Backstage video Stephanie session
Yesterdays blog post showed you the images.
Todays blog post shows you the backstage video we shot.
Do please remember that these backstage videos are just for fun, they are shot by my assistants, MUA and some scenes by myself, they are meant to give you a quick backstage look on what happens during the day, and although I love to play with color and editing in the videos most of them are edited in less than an hour because I simply don’t have the time to spend much longer on the videos. In the coming weeks I will try to shoot another kind of backstage video which is shorter and faster than the previous ones, but for now I hope you like this one……
By the way editing was done in Final Cut Pro X (my first project in X).
Added this to a forum about my editing “experience” with X
Did a first “real” edit on X yesterday. Just a backstage video but still enough to testdrive some things.
Some things that I loved/hated :
Positive:
The way you edit is a huge improvement, you can still A/B (normal/blade) the clips and delete or backspace (gap or autoclose), but even better is to just drag edit the clips, you can always go back and redo the drag or cut, this is a much faster way to edit.
Compound clips are incredibly fun to work with. Make a complex edit, just make a compound clip and edit it as one clip, meaning one click to add effects etc. Not happy with something ? just double clip the compound clip and you can make the changes in the original edit, make compound again and you’re back in the normal edits with effects.
Speed is much faster that FCP7, real time editing is now possible with effects, color etc. Run the clip and see live what happens.
Playing with color, saturation, filters etc. has become a breeze of fresh air, everything is simple to achieve (some people will hate this, but why make it difficult if it can be easy) because you see what you’re doing. I love the way you can manipulate the “curves” of the color on three points makes it easy to make a nice custom color.
Negative :
I REALLY want two viewers. I’m used to using a 40″ LCD on top of 2 other monitors. In FCP7 I could see the viewer AND a large preview. Now I can see the large viewer on the 40″ but I can’t see the edit anymore, so looking up and looking down. In the end I settled for the viewer on the mainscreen (so working on 1 monitor) and the events on the second monitor, when a clip needed to be watched on the 40″ I switched to viewer on separate monitor, it does work but I think it would be a small task to make the option of 2 viewers.
Sometimes without any reason I can’t seem to be able to work in the viewer anymore. The image doesn’t move when I scrub the time line, but when I press play on the viewer it does move, happend 2 times yesterday, a simple quit start solved it.
Timeline=story line means you can add effects on the storyline but not on the second storyline (the tracks above the storyline) this makes no sense, now I will just make all the tracks storylines and I can add all the effects I want ?? why not just make them all storylines, or just add the option to add effects to all of the “tracks”, but maybe I’m missing something.
Can’t import MPEG files. I tried to import a MPEG file (done in compressor), Premiere 5.0 does open it but needs to render it first (that’s ok) FCPx doesn’t even open it, I need to first make it QT and than it imports. It’s a bit weird that they do support the most compressed junk from iPhones, HDV, 5DMKII etc. but not the standard MPEG (hope I’m doing something wrong), it’s not a big deal but I would love to have a real import all option. Thanks to MPEG streamclip it’s no problem of course.
Real time editing on my MacPro8/16GB HT was ok but you could see that on some moments it was a bit hard on the machine, I have to add that I was trying to see what would happen when I added 3-4 effects on top of each other, at that moment the machine slowed down a bit in the dissolves BUT without any effects or just 2 it did not slow down.
Overal the first editing session was a succes, love the worfklow, it’s not as dumb-down as some people claim, but it is very easy to learn. I guess that if you have limited editing experience or a bit of experience that FCPx will be a breath of fresh air compared to both FCP and iMovie, for me the way the effects work is a gift, I love to see what I’m doing (like in Photoshop) and hate to wait for rendering. Again as mentioned before I REALLY understand why people hate X compared to FCP so this is in NO way a defence plea for X, but I do find it fair to also show some of the positive stuff. I started 100% open with FCPx and decided to look at it with a fresh approach, I don’t expect it to be FCP7, I don’t expect it to be iMovie and when I think about the options for add ons and the workflow/editing/effects changes I do think that if we fast forward 1-2 years this product can be HUGELY successful also in the pro market, it’s just such a departure from FCP7 and Premiere that WHEN it clicks, you probably will have a hard time to go back…. for me after 1 more “real” edit it starts to click and I like it. But again I really do understand that there is too much missing at the moment for some of the pro editors, but WHEN that gets added by Apple or 3rd party developers…. 😀
Good write up and a nice video. Like the colour grading you’ve done Frank. Looks like X could be pretty good – once the dust settles. If it’s anything like when Aperture was first launched it will continue to mature into a great piece of software.
There is SO much negativity about it, mostly also from people that never worked with it that I’m afraid there is a LOT of damage to the product.nnI’ve been playing with it for a while now and, ok it’s much easier than FCP but add some of the features like MC, export, extra monitor etc. and there is some very time saving features in there, I’m afraid to call it revolutionary but I do think so 😀
It is nice to see someone with a level headed approach to FCPX. From some of the freak outs I have been hearing you would think Apple said here is the new FCPX and we are throwing a hidden kill switch on all previous versions. I think the way to look at it and I think the way Apple looked at it was lets get this complete rebuild out to users before the older version get too long in the tooth. That way we can get feedback on the new tools and what features are missing so that buy the time the previous FCP is really showing it’s age we will have a new fully flushed out version of FCPX. Just my thoughts on it.
Main problem is I think that Apple kept the same name and pulled Studio from the stores.nIn time I think that FCPx will be a real Final Cut Pro follow up, but it IS different without a doubt, and some people do want change but don’t want change :DnnFor me (as not experienced editor) I really like FCPx but I’m missing some things, however if they are added within a few months I’m a happy camper.
Frank, great as always just wondering the 2 Ranger packs in the beginning of the video are those the symmetric packs? if so do you prefer them to the asymmetric.
I’m using the normal Ranger RX speeds. I have to say that I almost always use them with One head.
Frank, Very, Very Cool !!
Great stuff Frank.
About your gear, where did you get teh grid for your maxi light? I want to get one for a 70cm beauty dish.
Also, apart from teh ranger, what where the other bozes you had there? One looks like a generator, but I coulnd’t make out the other.
Thanks,
Andre
Hi
See the gearguide for the grid.
We often bring a generator to power a smoke machine or in emergency the laptop 😉
Thank you Frank.
Stunning pictures from the shoot BTW. It stil amazes me that one can crush the background to such an extend in daylight.
More powerrrrr or just change the shutterspeed with small flash.