The big buzzword at NAB this year will be 4K. So when Logan Kelsey got in contact with us about his film that was shot on a Red Scarlet an edited in 4k on FCPX, we had to know more.
Sometimes when watching films that are pushing the boundaries or made with new equipment, the actual content of the film can get lost. Marty Knapp - Portrait of a Photographer is a beautiful short film made as a personal project by Logan. It details the life and work of Marty who has been photographing the landscapes of Northern California and the surrounding areas near Point Reyes for over 25 years.
Showing the film in 4K online is tricky and although YouTube has a 4K option, that isn't the same for Vimeo. So click on the fullscreen button and enjoy, it still is pretty sharp!
Logan writes:
"I’ve always had an affinity for West Marin and the Point Reyes area in Northern California. Having spent my early childhood years in Inverness, I have a special connection to the area. I learned about Marty Knapp after receiving one of his framed black-and-white photographs as a gift – and shorty after I approached Marty and asked him if I could do a short profile film on him.
Personal projects are important for many reasons and this turned out to be a magical experience. Spending time with Marty and learning more about his commitment as a photographer and artist has been a real gift."
Now onto the technical side!
Logan writes:
I shot the film on my RED camera, captured this in 4K HD (a.k.a. Quad HD) and mastered the final piece in ProRes 4444 at 4K. I've recently transitioned to using my laptop as my main edit machine and this project was edited on my MackBook Pro with Retina Display connected to a Promise R6 Thunderbolt Raid. I've been editing for years on a laptop so that’s nothing new, the difference is that I'm not going to the tower to finish projects and I'm not using proxies.
A few workflow tidbits: In the FCP X preferences I set "Playback Quality" to "Better Performance" as this gives you a 1/4 DeBayer playback and helps with performance. I also turn off the "Background render" setting for the rough cut phase. During my first edit pass I do the equivalent of a one-light with my RED media via the "Modify RED RAW Settings" HUD in the FCP inspector. Here I fix any white-balance issues, add saturation and contrast and do exposure tweaks. This is where you see the real benefits of working RAW, adjusting and manipulating the RAW metadata of the R3Ds. This operation is non-destructive and realtime, without any rendering hits.
We are sure Logan will be more than happy to answer questions in the comments below if you are more interested about 4K post production on FCPX. A great film and many thanks to Logan for sharing
I am the Editor-in-Chief of FCP.co and have run the website since its inception ten years ago.
I have also worked as a broadcast and corporate editor for over 30 years, starting on one inch tape, working through many formats, right up to today's NLEs.
Under the name Idustrial Revolution, I have written and sold plugins for Final Cut Pro for 13 years.
I was made a Freeman of Lichfield through The Worshipful Company of Smiths (established 1601). Though I haven't yet tried to herd a flock of sheep through the city centre!
Current Editing
2020 has been busy, the beginning of the year was finishing off a new property series (cut on FCP) for Channel 4 called The Great House Giveaway. I also designed and built the majority of the graphics as Motion templates. It has been a great success and the shows grabbed more viewers in the 4pm weekday slot than any previous strand. It has been recommissioned by C4 for 60 episodes, including prime-time versions and five themed programmes. The shows have also been nominated for a 2021 BAFTA.
Although both were postponed to later in the year, I worked again on ITV's coverage of the Tour de France and La Vuelta. 2020 was my 25th year of editing the TdF and my 20th year as lead editor. The Tour was the first broadcast show to adopt FCPX working for multiple editors on shared storage.
BBC's Snooker has played a big part in my life, I've been editing tournament coverage since 1997. I'm proud to be part of a very creative team that has pioneered many new ideas and workflows that are now industry standard in sports' production. This is currently an Adobe Premiere edit.
Covid cancelled some of the regular corporate events that I edit such as trade shows & events. I was lucky however to edit, from home, on projects for Amazon Kindle, Amazon Black Friday, Mastercard and very proud to have helped local charitable trust Kendall & Wall secure lottery funding.
As for software, my weapon of choice is Final Cut Pro and Motion, but I also have a good knowledge and broadcast credits with Adobe Premiere Pro, MOGRT design and Photoshop.
Plugin Design & Development
I'm the creative force behind Idustrial Revolution, one of the oldest Final Cut Pro plugin developers. It hosts a range of commercial and free plugins on the site. One free plugin was downloaded over a thousand times within 24 hours of release.
I also take on custom work, whether it is adapting an existing plugin for a special use or designing new plugins for clients from scratch. Having a good knowledge of editing allows me to build-in flexibility and more importantly, usability.
FCP.co
Now in its 10th year and 4th redesign, running FCP.co has given me knowledge on how to run a large CMS- you are currently reading my bio from the database! Although it sounds corny, I am pretty well up on social media trends & techniques, especially in the video sector. The recent Covid restrictions has enabled live FCP.co shows online. This involves managing a Zoom Webinar through Restream.io to YouTube and Facebook.
The Future
I'm always open to new ideas and opportunities, so please get in touch at editor (at) fcp.co. I've judged film competitions, presented workflow techniques to international audiences and come up with ideas for TV shows and software programs!
