when I’m shooting a doc somewhere, and it works fine, even playing the media files from a FW800 external drive. So it should be fine for the kind of editing you describe.

Fabrizio D’Agnano
Rome, Italy

[Fabrizio D’agnano]

I am currently editing on an early 2008 MacPro, not even filled up with RAM, and I can edit HD ProRes or AVCHD footage without a hitch. FCPX and OSX are the latest version. I can preview real time with minimal or no rendering via a Blackmagic card. Waiting for a new MacPro to be available, I have wondered so many times if it could be good to go for a new top notch iMac, but then I think that I won’t have to change my workflow in the next two years, so I’ll maybe stick to my current 5 years old machine for some more time.

Fabrizio D’Agnano
Rome, Italy

[Fabrizio D’agnano]

Thank you Jon.
I had visited two links pointing to resellers in Italy I found on the Proavio web page, one was offline, the other did not show the latest models. I’ll send an inquiry to the address you gave me tomorrow morning.
Regards

Fabrizio D’Agnano
Rome, Italy

[Fabrizio D’agnano]

It seems that product is not available here. The ProAvio “find a dealer” section points to a shop offering the same line under the name “Enhance Tecnology”, but that model or a similar one is not on the list. The shipping from US dealers is too expensive, so I’ll have to go for a different unit.

Fabrizio D’Agnano
Rome, Italy