There is no doubt that the introduction of video shooting DSLRs has revolutionised the industry. Final Cut Pro X is perfect for the photographer who wants to get into video production. Calumet are running one day courses for 'hands on' DSLR & FCPX workflow. We also have a coupon code for discount.
There was a recent debate in the FCP.co office: "What has changed the business more, DSLRs that shoot video or the GoPro?" The DSLR camp won.
Calumet Photographic, the high end equipment stores are hosting six exclusive full-day hands-on seminars across UK cities that cover the whole FCPX DSLR workflow in one day. This is perfect if you are a beginner in Final Cut Pro X (or DSLR for that matter) or if you have dabbled in editing but need some guidance to take you to the next stage.
It's also an excellent opportunity to get your hands on some state of the art kit as Calumet are supplying each delegate with a shiny new MacBook Pro Retina (only for the day!) If you haven't tried FCPX on one of the current batch of machines, this is your chance to experience the game-changing power of FCPX running off an SSD with full 64-bit grunt.
click for larger picture
The seminars have been prepared in close collaboration with Nikon, Atomos and Apple but will cover workflow for other cameras too. The hands on media will feature a variety of footage shot with the D800, D600, Canon 5D and 7D, Sony Nex5N and the full-frame VG900, even some Alexa and C300 material to play with and compare the quality. You will have the opportunity to work along with Apple Certified Trainer Alex Snelling with access to all the media on your own dedicated laptop.
By the end of the day, you'll have leapt over the initial learning curve and have a very good grounding in FCPX with a strong emphasis on the skills you need as a DSLR user.
Alex also intends to demo a live workflow from camera to output using the Ninja 2, discussing the benefits of recording directly to Pro Res and looking at some of the colour-grading and finishing options available.
Topics covered will be:
Input, archiving, logging.
Demystifying audio in FCPX.
What is optimised media? When should it be used?
Syncing multiple camera sources.
Editing in the magnetic timeline.
Multicam editing.
Colour grading, finishing and output.
Each session will end with a valuable Q&A when you can quiz Alex on anything (within reason!).
PRIZE DRAW
FCP.CO readers have an exclusive discount code for 10% off the £99 price of any of the seminars (just enter the code "FCP" when prompted at booking), PLUS one person from each seminar will win a copy of the beautiful XEffects Camera Transitions pack from idustrial revolution.
The course will be run in the following cities:
The trainer, Alex Snelling is a veteran FCP editor and has worked around the world including twice with director Julien Temple. You can see more about Alex here. Alex is also Apple's most experienced FCP trainer in Europe and has watched the whole fcp product cycle and is a total believer in in the revolutionary power of FCPX. Here is an example of one of the projects that will be used on the day.
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!
