MacVideo "Rick Young's Blog"

First taste of Multicam in FCPX 10.03

ricky_young@idg.co.uk (Rick Young) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:13:00 GMT

Just pushed through a job over the last few days. I feel like I've cut the cord between myself and FCP7 - now I'm deep into FCPX having to make it work for whatever I need to do. Of course, if I have to, I could step back to 7, but only if I have to.It was a simple project - 2 cameras. I highlight these, turn them into a Multiclip; after some messing around get the audio from the track I wish to listen to; investigate the Angle Viewer and the Angle Editor and then I start cutting.

Lights do shatter

ricky_young@idg.co.uk (Rick Young) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:18:00 GMT

I was filming in a studio for 3 days running. All tungsten lamps, the place heated up like a sauna, busy as can be knocking through product shots. I had great lenses to work with, shooting with a PMW-F3, a jib-arm, many lights, and it was all up to me to make it work.Three days of filming, I’ve barely turned the lights off in this time.

Hard drive trouble

ricky_young@idg.co.uk (Rick Young) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 23:50:00 GMT

Was working on 3 different projects, back to back, no room to stop. It was sleep and work and eat and nothing else for a week.Everything is going good - I've got happy clients and I'm happy to have cleared some work and made room for the next load. So I decide to do the essential and clone the drive.

2011 - what a year

ricky_young@idg.co.uk (Rick Young) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 23:32:00 GMT

There will no doubt be in-depth reports about what has gone on in 2011. For me 3 things stand out:(1) The death of Steve Jobs - this has been felt by everyone connected with Apple. For anyone who uses a Mac or an Apple device; or anyone who makes their living from Apple technology, or simply loves the Apple products, one cannot help but feel loss at Steve's departure. As Tim Cook wrote: "He left his fingerprints all over society, all over the world."

Next update to Final Cut Pro X (much anticipated!)

ricky_young@idg.co.uk (Rick Young) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 09:16:00 GMT

When Apple announced the 10.0.1 update to Final Cut Pro X, at the bottom of the list of new features was a note stating boldly:

What’s going on with the Towers?

ricky_young@idg.co.uk (Rick Young) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 20:32:00 GMT

Is the mighty Mac Pro Tower about to fall? This hasn’t been upgraded for quote some time, it doesn’t even have Thunderbolt, and the speculation is perhaps the tower will not survive.The iMac is a mighty contender for both consumers and professionals. Pair it with the matching display and you have a system that looks like it walked right off the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Fill it with 16GB of Ram and you have a machine on which Final Cut Pro X should fly, and all reports indicate that it does!

Some dealers are better to deal with than others.

ricky_young@idg.co.uk (Rick Young) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 17:15:00 GMT

I was chasing a camera bag, found what I wanted at a dealer I know and trust - price £90 ex-vat.Then I see it elsewhere for £75 - 2 in stock. Other places have it for £90 and £100 or more. £75 is a good price!

The latest toys

ricky_young@idg.co.uk (Rick Young) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 09:28:00 GMT

The last week has seen some of the coolest camera announcements we have had in a long time. Since acquisition became affordable there have been many leaps and jumps, from DV to HD to large sensors and now affordable cameras which are truly capable of cinema production. The word affordable needs to be defined, however, no matter how one looks at it video and cinema production in terms of camera cost is a whole lot cheaper than it used to be.I graduated from film school in 1989. My dream was to work with 35mm film. I'd cut a few projects on 16mm - 35mm was regarded as the true high-end format. A cinematographer I spoke to referred to 35mm film as being "bliss" compared to 16mm.

The future's so bright...

ricky_young@idg.co.uk (Rick Young) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 21:31:00 GMT

We’re now several months into the evolution of Final Cut Pro X. The 10.01 update is with us, bringing XML import and export and a host of other enhancements. Other essential features such as Multicam editing and broadcast monitoring have been promised for early 2012.It is clear that Apple is serious about making Final Cut Pro X a major force in the world of post-production. The product is aggressively priced, offers features which don’t exist in many of the competing products, and is scaleable from SD to 4K.

The mighty F3

ricky_young@idg.co.uk (Rick Young) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 09:38:00 GMT

I've been using the PMW-F3 for the last 2 weeks and have found this to be a remarkable camcorder. Having used Sony cameras since the introduction of DV I have always been in search of the perfect camcorder. I'm not going to say the F3 is perfect, but it is as close to perfection as I have found.A few things stand out:

Optimising your Mac for Final Cut Pro X

ricky_young@idg.co.uk (Rick Young) — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 11:32:00 GMT

I downloaded Lion the day it was released. Not onto my main system - I set up a separate Snow Leopard Boot drive and upgraded this.I’m not too worried about new features or functionality, the big issue to me is does Final Cut Pro 7 and the rest of the Studio work fine. Does XDCAM EX Transfer still work - many may remember this became broken when we moved from Leopard to Snow Leopard. And hugely important - are there any performance gains for Final Cut Pro X. I’m hoping for bug fixes, less crashes, a more stable and trouble-free experience.

Optimising your system for Final Cut Pro X

ricky_young@idg.co.uk (Rick Young) — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 10:32:00 GMT

Final Cut Pro- Dual Audio Track Editing

ricky_young@idg.co.uk (Rick Young) — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 08:35:00 GMT

Having spent time with Final Cut Pro X I have found my way around much of the program without too much trouble. Yes this is very different to all the previous versions, yet most of it surprisingly simple and powerful. I'm still new to the software so reserve judgement pending real world tests, however, for the moment I am positive.One of the letdowns for me has been audio. In Final Cut Pro 7 I could easily open the Audio Mixer and mix my tracks using the mouse for single tracks or stereo pairs and record the fader moves as keyframes. In my own edit suite, a control surface with 8 separate faders made audio mixing a joy. No such capability exists with Final Cut Pro X.

Great deals on NLEs

ricky_young@idg.co.uk (Rick Young) — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 15:00:00 GMT

Never has there been a better time to buy an NLE. Adobe, Avid, and Media 100 all have cut-price deals for those switching from Final Cut Studio to their NLE. The fallout from the Apple release of FCPX continues, with many defections amongst video professionals. Meanwhile murmuring from Apple about FCP7 possibly being available through enterprise and volume licence. We're all watching to see what Apple does next.

Panic Attack

ricky_young@idg.co.uk (Rick Young) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 19:16:00 GMT

Shooting on location. Been filming all week. No problems, hard work and rewarding.Set-up an interview. Press the record button and nothing happens. Press it again. Nothing happens.

Reaction to Final Cut Pro X: cries of discontent

ricky_young@idg.co.uk (Rick Young) — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 00:21:00 GMT

There's a lot of angry people out there. Final Cut Pro X has disappointed many of the Pro editors and the atmosphere is poisonous. A few positive voices can be heard amongst an ocean of despair. Is the criticism justified - or are many editors simply adverse to change? The coming weeks and months will reveal a great deal.Some editors will switch to competing systems, many will stay with FCP7 and the rest of the studio. The real test is what will Apple do next? Will FCPX be updated to iron out some of the short comings, will new features be brought into the app. Is it even a Pro app? Many say definitely not.

Big on bus-powered drives

ricky_young@idg.co.uk (Rick Young) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 11:33:00 GMT

Been spending money again.In the last month have ordered in 10 x 500 GB bus-powered FireWire 800/400 drives.

The old way is a good way

ricky_young@idg.co.uk (Rick Young) — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 11:32:00 GMT

This week I had to supply a client with transcriptions of 8 different videos - they wanted word for word, typed out and accurate.This is a job I l know well. Many years ago I produced a documentary and transcribed 50 hours of interviews. I knew it was labour intensive, but I wanted the film to be good, and I could see no better way than the analogue process of writing, paper editing, structuring and building a film out of the transcribed interviews.

Just say no!

ricky_young@idg.co.uk (Rick Young) — Tue, 31 May 2011 15:44:00 GMT

It never rains, it pours, is the saying.Freelance life - famine or excessive feast.

Now that the dust has settled...

ricky_young@idg.co.uk (Rick Young) — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 10:56:00 GMT

Now that the dust has settled from NAB 2011 it is now time to wait for the products to arrive.At the forefront is Final Cut Pro X. With such a large community of users the FCP world is on hold, existing with the current version, ready for the big shake up in June when the new version is available.

SPEED TESTS: new MacBook Pros

ricky_young@idg.co.uk (Rick Young) — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 17:22:00 GMT

Been doing some "real world" tests with the latest MacBook Pro, 2.2GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7.Had to render a 20 minute movie with a few graphics + titles in an XDCAM EX Timeline using Final Cut Pro.

A Mass Edit

ricky_young@idg.co.uk (Rick Young) — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 20:26:00 GMT

I've never seen anything like it - 20 editors were all hired in to edit quick turnaround videos with groups of delegates, all filming on Flip cameras.The room was full of MacBook Pros, at least one iMac, and one editor with Matrox MXO, external monitor and PPM metres. Very well equipped.

Separate audio recorder, Edirol RH09, to the rescue

ricky_young@idg.co.uk (Rick Young) — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 23:59:00 GMT

It was an important event, too much happening quickly, the checks that should have been done weren't, and the result was revealed in the edit suite for what could have been a critical situation."We got no audio other than camera mic," the editor says to the producer.

Beaten by the company who works for free

ricky_young@idg.co.uk (Rick Young) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 15:23:00 GMT

Quoted on a job in the last week. A good deal for the client, a good job for me.I was tentatively booked and asked to find someone else to do second camera.

The rubbish of it all - the broadcast chain

ricky_young@idg.co.uk (Rick Young) — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 15:23:00 GMT

I have spent more than a decade looking at video quality, chasing quality, reaching to broadcast levels with affordable technology, paying for all sorts of things to improve the quality, and I feel I have now come to a resolution, in my own mind, about the whole quality game.Broadcast television in the UK demands technical specs. of 50mbps and 4:2:2 as the minimum needed for full broadcast programmes. This doesn’t mean that none of the sub-broadcast cameras ever get used, however it doesn't mean they get used sparingly. They are frowned upon, looked upon as being incredible for what they are but just not good enough for the broadcast chain.