It's the second week in May and the new plugins keep rolling out. In this update we have three new plugins and an update of an old favourite.
The FCPX ecosystem keeps on expanding! This week has seen three new plugins launched by four (yes four) companies and new features added to an existing colour correction plugin.
First up is Frame Fixer, a $29 plugin from Crumplepop that has been designed to fix horizons that weren't level when shot on a GoPro. It's a one function utility that has one slider that will rotate the horizon and compensate by adding the correct amount of zoom to lose the edges.
HyColour PRO has been a popular plugin for colour grading for editors that aren't too keen on the built in tools in FCPX. One of the USPs of the plugin is the one click white balance. The $45 plugin has been updated with new features such as reference sample, colour tinting, instant monochrome and a widescreen filter.
Fordee has published free effects on our Forum and has a range of budget plugins for sale on his site. New is Mimic Plus, a $25 effect that offers mirror effects.
Fordee gave us the 'blurb.'
'The Mimic Plus effect enables you to create awesome mirrored clips that can be applied to both pictures and video. You can control the effects angle, position, source offset, global position, rotation and scale. You can mimic and duplicate the effect to enable unlimited possibilities. You have the ability to add a divider, control it’s width, color and opacity. You can turn off Repeat Edge Pixels while enabling a solid background whose color is selectable as well.'
And finally, a joint venture between three companies, Stupid Raisins, Cineflare and Noise Industries. The new plugin is called Title Pop and is a $49 pack of customisable animated titles.
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!
