PRODUCTION DIARY 005
In an effort to keep from program hopping and learning too many tools on my project, it turns out I am actually going to be learning an all new tool. That tool is Final Cut Express HD. It became clear to me not long ago that my production process was being hindered by the limitations of iMovie. While I value the simplicity of the program, and though it is certainly possible to do everything I need in it, how it is done becomes another story.
As I have mentioned before I like speed. While iMovie may be simple and fast, it's limitations are causing me to do more in other programs and use more programs in general to achieve the sought after result. The primary reason for this is because of iMovie's lack of layers. Now there is a matte plugin or two for iMovie, which would allow me to bring in a layer with an alpha channel to put on top of another, and I was well nigh on the verge of clicking the "add to cart" button for that plugin, but then I was schooled in the ways of Final Cut.
I have, of course, seen FInal Cut many times. They use it at UFO. I knew of its power. I was intentionally trying to avoid it because I wanted to simplify my process. Unfortunately, for what I want to do, that simplification came at the cost of speed. I had to do far more advance prep work to make sure things were ready to go into iMovie. This actually affected how I work in general. With Final Cut, that all goes out the window. It is freedom, and this means the freedom to experiment. I can focus on elements and only worry about the elements currently on my mind because with 99 layers of video, I can always add, change or subtract elements at any point during the production. This brings a lot of freedom. It also means I can put so much more of the project on the back end, in the post phase, where it belongs, rather than needing to be concious of some of it up front.
Anyway, I don't actually have it yet, so my next diary, which will be a report on getting it up and running, should be interesting.
As I have mentioned before I like speed. While iMovie may be simple and fast, it's limitations are causing me to do more in other programs and use more programs in general to achieve the sought after result. The primary reason for this is because of iMovie's lack of layers. Now there is a matte plugin or two for iMovie, which would allow me to bring in a layer with an alpha channel to put on top of another, and I was well nigh on the verge of clicking the "add to cart" button for that plugin, but then I was schooled in the ways of Final Cut.
I have, of course, seen FInal Cut many times. They use it at UFO. I knew of its power. I was intentionally trying to avoid it because I wanted to simplify my process. Unfortunately, for what I want to do, that simplification came at the cost of speed. I had to do far more advance prep work to make sure things were ready to go into iMovie. This actually affected how I work in general. With Final Cut, that all goes out the window. It is freedom, and this means the freedom to experiment. I can focus on elements and only worry about the elements currently on my mind because with 99 layers of video, I can always add, change or subtract elements at any point during the production. This brings a lot of freedom. It also means I can put so much more of the project on the back end, in the post phase, where it belongs, rather than needing to be concious of some of it up front.
Anyway, I don't actually have it yet, so my next diary, which will be a report on getting it up and running, should be interesting.
12 Comments:
Hey Terrence, always enjoy reading your blog. I have tried FCHD before and it's pretty powerful. I currently use Ulead's Media Studio Pro, and it's because it doesn't do any precoding of video files before importing into timeline. The other reason is because MSP allows importing of a sequence of images as a video file. This helps in allowing me to setup the timeline with the shots I want and if I need to go back and re-render from 3D program or Mirage, all I have to do is name the output files the same as the sequence; so, once I'm back in MSP, the new files are already relinked and in the timeline. I don't recall if FC couldn't do that and that's the reason I don't use it. Just an FYI on MSP. Great look on the new pic, too. :)
I read through the manual yesterday and version 3.5, it seems, can both import a numbered image sequence and relates to video on the hard disk for non-destructive editing (no precoding, which iMovie did, which was another minus in my book) so I should be set in that regard. Both features are vry valuable to me as well. Thanks for the heads up.
From reading the product page, it looks like a pretty powerful and impressive program (utter shame that it's only for the Mac, though...) :/
My next software purchase will probably be a video editor, so right now I'm researching the programs out there (right now, it's looiking to be a choice between Sony's Vegas or Adobe's Premiere Pro).
Jasonn
I'd try the demo of Vegas pretty well if I were you. While I may not be the 'Vegas Guru' I need to point out since you will be working on animation clips which require heavy sound synchronization, you're going to need something with very flexible 'time line scrubbing' in addition to whatever features you're looking for. Vegas ain't it in that regard. Perhaps out of my initial frustration I didn't dig deep... but I am used to one thing and only one thing when syncing audio in the time line; drag from point A to point B, no more no less, no holding any key or anything of that sort.
Good for you Terrance,
I have used FCP as well as AVID Xpress Pro, AVID Adrenaline and Premiere Pro out of all of those programs I still prefer Premiere Pro for it's ease of use and navigation not to mention the linking capabilities it has with Photoshop, After Effects, Encore DVD and Audition (though I think Audtion is called something else right now.) The combat unit I am with in the Air Force, uses AVID Xpress Pro but it has issues and to name those this would be a huge response.
I will be going to Tunisia again this year with the military and while I have Xpress Pro on my laptop I will be using Premiere Pro once again to get the job done.
Even while deployed to Iraq a year ago I used Premiere for all of my prime cuts. You might look at Premiere Pro CS3, but if you are working at UFO and they are cutting on FCP then you might want to use that as you will have an immmediate source of information if you run into any issues. Have a look at Premiere it's also for the Mac now (just don't know how ell supported it is)
Just my 2 cents
TOny :)
obinna: Thanks for the advice; I'll try to download the Vegas demo later tonight.
Right now, the biggest feature that I'm looking for in a video editor (besides the audio editing features that you mentioned) is that it will support Film resolution - specifically, 3dmm Academy 4K: 4096 x 2212 pixel resolution, 1.85 aspect ratio.
According to Adobe's site, the latest version of Premiere Pro will support a pixel resolution of 4096x4096; that's great for what I need, but Premiere's $800 price tag is kinda high (I mean at that price, I could buy both a Mac Mini and a copy of Final Cut Express HD). Sony's website doesn't say exactly how high a pixel resolution Vegas will support, which is why I'm also downloading Vegas's manual to see if that information is in it.
Oh yeah, forgot to mention, but I've also been looking at Newtek's SpeedEDIT (according to the program description, it suppose to support any aspect ratio, pixel resolution, and frame rate).
Tony: My first two movies were done in Premiere. It worked well for me, but later I switched to Vegas, and being a Sony DV camera user, the integration, also with the DVD authoring that came with Vegas, was great. I got Vegas + DVD for $489 I think. I heard that the Adobe Production suite was a powerful tool from those who use it, but I wouldn't want to buy the whole thing, also I do compositing, along with 2D drawing in TV Paint Pro on the Mac or in MIrage on my Tablet PC. I didn't know Adobe still did Premiere on the Mac. I thought it was PC only recently.
Jasonn: Vegas is pretty cheap and you get a lot. From what I read, SpeedEdit looks like it might be very worth checking out too. I would think all modern pro editors support film res work these days, at least I would hope so, but I remember Vegas has tons of presets for every major standard, including Academy 35, Anamorphic and 70mm. I still have it on my Tablet PC.
Ernest: I didn't even know Ulead made software for the Mac.
Terrence: I looked around Vegas's product pages on Sony's website a little more: according to it's "Video Editing" page, the highest resolution that Vegas can support/render is 2048x2048, which is half the pixel resolution that I plan to work in (which is somewhat disappointing). I also did some checking around on SpeedEDIT and yes, it does support any resolution - however, from reading several threads on Newtek's forum, it seems the program has some major issues with rendering video files out at various HD and Film resolutions (from the sounds of it, any resolution higher than 1080 becomes 'blurred' and the image quality is significantly less than rendered video files out of other NLE video editors of the same resolution). :(
From the online research that I've been doing for the last few days, finding video editing software that supports Film-quality resolution is tough: so far, I've only found that Adobe's "Premiere Pro C3" and Apple's "Final Cut Pro 6" (which is part of the "Final Cut Studio" software suite) support resolutions higher than 1080 HD. Between the two programs, my choice would currently be the new version of Premiere Pro (mostly because of the price, the features that it has, and the fact that I'm on Windows)
Also, Premiere Pro was originally Windows only, but the latest version of it (Premiere Pro C3) now supports Macintosh and OS X (only Adobe's OnLocation software, which comes bundled with Premiere Pro, is Windows only).
Tony: I believe that Adobe's Audition software now goes by the name "Soundbooth".
Terrance,
Yeah the great thing about Sony is the integration within its own product line. I use a Sony PD-170 most of the time and I love that camera.
I have never used Vegas but I hear it's got some great features.
Premiere just came out this year for the Mac.
None the less FCP is a great tool and I don't think you'll be dissapointed.
Tony :)
jasonn: Is there a paticular reason you need 4K resolution? Even Star Wars or Once Upon a Time in Mexico were done at 1080p. Aside from software, I think it would be hard to find a computer that can handle 4K work well. Even on those major films they edit with DV res prox files and write out an EDL which goes off to a big post house to do the real deal.
I was just waiting and kept wondering when is Terrence going to start using Final Cut Pro?
The only reason I would get a Mac is for Final Cut Pro it's a fab program having worked with it I have to say it has a few,,, No! Scratch that. It has many things over Premiere Pro one of which is realtime play back with out the need to render.
I just don't overstand why Adobe hasn't gotten Premiere past the need to render clips?
But this isn't about program bashing and in defense of Adobe I like the move toward integrating the various Adobe apps to work together much better.
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