FCPX - Someone Likes It

Apparently the editors at Conan O’Brien’s show like the new FCPX.

FCPX - Syncing your HDSLR Footage

How to Sync DSLR Footage with Final Cut Pro X from Web Video Chefs on Vimeo.

FCPX - "I'm going back to bartending"

No, I’m not actually going back to bartending, I’ve never been a bartender but Brian Zalewski, a bay area editor I work with actually did say this after hearing of some of these changes.

Apple… I REALLY don’t get this.

I drive a car.  I’ve been doing so for 34 years… I’m pretty good at it, although I have had a few accidents. There are a few things that I’ve come to expect when I drive. Like, the gas pedal is ALWAYS on the right side and the break pedal is always on the left.  This, as a matter of fact, holds true in Australia where you drive on the WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD and sit on the WRONG SIDE OF THE CAR, but we won’t get into that now.

If all of a sudden, Toyota or Mazda decided… “hey… we like foot pedals but lets ‘rethink’ where we put them, maybe there is a better place.”… HOLY CRAP can you imagine the uproar?

So I ask the good folks at Apple, “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SMOKING DOWN THERE?”

Extend Edit (E) -  becomes Trim Start AND Trim End (Option [ and Option ] )Which apparently can’t be UNDONE. And the new (and improved?) Extend Edit, well, I can’t figure out how to make that “un grey”.

Split clip (Control V) becomes Blade (Command B), because, well, why not?

 Paste Attributes (Option V) becomes Paste Effects (Control Option V) but hardly a substitute to Paste Attributes. You can’t pick and choose which effects you want to paste.

This is all within 5 minutes of sitting down with the app. I’ll go into it later with some tutorials but really… Why not change Quit application (Command Q) to “I don’t want to work anymore” (Control Option Command L, for LEAVE)…

Did you have to change sooo many shortcuts?  Really?

Does NO ONE at Apple have the balls to stand up and say… “Uh guys, this would be really stupid to change all these shortcuts.” And PLEASE don’t say… “we’ll you know you can always go in and change them in the Keyboard Shortcut Editor. Do you have any idea how many machines I work on in a day, I don’t want to install custom shortcuts every time I sit at a new machine.  Why not just leave the shortcuts well enough alone?

Don’t get me wrong… I want things to get better, I want to move into the future. I want to be able to stand on the shoulders of those that went before us but I’d also like to know that the Break Pedal is ALWAYS GONNA BE on the left and not mysteriously on the right.

FCP X - Resources

This “Resource Guide” was created in 2011, back when we all hated Final Cut Pro X. Since then, a lot has happened. Here is a link to my 2013 Resource Guide. Some of these are good to. You also may want to check out our new podcast. FCPX Grill is a weekly discussion with video and film editors and content producers who have chosen to use Final Cut Pro X in their workflow. Certainly some of what you’ll find on this page is still of great use, but the links on the 2013 Resource Guide are more up to date.

One thing i for certain about Apple’s Final Cut Pro X, it’s gonna be good for the tutorial community.  I’m getting tweets and emails and calls oh my, all from people asking what my thoughts are. In short… its too earlyto say, although I’ve had 4 crashes in the first afternoon of diddling it, not a good sign.

I will say, there are some GREAT resources that I recommend people look into, I myself have downloaded and am using these in my own exploration of the app.

First would be Philip Hodgetts blog. Here is answers a bunch of questions. He also has a “for pay PDF” for 5 bucks that is a great read. I bought it, you should too.

Mark Spenser and Steve Martin at Ripple training have already done a couple dozen videos on FCPX and the new Motion. It works really cool, You pony up 40 bucks and they download the videos right into your iTunes. You can also play them on your iPad if you’re into that sort of craziness. 

Steve Martin also has published a great free resource on the old kenstone.net page. This article is really good, I’ve read it and took a lot away from it.

Digital Rebellion has an article, “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly”. A great breakdown of some of the issues with FCPX. 

David Pogue has a great rundown on the “missing features” in FCPX. A very impressive run down from a tech writer who apparently either, knows a crap load about video editing or he is being feed talking points by Apple. There is a uncredited quote from Walter Biscardi’s write up on FCPX. It really seems like the Apple Hype machine got to Pogue and said, “GET THIS INFO OUT ASAP!!”

Richard Harrington has a great post on his blog where he goes thru Pogue’s rundown step by step. Richard is one of the most well studied instructors on the planet and really knows his stuff. This article is WELL WORTH going thru.

Jeffrey Harrell has a great recap of his frustrations with file management after trying to get started in FCPX. Very funny look at the comic nature of some of the decisions that came out of Cupertino.

DVCreators.net has a great article by Josh Mellicker, who was one of the first ‘outside people’ to put his paws on FCP back in the early days. He also is a friend/collegue/aquaintence of Randy Ubilos, creator of FCP. 

Larry Jordan has chimed in with some of his thoughts about FCPX on his blog. I pretty much agree with everything he says. He has some great insight on what Apple SHOULD do at this point. Its a good read. I also responded with some of my input to his blog, you can read my comments here.

Izzy Video, free FCPX tutorials. I haven’t watched any yet, no commentary here, just wanted you to know they are there.

Ron Brinkmann chimes in on the FCPX debacle from his experience with Apple.

Jeffery Harrell, creator of “I don’t have a title for this” speaks candidly about his experience with Adobe product managers. And here is another Jeffery Harrell article that talks about his frustration with FCPX. I had read this last week before he posted the video and later realized who had written it. 

An EXCELLENT walk thru of 100 Questions about FCPX by Scott Simmons on Pro Video Coalition.

Mark Spencer, extreme Motion Guru has links to many Apple Knowledge Base docs on his site here.

John Saccomandi - Zoo Station

Maybe there is hope for “the kids”… this 4th grader decided to play an electric drum kit to U2’s “Zoo Station” for his school talent show. And all the kids in the “Caffe-gym-atorium” seemed to enjoy it at the end! Its 5 minutes long but jump ahead to the end to confirm… he gets a great applause!