Another #freeeffectfriday although we should really call it free effect fortnight as we didn't post last week. Nevermind, time to catch up as we have four great new free Final Cut Pro X plugins to download.
We are posting four plugins, but they are two sets of two from two plugin developers.
Idustrial Revolution has published the FCPX free transition X9 Glitch Flash. If you've ever watched daytime television in the UK, then you'll know that this type of effect is very popular. The incoming and outgoing media get stretched either vertically or horizontally with a glowing flash over the top. The effect works on video, stills and graphics. The effect also recognises the alpha channel.
The tenth free effect or plugin from the Idustrial stable is a clean, sharp, automatically animating template called X10 Infinity Stage. The template animates media rising out of an infinity stage or colour selected cyc. There is an option to toggle off the build in/out animation and also a fully adjustable line of text too. The plugin is a title, so all the user has to do is sit the layer above any footage that's wanted in the box. Want to change shots halfway through? Not a problem.
We have given up counting how many free plugins Alex4D has built, but we think that an FCPX icon shaped cake with 100 candles on it isn't that far away. He's also got two new plugins.
First up is a lower third title called Alex4D leaves. He hasn't gone anywhere or been fired, he's refering to the animation which resembles leaves being blown away in the wind. Lots of options to blow the text on or off in a direction of your choosing.
Last but not least in our list for this Friday is Alex's latest graphic generator called Alex4D Shape Grid. This is a very flexible pattern generator that draws a grid of shapes and animates the colours over time. Lots of stuff to tweak and lots of creative possibilities.
And that's your lot until next week, maybe the week after!
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!
