Master Multicamera Techniques is a must have book for editors

Quite a few months ago I had a long conversation with editor Mitch Jacobson about multicam editing. The point of this conversation was to, hopefully, provide some good information on multicam editing for what was then his upcoming book about the topic. That book has finally gone into print and I picked up a copy not long ago and began reading it. Besides the much appreciated contributing writer credit that Mitch gave me (and a lot of other people who helped pull the book together) the book is a treasure chest of all things multicam.

Avid to Apple Color - The Video

Late last year I posted a link and a step by step workflow to moving your RED edit from Avid Media Composer to Apple Color. You would think these applications, from two mortal enemies, wouldn’t really work well together. But apparently with this workflow they can. While the step-by-step form reduser.net was nice,this video from Avid Screencast (#15 Red Workflow iV - Conform from Avid to Apple’s Color) shows the process in a nice, concise 6 minute tutorial. See the embedded video after the jump.

Highlander: Uncut - Getting footage to edit before the Internet

I posted this piece back in June 2008 after I had cleaned out a closet and found my old Highlander: Uncut editing package. It was cutting edge at the time but unfortunately this package is no longer for sale.

Long before there was the opencut.org project, cheap digital camcorders and even Final Cut Pro there was always the question of where could you get footage for digital non-linear editing. An even bigger question was where could you get REAL footage to practice and hone your story telling and NLE skills. There was always the outdoor forest footage that I vaguely remember Avid providing or there was Highlander: Uncut

More Avid Media Composer for the Final Cut Pro Editor

Continuing on an article in the last Pro Video Coalition newsletter, The Basics of Avid Media Composer for a Final Cut Pro Editor, this article will look at a number of other functions and how they differ from Final Cut Pro to Media Composer. One of the main reasons why I’m writing these articles is that Avid offers a free, full-featured demo of Avid Media Composer 4 available for download. When I wrote the first piece that demo was only for 14 days. They have since upped the time for this trial to 30 days. That’s great as it brings this demo in line with most free demos and even affords enough time to try to learn the in’s and out’s of the application a little bit better any maybe even use it on a real job.

Editor’s Guild magazine back issues online

Every now and then a web resource comes online and you just have to say WOW! That’s exactly what I said after seeing a recent Twitter from Norman Hollyn that said: “For some fantastic articles on editing go to the Editors Guild Magazine site. Interviews, tips and more. ” It was followed by this link: http://snipurl.com/rmai5. That link takes you to the Motion Picture Editors Guild webpage of current and past issues of Editors Guild magazine. There’s currently issues going as far back as when the mag was just a newsletter in 1994. Click the cover to get a list of contents and then click the link to read the article, that simple. There’s no fee and not even a sign-up process.

You’re never too old (or too smart) to learn something new

If you’ve never heard of FXPHD then you’re either new to this whole film / video / production / post-production world or you just haven’t been paying attention. I’ve been following the course offerings for quite a while now but have never signed up for a term ... until now. The July 09 term is starting this week and I am very excited.

Please label tapes and disks: An open letter to DPs, camera ops, DITs

Man, there are a lot of high definition formats out in the world today. Just to spell them out would be a dizzying array of letters and numbers. 720p, 1080i, 23.98, 30p ... this list could literally go on and on so I won’t even attempt a partial list other that what I have above. Just take a look at this HD format chart. That’s a lot of different formats and it doesn’t even take into account the different flavors of a particular format that camera manufacturers often come up with on their own.

With that in mind this PVC post is an open letter to all DPs, ACs, camera ops, DITs, anyone and everyone associated with the camera department to please label their tapes and hard drives with the usable, relevant information of shooting format and frame rates, codecs and cameras so post-production will at least have an idea of what is being handed to them.

Keyboard Manifesto

When it comes to increased productivity and better efficiency while editing, saving time every place an editor can will help increase that productivity and efficiency. And we all know saving time is the client’s favorite thing as saving time means saving money. My favorite time saver in Final Cut Pro has been to remap the majority of the default keyboard setup. Since I began using FCP way back around 1999, one of my earliest thoughts was that the default keys weren’t very well thought out.

Why do I say this? I first learned non-linear editing on Avid so of course I was used to that keyboard layout. But while you have been able to map Avid keys for as far back as I’ve been working on it, that hasn’t always been the case with FCP. Early versions of FCP did not allow keyboard mapping at all. In fact, the earliest version of FCP didn’t even have the ability to JKL scrub! When keyboard mapping finally came along, life in FCP was good. What is so wrong with FCP’s default keyboard layout and so right about Avid’s? First, think about how you rest your hands on a keyboard. This is assuming that as an editor, you try to perform as many tasks as possible using the keyboard. Many people do not and while there are lot of fast editors out there using the mouse (I’ve watched a many of them edit) I honestly believe one can work a lot faster the more the hands stay on the keyboard. And this is also assuming you are doing a lot of edit assemble work; the nuts and bolts of good storytelling before the fancy effects work (read: keyframing) begins.

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