At the beginning of April 2013 I had made the decision to edit a one hour program on type one diabetes on a 32G iMac knowing I was going to be one of the first to do so as the new 27″ had just arrived with it’s SSD drive rather than the fusion drive which I had been warned against using.

I have to admit the worst part of the whole process has been a slowing down of the media import pane and the need to interrogate the Pegasus raid every time the media pane is opened, thunderbolt is fast but it still slows down the whole process and the same pane takes its time to leave once I have chosen to import my chosen footage.

The timeline seems to work fine with no apparent slow down though I do notice a slowing down of plugins as they are placed onto the timeline, it’s not as snappy as it is with a short program.

Another bug seems to involve the audio meters, for some unknown reason the VU meters stop working every so often, the workaround is to open the Clip Appearance pane and close it, then the audio meters start working again.

Back to long form editing…the Pegasus 12TB has 5TB to spare meaning 2TB is used for raid mirroring and 5TB of stored footage, renders, audio, Motion files etc. 5TB is a huge amount of data, it’s just as well I am using Thunderbolt and not eSata or FW800.

I have a one hour timeline for the main program and 12 mini features adding up to a further one hour of edited material all in the project library.

The Project Library is invaluable if you have a lot of mini edits as you can double click on any title and then re-edit your material as needed then run off a QT onto an 8TB Thunderbolt G-RAID drive. The Project Library is a clear winner for long form as you could edit a whole  one hours worth in smaller sections if needed.

Motion 5 is simply the best graphics tool to date and I have noticed with Thunderbolt especially that adding complex lighting and 3D does not phase Motion unlike my MacPro non Thunderbolt suite, the iMac version renders complex graphics in half the time.

I am so glad I choose FCPX after a lot of deliberation and soul searching…version 10.0.08 is a great editing tool and the inbuilt chroma key is second to none, DON’T buy any 3rd party chroma key as they can’t compete with Apples own version, I tried one claiming better keying of finer detail and it was not a patch on the Apple version.

FCPX can only go from strength to strength it’s a tool fit for purpose and is not a million miles away from FCP-7s style of editing but with a ton of better features and a chroma key to die for.

For all your video production needs in Scotland, get in touch with Small Video Company Ltd

When I first started looking into a new edit platform for the MAC there were 2 on offer appart from FCP-7, those were Premiere Pro and AVID.

During February 2012  CVP who were demonstrating the latest version of AVID (V6) as impressive as it was it still looked  clunky compared to FCP-7 and the DVD authoring was only available on a Windows platform.

Next I decided to join the Adobe cloud for £27 a month which gives you full access to all the Adobe production suite giving me Photoshop, Premiere Pro and Encore. I had a play with Premiere but once again found it to be rather complicated and unreliable.

My last option was FCPX, when it first came out it was terrible and seemed hard to get my head round but with time and a need to have a working edit platform I stayed with FCP-7 till one fateful day…the day I loaded Lion, after Lion FCP-7 would not load so I was forced to re-try FCPX…again.

This was at version 10.0.06 so things had been updated and  it seemed to respond a bit like my old FCP-7, my work schedule meant editing nothing bigger than 15 minutes so with FCPX loaded onto my Mac-Pro and a Matrox MX02 max, I was editing.

I came to a halt when a client had DV footage to edit as we all know FCPX does not entertain ingesting footage that was not shot on a card but you can import footage so my problem was how to get DV footage into my Mac. After extensive research I opted for a Black Magic Design board that would bring my HD footage via HDMI and supplied with it was Media express, a software package that allows older analogue tape based footage to be ingested then transferred to FCPX as a .mov file.

Note. Somewhere along the line Apple have changed FCPX to allow capture from DV/HDV tape decks, I never knew this so thanks to my readership for updating me on this important feature. After further investigation it seems Apple have have ignored this feature as present iMac’s do not have any firewire ports so this method of capture is redundant unless you get a BM box.

Looming over the horizon was a 2 hour educational DVD for the Scottish Government on Type One Diabetes, my Mac Pro was full of little edits and running off 24 Sata drives via 4 Sonnet eSata drive bays that were becoming very unpredictable so a solution had to be sought.

Apple came out with a new slimline 27″ iMac…

27-inch: 3.2GHz

• 3.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
• Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
• 32GB  memory
• 750GB SSD hard drive
  
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675MX with 2GB

We also invested in a second Thunderbolt screen, Pegasus Promise 12TB raid and a Black Magic Studio Express box…sorted. Just before starting the edit Apple updated FCPX to 10.0.07 and is now running 10.0.08.

Shortform FCPX runs as sweet as a nut and part of the reason I decided to stick with Final Cut was the vast amount of plugins that were supporting the platform, one of my number one plugins is HyColour Pro (V 1.5) from Jonathan Richards.

Depending where you are filming you inevitably get a green cast especially in factories that are lit with fluorescent lights, HyColour Pro gives you a one box option that gets rid of that cast and has been invaluable over the last month editing many interviews.

Another plugin thats top of my hit list is idustrial revolution’s X Effects 2, fly to reflect, this is a great transition and keeps my project uniform.

As one picture leaves the frame it has a blur and both pictures have a reflection, it’s a cracking effect, as ever I mainly stick with the same effect throughout the program rather than having lots of different effects making your production look amateurish.

Tomorrow I will tell you how FCPX deals with a 60m timeline plus 14 mini features all part of the same DVD-9 and Blu ray as well.

For all your video production needs in Scotland, get in touch with Small Video Company Ltd

The Broadcast tour arrived in Glasgow on Tuesday and it was very good indeed, I was there early doors but from all accounts it was well attended.

JVC were showing the new GY-HN70 along with the GY HM650.

Ianiro were sporting a new range of Libec RSPlus video heads along with a new set of Oyster kit bags…made in the UK, two other bits on info Nick was telling me that Ianiro will be bringing back the Red head this year armed with a bank of LEDs, put my name down for one of these and the green screen seen in the picture can be made to measure…fantastic.

As usual the 2.5K Black Magic Design camera was very popular and a wee bit top heavy with this Zeiss prime lens.

Holdan who distribute Black Magic Design in the UK were on hand to demonstrate their vast range of products from the latest Panasonic camcorders to the Black Magic Cinema camera.

My good friend Rick Young was holding a seminar about filming on location demonstrating his essential camera gear from tripods to camera bags.

There was a six camera vision truck on hand, very compact and just the business for conferences and theatre work along side the Canon 75x HD lens as seen below.

Lightworks were showing an editing package that will cost you £40 (Forty pounds !) a year to use and a mac ready version will be available at the end of the year. www.lwks.com

My good friend Robert Holland from IDX was showing off the new Dejero software that can produce live HD/SD pictures out of an iPad, iPhone or android in seconds, you also have the ability to record and send the pictures at a later stage. This was the product of the show, having the ability to go live on air from an iPad was extremely innovative and very future proof.

Cirrolite were demonstrating the new dedolight DLED 4.0 with focusing ability and the new Kino Flo celeb 200 a soft box LED lighting kit.

For all your video production needs in Scotland, get in touch with Small Video Company Ltd

For all your video production needs in Scotland, get in touch with Small Video Company Ltd

Yoko Ono Lennon will launch European tour bus in Liverpool

For all your video production needs in Scotland, get in touch with Small Video Company Ltd

I recently got this email from my colleague Vincent…

For all your video production needs in Scotland, get in touch with Small Video Company Ltd

For all your video production needs in Scotland, get in touch with Small Video Company Ltd

4K London from Televisual Media on Vimeo.

Televisual has teamed up with Aerial Director of Photography Jeremy Braben of Helicopter Film Services, Director of Photography Ed Moore, and grading artist Dado Valentic at Mytherapy to create this beautifully shot series of aerials of London. Filmed in 4K on a Sony F65, the footage was shot on a strikingly clear evening in mid-February and captures key London landmarks as you’ve never seen them before.

This is a Televisual Media UK production in partnership with Helicopter Film Services, Ed Moore, and MyTherapy. We have more than 20 minutes of raw 4K footage shot above London including many familiar landmarks. If you’d like to purchase footage from this film for your own production, we can supply clean or pre-graded 4K or down-converted to HD.

If you’d like to discuss usage, please contact James Bennett by email - james@televisual.com

Make sure you watch this in HD on vimeo to get the most out of the footage.

Jeremy Braben: Aerial DP
Ian Evans: Pilot
Helicopter Film Services: Aircraft and Super-G mount
Ed Moore: Co-ordinating DP
Dado Valentic: Colourist
Jake Bickerton: Editing, Interviews
James Bennett: Producer
Alucidnation ‘Widescreen View’: Music

For all your video production needs in Scotland, get in touch with Small Video Company Ltd

I have received an email from my good friend Alexander Korobko, Producer, “Russian Hour”, who has looked into the name Black Magic with some depth, here are his findings.

Alexander…”Black magic” has always implied the use of supernatural powers for evil deeds. In modern English that meaning has, perhaps, emasculated and acquired more

ironic “hi-tech wizardry” connotation… That’s why I, like, I guess, most of us, so far haven’t ”read” into the odd name, more curious about the magic that the camera itself
promises… And, having placed a deposit (after the recent NAB announcements) for both BMC 4K and pocket cameras, have been worried only about the delivery date.

But then, during the Holy Week (which we celebrate this week according to the old Julian calendar, which our Church follows, my friend Mark, an English convert to

priest.

I spoke to my friend, Father Vadim, a renowned Russian London-based priest, who is neither “alarmist” nor complacent: a good pastor and a kind man. He was not elated with the cameras’ name,

and pointed out that “black magic” still has occult, “dark” connotation. “That is not to accuse the manufacturer of “ill sprit” or anything like that”, – he said, - “but, personally, I would

NOT buy a vacuum cleaner called “Dirt Devil” or wine called “Casillero del Diablo”.

“So, what do you suggest we do with the “Blackmagic” camera, Father?”, – I asked, - “shall I cancel my order?” “It’s what you do with it, son, that matters most”, - he replied.

“But I suggest that upon delivery of the camera, you bring it to a church, sprinkle with Holy water and say an Orthodox prayer for blessing of any object”.

Here it is: 

O Creator and Author of mankind, Giver of spiritual graces and Bestower of eternal salvation: Do Thou, the same Lord, send down Thy Holy Spirit, with a blessing from on high, upon this BMC camera, 

that, fortified by the might of heavenly protection, it may be potent unto bodily salvation and succor and aid, unto all who shall desire to make use of it, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Through the prayers of our holy fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy upon us and save us. Amen.

For all your video production needs in Scotland, get in touch with Small Video Company Ltd

In association with TV-Bay and DVUSER, the Broadcast & Professional Video Roadshow kicks off London, Earls Court, May 9. This will be the UK’s first showing of products launched at NAB from leading manufacturers, with live demonstrations, hands on everything, un-missable seminar and workshop sessions and best of all it’s in a city near you!

This Tour brings a unique mix of both products and knowledge to 5 cities around the UK in May 2013.

Each city on the Tour will see workshops and seminars covering camera and lighting techniques as well as production, streaming and the very latest workflow models. Each venue will also see workshops for FCP X, Motion 5 and Davinci.

With a emphasis on a hands on day out to see, play and test the latest kit this promises to be an unmissable event.

Leading manufacturers will be bringing “just launched” products direct from NAB to be first viewed in the UK on ourTtour, one quoting “the tour is perfect post NAB timing for us”.

For all your video production needs in Scotland, get in touch with Small Video Company Ltd