Episode 20
FCG020 - I Can Let It Go (feat. Kes Akalaonu)
Spacial Conform, Multicam and Editorial Peer Pressure, just part of what we discuss with Kes Akalaonu, the NLE Ninja. Kes is a Chicago based, editor, podcaster and YouTube tutorial ninja and always has unique, fresh insight on the editorial world. Recently I caught wind that he was embracing the X and thought it was time to have in on “The Grill”.
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Featuring
- Chris Fenwick
- Kes Akalaonu - @NLE_Ninja
Transcription
00:00.640: Hello, hello, check.
00:02.640: There we go.
00:03.360: Nice level.
00:04.960: Welcome to another episode of Final Cut Grill 020 with Kez Akolono.
00:09.960: If you haven't heard of Kez, you should.
00:12.280: He calls himself the NLE Ninja, and he really is that.
00:15.880: The type of tutorials that he shares are
00:19.220: all about finding clever ways to solve problems.
00:22.740: And primarily the stuff he does, he actually does inside of the the NLE.
00:29.619: And you're going to find out his whole path between 7 and Premiere and Final Cut 10.
00:34.820: But suffice it to say, currently as of today, the front page on his
00:39.940: website says Enaly Ninja now supports Final Cut ten.
00:43.620: So um that's a good thing.
00:45.140: And that's why we're talking to him today.
00:47.060: Before we get started, I just want to thank you for the comments that we've been getting on the the Twitter.
00:51.700: Very much appreciated.
00:52.900: I love the fact that um
00:54.640: People are sharing it.
00:55.600: I also want to admit that I have sort of been sucked into the Facebook world.
01:00.880: You know, there's an amazing number of
01:04.780: great I think they call them Facebook groups out there sharing the ways.
01:10.860: And it's interesting, there's a combination of tutorials and problems and people looking for things.
01:15.980: And
01:16.640: You know, like, you know, I can't figure stuff out, and I got news for you.
01:20.000: There's a few things I can't figure it out.
01:21.760: Actually, I'm going to mention that I'm going to mention it right here and see if somebody tweets me with the answer.
01:26.620: I know, suffice it to say, I know how the keyboard shortcut editor works, and I understand that you can add and even if you're not careful, remove keyboard shortcuts on one of my systems that I work on.
01:39.220: I cannot get command E to work as the export a master file.
01:46.820: For some reason, it doesn't work.
01:48.439: It shows up as being mapped to the keyboard, but it does not show up in the menu and it does not work in real life.
01:54.520: So if somebody has the answer to that little problem of mine, I would greatly appreciate the crowdsourced
02:01.640: Helpline that I have going here.
02:03.720: So, at any rate, we should get to Kez's interview.
02:06.680: It's kind of a long one, and I will apologize, it rambles a little bit.
02:10.200: But when Kez and I get together and chat, that's kind of the way our minds work.
02:14.120: It's quite interesting.
02:15.400: So, I
02:16.000: I hope you enjoy this little conversation with the Eneli Ninja, Kez Akolono.
02:23.840: Hello, hello.
02:25.120: Hey, Chris, how's it going?
02:26.320: Hey, sorry, that took a while for me to answer.
02:27.920: I was getting a file set up to record this on.
02:30.540: Speaker 2: Oh, no problem, no problem.
02:32.380: So Kez, tell me a little bit about what you do, your website, et cetera, et cetera, and your YouTube videos.
02:39.580: Speaker 2: What I do, my website is called NLE Ninja.
02:43.099: Speaker 2: And what I try to specialize in is trying to show people how to get the best out of using the NLEs, whether it's Fonka Pro 7 or now actually 10.
02:52.180: Speaker 2: Premiere Pro or Avid.
02:53.780: Speaker 2: And it's just like I try to focus on being more pl like NLE agnostic than just trying to be one NLE rules for them all.
03:01.300: Speaker 2: And the type of work I do, I do a lot of like short form
03:05.099: Speaker 2: web-based work as well as like motion graphics and other things like that.
03:10.060: Speaker 2: And these days, I tend to use Final Cut Pro 10 as well as Adobe software as well.
03:17.240: I'm always amazed when I talk to some of you guys.
03:21.160: You're a little bit like Scott Simmons in that ability to move seamlessly between
03:27.840: you know, the different apps, because I just don't have that I don't have that bandwidth.
03:32.560: You know, I think, you know, maybe I'm just old, but um
03:36.680: I tend to learn very slowly, but very thoroughly, you know?
03:41.640: And so when I talk to you guys that are like that, I'm like, oh, God, really?
03:45.940: I think I would go crazy.
03:47.140: And then I find out that Scott Simmons with one of his secrets is he totally remaps the the keyboard and everything he edits in.
03:54.260: So he's basically doing the same muscle memory
03:57.540: It's just different pictures on the screen.
03:59.459: So that's right, right.
04:00.900: Speaker 2: And it's it's it's it I think that's probably one of the reasons why I was able to pick up Premiere so much faster.
04:05.459: Speaker 2: It's like
04:06.040: Speaker 2: It's funny how a competiting NLE would actually have shortcuts for their competitors so that way their users would use it much more fluently.
04:12.760: Speaker 2: So, like anytime on
04:13.940: Speaker 2: I'm ever ever since I think a CS5, I've been using Premiere.
04:17.780: Speaker 2: Anytime I'm there, I'm just using FileCap Pro shortcuts, then modifying them to
04:22.600: Speaker 2: That makes sense to me.
04:23.640: Speaker 2: So basically, for all intents and purposes, Falca Pro is technically my base reference NLE for everything I for every other NLE I tend to use.
04:31.160: Speaker 2: So if I go from
04:32.360: Speaker 2: Avid, I go to Premiere or go to any other NLE.
04:34.520: Speaker 2: It's like, if I can't work as fast as I did in Final Cat Pro, then me and you are not going to get along as well.
04:39.000: Speaker 2: So as much as I stress being plat you know, NLE agnostic, it's like
04:42.940: Speaker 2: that is my NLE that I base everything around.
04:45.820: Speaker 2: It's like if I can't work as fast or not faster in Fonka Pro, then I'm not going to waste my time.
04:51.139: Yeah, well it's it's I mean it's no secret.
04:53.139: Adobe has um become very comfortable in being Final Cut eight.
04:58.500: You know, I mean I I I don't know if they would say that publicly, but
05:02.660: I mean, the very fact that back at CS5, when they did I think it was CS5 that introduced the keyboard remapping utility, I'm probably wrong about that, but something tells me that's about right.
05:14.860: But back back at CS5 they were saying, Yeah, look, you can just load your keyboard your keyboard shortcuts from Final Cut.
05:21.660: It's exactly the same.
05:23.420: Speaker 2: Right.
05:24.140: Speaker 2: Yeah.
05:24.700: Speaker 2: And it's like they have they have their default and it's it's kind of weird sometimes how many sh how many like commonly used functions that you use throughout your day just using that program.
05:35.340: Speaker 2: And it's like they're not mapped.
05:36.380: Speaker 2: So it's like
05:37.320: Speaker 2: I'll use the File Cut Pro shortcuts, but then I'll also map stuff where it's like, all right, if I'm doing this a lot, then I need a shortcut because it's just like shortcuts just make a lot of sense to me in that regard.
05:47.240: Speaker 2: And
05:48.020: Speaker 2: You know, when I saw what Fonka Pro 10 could do, it's like, you know, I was I wanted to make sure, because a lot of times when I saw people using it, it was very mouse-centric, and I was just like
05:57.900: Speaker 2: I get it, new editing paradigm, but it's like if I can't be a keyboard whiz on this, then it's like, why, how is that making me faster?
06:03.900: Speaker 2: How is that making me much more productive?
06:05.900: That's right.
06:06.740: Speaker 2: When I saw what people were doing, I saw some other guys using keyboard shortcuts to not use as much of the mouse in File Cut for a 10.
06:12.660: Speaker 2: I was like, all right, all right, let's give this another shot and let's
06:15.440: Speaker 2: Try to take it from a different perspective.
06:16.880: Well, let's get to Final Cut 10 in a minute.
06:18.960: Believe it or not, even though this show is Final Cut Grill, I'm interested in.
06:25.320: So you sort of began like you said, your base is seven.
06:30.360: And then back at about CS5, which would be about mid 2010 or so.
06:34.840: you started picking up Premiere.
06:36.760: How was that transition from Final Cut VII to Premiere for you?
06:42.940: Speaker 2: I wouldn't say it was much of a transition.
06:44.860: Speaker 2: I was still I would say like at that point I was still using FonkaPer7 as my primary NLE and I just wanted to see if I could add another one to the
06:53.260: Speaker 2: You know, to the Arsenal, see if, like, all right, you know, I know Falcon for 7, but what if I ever have to do a job where I'm in Premier or where I'm an avid?
07:00.380: Speaker 2: It's like I'd rather
07:01.720: Speaker 2: Not run into this situation where it's like I'm learning on the job.
07:04.600: Speaker 2: I'd rather be prepared to take on any task at hand.
07:07.720: Speaker 2: So when I jumped into Premiere, it was interesting at first, but then there's certain things that got to me.
07:13.479: Speaker 2: It wasn't
07:14.160: Speaker 2: Premiere wasn't the way wasn't where it was like it is now with the Creative Cloud, where it basically is Fonca Pro 8.
07:21.040: Speaker 2: But there are certain things that resonated well, things that were able to transfer, like the whole concept of tracks and
07:27.440: Speaker 2: they had the same source source type of windows and things like that.
07:31.280: Speaker 2: So it wasn't too challenging of a transition.
07:34.320: You know, I was kind of shocked.
07:36.240: I think I saw some stuff on Twitter.
07:38.840: And you were tweeting some stuff about Final Cut 10.
07:41.400: When did you start playing with the application?
07:44.280: Speaker 2: Well, funny funny story.
07:46.520: Speaker 2: I actually used 10 once on a client project.
07:49.480: Speaker 2: I was actually
07:51.100: Speaker 2: asked to take over uh interns trying to cut a bunch of videos for a funeral service and they had decided to go with uh Falca 10.
07:59.020: Speaker 2: This was around the time when it was uh 10.
08:01.340: Speaker 2: 03 and you know it hadn't got to the point where it is now, which is
08:05.420: Speaker 2: Twice as better and much more usable than it was back in its earlier days.
08:09.340: Speaker 2: And like, I didn't have much experience using the application beforehand.
08:13.340: Speaker 2: And like, I thought, you know, just watch a few quick YouTube tutorials and
08:16.860: Speaker 2: Kind of just like you know, trial and error, figure out how it goes.
08:19.180: Speaker 2: I'd figure it out, but it actually ended up being more of a tedious, uh, tedious venture than I thought it was going to be.
08:25.100: Speaker 2: I thought it was going to be much more simple to adapt, you know.
08:27.860: Speaker 2: with most programs I've used, I've gone from File Compressed 7 to Premiere to Avid, and it's like I've always considered that, you know, it doesn't matter what NLE you go to.
08:36.039: Speaker 2: They all kind of do the same thing.
08:37.159: Speaker 2: It's just they all have different keys and different terms for what they do.
08:40.680: Speaker 2: So long story short, that project, although it got done, it was much more delayed because at that point
08:48.259: Speaker 2: You know, Final Cut Pro 10 was not at the point where I could use it to actually rely on it to make money.
08:53.380: Speaker 2: But, you know, I took some time, watched some Ripple training courses, watched some stuff on Linda, as well as
08:59.440: Speaker 2: Watch some tutorials from Larry Jordan, and I grew to understand the concepts and the paradigm that everyone was talking about.
09:05.120: Speaker 2: And I understood why things like keywords, smart collections, things like that made more sense.
09:09.680: Speaker 2: And then when I saw
09:11.620: Speaker 2: Like I was planning to get ten on my on my next computer, which I was waiting to buy like early last year.
09:17.460: Speaker 2: And when the time finally came, you know, I bought the computer and right around that time, that's when
09:21.959: Speaker 2: 10.
09:22.519: Speaker 2: 1 came out, and I was like, wow, this is amazing.
09:24.760: Speaker 2: It's like, I wanted to be a Fonka Protein editor because I felt it was a tool to have.
09:28.680: Speaker 2: And, you know, seven had reached a point where it's just like, all right, it's time to get with the next-gen NLEs.
09:34.660: Speaker 2: Embrace the future instead of trying to wallow in the past.
09:36.980: Speaker 2: So when I saw what 10.
09:38.340: Speaker 2: 1 was doing, I was just like, all right, you know, I'm on board.
09:40.980: So you mentioned that
09:43.540: Some people had brought in a project, cut in 10.
09:47.060: Now, this is back at, like you mentioned, at 10.
09:49.459: 03.
09:50.660: Right.
09:51.620: I have actually said, and actually, Alex.
09:54.320: and I on Digital Cinema Cafe, we have been saying now for about a year that it is very possible, very likely, and he's actually seen it in some of the color grading jobs that he's done, that
10:08.700: People who are established professionals, and I know that especially in the Final Cut 10 discussion, the word professional, it really makes the hair stand up on a lot of people, you know, on the back of some people's necks.
10:21.420: Right.
10:22.139: But established, experienced editors who are by nature problem solvers, because let's face it, that's what we do.
10:29.420: Well, we'll pick that in post.
10:31.819: It's very likely that their first exposure to 10
10:35.800: will be somebody coming to you to get bailed out because they see, oh, $300 software, no problem.
10:43.320: I can totally cut this.
10:44.540: I totally can't cut this.
10:48.459: And so, so that's very interesting that that was your first exposure to it.
10:57.279: What were some of the problems?
10:59.600: And I don't mean to rat out your client or anything, but what were some of the things that they were finding
11:05.700: That were problematic.
11:07.060: Was it software-based or just general storytelling?
11:10.100: Speaker 2: Well, it's funny because, like, you know, trying to wrap my head around the magnetic timeline was one of the first things that, you know, took a while to get used to.
11:16.899: Speaker 2: But then also.
11:17.940: Speaker 2: It was weird, like, 'cause I was actually you know on this job.
11:21.860: Speaker 2: For some reason, my producer didn't want to spend the money it would take to make my job easier.
11:26.980: Speaker 2: So I had to actually use a Final Compro 10 trial.
11:29.060: Speaker 2: So that could have probably been
11:30.279: One of the few issues, but you had 30 days.
11:33.080: You were on the clock, 30 days.
11:34.519: I got to get this thing out the door.
11:36.200: Speaker 2: Right, right, right.
11:37.560: Speaker 2: You know, and I've always believed that with the trial-based software, it's like it's still
11:41.339: Speaker 2: Fully functional from what I've seen.
11:42.620: Speaker 2: So it's like, I didn't think it was too big of a deal.
11:44.860: Speaker 2: And this was like the most cookie-cutter type of project.
11:47.180: Speaker 2: It was basically just like talking heads, and you
11:49.280: Speaker 2: Threw some slides on top of it, and I was like, all right, this shouldn't be too hard for Tenna Do it.
11:53.440: Speaker 2: And then, like, as I was doing it, and I literally spent like from my entire weekend just cutting.
11:58.140: Speaker 2: On this.
11:58.540: Speaker 2: And it was just like images weren't importing correctly.
12:00.940: Speaker 2: Like, I actually had to turn a Microsoft PowerPoint into like multiple images.
12:05.100: Speaker 2: And like, the way that I was like interpreting them, it was just like, oh.
12:10.620: You know what?
12:11.180: I bet you I know what it was.
12:12.860: Do you recall what the problem was with those PowerPoint signals?
12:16.620: Speaker 2: I think I couldn't diagnose it.
12:17.580: Speaker 2: I think it I think it was they all thought I thought Fonka Pro 10 may have thought that all the images were the same, were all created on the same date, so it couldn't decipher the difference.
12:24.720: So are you saying that they were sorting in the keyword collection weird?
12:30.240: Speaker 2: Yes, select that.
12:31.040: Speaker 2: Or I think in the event browser it was just like here's a little final cut tip for people that are you know
12:37.440: Getting their feet wet.
12:38.640: And this is like one of my beefs, I would say.
12:41.200: But once you get your head wrapped around it, I kind of understand why it works.
12:46.320: So when you import either footage
12:50.779: or um like photos or images or things like that.
12:54.620: And over in your inspector, there's a thing called spatial conform.
12:58.860: All right.
12:59.420: Spatial conform hurt my head for a long time because like I would have
13:05.800: I cut a lot of stuff at 720, okay?
13:08.680: And we shoot a lot of stuff at 1080.
13:10.600: So it's kind of like a poor man's version of shooting 4K and cutting at 1080 or 2K, you know?
13:16.720: Right.
13:18.000: But in doing so, we'll reframe shots a lot.
13:20.160: The problem is, when you drop a 1080 shot into a 720 timeline, the spatial conform.
13:26.920: Defaults to the setting called fit.
13:30.120: Now, what that means is it takes now if you would put a 1080 in a 720 timeline in Filecut 7
13:37.820: it will automatically scale it corner to corner, but in the Motion tab it will say this is at 66.
13:45.180: 7% size.
13:47.300: Right.
13:47.780: Okay.
13:48.420: But in Final Cut 10, because spatial conform defaults to fit, it will scale it down.
13:56.260: But up in the scale command underneath transform, it's going to say it's at 100%.
14:03.839: You're like, whoa, that's not right.
14:06.079: It's actually scaled down to 66.
14:08.480: 7%.
14:09.440: So the tip that I want to throw out is if you do want to rescale things
14:14.120: Like I'm talking about.
14:15.160: Or this also works for like a giant 4K, or you know, let's say a JPEG out of your 5D Mark III.
14:21.000: It's going to be whatever that is: 4,000 pixels wide, 5,000 pixels wide, 5,300 something.
14:26.319: So because it defaults to fit, when you drop that image in, because it's not 16 by 9, it's going to be pillared.
14:33.680: But the scale under transform will say 100%.
14:38.460: You're like, dude, I want to scale that up.
14:40.940: And now you're thinking, oh, I'm blowing it up.
14:43.260: So if you go into scale spatial conform and change it, the three settings are
14:48.740: Fit, which means that thing that is the wrong aspect ratio will squeeze it in and either pillar it or letterbox it.
14:59.320: Right.
14:59.640: The next setting down is fill, which means it won't letterbox it, but it will crop the top or bottom or sides, whichever it needs to do.
15:07.240: But the one you want to go to is spatial conform none.
15:11.579: Okay?
15:12.139: Now spatial conform none means that your or let's say in my case, my 1080 footage will pop out to 720.
15:20.660: It'll be like really tight.
15:21.940: It'll be cropped at his forehead, you know, that kind of thing, that sort of 60 minutes I never touched her framing, you know?
15:27.780: Right.
15:29.180: And but then you go up to your transform thing under the inspector, and now it still says 100, but the image is actually full frame.
15:38.820: And now you can scale it down to 66.
15:41.220: 7 yourself to fill the frame, or you can do your little reframes or pops or whatever.
15:46.600: But anyway, that's what I thought you were going to say about the keynote thing, because if you don't scale your keynote slides to the exactly
15:55.600: the frame of that you're cutting in.
15:58.480: So let's say you're cutting 1080.
16:00.480: Right.
16:01.120: And actually, I said keynote, you said PowerPoint.
16:05.740: I don't understand PowerPoint.
16:07.260: The fact that you can't just dial in a pixel size in PowerPoint drives me crazy.
16:13.340: Yeah, but in Keynote, I can say, oh, no, I'm cutting it nineteen twenty by ten eighty.
16:17.340: I can set my canvas to nineteen twenty by ten eighty.
16:19.959: And I can create my slides.
16:21.959: But if somebody gave you four by three slides, which a lot of corporate America still does, now you have a fit-fill-none issue in your spatial conform thing that you're going to have to deal with.
16:33.040: or rescale and resize those photos.
16:35.920: Speaker 2: Well, I actually I actually haven't explored the sorry about that.
16:40.240: We kind of nerded out on spatial conform there for a second.
16:44.240: Speaker 2: Lots of great tips to know.
16:46.399: Speaker 2: I'm always on the lookout for your tips.
16:49.279: Speaker 2: I think I saw your last one, the real-time editing one.
16:52.480: What did you think of that?
16:53.459: Speaker 2: I thought it was really good.
16:54.339: Speaker 2: Like, actually, I thought I saw someone on the cow do that when Fonka Pro 10 was at 10.
16:58.660: Speaker 2: 02.
16:59.380: Speaker 2: And I knew people don't stress that whole ability that it has uninterrupted playback if you really.
17:04.919: Speaker 2: I'll play with it too.
17:06.120: You can tab over to Google and check your mail while you're doing a playout for a client sitting behind you.
17:11.959: Speaker 2: Right.
17:12.199: Speaker 2: And I'm like.
17:13.040: Speaker 2: You know, and I don't understand that.
17:14.320: Speaker 2: That was one of a dope.
17:15.040: Speaker 2: I was one of Premiere's selling points when they came out of CS6 as a whole on interrupted playback or real-time playback.
17:19.920: Speaker 2: But I was like,
17:20.679: Speaker 2: Fonko Ten could already do that, and not a lot of people are doing that in their tutorials.
17:24.600: It's like I understand certain things.
17:26.439: Yeah, I think what happens is that you know, this goes back to sort of a theme we've discussed before on the show: is that
17:32.419: People are more interested in talking about what Final Cut can't do than what it can do.
17:37.780: And so little things like that, sorry about my phone going crazy there.
17:42.340: Little things like that get lost.
17:44.919: Okay, so that's so that was like your first experience at 10.
17:49.080: 02 when you had to do this make good on somebody.
17:54.120: You got through it.
17:56.280: What was the taste in your mouth at that point?
18:00.120: Did you leave it going, oh God, I'm so glad I'm done with that?
18:03.700: Or were you c were you more curious at that time?
18:07.220: Speaker 2: I was just like, all right, I'm not touching this until it gets to the quote unquote pro
18:13.940: Speaker 2: You know, to the pro edition, because it's like at that point, I was just like, all right, you know, a lot of things were just running through my head.
18:19.380: Speaker 2: Like, I honestly wish my bosses were willing to spend $50 just so I could use XS7.
18:25.059: Speaker 2: I could take the entire project from
18:26.960: Speaker 2: You know, if I could pretend it is Fonka verse 7 and just finish there, I was just like, there's too many points of failure.
18:32.320: Speaker 2: And I was just like,
18:35.540: Speaker 2: it has a potential to be a pro program.
18:37.220: Speaker 2: It's just not there yet.
18:38.340: So at that point, you're are again 10.
18:42.340: 02.
18:43.380: Guy, I should know all these dates, but I'm going to say that's like early
18:48.700: twenty twelve?
18:53.020: Speaker 2: I'd say somewhere around there.
18:54.140: Yeah, somewhere around there.
18:55.500: So at that point, uh, percentage wise, were you mostly s cutting in
19:02.419: Seven or Premiere?
19:04.500: Speaker 2: It was actually like a cross between both.
19:06.100: Speaker 2: I'd switch between seven and premiere.
19:08.500: Speaker 2: So I was finishing projects, making money between the two of those programs.
19:12.980: Gotcha, gotcha.
19:14.100: Okay.
19:14.500: So then at s
19:16.480: But more recently, you've started to warm up to Final Cut more.
19:21.840: What has piqued your interest the most?
19:24.080: What are the things that make you say like, yeah, Kez likes this?
19:29.040: Speaker 2: I guess it was the it was the keyword collections.
19:32.000: Speaker 2: And then also Falca tend to always seem to have the cooler plugins, you know, like
19:37.240: Speaker 2: For me, I tend to be somewhat of a plug-in enthusiast.
19:40.600: Speaker 2: But at the same time, the keyword collections, the ecosystem is pretty rich and
19:47.160: Speaker 2: I'd say like, you know, seeing the stuff that I saw people do on you know, seeing some of the articles I saw on fcp.
19:52.280: Speaker 2: co and also seeing how people were, you know, just manipulating the timeline, just making it work for them.
19:57.880: Speaker 2: I think what really helped get me over it, besides like watching
20:00.980: Speaker 2: Ripple training, the ripple training that was provided was or that's out there was watching the folks at Magic Feather.
20:08.100: Speaker 2: John Davidson, like he actually produced some uh training for the Creative Cow about how to how he cuts commercials or
20:13.679: Speaker 2: Promos.
20:14.400: Speaker 2: He was using the secondary storyline.
20:16.240: Speaker 2: He had a way of keyword tagging, importing his footage.
20:18.960: Speaker 2: And it just seemed like, all right, you know, I want to see how pros are using this because like everyone kept saying this is a professional NLE.
20:25.340: Speaker 2: At that point, you know, I think this was around when 10.
20:27.980: Speaker 2: 06 came out.
20:28.780: Speaker 2: So, you know, I want to see, I'm usually more enticed to do something if I know that
20:33.140: Speaker 2: People in the higher end spectrums are doing it.
20:35.140: Speaker 2: And I understand that's not always the way it should be.
20:36.980: Speaker 2: But at the same time, it's like, you know, monkey see, monkey do.
20:39.940: Speaker 2: So if like some guy's making a lot of money or just, you know, cutting all these great promos and making themselves
20:45.320: Speaker 2: faster and stuff like that, then I want to know, you know, why can't why can't I do that?
20:48.840: Let's let's figure this out.
20:50.440: Speaker 2: So with his training, I you know, I saw the training that he did, how he would go about how he would use keyword tags, smart collections and things like that.
20:57.240: Speaker 2: And it's just like, wow, things were just so much faster.
20:59.820: Speaker 2: And I want to know more.
21:01.820: Speaker 2: So I decided, all right, let's give this a little more thought.
21:05.340: Speaker 2: Let's see how this program actually works.
21:07.020: Speaker 2: Let's try to understand it.
21:08.460: Speaker 2: From the way they want me to understand it, as opposed to me just trying to be like, All right, if it can't do what my track-based analys could do, then let's not even give it a shot.
21:16.060: Speaker 2: There's no point of it.
21:16.940: Speaker 2: So, you know, I came in with a much more open mind around 10.
21:20.300: Speaker 2: 06, and I was just like, All right.
21:22.500: Speaker 2: This is actually a good app.
21:23.700: Speaker 2: This is actually pretty professional.
21:25.539: Speaker 2: I completely underestimated its worth.
21:28.900: Yeah, you know, it is interesting how we, as human beings, we look for that.
21:35.919: That affirmation and knowing that you're not the only one.
21:39.840: Right.
21:40.559: You know?
21:41.280: I mean, I think it's just kind of our nature.
21:43.600: You know, you don't want to be.
21:45.519: the only kid wearing the, uh, you know, speed racer gloves in junior high or or whatever it is.
21:53.600: You know, you don't want to like
21:54.919: show up in high school wearing some team jersey and realize, oh, nobody likes this team or something.
22:02.200: Speaker 2: Right.
22:02.919: Speaker 2: Right.
22:04.240: Speaker 2: Peer pressure.
22:05.280: Speaker 2: I get it from, you know, with all the people in the industry, it's like, you know, the peer pressure to be an avid guy, be a Premiere Pro guy, be a Funka Pretend guy.
22:12.720: Speaker 2: And it's like, you know.
22:14.620: Speaker 2: I just want to use the tools.
22:16.380: Speaker 2: If it could get the job done and I could keep a roof over my head and keep paying my bills, then I don't care.
22:22.320: Speaker 2: What it's called, I'll use it and I'll create a masterpiece.
22:24.960: Speaker 2: The end of story.
22:26.160: So the one thing I remember you saying in
22:30.140: when we talked during uh on Digital Cinema Cafe.
22:33.420: I think I'm going to plug that episode.
22:35.420: Go check out it's episode 021 on Digital Cinema Cafe where we talked with Kez.
22:41.900: Is that you you sort of
22:44.480: Enjoy the process of doing as much as you can in the NLE as opposed to
22:52.120: going out to like After Effects or Motion.
22:54.760: Do you find that Final Cut 10 helps you or hinders you along those that path?
23:00.220: Speaker 2: I actually think with the integration that it has with Motion 5, it's actually probably helps in quite a way.
23:06.380: Speaker 2: Now, I've never been like the most die-hard user of Motion.
23:08.860: Speaker 2: Like I'm trying to get the
23:11.040: Speaker 2: get the way around around that.
23:12.640: Speaker 2: But at the same time, my workflow has always been like, you know, I'll use Fileka Pro and then if I need certain items, like, you know, I need images.
23:19.140: Speaker 2: Taken care of, then you know, I'll farm it after Photoshop and I'll farm it off to After Effects.
23:22.420: Speaker 2: I've been using those programs a lot longer.
23:24.660: Speaker 2: It's just, you know, kind of like the way you said how After Effects works the way you think those programs work the way I think as well.
23:29.780: Speaker 2: So, you know, I try to use the
23:32.340: Speaker 2: The stuff that does come natively in Fonka for 10.
23:34.740: Speaker 2: I'll use the tile tools, the transitions.
23:36.500: Speaker 2: If I really need to create something I'm going to use constantly, then I'll venture over to motion and see if I can't create that, but at the same time, I'll never say, I'll never be.
23:44.840: Speaker 2: I'll never be the guy who's creating the plugins from the guys at FX Factory or Core Melt or even Motion vFX.
23:50.760: Speaker 2: I'll use Motion, but it'll never be my go-to compositing app.
23:54.120: Speaker 2: It'll just be more of an ends to a means for a quick, basic turnaround.
23:59.000: Can you describe the process of some thing that you actually did create in motion?
24:06.200: You mentioned that if it's something you might do a lot like have you built your own like lower third template for a client or anything?
24:13.120: Speaker 2: Yeah, I've built I actually had a recent project where I was using a lower third template and I thought, all right, I was actually going to try because I remember you actually published a tutorial on how to use the Photoshop CC
24:24.860: Speaker 2: image assets for editing thing.
24:26.620: Speaker 2: And I thought that was a fantastic thing.
24:28.059: Speaker 2: I actually tried to use it at the Tribune, you know, try to like 'cause we always have to tag and source our credits and everything.
24:34.539: Speaker 2: So I used that.
24:35.179: Speaker 2: But then like I was like, all right, let me give emotion a try.
24:37.100: Speaker 2: Let's see if I could let's see if I could go
24:39.720: Speaker 2: Completely without using Adobe for one project, see how that feels.
24:42.920: Speaker 2: And you know, because I just wanted to see if I could really push myself to understand the way motion works.
24:50.680: Speaker 2: So I was able to create a
24:52.340: Speaker 2: lowered their template in motion and then you know publishing the parameters, just watched some stuff online, just had to prouse the forums on the cow and fcp.
25:00.580: Speaker 2: co and all these places just to
25:02.160: Speaker 2: Get the way about how motion works, and I was able to create a lower third and just like a very basic, like glowing dissolved transition, things like that.
25:09.440: Speaker 2: So, you know, I was able to figure it out, and it was actually a pretty fun experience.
25:13.680: Yeah, no, I think.
25:15.320: You know, I made one recently and I think I'm probably in the same boat as you.
25:20.680: I mean, I definitely, if I'm going to animate something.
25:23.340: Man, I'm launching after effects.
25:25.020: I'm not going straight to motion.
25:27.740: But when you understand what you can do,
25:31.560: and the whole aspect of publishing parameters, it's really like it's mind-altering.
25:39.640: You know, it's like, wow.
25:40.680: And especially like
25:42.840: I oversee a lot of projects that I don't actually cut them, but I'm kind of every once in a while it's like, hey, can you go put eyes on that thing?
25:51.720: I want to make sure it's right for that client because I know
25:54.440: Some of the clients very well.
25:57.159: And the idea of actually just saying, no, no, no, no, just use click on this little guy, go to town.
26:03.320: These are the only things that you have to adjust.
26:05.820: This thing, this thing, and this thing, because those are parameters that I published into the template.
26:11.340: I mean, that just blows my mind.
26:13.660: Right.
26:14.940: What things did you publish when you made your template?
26:18.080: Speaker 2: I published like the I had a I think I was experimenting with the rig so I tried the snapshot template I tried the snapshot option I also tried the
26:26.240: Speaker 2: I didn't try the widget, but I made sure that like, you know, I made sure to publish like the text, placements, alignment, things like that, as well as fonts.
26:33.760: Speaker 2: So I was literally just like going through almost every parameter, just testing to see what worked and just published them here and there.
26:39.680: Speaker 2: And if they
26:40.640: Speaker 2: Tended to do what I needed it to do, then you know, I was better for the journey.
26:44.720: Speaker 2: But if they didn't, then I just go back into motion and correct it and then keep going.
26:49.760: Yeah, you know, I will be the first to admit that
26:53.040: You know, a lot of that stuff, I don't fully get it.
26:56.000: I mean, kind of, I would imagine that, like a lot of listeners, you know, we are, you know, we're craftsmen.
27:06.019: And we have deadlines and things that we have to get out.
27:11.460: And a lot of times, our answer is to just like bury our head in the sand and keep clicking.
27:17.380: Right.
27:20.059: And it is interesting that when you do take that time to try and work smarter instead of harder, it seems very counterintuitive at first.
27:32.200: You know, I mean, like that, the whole thing.
27:34.280: I mean, I dig the fact that you like my Photoshop assets tutorial because I think create assets tutorial.
27:41.620: Because that thing is like such a massive time saver.
27:45.460: And you know, I think it takes like five minutes to watch that tutorial and maybe seven if you pause it and follow along.
27:52.940: But I got to tell you, I shared that with somebody the other day, and I can't remember who it was.
27:58.139: It may have even been on the show.
27:59.899: And he was like,
28:00.740: Speaker 2: Oh man, I spent all weekend saving ass, you know, right, right, right.
28:05.220: Speaker 2: And I'm like, and the way Adobe advertised that whole, you know, that new add-on for Photoshop, I was like.
28:10.540: Speaker 2: It could benefit people who manipulate images, but then it could also benefit editors.
28:15.900: Speaker 2: And obviously, you were the first to publish something like that.
28:18.460: Speaker 2: I was like, all right, Chris is on top of it.
28:20.220: Speaker 2: So if he can make this work, then I can make it work.
28:22.140: Speaker 2: And I've also even
28:23.460: Speaker 2: Like with my Falco Pro 10 workflow, I've also tried to integrate your little Adobe dynamic link with After Effects where you create that render here folder.
28:29.540: So the FoMan.
28:32.040: Dynamic link.
28:33.320: Speaker 2: Right, right.
28:33.800: Speaker 2: Your Foman dynamic link.
28:35.000: Speaker 2: So it's like, you know, whenever you publish stuff on, you know, your YouTube channel, I'm just like, all right, if Chris is if Chris is doing it, then I need to be thankful.
28:41.880: Speaker 2: It's like you're using it.
28:42.680: It's got a nice to hear because a lot of times I pu publish those things, I'm like
28:46.340: I don't even know if anybody's watching this.
28:48.340: Speaker 2: I hope they are.
28:49.380: Speaker 2: Right.
28:49.620: Speaker 2: I'm just like, all right, he's on top of this, so I need to watch.
28:52.340: Yeah, and I think just in the last episode or two of this show, if you check the show notes at Digital Cinema Cafe.
29:00.120: I have links to these two these tutorials that we're talking about here.
29:05.320: So Kess, tell me, with the advent of 10.
29:08.680: 1,
29:09.720: How are you organizing your media and your assets in your projects?
29:16.600: Speaker 2: Well, I'll use whenever I start a new project, I'll usually go to post taste.
29:21.800: Speaker 2: Like I think with the ten point one,
29:23.919: Speaker 2: the way they deal with media management now as opposed to the earlier versions, that was one of the things that actually got me to the point where, like, all right.
29:31.840: Speaker 2: I definitely want to be using this.
29:33.120: Speaker 2: Like before, I was going to use because I meant how I mentioned Magic Feather, the way he was also media matching was he was using compound clips as.
29:41.160: Speaker 2: Sequences as opposed to using the projects and only using projects if it was absolutely necessary.
29:45.240: Speaker 2: So, with the advent of libraries, it's like finally it got to the point where, like, all right, I could relate this to how the other NLEs have done it because libraries is basically like
29:53.340: Product files meet scratch disk meets everything else, just one big bundle that is the perfect description.
30:00.059: I was trying to explain the library concept to somebody the other day, and I said, Yeah, it's kind of like a combination of
30:07.640: Your old File Cut 7 project, but it's also kind of your scratch disk, too.
30:12.280: Speaker 2: Right, right.
30:13.640: Speaker 2: So, you know, I'll usually start off with a post-hate.
30:17.160: Speaker 2: I created a FCP10
30:19.240: Speaker 2: Post a template, and then I'll create a I'll create the library in there.
30:23.160: Speaker 2: And then most of the time when I import media, I tend to do the leave in place.
30:26.920: Speaker 2: Like I've tried I've done the
30:28.960: Speaker 2: Import it into the actual library, but you know, like some of the other guests you've had, it's a combination of either I don't want to lose space or
30:36.940: Speaker 2: it's not absolutely necessary unless like the footage is coming from a different format.
30:41.100: Speaker 2: But projects vary.
30:42.940: Speaker 2: So usually I'll just leave stuff in place and I'll transcode it through another source.
30:46.539: Speaker 2: Like I'll maybe use compressor or clip wrap or even
30:50.860: Speaker 2: Adobe Media Encoder, if need be.
30:52.620: Speaker 2: So I'll do that.
30:53.659: Speaker 2: And then I'll use my template library, which has all my collections, my folders, things like that.
31:01.060: Speaker 2: He actually did a tutorial on that as well, how to create a template library.
31:04.180: Speaker 2: So I took that advice, keep it on my desktop, and then just open that library, get the.
31:10.940: Speaker 2: asks I need the events, the collections, things like that, and then just get to editing.
31:16.299: So let's talk about speed and flow.
31:19.260: Do you find yourself w when you get over that learning curve or learning wall we sometimes describe it as?
31:25.740: Are you finding yourself editing quicker, more fluidly?
31:29.740: Speaker 2: Actually, I am.
31:31.100: Speaker 2: And it's even with like.
31:32.660: Speaker 2: Because I know not no two editors think the same way, so it's like my experience is not always going to be the same as someone else's, but like you know, between going between
31:40.260: Speaker 2: Premiere and then go into File Cup for 10, I'm finding the speed that everyone keeps talking about in 10.
31:45.059: Speaker 2: So keyword tagging is so much easier than having to go through metadata in a separate panel.
31:50.260: Speaker 2: It's just like
31:51.140: Speaker 2: Control K, control, you know, control you know, Command K I gets the key key word editor, control one through ten or con or through nine, and you know, tagging interviews, tagging B role, and just like
32:02.800: Speaker 2: Doing a lot of Q W E D into the timeline.
32:06.320: Oh, absolutely.
32:07.840: The case.
32:09.440: What you're mentioning here is
32:10.840: on your left hand, the quarter keys, basically.
32:13.720: So Q is the overlay, W, I call that wedging.
32:16.840: You wedge it in wherever you're at.
32:19.320: E is the append, append at the end of the timeline, and D is just smash it on top, you know, just smash over what's already there.
32:27.720: Speaker 2: So, yeah, just a lot of quid editing, and then you know, before you know it, you have a radio cut.
32:33.019: Yeah, I you know, it's interesting.
32:35.580: I found that those key ways okay, let's let's talk back about
32:42.000: Let's go back to our discussion what we were having earlier about keyboard shortcuts.
32:47.200: As it mentioned, Scott Simmons likes to remap.
32:51.240: You're basically saying that there's a sort of a hybrid of you you tend to actually, I didn't get your answer.
32:57.799: I but do you do you remap did you remap Premiere to match Final Fat VII?
33:04.120: Speaker 2: Yep.
33:04.760: Speaker 2: And then I added a few custom ones for things that weren't already like mapped.
33:08.360: Right.
33:08.600: So you're kind of doing the hybrid.
33:10.760: I tend.
33:12.679: And again, this is this is probably part of my problem.
33:16.600: I tend to just adopt what's there.
33:18.440: It's like, okay, okay, so we're going to change everything.
33:21.000: All right.
33:21.799: And my reasoning is is I'm basing it on the assumption that
33:27.140: Whoever did create those keyboard shortcuts, they didn't just throw darts at a dartboard, right?
33:34.020: They were thinking something.
33:35.700: And what I'm hoping to find is, hmm, maybe they have
33:40.880: you know, reimagined something in a way that is far superior.
33:46.560: You know, I know that in seven I can do function nine
33:52.340: 10, 11, I think they are.
33:54.260: And it basically does the same stuff in Final Plus 7.
33:57.940: But you know what?
33:59.299: On a modern keyboard, and I'm using one of the little aluminum guys, the little wedgy aluminum guys.
34:04.700: One, those function keys are small.
34:07.260: They're not as big as they used to be.
34:10.140: Two, they're not divided.
34:12.620: Remember, function keys used to have like a little space between five and six.
34:16.720: Yeah.
34:17.359: So so like there would be a little extra delineation that I could glance down and go, oh, I'm in the right place.
34:25.620: So, I just find that like I never used function 9, 10, and 11 in Final Cut 7.
34:31.300: Speaker 2: I never used them.
34:33.440: Speaker 2: Wow, I use that quite a bit.
34:35.280: I know, I know.
34:35.760: I'm going to say that.
34:38.159: I'm not saying what I'm doing is right.
34:40.079: I'm just saying it's just the nature of the way things were.
34:43.440: But QWED.
34:45.899: Oh, all the time.
34:47.820: All the time.
34:49.419: I use that.
34:50.300: You know, the Q especially, I'm always, you know, that's how I do my B-roll.
34:54.540: You know, shuttle, shuttle, I-O-Q.
34:56.940: Shuttle, shuttle, I-O-Q,
34:59.340: You know
35:00.360: And just it's amazing how just remapping the keyboard, at least for me, and I may not be alone.
35:08.280: That's why I hope I'm
35:09.359: Not alone.
35:10.800: Please, please, can I not be alone?
35:13.599: At least for me, it like just totally opened up a new way of thinking.
35:17.520: And I think that
35:18.980: By and large, if you like, I'm a touch typer, right?
35:23.860: So when I put my fingers on the home keys
35:27.120: I have everything I need to do.
35:29.920: The only thing that's difficult, and I can't remember what it is, it's to step between one clip and another clip.
35:37.200: It's a like option
35:40.040: Bracket or something.
35:41.080: I can't remember what it is.
35:42.200: I haven't.
35:42.600: Speaker 2: Did you speak in to the tails, the head and tails of the clip?
35:45.400: No, head and tails is massive too.
35:47.240: Do you use that?
35:48.440: Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, all the time.
35:49.960: Yeah, you know, somebody was looking over my shoulder yesterday and they're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
35:53.960: What'd you just do?
35:55.720: Speaker 2: That's 90% of what I get whenever I get another editor out, and I'll just use a keyboard, but I'll be so fast with it.
36:02.359: Wishes to don't you love that?
36:05.560: Oh, yeah.
36:06.119: I totally get off on that.
36:07.320: It's like, yeah, I got some skills right here.
36:09.240: Check this out.
36:11.079: I have just begun to blow your mind.
36:15.340: But I also have found, and this is an interesting thing, and I've learned this from di the different interviews that I've done on the show here, is that there is a lot of power in the Final Cut 10
36:29.140: Keyboard mapping utility that absolutely extends the functionality of the application beyond what is available even in the pull-down menus.
36:39.540: It's not just that
36:41.320: oh, here's something that's in the menu that we are not mapping.
36:47.800: There is stuff that is actually isn't available anywhere else.
36:51.799: Right.
36:52.279: You know, like, and so it's totally worth it to like do a little exploring in there.
36:57.960: And, and, you know,
37:00.500: You will find little nuggets.
37:02.100: And I think maybe I should make that like a segment of the show where I make everybody share a keyboard shortcut that they've added.
37:09.540: But frankly, I don't know that a lot of people are doing it.
37:13.020: Speaker 2: Like I use the I use the default.
37:15.580: Speaker 2: I think at the latest one I like changed was the open and timeline thing, but
37:20.140: Speaker 2: Like, so I mapped that to a command and forward slash because I found myself doing that a lot with like, you know, either compound clips or what have you.
37:27.339: Speaker 2: So I just wanted to see, like, all right, I just need a quick way to get this going.
37:30.619: So like if you have a compound clip
37:32.260: In your project, and you want to open it in its own timeline?
37:36.100: Yeah.
37:36.420: Is that what you're saying?
37:37.460: And is that any different than just double-clicking it?
37:40.340: Speaker 2: You know, I guess it's just more of like.
37:43.780: Speaker 2: Sometimes I switch between the two, so like, you know, double-click it or just, you know, keyboard shortcut it.
37:47.780: Speaker 2: So it's like, I kind of just, I don't even remember why I did it.
37:51.780: Speaker 2: I just, I guess I just wanted to shortcut for opening timeline, to be honest.
37:54.500: More ninja, that's why.
37:55.620: Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.
37:56.260: That's the way a ninja cuts.
37:57.920: Speaker 2: Exactly.
37:59.680: Yeah, I think that my favorite one is you can toggle on and off all of the color correction.
38:06.240: with a keyboard with a keyboard shortcut, if you make it.
38:09.120: I mean, it is a command that is in the keyboard editor that does not I mean, it does exist, I guess, if you if you imagine clicking the little color button.
38:20.320: Right.
38:20.800: You know, but that's, you know, it's just one of those things.
38:24.960: I learned that from Ben Consoli when he was on the show.
38:28.240: He was like, oh, yeah, check this out.
38:29.520: And I'm like, oh, mind blown.
38:33.200: Absolutely.
38:36.580: Have you had any conversations with other editors who like give you the dirty look when you tell them you're cutting something in ten?
38:43.040: Speaker 2: Funny story, someone actually referred me to a freelance gig that where most of the editors using 10.
38:48.320: Speaker 2: And I'm like, and I was like, that's not a problem.
38:50.720: Speaker 2: I'll go cut in 10.
38:51.600: Speaker 2: No big deal.
38:52.080: Speaker 2: It's like, you know, sure, like at the Tribune, we're
38:54.760: Speaker 2: Mostly in Adobe place, but at home, you know, I switch between 10 and Premiere.
38:58.280: Speaker 2: So it's like, you know, like I said before, I try to be as NLE agnostic as possible.
39:02.440: Speaker 2: So, you know, I have no problem taking 10 jobs or taking jobs for other NLEs.
39:06.920: Speaker 2: It's no longer an issue.
39:08.320: Speaker 2: Like if you if I you said that to me, ask me to do that type of gig like a year ago, though like, hell no.
39:15.200: Speaker 2: No.
39:17.120: So this is interesting.
39:18.320: So so this is a guy, he's another editor you knew.
39:22.800: He got offered the gig.
39:25.020: He chose to not do it because it was 10 and he offered it to you.
39:29.339: Is that what you're saying?
39:30.540: Speaker 2: Yeah.
39:31.180: Speaker 2: Oh, that's awesome
39:34.100: Speaker 2: It's like, all right, more work for me.
39:36.660: And this goes back to what we were saying earlier: that this is how it is going to come about.
39:43.420: Right.
39:43.740: That more and more we are going to see people that are, you know, either like for in Alex's case.
39:53.020: He has worked he's now done a couple of music videos that were cut in ten, and he had to do the final grade on them.
40:01.620: And it's like, okay, yeah, fine.
40:03.380: I mean, you know, he's blown away at how good the XML works.
40:07.780: You know, the XML connection between
40:10.820: 10 and Resolve.
40:12.500: And I don't use Resolve and I don't do that kind of stuff.
40:16.420: But from what I understand, it's the best XML interpretation.
40:20.720: Speaker 2: You know, I think the XML is the one thing I haven't tried out.
40:23.359: Speaker 2: Like the funny, I was actually you know, because I had some downtime.
40:27.599: Speaker 2: I was actually trying to get a handle on how the multicam works because the last I think I've done like three projects so far with ten.
40:33.620: Speaker 2: recently and I haven't had to use multicam.
40:35.700: Speaker 2: It's just mostly been like, you know, overlaying B-roll on top of interviews or shop one angle.
40:39.940: Speaker 2: So try to handle the multicam.
40:41.940: Speaker 2: I also referred to that one multicam tutorial you did.
40:44.260: Speaker 2: I know it was
40:45.240: Speaker 2: More of a specialized effect that I was just trying to get a handle, and I was just really impressed by how well the multicam handled.
40:50.440: Dude, the multicam, I think, is the slam dunk Final Cat 10 selling point.
40:54.680: Oh, yeah.
40:55.400: You know, um
40:57.500: And do you know Barry Anderson?
41:01.900: He's a producer in Minnesota, a friend of mine.
41:05.100: And
41:05.799: He, I've been giving him a hard time about switching to 10 because he's still rocking out Final Cut 7 all the time.
41:11.720: And I'm like, oh, you got to be kidding me.
41:14.039: Really?
41:15.480: So he texts me the other night.
41:16.920: He's like, I need some help.
41:17.960: Can you?
41:18.640: Please, please help me.
41:20.160: So I get on the I get on Skype with him and he's like, um, so I got to do this multicam thing.
41:27.279: I said, Okay, h do you have Final Cut 10 yet?
41:30.400: He goes
41:31.460: No.
41:33.380: And I'm like, all right, I will help you under one condition.
41:38.900: You got to get final chat 10 on your machine.
41:40.740: He goes.
41:41.340: That means I'm gonna have to get Mavericks too.
41:43.340: And I said, call me in a couple hours.
41:48.140: So
41:49.120: So he gets on, he um he texts me like, you know, forty five minutes later, All right, Mavericks is installed.
41:55.360: I'm downloading 10 now.
41:57.520: And so then I get you know, I get the other message, All right, I'm ready to go now.
42:03.799: And so I talked him through the process, you know, because he was basically cutting this thing.
42:10.119: It's actually something I just tweeted the other day, and I will say it's definitely of adult content, but it's a
42:18.120: It is a it's it's kind of funny.
42:20.600: It's basically Sesame Street rated R.
42:24.280: Okay?
42:25.000: Like it's it's it's people and puppets, and the puppets are doing completely inappropriate things.
42:29.799: But so he had this musical number in it.
42:33.079: Oh, yes, and it's a musical.
42:35.799: And so I talked him through.
42:38.039: I said, you know, he was cutting it all in seven.
42:39.799: I said, well, let's find your clips.
42:41.640: Now we're going to start a 10 project.
42:44.260: You know, we'll mark them as, you know, these are the ones I need to multi-cam.
42:47.619: And I just walked him through the whole thing, and he was blown away.
42:51.920: Like literally.
42:52.960: And I think the thing is, is like not everybody has access to a true multicam project.
42:58.480: It drives me nuts when I see multicam demos.
43:03.300: Or product shots, and it's not even a multi-cam shoot.
43:08.260: You know, having four different shots of four different surfers on four different waves, that's not a multi-cam.
43:15.540: But I mean, it's so easy to take and you know, you got three friends at a bar or whatever, and just say, Hey, let's all shoot the band with our iPhones.
43:27.560: You know?
43:28.440: Right.
43:29.000: And then, you know, not to mention that what did you think of Apple's 30th anniversary video that they shot all on iPhone?
43:36.280: Did you see it?
43:36.920: Speaker 2: That was pretty good.
43:37.720: Speaker 2: Like, I know, what's it called?
43:39.960: Speaker 2: I think.
43:41.240: Speaker 2: One of my editor friends I know, his name's Dave Vasultu Dave Vasulto, and he's the I think he's the guy who created the the iPad the iographer.
43:48.920: Speaker 2: So I know they were using that.
43:50.200: Speaker 2: I thought it was pretty impressive.
43:51.240: Speaker 2: Like the quality of footage was incredible.
43:53.240: Speaker 2: And now spanning across like
43:55.340: Speaker 2: so many countries and all that.
43:57.260: So Yeah, yeah.
43:58.940: Apparently it was all shot in like thirty hours, you know, and all, you know
44:05.140: Through the eyes of one director, Jake Scott, J really Scott's son.
44:10.660: Yeah, I think the big trick in that is you got to learn how to use the exposure lock trick.
44:15.560: You know, where you can actually do you know how to do that with the iPhone?
44:19.480: Speaker 2: No, I'm still rocking iPhone 4, so I haven't gotten to the no, no, no, I think you could do it on iPhone 4.
44:24.840: I have a 4S.
44:26.780: If you open up your video camera, boy, here we're getting into total nerdy stalkers.
44:32.460: You go into the video mode.
44:36.779: And then you click and hold on the frame.
44:43.180: Oh, it may not work in video.
44:44.619: Yes, it does.
44:45.660: You click and hold on the frame and then let go.
44:48.920: And what you'll get is you'll get an exposure and focus lock.
44:53.640: So the auto iris doesn't go wonky on you.
44:56.600: Speaker 2: Okay.
44:57.160: I don't know if it works on a 4.
44:58.520: It definitely works on a 4S.
45:00.240: Speaker 2: All right, I definitely gotta try that.
45:01.600: Speaker 2: It's gotta play around with this more because I'm probably a generation behind you, so I definitely need to update my phone.
45:06.480: Speaker 2: My buddy's been using Siri like crazy with his iPhone 5.
45:09.040: Speaker 2: I'm just like, seriously, dude.
45:11.200: I'm gonna break your fingers.
45:16.100: So yeah, no, that that's actually a really but at any rate, the the gooding ba again, sidetracked on the iPhone.
45:23.140: These conversations we do, Kaz, we're totally distracted.
45:26.640: Um being it j just shoot something that's truly multi-cam.
45:31.359: Even if it's just like, you know, you have three friends with iPhones.
45:35.200: Uh
45:36.580: You know, at a restaurant and just shoot each other and see how easy it is to cut between it.
45:41.460: It's magic.
45:42.580: It's so magical.
45:44.180: It's really.
45:45.599: It is.
45:46.560: I sound like Phil Schiller on stage.
45:49.920: It's magical.
45:50.880: Really?
45:51.280: I don't think it's I don't think I would call that magic.
45:53.839: I think you're doing audio syncing and then you're cutting.
45:56.720: But at any rate, when you get into that and just the ability to
46:00.380: open up the um the multicam clip editor where you know when you double click on it in the library
46:08.740: Right.
46:09.220: You can like rearrange the priority of your cameras.
46:12.260: It it actually it made me realize that one of the there's a tutorial on my website I have to just take down because it's so factually wrong now.
46:20.420: It's all referring to like old
46:22.640: multicam issues and stuff.
46:25.440: I should probably go delete that today.
46:27.839: So you mentioned earlier the plugins.
46:31.200: Right.
46:31.680: What are some plug ins that you couldn't live without in Final Fit 10?
46:35.920: Speaker 2: Well, I definitely need like the the basic stuff.
46:38.480: Speaker 2: So I know I down like I was always amazed by the stuff that Alex Gullner was creating.
46:43.920: Speaker 2: So I definitely downloaded
46:45.340: Literally everything he had.
46:48.380: Speaker 2: And then love using the stuff in FX Factory, especially my friend Luca from Luca Visual Effects.
46:54.700: Speaker 2: Love his stuff.
46:55.260: Speaker 2: He probably makes probably some of the most like
46:57.640: Speaker 2: artistic looking plug-in and just they just definitely stand above the pack.
47:01.480: Speaker 2: And you know, so basically anything from FX Factory and
47:06.340: Speaker 2: I'm still waiting for the day when they actually do create a true audio cross resolve.
47:09.940: Speaker 2: Like I know there are ways around it, but if there's certain tools I want, if there's certain things I want to see in Falco Pro 10.
47:15.859: Speaker 2: I definitely want to see that.
47:16.980: Speaker 2: But also, I think with the tools panel, I think they should create like a storyline selector.
47:21.540: Speaker 2: So kind of like how we had the track selector back in
47:24.220: Speaker 2: Seven, like just selecting storylines.
47:25.900: Speaker 2: Like, I've tried, I tried to figure out the way Mark Spencer and all of them do it at Ripple Trend using a timeline index, but it's still kind of like
47:34.000: Speaker 2: Still kind of tough for me to get wrap my head around that.
47:36.640: Speaker 2: So maybe like a storyline selector would be cool.
47:38.240: Speaker 2: But in terms of plugins, just like anything from like
47:41.500: Speaker 2: you know, FX Factory, Core Melt, and Alex 4D.
47:45.900: Yeah, I think my favorite, like literally, I feel silly saying this, but the most
47:54.380: Like, pleased I have been in the longest time about a plug-in was Alex's Gross Shrink one.
48:02.339: Speaker 2: Great plugin.
48:03.220: Speaker 2: And I think they have something like that.
48:04.579: Speaker 2: They have like I think IDustrial Revolution with their XFX4, because I actually wrote a review on the XFX toolkit.
48:11.060: Speaker 2: They had like four shrinking plugins, like Grow and Shrink.
48:13.940: Speaker 2: So and I was like
48:15.420: Speaker 2: See, that's the I like the ones that basically fill in the gaps that Fonka Pro 10 left off.
48:20.060: Speaker 2: So basically like the utility plugins that you know as an editor, you're going to need.
48:23.180: Speaker 2: So it's like you have to deal smartphone footage
48:25.460: Speaker 2: They have a plug-in for that.
48:26.580: You know, you have to deal with what's wa so.
48:29.060: What does the smartphone footage thing do?
48:31.300: Speaker 2: Well, basically, what it does with uh so basically you have like if you know how like w when people sh you know, shoot with their smartphone or their iPhone, some of them shoot uh
48:38.859: Speaker 2: Vertically, so that way you gotta like take the footage, you gotta blow it up, you know, first take the footage, put it in your timeline, put a duplicate on top and then blow up the one that's on track one.
48:49.940: Speaker 2: The primary storyline, and you know, blur that out and then add a drop shot.
48:53.780: But it does all of that in one plug-in.
48:55.940: Speaker 2: Yeah, it's basically just a
48:57.660: Speaker 2: Just a title layer, so you know, an adjustment layer or title layer, whatever you want to call it.
49:02.460: Speaker 2: And it's just so much simpler, it just takes all that hassle out.
49:06.220: Yeah, you know, I think when people start to see the the ecosystem, and I tell you, my favorite way
49:15.360: Except for the Alex stuff, I mean, I'm just blown away at FX Factory.
49:19.040: I think what Nicholas has done there and just the fact that now it's like this subscription thing.
49:26.320: Like when I launch
49:29.080: FX Factory, I log in with my username and ID and I have access to all my plugins.
49:35.480: It's crazy
49:36.820: It is.
49:37.300: Speaker 2: And those guys are really at the forefront of how plug-in management should be.
49:40.660: Speaker 2: It's like the way you see how everyone else is doing it, it's just like they're kind of still in this somewhat archaic system where these guys are like the iTunes of plugins.
49:49.060: Right.
49:49.920: Exactly.
49:50.960: Yes, by the way, did you see the latest one from Stupid Raisin that they just released called Data Pop?
49:57.040: Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
49:57.520: Speaker 2: And Infographics.
49:59.120: Speaker 2: Those are like Infographics are like the new lens flares.
50:01.380: Speaker 2: These days.
50:01.700: Speaker 2: So it's like everyone and their mothers creating those.
50:05.540: Speaker 2: And it's like, you know, I figured someone was going to create a plug-in that would do that.
50:08.980: Speaker 2: Who better than Dylan to do that?
50:11.140: Right, right, right.
50:12.799: Yeah.
50:13.359: So yeah, the the plug-in community in Final Content.
50:16.880: You know, everybody says that if nobody was using
50:21.220: this software, Final Caten, then nobody would be making plugins.
50:24.819: And yet it's the complete opposite of that.
50:26.980: There's such a huge community of people doing it.
50:29.700: Oh, yeah.
50:31.000: It's so funny.
50:32.040: Alex once said to me, he goes, Alex4D, by the way, we're talking about.
50:36.839: You go to blog.
50:37.960: alix4d.
50:39.240: com and then there's a link at the top of the page for like Final Cut 10 plugins.
50:42.960: And he's got like 30 or 40 free plugins.
50:45.920: Speaker 2: Right.
50:46.240: Speaker 2: He has a whole like toolkit.
50:47.840: Speaker 2: And I'm like, and it's so gracious that he gives those away for free.
50:50.560: Speaker 2: I'm like, you know why he does that?
50:52.880: I asked him, I said, why don't you just bundle this, you know, like 20 bucks or something like that?
50:56.940: And he goes, you know, they only take me like three minutes to make, so I don't feel right in actually charging people.
51:03.339: Like, dude, no, I would pay you in a heartbeat for some of these things.
51:08.859: Speaker 2: It's awesome.
51:09.840: Speaker 2: Right.
51:10.160: Speaker 2: You know, it's like, wow.
51:12.560: Yeah, and it just further makes me feel completely stupid.
51:15.360: Really?
51:15.680: You do that in three minutes?
51:16.800: I'd give me three days, maybe.
51:18.720: I might be able to come up with it.
51:20.700: Speaker 2: Right, right.
51:21.740: Speaker 2: And like there's also one other plugin I forgot to mention.
51:24.300: Speaker 2: I actually found this on the fcp.
51:27.100: Speaker 2: co forum.
51:27.900: Speaker 2: It was made by
51:30.020: Speaker 2: Dave Walsh, he has a handle of no commotions.
51:32.740: Speaker 2: He made this LumaMask plugin.
51:34.500: Speaker 2: Because one of the things I noticed when it came to dealing with compositing or matting in File Compro 10 is that it seemed like it was a much more
51:42.740: Speaker 2: tedious process than when you've dealt with it in Falcon Pro 7 or in Premiere.
51:46.260: Speaker 2: So it's like you had to use compound clips to match stuff, or you have to use the key or then compound clip.
51:51.060: Speaker 2: And I was like
51:52.299: Speaker 2: You know, come on, like, I've been hearing all this stuff about how Falcon can pretend it's supposed to be quicker, new paradigm.
51:57.260: Speaker 2: And when I hear new and quicker, I want it to be new and quicker, not
52:00.920: Speaker 2: slightly more complicated.
52:02.040: Speaker 2: So like he created this awesome plugin called the LumaMask plugin.
52:05.160: Speaker 2: Actually he was actually one of my first Fonka Pro 10 template you know, Fonka Pro 10 template
52:10.420: Speaker 2: Tutorials and it allowed me to do what I've have been able to do in other MLEs, and I thought it was a great plugin.
52:17.460: Speaker 2: And he gives it away for free.
52:18.740: So Easy Luma Mask in Funnel Cut 10.
52:22.660: Speaker 2: Yeah.
52:24.140: By Dave Walsh.
52:25.420: Yeah.
52:26.300: Actually, you know, I think what you're experiencing there, I would say that, you know, I've seen the kind of stuff you do and the
52:34.400: The tutorials that you have and the workflows that you have, they're very advanced things, you know?
52:40.000: I mean, I would say
52:42.520: Most editors that I deal with that I speak with, I won't say that most, but I would say a lot of editors, they don't know what a luminum mask is.
52:50.700: Right, right, I understand that.
52:51.980: Oh, you're doing that like a effecty compositing thing.
52:54.940: It's like, oh, no, not really.
52:57.740: But like if you understand that little bit of workflow
53:02.980: And you understand the implications of what it means, you will use it.
53:07.540: It will save you so much time, even though
53:10.359: The process of setting up the Luma mask might take extra time.
53:13.400: Like, one of the things that I do a lot is like if you have sort of a double box look,
53:19.300: It is much easier to do one of two things.
53:23.220: Either key the boxes over the frames so it's easier to reframe inside, or do a Luma mask
53:31.420: For each of the boxes.
53:33.660: And then that way it's easier to frame it inside the box.
53:37.820: Too many people look at it and they go, Oh, there's a frame of video squeezed back and cropped
53:43.799: over a white or gray or whatever background.
53:47.160: But then to reframe it, you have to change all your crops again.
53:51.319: Not cool.
53:52.700: You know, but when you understand how you can do something like that with the Lumen Mask, I'm downloading this thing right now.
53:59.660: Speaker 2: Oh, sweet.
54:01.420: That's a no-brainer.
54:03.020: Yeah.
54:03.420: Did not.
54:03.900: Oh, look at this.
54:05.040: Check out the tutorials by Kez, the NLA Ninja.
54:08.640: Hey, Kez, this is running kind of long.
54:11.600: Any final things you want to mention, stuff you've been doing that you want to plug?
54:17.160: Speaker 2: Well, definitely I'm going to be creating more Fonka Pro 10 tutorials.
54:21.560: Speaker 2: And I also said on my website that I will no longer show support for Fonka Pro 7.
54:27.480: Speaker 2: It's not a matter of do I think it's still a viable NLE?
54:30.280: Speaker 2: It's just like.
54:31.320: Speaker 2: I've made peace with it.
54:32.760: Speaker 2: I could let it go.
54:34.120: Speaker 2: And I feel that Premiere fills the gap that Falcon 1st 7 used to have.
54:38.440: Speaker 2: So it kind of has taken over its place.
54:40.360: Speaker 2: But overall,
54:41.440: Speaker 2: when it comes to what I do.
54:43.200: Speaker 2: It's like, I do support Fonka Pretend.
54:45.359: Speaker 2: It is a professional and a lead, and it's definitely something that people should definitely check out.
54:49.520: Speaker 2: And with the strides it's making, you'll be amazed.
54:53.340: Very cool.
54:54.140: Very cool.
54:54.940: Well, thanks for sharing your Sunday afternoon.
54:57.900: Appreciate it.
54:58.940: No problem.
55:00.780: So once again, that was Kez Akolono, the
55:03.660: Eneli Ninja.
55:04.780: You can find his website.
55:06.220: I think I mentioned it earlier at, let me think it's WordPress.
55:10.220: Enneli ninja.
55:11.500: wordpress.
55:12.460: com.
55:13.120: and he's all over YouTube.
55:14.800: So his his tutorials are very they're very clear.
55:18.720: He's he's obviously rehearsing them and he doesn't make as many mistakes as I do.
55:24.720: But you should definitely check out his work.
55:27.740: So that's it for this episode.
55:29.420: Thanks again for listening.
55:30.620: It is astonishing to me just to know that people are listening, and I'm getting some great comments on iTunes, so I really appreciate that.
55:38.920: And let me think.
55:40.040: Anything else I need to say?
55:41.560: I'm going to be on the road this week.
55:43.880: I'm going to be doing a few episodes from my hotel room.
55:46.920: I'm working
55:48.500: for a client down in Southern California.
55:51.220: So I'm pretty sure I'll have a Friday morning
55:56.720: Show actually now looking at the production calendar, it might be tough.
56:00.799: But I'm gonna try and get that done early in the week and get it posted so it'll come out um Friday morning.
56:06.000: So thanks again.
56:07.599: We will be back next time with the Final Cut Grill.
56:11.559: Wait or later.