A few days on, the jetlag has gone, so maybe an ideal time to reflect on a very busy few days at last week's FCPX Creative Summit.
Maybe the timing was no coincidence, but hosting the second FCPX Creative Summit the day after the 10.3 update provided everybody with lots to talk about.
This time, the whole event was held at the Juniper Hotel in Cupertino, rather than a separate hotel and conference location in San Jose like last year. The event rooms were also right next to reception which meant everybody was always in close proximity.
The night before it seemed like the entire online FCPX community had turned up at Armadillo Willy's BBQ for a meal. Ronny Courtens & Nouche, please attend next year!
Friday was the day of large presentations. It was good to hear directly from John Requa, Glenn Ficarra and Jan Kovac about the editing of Focus and Whiskey Tango Foxtrot on FCPX. Jan showed us a scene from WTF and how the edit was built up from the multicams, VFX and temp sound.
We then had presentations on VR with Duncan Shepherd talking about his recent Paul McCartney VR work, Ché Baker and his independent film Blue World Order and the excellent Chuck Braverman who has an almost endless knowledge of filmmaking & post production.
Then it was time to visit the Apple campus where we were taken through the new features in FCPX, Motion and Compressor by the Apple team. The DeAnza Theatre was packed.
Where you go before they dispense the Kool-Aid #fcpx#FCPXSummitpic.twitter.com/vBoSW0BeEx
— mobian (@mobian) October 28, 2016
What the attendees didn't realise was that Apple had set up new MacBook Pros outside the theatre so that everybody could have a go with the new Touch bar.
Lucky to get our hands on the new #MacBookPro with #FCPX 1.3 at the Apple Campus during #fcpxsummit. Amazing piece of hardware and software! pic.twitter.com/AyY9gWBhX6
— Softron (@SoftronMedia) October 29, 2016
That evening, the Summit Cocktail & Expo Event was held, a sort of mini Supermeet that was open to everybody, not just conference attendees. Richard Taylor walked around the event with an iPhone.
Then the next two days were rammed full of good presentations in three different rooms. It was difficult to choose sometimes which presentation to go and watch.
Gergana from @LumaForge giving a presentation on organization in #FCPX. Having a great group discussion here. pic.twitter.com/6cE6MzYWmp
— J.Patrick Southern (@jpsouthern) October 29, 2016
The presentations were not recorded, so unlike the recent FCPX Tour and the upcoming FCPX World event, they will not be published online. You had to be there. Yeup even 50 year old editors got a chance to present.
Editing under pressure with @PeterWiggins#FCPXSummitpic.twitter.com/Kx5Y4pJgEU
— Francis Shepherd (@shepherdfx) October 30, 2016
So what was the overall impression? It felt that things had moved on from last year. There was unanimous praise for 10.3 which seems to have been echoed online. Editors were very keen to go back home and put it through its paces on a real job.
There also seemed to be a great camaraderie amongst the attendees. Everybody was willing to help out, to listen to other people's problems or stories, or just soak up as much info from every source possible. Everybody learnt something and that is the most important thing.
FMC, Denise Miller and Jeff Greenberg did a great job of putting the event together and we really hope there will be the third FCPX Creative Summit next year. If you missed it, you missed out. If you can manage to attend next year, we are sure you won't be disappointed. Save up your pennies, pester your boss, make it happen. We will hopefully publish a date for a potential 2017 meet when we get the info.
Highlights? Being invited on to the Apple Campus for the presentation and trying out the new Touch Bar with FCPX. Watching Thomas Grove Carter slash a 60 second commercial down to 30 seconds in 30 seconds. Talking to other attendees who normally don't get a chance to talk.
Nothing however will beat the late night huddle of FCPX enthusiasts around Mike Matzdorff's laptop on a rainy night in a Palo Alto mall car park. The banana emoji role was invented.
#FCPX #FCPXSummit discussions tonight on the #VUG stay tuned for a link. MAJOR discovery last night with some smart people @FCPdotCO pic.twitter.com/0TwaJQbGYo
— Mike Matzdorff (@FCPxFeatures) 31 October 2016
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!
