Are you ready for FCP X?

Rumors are flying that Apple will be using the Vegas Supermeet to announce the next version of Final Cut Pro. Supposedly, Apple will be taking over the entire event for their announcement, canceling all other sponsors, including AJA, Avid, Canon, BlackMagic, Autodesk and others, who were set to give presentations.

I am waiting for some confirmations from inside sources at various companies but some of the “proof” that is public so far:

Daniel Berube, a co-producer of the event with Michael Horton, has rushed back to Vegas early from LA due to changes at Supermeet.

UPDATE: Philip Bloom just confirmed with me that Canon has canceled his appearance at the Supermeet, though he still may present (possibly as a guest of Apple.) At present he doesn’t know if he will speak or not. Canon was told last night that Apple has demanded ALL “lecturn” or stage time exclusively. Some sponsors who were not using presenters may continue to sponsor the Vegas event, but none of them will be presenting on the stage. I can’t imagine any news that would warrant this kind of “take-over” other than to announce and demonstrate the next full version of Final Cut Pro and possibly an entirely newly designed FCS4.

Frank Capria mentioned on the Avid-L2 that Avid would find another venue to present director Kevin Smith, who was scheduled to present at Supermeet.

(UPDATE: Avid confirmed that Supermeet (Michael Horton) told them last night that their sponsorship had been canceled. According to Avid, “Apple doesn’t want anyone to have stage time but them.”)

(UPDATE: Avid will be hosting Kevin Smith at other venues during NAB, for more information:
http://community.avid.com/forums/p/95640/547333.aspx#547333)

AJA offered a “no comment” on their Supermeet sponsorship and referred all questions to Michael Horton (who runs Supermeet). AJA has their own party that night at a different location, so it probably doesn’t affect their plans too much.

Black Magic also gave me a no comment, though they acknowledged that something was happening with their Supermeet sponsorship.

I’m still waiting to hear from Michael Horton and Black Magic.

UPDATE: 8:44pm, April 5th) The Supermeet website recently changed, dropping all previously mentioned presenters and mentioning a “very special guest” with a “sneak peak at something very special.” This basically confirms most of the rumors.  (http://www.supermeet.com/)

UPDATE: Here is the statement I just received from Autodesk (6:15pm Central time, April 5):
Autodesk will not be presenting on the main stage at Las Vegas SuperMeet during NAB, but will be participating in the SuperMeet Digital Showcase. For more information on the SuperMeet event, please contact the FCPUG organizers. During NAB, there will be numerous opportunities to see Smoke in action, both through customers presentations and Autodesk demonstrations on the Autodesk tradeshow booth SL2120. We are also providing free hands-on Smoke training in the North Hall on Monday & Tuesday.

UPDATE: Black Magic Design has confirmed that they - and actually most of the sponsors - are STILL sponsors of the Supermeet. The main thing that changed with the addition of the Apple announcements is that the STAGE presenters have been changed. BMD is excited to be giving away over $20,000 of prizes at the event.

Stay Tuned for more!!! Keep checking back for updates or add me to your RSS feed.

Canon jumps on Thunderbolt

So, when Apple recently announced support for Thunderbolt the biggest question after the release by many in the video community was: “Who else is going to support this?”

The answer has come from a major player: Canon. This is a natural partner who can obviously utilize Thunderbolt’s 10Gbps port.

Controversial History Channel “WWII in HD” debate - THE TRUTH

The History Channel’s WW2 in HD series has created a firestorm of debate over archival methods.

If you read the AMIA listserve, the Cinematographer’s Mailing List, or the Telecine Internet Group or TKColorist Internet Group listserve, chances are you saw the huge debate over how the huge amount of rare color footage from World War II was transferred. Many people thought that historical records were being destroyed by careless film transfers. Several web stories – that were actually created by publicists – supported this controversy, but turned out to be mis-information.

The true story of the making of the series turns out to be far more interesting than the fiction, as so often is the case. I interviewed the series’ director, Frederic Lumiere on the phone in the midst of the controversy and discovered a man passionate about his project and for the care and cataloging of the materials he oversaw. Any misquotes can be attributed to my transcription. I recorded the entire interview and did the transcription word for word, but phonetic transcription is contextual and between Mr. Lumiere’s mild French accent and the quality of the phone line audio, I may have made minor mistakes. My intent was to be honest and portray the events correctly.

Speech Search Meets ScriptSync

Anybody remember that classic commercial for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups? “Hey! You got peanut butter on my chocolate! No! You got chocolate in my peanut butter!” Then the two injured parties in the commercial realize that peanut butter and chocolate are really two great tastes that taste great together! They shouldn’t be kept apart. They should be celebrated in a joyful, delicious and nutritious union of flavors!

Well folks, today I’m getting Adobe in my Avid and Avid in my Adobe. Now most of you are probably thinking, “Duh. Everyone combines Photoshop and After Effects with Avid. That’s nothing new.” But I’m taking my Adobe cravings one step beyond the ordinary. I’m going for a Media Composer and Premiere Pro sandwich!

FxFactory Pro and MOTYPE Review

Most people I know in this industry love new gear. And in the world of desktop video applications and editing, new gear is now less and less about the physical stuff with buttons and knobs and more about “the code.”

If you want access to a lot of new stuff, the easiest way to get high quality stuff to play with is to load FxFactory for Final Cut Pro, or FxFactory Pro with its 142 plug-ins already included. These plug-ins can be used in FCP, Motion, and After Effects. A similar product - Factory Tools - is available for Avid.

Color Correction Tutorial #11

After a brief hiatus, my color correction tutorials are back.

This tutorial is about 8 minutes long and provides a glimpse into how to use the Color FX Room in Apple’s Color. The Color FX room is very cool. It is a “nodal” or “process tree” based process where you add nodes (effects) together by graphically linking them into a “tree” that allows MANY effects to be linked in novel and complex ways. This tutorial shows how you can start THINKING about using the nodes to create effects. I’ll do another tutorial later to give some more complex examples of process trees and how they can be built.

I still have a dozen more from the revised edition of my first color correction book - “Color Correction for Video.” The original book was co-authored with Jaime Fowler and was called “Color Correction for Digital Video.” The revised edition is completely re-written with a great DVD that has more than two hours of video tutorials and sample footage to play with. You’ll be able to use the book no matter which application (or even OS) you prefer for color correction.

Avid Gems 9

This column on Avid tips and tricks was originally designed to include hidden “gems” from the Avid user manual, but today we’re going to feature a bunch of nice “gems” from one of our readers, Josh Petok as well as a stream-of-conscious of gems from me. Manuals? We don’t need no stinkin’ manuals for these gems!
 
Josh’s gems are definitely included in the list of tips that I know I learned at one point but I’d stored them away in that section of my brain that has the giant dust bunnies and is crawling with spiders. That doesn’t mean that they’re not great tips! Far from it. These are excellent tips and Josh has reminded me that I need to store them somewhere closer to the frontal lobe with the important information like my wife’s birthday and our anniversary.

Avid Gems 8

Get your bin tips! Step right up, folks! Get your bin tips here!

Once again:  maybe not sexy, but useful. One of these tips isn’t even in the manual and one of them was new to me until I re-read the manual.  Which ones will be new to you? You never know what little gem has slipped past you on the way to becoming the experienced editor you are.

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