Eyeheight has just announced a compliance plugin for use within Final Cut Pro X. With a press release title like that, how could we not pay a visit to the Eyeheight stand at IBC this year?
With FCPX making more inroads to broadcast as its feature set expands, the outputting of a master that has to conform to a set of 'legal standards' becomes more important.
FCPX has a built in Broadcast Safe filter, but it is fairly clumsy. It might not allow whites over 100%, but it doesn't do a great job of keeping the highlight detail. Clouds in the sky are a good example, with the whites given a 'haircut' all the highlight detail will have gone, to be replaced by a pure white blob. (A side not here, our broadcast safe filter doesn't actually clip down to 100%.)
Proper legalisation of levels for compliance is a complex task and that's where Eyeheight have drawn on their past experience making hardware legalisers. This knowledge is going to be behind complianceSuiteFCX.
They have previously released a version of the Compliance Suite for FCP7 priced at £995 which has been successful, so moving onto FCPX and Motion seemed a logical progression.
'The legaliser is designed for use with high end video source files used for broadcast content production. It supports any combination of file formats and source colour-space available in Final Cut Pro X. Capabilities include composite, RGB, RGB-plus-Y and simultaneous composite-plus-RGB legalising, all with user-adjustable soft clipping at high and low thresholds. High-precision colour-space conversion allows accurate limiting to ensure gamut compliance while keeping the full gamut available for creative use. Eyeheight's proprietary clobbeRing non-linear predictive filtering process further reduces visible luminance overshoots common on computer-generated or highly graded content and significantly reduces the risk of content rejection.'
'complianceSuiteFCX users can select from an extensive range of presets or work in custom mode which gives full access to 15 configurable parameters. Facility administrators can assign which built-in presets are available to users, create new presets or disable the custom option to ensure that users only use approved configurations.
An integral safe area generator provides an extensive range of broadcast safe area markers covering all the requirements for SD, HD and 2K, including 16:9 and 14:9 requirements in SD. Administrators can modify the set of markers available to users, add new custom markers or restrict access'
The plugin is in its very early stages although we should see a finished product in the next couple of months. Pricing will be key and talking to the guys on the stand, it is likely to be in the sub £500 range. We suggested $199 which might be a possibility if the numbers stack up.
The current system of copyright protection using a dongle may get replaced with a serial number licence. We hope so, as the industry has moved away from dongles and we think that most people want to download software and use it right away.
With the move towards file delivery of programmes for broadcasters, this plugin might prove to be an invaluable tool. A demo version for FCPX will be posted on the Eyeheight website soon.
Notch another one up on the FCPX tradeshow count.
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!
