It's a long holiday weekend for many, but that doesn't stop the free effects for Final Cut Pro X coming. This week on #freeeffectfriday we have a colourful range of new free plugins to download.
Prolific plugin and tutorial writer Fox Mahoney has just published a new effect. Called Splatter Screen 1 it makes the screen look like it is being hit by different colour paint 'splats'. An effect that will be all to familiar if you have children! Great for making up backgrounds to graphics and lots of parameters to tweak.
The download link can be found on our Forum.
Next up is a new title effect from Idustrial Revolution. Progress Slider is a free Final Cut Pro X Title that reproduces the graphic indication of a video playing on-screen.
'By applying this title effect over a clip or a range of clips, the slider will automatically move from the left hand edge stop to the right stop over the effect length. Use this plugin to give viewers the impression of a video clip playing over time. Combine it in a frame to look like a clip playing on a popular video hosting site
Controls are published for the indicator and bar sizes, colour of the controls, selectable end caps and a fully adjustable drop shadow. The effect can automatically fade in and out at an adjustable rate.'
We had the pleasure of meeting up with Alex Gollner at last week's Supermeet in London. We had a chat about #freeeffectfriday and we are delighted that he has released a new free plugin today.
CMYK Halftone a4d continues his plan of making the plugins that are in Motion but not in FCPX available.
'The CMYK Halftone a4d effect makes video clips, stills and generators look like they were printed in a magazine or newspaper. In order to simulate a wide range of colours, printing usually uses a combination of four grids of colour – cyan, magenta, yellow and black. This is known as CMYK printing (K denotes black to avoid confusion with the blue of the red, green and blue combinations that are used in screen displays).'
No demo video from Alex, but this still gives an idea of what the plugin does to video.
Connor Productions has published a free title effect to celebrate the fourth of July. By the title of Fourth of July Giveaway, we were expecting a stars and stripes extravaganza. It's a rather simpler one page title effect that might come in handy as an intro page to a video. You'll need to part with your email address to get the effect.
Finally, a few more free FCPX plugins. Actually when we say a few, we mean a lot. NocoDave has been publishing so many free effects, there are too many to list here. Checkout the entries in the Simulated Effects section of our Forum or click on the latest free effects postings that are displayed here on the RHS of the page.
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!
