LIFTING THE LID ON FCPX
Final Cut Pro X represents a new way of tackling the technical challenges in video editing
point to open up a much more detailed view showing the clip overlaps, in and out points and thumbnails. Tracks are no longer a big issue when using the new concept of Clip Connections, as it’s easy to place B-roll, titles, music and sound effects precisely, directly linked to reference clips throughout the project. Another totally different concept is Audition. This allows you to trial alternate shots in a project sequence in situ. The editor can select those alternates, select a clip in the timeline, and then just swap each clip in and out in turn, playing back the sequence each time – without ever wrecking the current edit. Most of these changes however are not mandatory and alternative tools make it possible to revert to an earlier workflow if desired, using the new Position Tool, for example, will effectively turn off the Magnetic Timeline and allow you to move clips and create gap clips.
New workflow Organising clips and adding metadata are among the most time consuming tasks in the workflow, so the presence of a new set of tools for footage analysis and categorisation are to be welcomed. A Content Auto-Analysis workflow starts immediately from the time you import your media from the original memory card or hard drive. It runs in the background however, so you can get on with the main task of editing. This Content Auto-Analysis comprises of several processes. In Media Detection, all metadata about the clip (frame size, frame rate and codec etc) is analysed and used by Final Cut Pro X for media management. Shaky segments are identified, then fixed with instant results while you edit.
People Detection can identify if you have a single person or multiple people in the shot, while Shot Detection determines whether a shot is a closeup, medium shot or wide shot; in
each case FCP X uses this information to build ‘Smart Collections’ in the Event Browser. Color Balance analysis offers huge time savings, by determining the colour of your clips during import, then enabling you to balance tones at any point during editing with a single click. Other processes tackle common problems, such as excessive audio hum and background noise, or the warping Rolling Shutter effect typical in lighter-weigh cameras.
Adding custom metadata can be another time-consuming process, as can finding clips that have been copied into bins across your project. The new range-based keywords feature aims to address both bottlenecks by letting you tag time-based selections of clips with custom keywords. Rather than setting in and out points, putting markers all through the clip or trimming it repeatedly to create subclips of the parts you’re interested in, you can go through the whole shot and just apply keywords to selected areas of interest – making it really easy to search for the shot later.
Final Cut Pro X
Editing is simple and intuitive in Final Cut Pro X – when you drag clips, gaps open up in the timeline to edit those clips in place without messing up the audio sync, which is a real timesaver
A new dawn
This is just a brief overview of the features in this reboot of Final Cut Pro. There is much more to explore, especially in the areas of audio and effects. Apple has also stated that more features will be rolled out in due course, particular with reference to multicamera support and handling of XML. With all this power in place, and more to come, Final Cut Pro X certainly seems to represent a new way of tackling the technical challenges in video editing, and of enabling filmmakers to focus on creative storytelling.
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