What is the best thing about a Friday? Not having to work tomorrow? Having a post work drink with colleagues? Or just looking forward to the weekend? No, of course it is our roundup of free effects as it is #freeeffectfriday!
A bumper crop of Free FCPX effects this week again and we will start off with a new transition from Alex4D.
Alex4D Inset Transition is a plugin that animates shutters to transition between clips. The effect has been written as a title so it means that the effect can be placed over anything on the timeline including multiple clips. Lots of different animation options including the direction of shutters, speed (effect length) and background.
Next up is a new effect from Idustrial Revolution. Instead of publishing a free filter effect or transition, this week's offering is text template called Movie Promo 1. When multiple instances of this template are stacked up together, a dramatic movie opening can be built.
Lots of controls for adjusting the text such as font, font size, colour, edge colour, tracking and so on. A very flexible template that will be of use for any intro to a production from a corporate one liner to a multiple paged film opening or punchy promo.
We don't know how Fox Mahoney gets the time, but he keeps cracking out the free effects on a very regular basis. His new effect is also a text template called Drift Title. Not to be confused with the built-in effect from Apple, this plugin has lines of text moving in opposite directions.
And last up is another set of great effects from Forum member David Walsh AKA NocoDave.
Hardback simulates the cover of an old leather bound book.
Lower 3rd is a customisable lower third title generator.
Blink Blur is template that blurs the different colours of a title in and out of alignment.
Phew, after all that we do need a drink after work with colleagues!
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!
