More to Final Cut Pro X than 'Focus' - X features and high-end TV

It will take more than a single big-budget studio feature to convince established editors about Final Cut Pro X. It wasn't just 'Cold Mountain' that broke the deadlock for Final Cut Pro 3/4. X proponents will sound less desperate if they don't have to keep referring to the same well-known production.

Reply to this topic with information on feature films and high-end TV productions edited with X!


@Alex4D

Ironically, I've been working on a small indie feature since July of 2011. It would have made a nice little story for the blog, except things kept dragging out for all sorts of reasons out of mine and the director's control. In fact, it's still on 10.0.9, because I have been too concerned about doing an upgrade. Nevertheless, the edit went totally smooth, but it has yet to be handed off to audio and grading. I guess I'll see then what sort of fun is in store!

Other than X, we also used Sync-N-Link X, X2Pro, EDL-X and Xto7. I've also used Final Print, PrimariesExporter and Producer's Best Friend for various reference reports with thumbnails.

- Oliver

Evolution - in any domain - is a funny thing. When I started working in production - I worked for a claymation company on the East coast - we cut film on a flatbed - Steenbeck and Cinemonta. The film editors we worked with in LA were still working mainly on upright Moviolas. They were slow to accept the flatbed systems because they were 1. unfamiliar,; 2. the studio wouldn't invest in a "new" technology, and; 3. taking risks on new equipment was, well, risky.

FWIW, I just finished cutting a theatrical documentary on FCPX. While, it certainly went through fewer hands than a mega-budget studio feature - and perhaps that's the crux here - FCPX certainly up to the task.

Yes, the adoption of new technologies to replace tried and tested methods can be slow - but it will get there.

Not saying I am high end, however:

I am part of a small Production House at a $30mill Motorsport venue that delivered this past season all content on FCPX.

- TV Commercials for the More 50 events we run every year.
- 15 Speedway Motorsport Shows in FULL HD on FOX Sports Australia (Nationally)
- 15 Magazine-Style Motorsport Shows that are also being aired Nationally soon on the SEVEN Network (Thats nationwide, free to air on Australia's most popular channel)
- Putting the finishing touches on a Nationwide Show Jumping/Eventing EP at a very good time-slot Nationally on NINE.

Other projects on the pipeline, too.

I also know of other Motorsport content Nationally being edited in X... its growing for sure.

I always intended to write a story for FCP.co. Just need to find the time, hopefully over the Northern Summer I will find that time.

Avid was introduced in 1989 and used in very few films in its early years:

Let's Kill All The Lawyers (1992) was the first one, edited at 29.97.
Emerson Park (1992) was the first one edited with Film Composer at 24 fps.

In 1993 only Lost in Yonkers was edited on the Avid. In 1994, only 3 films... It wasn't until 1995 that dozens of movies were being edited on Avid.

Something similar happened with legacy Final Cut Pro. It was introduced in 1999:

- First feature film edited on Apple's software was George Washington (2000) and it was cut at 29.97 fps as well.

- Other indie films followed: The Month of August (2000), The Rules of Attraction (2001), Full Frontal (2002), The Ring (2002) and Intolerable Cruelty (2003).

- Cold Mountain began shooting in July 2002 but it didn't get picture lock until October 2003, and it was released in December. Most people forget about the other titles because of Walter Murch's well-deserved reputation.

It's no different with FCPX. As we all know, it was released to the public in June 2011:

- First feature film was Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon, released in 2013.
- Focus began post-production by the end of 2013, but it won't be released until Feb 27, 2015.

I can give you another examples from Spain:

- The film Loreak , edited with Final Cut Pro X, was premiered in September 2014 at San Sebastian Film Festival (one of the 14 in the world with "A" category) and released in October.

- Un Otoño sin Berlin is currently being edited on Final Cut Pro X.

And I know there are more Spanish feature films coming up that have been or are being cut on FCPX right now.

Soon Finalcutpro.es , the biggest FCP resource in Spain, will publish an interview with three feature film directors using FCPX. I'll let you know when it's ready.

@jesus_edits

Thanks Jésus,

It's good not to have to rely stories about a single big production.

@Alex4D

Hi,

I'm not used with forum (I never was) and this is my first post here.
Hope to be helpful.

I'm Presti and I'm a commercial editor settled in Spain since 2010.

Actually I work a lot in advertising here where I saw the post houses open their mind in late 2008-2009 to FCP7 to edit commercials for TV.
I still remember ferocious discussions with AVID editors that defined FCP7 an imprecise software to edit properly.
They were wrong and I remember also between Madrid and Barcelona where we went to present the cuts that they had to buy the FCP suite.

I've decided to pass to Final cut X last year, and I have to admit that it cost time to adapt your personal workflow, but once you open your mind the software opens you very cool possibilities.

Unfortunately I've found today the same resistance of the past. I still have discussions where I heard comments like "Final cut X is an imprecise software to edit properly".
Some of those comments come from FCP7 editors.
The next week I'm going to edit the first commercial in Spain for TV for a big national brand in FCP X.

It will be contain a lot of VFX from EL RANCHITO, e famous post house that did many movies' vfx.

I will tell you how it will go, specially the part of communication between FCP X and SMOKE/FLAME.

This to say that the business is always reluctant to the change, specially in a professional workflow that involves many steps of postproduction.
But they cannot stop change. It's the evolution
And reading the post from Jesus I feel better thinking that Spain is country where FCP X is starting to be considered a real professional software.

fingers crossed!!

Hi Presti, welcome to the forum!

Thanks for sharing your experiences and good luck with your first commercial cut with FCPX in Spain!

I know that Smoke supports FCPXML since version 2013 (I don't know if Flame does too). I recommend you to do some testings if you can, just to make sure that it works as expected.

I hope everything runs smooth with EL RANCHITO. If you have any workflow issues or questions, this is the right place to ask for advice. There are a lot of really smart and experienced FCPX users over here that will gladly help you out!

All the best,

Jesús
@jesus_edits

Muchas gracias Jesus!

Of course I'm in contact with the studio and we agreed to share XML to avoid bad surprises, also because the edit will have speed ramps and some very fast cuts. They will share with us some basic animatics to apply to the offline with the CGI generated stuffs that will interact with the main character.

Any suggestions about speed ramps and and XML?
something is good to know and be aware at the moment to pass the cut for telecine and post?

We are planing to share at the end also 2 XML for every approved cut, one with speed ramps and resizes and one without any effect in only one video track.
Of course with quicktime references.

Regarding flame they told me no problem, I guess maybe they will use DA VINCI RESOLVE as bridge in case flame doesn't read an FCP X XML.

by the way I'm very thrilled, because I believe that the software you use to edit will influence the final result, and I feel that FCP X for commercials can be a useful tool because you always have tight timing and FCP X is very fast.
And here (like in the rest of the world) people of the business just need to see that you can achieve great results with that.

In 2011 I was one of those editors who tried FCP X and said "this is crap".
the software improved (and is still improving), I gave it a chance and I change my mind.
Of course I have many stuffs I would love to find in the next releases, lets see what future will bring.

all best

… is German Comedy 'High End TV' … ?

5 seasons, all kind of awards, well received by audience, 'famous' … :
Danni Lowinski
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danni_Lowinski#Auszeichnungen
(there's an english wiki, but with less info … )

ahh, made it to this lil' known site … 
www.apple.com/final-cut-pro/in-action/phoenix/

Same site, a show I like better:
www.apple.com/final-cut-pro/in-action/electric/

ilpresti wrote: Muchas gracias Jesus!

Any suggestions about speed ramps and and XML?
something is good to know and be aware at the moment to pass the cut for telecine and post?

We are planing to share at the end also 2 XML for every approved cut, one with speed ramps and resizes and one without any effect in only one video track.
Of course with quicktime references.

Regarding flame they told me no problem, I guess maybe they will use DA VINCI RESOLVE as bridge in case flame doesn't read an FCP X XML.

De nada, Presti!

If they use Da Vinci Resolve as a bridge, then you should be fine. Resolve already understands FCPX speed ramps, image transformations (scaling, position, crop, etc.) and even basic color corrections. I recommend that you use the latest version of both Resolve and FCPX. Here you can read an interesting article from Sam Mestman (FCPWORKS) with useful information about which things translate well and which ones don't:

www.fcpworks.com/resolve-workflow-11-1-awesome/

ilpresti wrote: by the way I'm very thrilled, because I believe that the software you use to edit will influence the final result, and I feel that FCP X for commercials can be a useful tool because you always have tight timing and FCP X is very fast.
And here (like in the rest of the world) people of the business just need to see that you can achieve great results with that.

I agree with you. Since I use FCPX, I have more time to refine the edit. It's a faster tool and it gets out of the way so you can concentrate more in the actual editing process.

There are some users here that are specialized in editing commercials and music videos, already using FCPX with great success. Like Thomas Grove Carter, who has shared his experiences and workflow several times in this site:

www.fcp.co/final-cut-pro/articles/1433-r...t-on-final-cut-pro-x
www.fcp.co/final-cut-pro/articles/1538-h...d-in-final-cut-pro-x

They are definitely worth a read!

ilpresti wrote: In 2011 I was one of those editors who tried FCP X and said "this is crap".
the software improved (and is still improving), I gave it a chance and I change my mind.
Of course I have many stuffs I would love to find in the next releases, lets see what future will bring.

all best

We all do! But along my list of feature requests, I could also make a very very long list of things that FCPX does better than the other NLEs. For me, the Pros outweight the Cons.

All the best to you too!

Jesús
@jesus_edits

Hello all,

i was the editor of the episodes of Danni Lowinski cut on FCPX.

I also used FCPX on about ten feature length Tv movies in the last three years. These were regular budget Tv- movies here in germany. Tv- wise you can call all that high end.

Some colleagues used FCPX on features for german cinema.

Bibi and Tina 1 & 2 were both edited on FCPX.

In April a road movie featuring german rapper Sido will premiere in german theaters. It was also edited in FCPX.

Regards, Knut

Hi, Knut!

It's great to see that FCPX is being used on so many German TV movies and episodic TV, and finally breaking into the feature film arena.

Thanks a lot for sharing!

Jesús
@jesus_edits

compared to the Tv- movies being made every year in Germany this is still a very, very small number!!

But it´s a start nonetheless!

Is the number of TV-movies being edited in Premiere Pro a lot higher?

I assume that most of them are cut on Media Composer or Legacy FCP, right?

Then, I guess FCPX is not doing so bad at the moment. Plus, I'm sure this year the adoption rate of FCPX will increase exponentially. We just need some more PR from Apple around the Focus release to spice things up a bit, and hopefully an amazing feature update near NAB!

JPM Editor wrote: I know that Smoke supports FCPXML since version 2013 (I don't know if Flame does too).

Actually, Flame does too, I just checked it.

I made a chart with most of the applications that suport FCPXML. I hope it is useful:



Cheers,

Jesús
@jesus_edits

Here is a list of some of the applications WITHOUT FCPXML support... yet. We'll see what happens after NAB!

FCP.CO forum member Presti finally edited the high-end Spanish commercial of "El Corte Inglés" with FCPX. All the VFX were done by El Ranchito with Smoke & Flame and the grading in DaVinci Resolve.

He will post more details about this great user story as soon as he has the time, here:

www.fcp.co/forum/4-final-cut-pro-x-fcpx/...commercials-in-spain

VFX BREAKDOWN of Loreak , the first Spanish feature film edited with Final Cut Pro X.

vimeo.com/120569079

Premiered in September 2014 at Saint Sebastian Film Festival (A category), released in October 2014 and Nominated Best Film by the Spanish Film Academy - Premios Goya 2015 :

VFX work by basque company Irusoin , with Autodesk Flame Premium.

Enjoy!

Jesús
@jesus_edits

I've completed a feature for first-time writer/director Sarah Warren. Her debut film 'MLE' can be seen at Curzon Home Cinema.

See the trailer and watch the film here - www.curzonhomecinema.com/#!/film/CRZ_MLE

I took over the project and transferred everything from AVID to FCPX via Resolve. The film was graded in Resolve and all final tweaks done in FCPX. Round tripping to and from Resolve was flawless. Audio was mixed in ProTools via X2Pro. Also used Slice X, FxFactory plugins and Alex4d's Widescreen Mask. The film was shot 4K Red and mastered to 2K. RED workflow in FCPX was perfect. All master files came out of FCPX and I made the DCP using OpenDCP. The film premiered at the BFI at the London Comedy Film Festival.

I've also edited two stand-up comedy specials for comedian Henning Wehn. Also exported digital files for these shows straight out of FCPX and they are sold online via the Pulley distribution platform.

View clips and buy them here - www.henningwehn.de/merch.php

I've also edited everything from movie trailers, TV format promos, educational films, corporate work and commercials.

I often have to use Xto7 to hand projects back to production houses so they can make small tweaks themselves if required on FCP7. Trying to get them to leave 7 behind and adopt X but it's early days!