First Project in FCP X

[Ben Fullerton]

Hey guys. Here is the first little thing I've done in the program. Nothing amazing, just a little behind the scenes video from a recent location photo shoot assignment. The majority of the footage (anything with me in the shot) was shot by a recent high school grad I know who think he might want to get into to video stuff as a career path. So, I've had him come along with me few times an help out with video capture, so he can get a feel for it in a more serious environment. I made the best edit with what I had. There's some soft shots, shaky footage and some compositions that could be better. But at the end of the day, it's a fun little vid and it tells the story, which is what these are about. Doesn't need to be a masterpiece. Feedback welcome.

This would have taken me a long, long time in FCP 7, based on where my skills were after about 75 hours in the program. After just 3 days in FCP X, I feel able to put out better quality videos much, much faster.

Cheers!

American Cowboy Location Shoot BTS on Vimeo

[Ronald Jackson]

Glad to hear some praise for FCP X. Obviously cannot judge an editing system by seeing the end product. (Imagine sitting in a cinema at the end of some block-buster movie and hearing someone say "Good, but better if they'd used Avid".)

If easier than FCP 7 then count me in though there is the little matter of an absent Snow Leopard to address.

What camera/codec did you use for the video?


Ron

[Henrik Reach]

Pentax K-5, did you watch the whole thing? :D

Nice vid, serves it's purpose!

Stuff like this is certainly something I consider FCP X very good for right off the bat.

I get into problems when doing highlight-reels/music video-type stuff etc. (as in, things get clunky and I don't feel I have the same ind of control and precision I have in FCP 7), but I think that comes from quirks that will probably be straightened out by a) Apple streamlining some stuff and/or b) me learning the application better.

[Ronald Jackson]

No, packed it in when got to the stills. Didn't think it was DSLR because (a) plenty of DOF and (b) the young bloke with camera was using it in upright mode. In retrospect for the stills.

Ron

[Ben Fullerton]

Ronald - Pentax K-5 DLSR for the vid. The files out of the Camera are .avi files with i think mpeg-4 compression. But when you bring stuff into FCPX, it's default is to just convert everything to ProRes422, which I let it do. Lots of DOF because a) the kid shooting doesn't have much experience outside of small sensor cmacorders, so rather than getting a bunch of OOF clips, I just had him keep it at f/5.6-f/11; and b) it was bright sun and the only ND I had with me was was on my still camera (also a K-5, I have two) so I could get shallower DOF in the still while syncing with my strobes.

Henrik - Thanks! FCPX is definitely pretty slick and easy for this kind of stuff and beyond. But I can understand how people that have editing needs far above and beyond my own might still have issues with it for a while. Hopefully it all ges sorted out, I think it has enormous potential.

Cheers,

Ben

[Tom Gresham]

I'm probably the right target for FCPX. I've never edited anything, though I've shot a fair amount of video over the last four years.

So, I bought FCPX, went through Larry Jordan's video instruction, and jumped in. Took an afternoon to create a one-minute video. Oh well. And it has the production music from FCPX. But, it allowed me to use some of the video I've shot, and to start the learning process. Not color graded or tweaked in any way.

Vimeo

[Marty Mulholland]

I was gonna start a thread but saw this one was already here, maybe it can become the official 'first project' thread

i use Final Cut 7 almost daily for lots of multi camera shoots at non repeatable events

that said, i started editing on imovie 08 when it first came out and really appreciated the speed at which you could cut basic sequences together, yes, it was limited.. but Final Cut X has taken the best bits about imovie and put them in a proper package.

Almost every video on our youtube channel (60+ vids with over 6 million views) has been made with iMovie, the only exception is some of our title sequences which is after effects

i edited our latest video with FInal cut X and while it took a little while to get used to, i found it to be a very very powerful and open iMovie Pro experience...

the result is this, all shot on a JVC HM100 camera, native codecs no transcoding, exported to ProresLT and then mpeg4 at 4mbit (who knows what youtube does with it from there)

‪How to paint your wheels‬‏ - YouTube

[Brett Sherman]

Interesting thing about these examples is they are all relatively easy edits. There is no A-Roll / B-Roll editing where shots have to be timed to narration or interviews. This is not to diss the videos here, there are perfectly fine. There just not the kind of videos I need to make.

[Ben Fullerton]

I hear ya! There certainly nothing amazing about the video I made. Just wanted to start putting some things out there that were cut in FCPX. I hope we'll start seeing lots of other content of increasing quality and complexity as more people start experimenting with this new platform. I've just finished cutting a video that I can't quite share yet, that if still fairly short of amazing, is at least much more impressive than my first vid. I'll share it as soon as I can!

Cheers,

Ben

[Steve Connor]

My first project is a documentary on a famous airshow here in the UK for DVD release. I've been making these films for over 15 years and have used quite a few NLE's over the years to make the show, including Avid, Premiere, D/Vision (remember?) and various versions of Final Cut. I've actually been editing for about 20 years so you could call me "experienced"

Generally I get about 40 hours of material on XDCam and XDCam EX as well as. mp4 "in-cockpit" footage from about 15 GoPros. The show consists of LOTS of interviews, flying sequences shot across a couple of days, montage to music etc

Lots of A/B roll edits, backtimed edits, three point edits etc, it is in effect a traditional documentary and event video rolled into one.

So in other words a very good test for FCPX and as its something I've done for a number of years I can get a good feel for how FCPX works.

Bearing in mind this is software I've only been using for 4 weeks, it is at least 25% quicker than any other NLE I have cut on, reliability, under Snow Leopard at least, has been excellent. The skimmer enables me to SPEED through footage looking for shots and my first attempt at using keywords has also helped speed up the process.

I love working on the new timeline, after the first week everything starts to make more sense. GoPro material drops into the timeline with no fuss and the mixed codecs cause no real issues.

Grading on the fly has been much easier with the new colour tools and the real time audio waveforms has enabled me to rough out audio mixes whilst I go. I'm looking forward to digging deeper into the software on the next project.

For my workflow I am convinced of the value of FCPX, I do however fully understand how it's not for everyone, bearing in mind the current limited feature set.

[Ronald Jackson]

You've cheered me up no end Steve! I'm a novice, just trying to sort out FCP 7 but will be kicking it (and the £500 it cost) into touch in the near future in favour of FCP X.

Had a look at it yesterday on one of the machines in the Apple Store in Liverpool, something very iMovie about it of course at least in respect of the screen layout. Pity the assistant had no idea.

My simple needs (videos of birds, "Wildlife" if you will) used to be accommodated by iMovie 06 no less, but then I switched from HDV to XDCAM so needed to upgrade.

Not just FCP X, but virtually anything new, if you took literally all of the adverse commentary on forums like this you'd never buy anything, as I'm seeing when looking to replace my oldish TV,


Ron

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by Ronald Jackson

You've cheered me up no end Steve! I'm a novice, just trying to sort out FCP 7 but will be kicking it (and the £500 it cost) into touch in the near future in favour of FCP X.

As Apple have stopped selling FCS 3 I imagine you will be able to sell your copy & recoup a sizeable chunk of what you paid for it which should easily be enough to cover the cost of FCP X plus Motion 5 & Compressor 4.

[Ronald Jackson]

Good point Nigel. Could do with seeing some "literature" about FCP X, how it works, starting with importing. Most of what I see at present is opinion, mainly hostile, and from people who don't own it.

Ron