My introductory thread

Hello everybody, I just wanted to introduce myself, as I'm very pleased that this site's owner/admin Peter just helped me get my account activation issues squared away. Thanks Peter!

I'm looking around for a list of forum rules, and not finding one. So if there's a specific sticky post or something that provides guidelines on how to ask for help with specific issues, somebody please point me toward that item.

Anyway, as you might have guessed from my username, I'm Brendan, and I live in Pacifica, California. If you're unfamiliar with it, we're a town of about 40,000 people, just south of San Francisco, right on the ocean.

I found this forum because I was Googling the problems that were vexxing me as I try to learn FCP X. My previous experience with video editing began with me taking a "Multimedia Process and Production" class at City College of San Francisco in 1999, and that class included learning some Adobe Premiere. This was, of course, in the pre-OS X, pre-Intel Mac days.

In more recent years, I've relied heavily on iMovie HD 6. And having heard nothing but bad things about more recent versions, I was in no hurry to switch.

But, as much as iMovie is a familiar, though limited, friend, I feel it's time for me to join the modern world. Part of this is driven by the fact that I recently bought a new iMac (late 2013 model with 16GB of RAM because I knew I'd want to do video editing at some point) and I can't find any easy way to migrate iMovie HD 6 onto this machine.

So.

I'm now forcing myself to get my feet wet with FCP X, and it is both terrifying and exhilarating.

Terrifying for reasons I'm sure you all understand, reasons that bloggers and tech journalists and end users have complained about bitterly. Yes, FCP X seems counterintuitive, yes, Apple has changed some terminology and metaphors on us, and yes, it is really weird to find myself using a video editing program that is not document-based.

But it is precisely because so much of FCP X is so scary to a noob like me that it's also exhilarating when I'm able to actually figure out what I'm doing wrong and get over that hurdle and do the edit I was trying to do.

The posters at Apple's own help forum have been a big help toward that end, as have other helpful people around the Web, including kind individuals who have uploaded wonderful tutorials to YouTube. The level of gratitude I feel toward these strangers can really give me an endorphin rush when their guidance has saved my bacon, and my hope is that I will soon progress to the point where I'm able to similarly help noobs learn this mysterious app.

Speaking of journalists, that's what I do. I'm a freelance journalist for one of the country's oldest continually published newspapers. Being a freelancer, I don't make a ton of money doing it, but it's a calling, and quite addictive, and very satisfying.

Other things about me: You can probably guess from my avatar that I love Godzilla. That's the big guy as he appeared in the 1962 film, "King Kong vs. Godzilla."


Anyway, I've typed many words. The tl;dr version is I really appreciate being here!

Hi Brendan,

From about when the iMac first appeared, I was thrilled to use iMovie. It seemed wonderfully intuitive/easy to use compared to other more twiddly, unintuitive, irritatingly knob-fixated video editing programs. I was just interested in editing the footage I'd shot, without being lured into all manner of elaborate render-heavy changes, and I wanted to do it fast and easy.

When I started making longer edits, with more adjustments, then I'd encounter crashes which at the time were horrible. lol.

Next I dabbled with Final Cut Express, but never too much because it was slow on the laptops on which I used it.

Since starting with FCPX a couple of years ago I've been very happy with how it operates, and I'm a little curious that you say it seems 'counterintuitive', because I've not ever had that impression.

Back in the late 1800's my grandfather worked in the San Francisco/Seattle area. How old is your newspaper?

FCPX is counterintuitive to someone who is firmly established in the traditional counterintuitive paradigms of legacy NLE's that are based on negative cutting workflows, which are obsolete and painfully outdated. But breaking out of outdated tradition and into modern efficiency is the mark of wise editor. What if FedEx still used horse and buggies?

And welcome to the forum!

Thanks to both of you! Blackburn, the paper was founded in 1863. From that clue, you can probably figure it out. I'm just not sure how they'd feel about me specifically linking my non-journalist shenanigans to the paper's name, so I won't specifically mention it.


As for iMovie HD 6, one things I've noticed in recent years is that its output seems to be increasingly incompatible with YouTube and Facebook. That is to say, more often than not, if I create a video in iMovie, any attempt to upload it to those platforms will be unsuccessful if I don't first use a program like Visual Hub to convert it to raw .flv format.

Which is odd, but whatevs. I'm going to learn FCP X and leave that amateur/consumer-grade stuff behind.

sometimes, my brain does summersaults, reading this

…I'm a freelance journalist…

plus 'on a FCPX themed board' chimned this into my mind


don't want to threadjack to a lengthy, fruitless, academic discussion "is this journalism at all?", but remembering using 1" tapes in huge editing-suites in the past, the actual development of 'moving picture making' (to avoid any biased classifications) is exciting!

.... hmm, as a lil' boy in the 60ies I've seen 'all' Godzilla movies ... your avatar doesn't look like from the original Godzilla vs King Kong movIe <grumpy grumble> ...... :woohoo:

Welcome to FCP.co :lol:

Thanks Karsten, you've got good eyes. The image in my avatar is actually a toy or model kit representing Godzilla as he appeared in 1962 when he fought King Kong.

I'm not sure if I'm understanding your point about journalism. Are you questioning whether Kylie Flavell should be called a journalist? I'm not familiar with her work, but I envy her drive and ambition, that's for sure.

In other news, I've begun reading the Apple Pro Training Series book for FCP X. I'm on exercise 2.5 right now. It's been kind of slow going because the book doesn't assume the reader is familiar with the Macintosh file system, and therefore rather laboriously goes into a level of detail about file management that is, well a little ponderous.

On the bright side, the lessons are so thorough that I think I'm going to have a heck of a deep level of knowledge about this application before too long.

It might be frustrating to spend so much time learning every little nuance of something as basic as importing clips, but I feel this will pay great dividends down the road, 'cause I'll have built a solid foundation for myself.

what did I say, just to remind myself...?

… don't want to threadjack to a lengthy, fruitless, academic discussion "is this journalism at all?", but…

LOL, and here we go:
I found this example of a one-girl-production-company on some other board, followed by a lengthy and hefty discussion about "just vacation impressions", "a new low in (technically) production standards" etc etc etc

No, I don't discuss that
btw: I like it, it is not objective, but due the sheer mass of info nowadays, I can collect enough material to get an 'objective overview'), no, it was just meant as an example, in what exciting days of changing paradigms we are:

Learned the other day the phrase "sleeping room production", in context of music making - you don't need a lable, you don't need a Phil Spector anymore. Same with books: just a few years of blood, sweat and tears for writing plus a 75$ fee and you have a publishing#, you're listed on amazon, and your fans can order a 'real' printed book, not just the Kindle version ....

Again, just a mental volte when reading 'solo journalist' + FCPX ....

APTS is best source, but - imho - not meant for learning; .... my kind of learning.

… It might be frustrating to spend so much time learning every little nuance of something as basic as importing clips …

hmmmm? being a Mac-user since '86, my first attemp would be drag'n drop .... :huh:
But probably, the intended way is better: cmd-i as Import - done. OK, some files allow 'internal/external' storage; and that FCPX Lib/Project/Events-thingie could be a bit confusing in the beginning ...

MY 1st rule: try. Just try.
Start with some smaller test-material, don't believe, while using FCPX for your 2.5h extravaganza "Titanic II" you can learn all its bell&whistles.... I'm teaching myself FCPX and Motion5 now for about 2y, I'd say, I'm 30-40% into it, done dozens of projects, every next gets better (or faster/easier to accomplish) - but there are literally hundreds of files named "for the trashbin", meant just for exercise, training, lots of "I don't gettit, should ask at fcp.co…" or, those "ahhhhh!" moments.

Latest "ahh" was the discovery of the clip-skimmer, told by my idols Mark Spencer and Steve Martin from rippletraining.com, who a 100% hit my tone to teach me things (ever watched the "in under 5min" series of them?) .....

I'm a hobbyist, low-to-no-budget, and 'conversion' is, or was a huge issue, years ago (anyone remembering divx?). Luckily, industry has leveled, most stuff I get from friends is a 100%-FCPX-friendly.... and my own cams anyhow.

A good foundation of knowlegdge - sure!
But there's a threshold of 'over informed', blocking you doing things.
Just do. Doing wrong!
Maximum loss? A few hours of life-time ......
:lol:

…

Hi, Karsten, let me just say:

1) Mark Spencer and Steve Martin are my idols too! In addition to their "under 5 minutes" series, i have to mention their weekly MacBreak Studio episodes (well over 300 of them now).
Last week's episode was the one about the clip skimmer. As soon as I finish typing this I am going to watch this week's episode

2) I strongly second your recommendation to start simple and experiment, experiment, experiment.

I've been teaching folks from all experience levels to use Apple's pro apps, for over a decade. The Boykin version of the APTS book for FCPX is by far the best ever produced. And by far the best way to learn professional workflows, tools, from the start. Experimentation is fine, but slow. Scientist learn what others have discovered first, and experiment on their own after that. There's a solid reason for that. You need both, but experimentation does in no way replace formal, professional training. And no book or video replaces learning from a qualified, experienced instructor.

Yes, the book was written for the first time user to do on their own, as well as being used in an instructor led classroom. Hands-on, self-paced, top quality, it has it all. Brendan did a fantastic job with that book.

Experimentation is most productive after some basic training. Otherwise you're reinventing the wheel.

BenB wrote: // full quote //

Am I surprised, you're saying that? No, for sure, and you're right. But being a sort-of teacher the last years, I notice: 'show then imitate' is a very effective way learning new skills.

What I most probably have to adjust is my opnion upon the Training Series; had a look inside two years ago, and aside the language gap, those versions were 'engineer manuals', I'm more the 'cook recipe'-guy ...

PS: pet-heads as avatar is the new black? Missing your hippy-hand, Ben :silly:

So you have not seen the new books by Brendan Boykin?

BenB wrote: So you have not seen the new books by Brendan Boykin?

'See'? From the distance. Why?
I'll make you smile in 5sec ..... :
Germany, this tiny, underdeveloped land behind the big seas, and that medium-size bookstore amazon - combine that and you get:






121€ = ~150$

for the 'old' one ... paperback edition.

No, I'm not kiddin' you.
ok, ok, for vers.10.2. as a Kindle version: 39€
....... for my next vacation/hospital stay .... :lol:

Take that up with Amazon. I always get the electronic version directly from PeachPit. That gives me a PDF, MOBI, and EPub versions in one purchase. And, you get what you pay for.

So I'm slowly making my way through the Apple Pro Training Series book. I'm on page 70, exercise 3.3.1.

And I gotta say, this is a real exercise in patience on my part. You don't even get to perform your first edit before you reach chapter 4!

All these pages about adding keywords and comments to clips, and then, just when you think it's got to be over, you're learning about adding ratings to clips! And then, after that, comes filters. Not video filters, but database search filters to make use of all the keywords and ratings and comments you just spent three chapters learning to add!

This is definitely not for the casual user, and I hate having to slog through this stuff, but I know all the future lessons build on the prior ones, so I dare not skip anything.


And, of course, even though I'm not sure how much of this info about keywords, comments, and filters I will retain, I do recognize that learning this will give me a very, very firm foundation upon which to build my knowledge of doing, you know, actual edits.

Media management and organization is 90% of your edit. Once you've done all of that, you mentally know pretty much what needs to go where. And if something goes wrong later, you can find the media your need quickly. I've consulted with and worked with thousands of editors over the past decade plus, and the number one problem they run in to is LACK of knowing what they have, and where it is.

So, "slogging through" stuff that will save your ass one day, I would be very grateful for.

Plus, you don't write a course starting in the middle, and leaving out the beginning. That just makes no sense.

Thank you, that's encouraging.

And yes, these media management tools are incredible. My beloved iMovie 6 HD seems so quaint now.

BTW, I grew up in the 60's/70's watching Godzilla and all of the other Japanese monsters. Have always been a huge fan. Plus the old b&w (then technicolor) horror movies. Love the avatar!

PacificaBren wrote: .....All these pages about adding keywords and comments to clips, and then,….

by no later your 2nd projects material polutes your browser, you will be thankful about smart collections, favorites, keywords...

I'm more the 'show and tell' learner, and for a start into media management, the two guys from ripple offer in their cheap intro to FCPX the first 10 lessons for free! Right about what you're chewing upon ..

search the AppStore for
Lessons for Final Cut Pro X ....

and the other 10 lessons are worth every penny too ... for a start, to get the concept .....

BenB wrote: BTW, I grew up in the 60's/70's watching Godzilla and all of the other Japanese monsters. Have always been a huge fan. Plus the old b&w (then technicolor) horror movies. Love the avatar!

Thanks! And indeed, all those old monster and sci-fi movies, they were truly magical.

Welcome to the world of editing....

With the vast quantity of data we generate for a 30 second ad, we need to somehow figure out what is what....In the old days, we used what was called a paper edit, a pencil and paper pre edit, somethings video material was transferred to VHS with burned in timecode, to find the right shots.

FCPX is really a data manager with an nle attached, most of your work is pre-pre-editing, making sure you know what is what...Smart collections, keywords, finder tags and rating shots will be your best friend, get to know this process the best, the rest is easy peasy...

There was a video from NAB, a satellite channel, for a 1 hour show they had over 6000 items in the library, the only way to work through this was smart collections, create rules in smart collections, mine the data...The editor reckons doing this process in FCPX saved 2 days editing, now they had 7 days to edit, not 5....

FCPX is super powerful when used correctly...