How huge? When Thunderbolt was released we had a chat with HD Warrior, the website that we read for breaking news on cameras. We said it was only a matter of time before camera companies jumped on this new technology. Find out what our chat predicted after the break as this little connector will change the industry again.
Let's get the official statement from Canon out of the way first:
Hiroo Edakubo, Group Executive of Canon’s Video Products Group stated, "We are excited about Thunderbolt technology and feel it will bring new levels of performance and simplicity to the video creation market." So let us just put the record straight here and say that they haven't officially said they will support it, but hey are excited!
Back to the interesting stuff and what it means for us who work in this rapidly changing industry. The conversation with HD Warrior started off as a discussion about how cool that little LaCie drive was, then it went onto speculating about the inclusion of Thunderbolt on cameras.
What could this give us?
1) The obvious - Fast downloads of recorded data from the camera.
2) The not so obvious - Live pictures out of the camera direct into your Mac. Thunderbolt is so quick you'll possibly be able to ingest the data straight off the chip. Never mind 422, this could go as big as your sensor; colour as deep as your sensor will allow and a frame rate to match too. This is dependent on the camera being able to output the information, but you are not restricted by existing BNC/HDMI connectivity to an external recorder. Think of the camera as being the head end with the Mac doing the data recording.
Thunderbolt can run for 100 metres over optical fibre without a repeater. Set your camera up on location, run some armour plated Thunderbolt fibre to it and then sit down behind a MacBookPro and watch the shots being 'recorded'. How cool would it be to rack the camera and talk to the camera operator whilst you concentrate on the picture. Video assists would be easy as the cable is bidirectional, so you could instantly play back to the camera monitor too. If somebody could invent a 'Thunderbolt hub' then the bandwidth is there to record 2 cameras for 3D or more for multicamera work.
Can you hear the size of film crews shrinking over the world? This technology is cheap. If Canon decide to put a Thunderbolt port on a new version of the 5D then surely the industry will change again. Other camera manufacturers will have to respond and respond fast. Suddenly the likes of Red and Alexa don't look that cutting edge anymore.
Will the biggest question at NAB be, "Are you going to support Thunderbolt?"
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!
