HelsinkiZim

I know its tiring but everything anyone says on any topic is hackneyed now because thats the nature of the internet. No opinion is new. But the fact that you have seen this opinion many times before must mean that something is wrong for a lot of people, maybe not all, but enough for for you to get tired by the complaints. I agree its lazy to want nothing to change, but when you have choices as a consumer, it is frustrating when something you have supported for so long changes its focus to a newer clientele. I am old and worked with final cut from circa 1999 so I can honestly say that fcpx was the biggest shift in its interface by a very long way. I have never had to change workflow to adapt to all the previous changes. That is just a fact for me. I also agree that it is a pleasure to use, which is why I was suggesting a newer editor would benefit from a challenge. It is MY belief that as things stand the industry standard for editing will be soon won by Adobe, if not already. But then again, there is no 'industry' anymore and maybe that is Apples point. Eh, what do I know? What do you know either? We all have credits, have worked on documentaries to commercials, as production assistants to directors, editors, production coordinators on our own projects to others, filmed events and weddings... by now we have all worn the hats and all been paid for our work. We are entitled to our opinions.

I was doing a translation of an interview today and the translator did not get the feeling that it was professional program. It was a bit awkward. I didn't have to explain what I was clicking and tapping, but I felt I did. Because of the silly interface. Yeah, looks are in the eye of the beholder yada yada, but sometimes you need a professional looking interface - even if just for your ego. They all do the same thing anyways, unless you want to expand to a specialist career. Sebastian Le Croix is already here. Again, Adobe.

That would be Apple Motion X or ... 5? Op is on about jumping in TODAY and which eco system. FCPX workflow is simple, I will readily admit. But my point is that figuring out 'workarounds' will never substitute the education from grabbing for ropes and falling on your ass. Which is AE and Cinema 4D. Which I think justifies going to Premiere Pro to assemble, rather that bootlegging it around the park. *no disrespect to the quality of each end product, which will be the same, and faster by bootleg, but not long sighted in my opinion. ... and a work-around is anytime you have to step away from the beaten path and it cannot be handled natively with a google search. Systems are last decade and adaptability is now, and Apple is behind the 8 ball with regards to this. You cannot honestly say they are not... can you?

I started using Final Cut something... well, before it was Pro. 1998 it was. 7 years later I bought into the Premiere experience. Bug ridden, incompatible, drag and drop loveliness. My other freelance colleagues berated me for not being part of their mac 'Eco-system'. I was unprofessional by software allegiance. I moved back to FCP7 to please the asses, sorry, masses. All good... until FCPX. I hate this fucking program like I hate nothing else in this world. It is intuitive if you are a 5th grade student 'upgrading' from Sony Vegas. And yes, Pixel Film's FCPX Plugins are cotton candy for anyone with a search engine and a VPN. I will not say you need to become a REAL editor, that does not exist anymore. We can all edit. All I can say is that to stand out from the crowd you need to know at least pseudo-After Effects, like template titles, info-graphic rubbish... but you need to learn it to produce commercial work that currently impresses the people paying your bills. The kids who studied. Because you will not be able to pay for a mo-graph specialist to bail you out of every project. Even on Fiverr (They lie about skills and prices). Graphics and motion still cost. And mo-graph specialists will be out of a job in 10 years, so if you start doing your downloaded Lynda tutorials then, it will be too late. Oh, and you will soon be expected to know pseudo-3D animation. Product promos and such. Because Sebastian La Croix D.O.P. will have just graduated and will create a Martian virtual 3D environment 'for his show-reel' for free. The only editing software that will integrate with everything you will need to know to maintain a video production business now and tommorrow, is Premiere Pro. (Premier Pro - After Effects - Mocha - Cinema 4D) *see lynda.com No plug-in cheat-sheet, drag and drop camera shake, gross grading 'looks', crash and lose-it-all save button non-exxistence, storyline, idiot proof 'effects' (think not Red Giant Particular) so-called plug ins... ... but you will be in the last ecosystem in our field that still produces buggers who cannot be bothered to learn expressions. Adobe (creative cloud)! Or kick.. Huh?!? Go embarrass yourself on Creative Cow and you are set. But soon they will know it all. And you should too. Only Premiere will help you with that. FCPX will spit in you face. It does not love you. It loves the iPhone. And iPhone says FCP... who?

The key to weddings is to be like maggot. Slip around, like water... but really like maggot. That's what you are. Eat when no-one is looking. In fact, do everything when no-one is looking. Bride. You're golden!

Here are a few music videos that should be ashamed to call themselves music videos!!!!!! Just utterly against the music video universal protocol. Dear me. Just home video footage if you ask me.

If the big boys from Japan Head Office (Canon, Sony...) would just start to compete with the jump-starts and disrupt-tors (bmd, kinefinity, etc) and stop trying to play to the folks who don't want any challenges and want their buttons where they used to be, our worlds could be rocked overnight. They can do it, they just won't. They want to milk us for all we have. Those that are doing it are being marginalized due to buyer skepticism. But I tell you what, I did a search in vimeo yesterday for '4.6k' and you guys should see what people are producing by just walking out the front door (narrow your search to the last 30 days - just looking at the thumbnails should tell you that times are changing. No more cat test videos, everything looks like it belongs in a TVC ((if that ideology exists anymore???)). Have we stopped to ask ourselves what happens when everyone has 15 stops and filmconvert? Are we going into the super DR phase, like the super desaturated phase of 2 years ago (can someone tell mr bloom)? However, I still look at BMD vids and I don't get that anxious feeling like when I am watching an Alexa film, shot in low light (or graded that way, I don't know). Your brain tells you its too dark to see shit, but you see everything as clear as day without even having to pay attention. Its an odd viewer experience that I guess you image pros call dynamic range, roll off, science etc. I just think see it, and I know the difference from someone lowering exposure in post or shooting without light. That conflict to me is the essence of what we are trying to evoke in the average viewer - something that makes them sit up in their chair and go back to minute 1 - because something was off, but so good - it pushed the boundaries of what we see everyday. Soon we will see great images everyday, what then? Please don't say story. To me that is like an ad man saying we need a 'documentary feel'. It doesn't mean anything. Every time you put one image after the other, you are telling a story. In fact, when you pick up a camera, you are telling a story, even if you don't turn it on. Everything is subjective and nothing is new. You can only improve on the design. In our world, that means mixing different influences together to make something appear new. I could go on for days about the evolution of art. Filmmakers are no different to those who came before us, who expressed themselves with light. We are subject to the time we live in and everynow and then a true virtuoso will appear, but they are usually a talisman for many who are doing the same thing, some even better. WHy I have sat here writing this, I don't know. Bedtime.

I think the next move should be to simply have the best 4K image on any dlsr available. No tweaks in post, adjustments to settings, external recorders, upgrades... just the best 4k video image we have seen from a €1000 photography camera (that works out of the box, no upgrades, just fuc*ing works.). BMD imagery with GH4 functionality, hell, keep photo functionality for the time-hyper-lapse nuts... but make that awesome too. Prores and throw every other codec in the garbage, stop trying to make it work, just ditch it and develop on what works. Global... rolling, figure it out. China is figuring it out. But then they are trying to break into a market where someone is trying to charge me 6000 euros for a form factor change with NO other advantages (fs5 fs700). So we are paying more up to 10 000 euros more for the same specs with more brand recognition... oh and all the buttons in the right place. And internal ND. And... Zacuto aftermarket products.

I am looking for a tripod and I wouldn't want to spend more than 800. i wont be using any big camera set ups, but I will be using a slider system so that needs to hold steady. Do the knock offs re-sell OK or should I stick with Manfrotto and other brand names? What load capacity should cover GH4 with full rig up to slider system will Cinema Camera? I am looking at this http://cvp.com/index.php?t=product/manfrotto_504hd546gbk

If we could all pitch in a bit more about feedback on work and less on camera specs, a lot of people who actually take action, like yourself, would greatly benefit. Not that you need advice to create good, professional work - as you have done - just as a general discussion/ support to get creative juices flowing for next projects or moral support, idea generation etc. To me that is a true community. Feedback, feedback, feedback, tech specs, more feedback, newb questions answered, feedback... Not that I have anything to add of use! But we should feel obliged to review the work of our peers if they ask for it from our own weird spectrum of experience. Thinking more about this famous 'story' everyone keeps talking about. Here we have someone who has created a story and... no response. Anyways, I digress... Keep up the good work! edit (additional stuff): I think most people are shy to give feedback because they don't want to come across as assholes, but then there is also a few who simply think anything done by anyone else is irrelevant to their life experience so they don't even bother to look. Both extremes are products of our anonymous age unfortunately. Again, not that I have anything useful to say, I just see this as a good opportunity to get others who DO have something useful to say, to say SOMETHING. Sorry if I politicised your post, I tend to do that:)

Ah, ok, thanks for letting me know. The OP's query is still valid as to the benefits of stand alone FC.

Did you try turning off background rendering? I have had no problems with lag and stutter since I did that with the plug in. Preferences -> Playback. I would like to know if it helps for others.

I found that disabling the real time rendering helps speed things up for preview purposes in fcpx. But that's just my setup, may not apply to yours.

you mean only 6 years ago! Camera time is in a hyper reality. Like phones. Is this kind of progress sustainable? I would be happy with that footage today!

HVX200! No? What was the DR and bit output on that camera? edit: looks like hvx200

I think VR video or 360° video or VR... whatever we are eventually going to call it, is different than 3D VR - from a production standpoint. 3D VR has potential, in verticals such as education for kids and gaming. Animators are not limited by camera specs/ ergonomics/ location and the possibilities are seemingly endless. For video, based on the op's experience and my own suspicions prior, I feel its not so pretty a picture. Speaking of pictures, I first heard of 360° pictures in 1998. It was the new thing and we all wanted to do it. But one would have to have a stepped tripod head and you took a photo every so degrees. You would stitch it together in a program and output a flash (or Director?) movie, and upload in a QuickTime container. 5 years later you only needed a fish-eye lens and take 2 photos at 180° turns. Load it up and a program stitched etc... Mind, you could even create hotspots in flash so you could effectively walk through a door into the next VR room. Did it take off like gangbusters? No. I see the same for VR video, it feels a bit like a gimmick. Like Hardcore Henry first person POV (which was tried with minimal success in Doom 2005). It would probably do well for a music video with a decent budget, streaming 'put on your headset now' action sequences/ horror moments and fade out from there.

No, thats the RED® EXOSKELETON® RAPIDAMMO SENSOR™® Please do your research before posing on this forum.

Have any of you experienced amateur flyers made the jump to arm and vest? I know if you go onto steadicam forum people will yell at you if you suggest you want to buy anything cheaper than +6K. But have any of you used some of the cheap vest and arm systems by came or others for under a grand? I know they are flawed, I have seen the reviews by the pros. But for the dslr crowd who don't need that level of perfection needed on a hollywood shoot, are they better than a cheap gimbal? Footstep bumps and that 'cruiseliner' sway seems to disappear once you get an arm and vest... from what I see in vids (tom antos does a came review somewhere).

Yeah, I could have said it in 2 sentences like I just did... but then I don't know how I should have done most things until I do them:) I do enjoy your posts BTW.

Dude, I don't get mad at my computer. But I was just offering the other opinion that sometimes you need to just gamble and put yourself in the ring. Some have found success this way, but also many have failed.

Kaylee, did you get the press release which states that women are banned from joining the RED ecosystem (including forums)*? Apparently, the offense is punishable by having to spend the rest of your life married to a 6ft 2in tall Steadicam operator and go to sleep every night only after he has shown you his daily selfie of his arm extension supporting a 65kg camera. *joke! Honestly, I do often wonder how women respond to the clearly male focused marketing of that company. I guess Raven is a name taking a step in the right direction. Its still a bit dark given ravens in the creative context, was it Edgar Allan Poe who had issue with them, and Hitchcock? Someone in marketing must be going through some dark times.

TLDR; Get the RED because making videos these days is not a frat whereby you need to do time in the ranks. I respectfully disagree. Not trying to troll, but I think we like to create barriers that don't exist in this profession, as it is a natural response to the commodification of industry that technology advancements are driving. It is the same feeling the taxi drivers had in France when Uber started to be a threat, the natural reaction is to try to protect the many years and hard work you have put into becoming a professional. But the 'technology of things' is allowing the next generation to get to your level of professionalism faster than it used to. Filmmaking went from being a craft to a skill to a hobby in such a short amount of time that my head is still spinning. In every profession you start as an amateur and at some point you realise that you are in fact a professional. For doctors, lawyers, scientists and other professions where your blunders can possibly kill people, there are obviously a lot of hurdles you have to jump before you can pop that MD on your business card. Film-making is not one of these professions. In fact the whole allure of independent filmmaking is that you grew up hearing stories of people who begged, borrowed or put on credit (or stole, in Werner Herzog's case) the monies to fund their first feature. Did Rodrigeuz or Tarantino know the benefits/ limitations of every single camera on the market before they decided they wanted to play with the big boys? I doubt it. They figured it out along the way because they knew they were not trying to build a jet propulsion engine. They were making a movie. Now we cripple ourselves by thinking about the mechanics and science of every last detail that we end up making really 'safe' choices that add up in time and money over the years trying to plug holes in deficiencies (sound capture, monitoring, ergornomics, time in post...), and most would have been better off just taking the big risk to begin with. To make an analogy, I feel like we are car enthusiasts, in a sense that, DSLR users are like the guys who buy a Ford Escort hatchback and spend money on souping up the car so it sounds and speeds like a high end sports car... but it is not a Bugatti, no matter how hard it tries. But what is happening is the price of the jacked up Ford Escort is coming closer to a base model BMW, metaphorically, so you might as well get the beamer. But in a sense you are right that, due to pure statistics of how many people have failed at making a living in this business, both hollywood and work-from-home/ small office video production... it is wise to advise someone against putting themselves in financial distress over a camera system when something much cheaper essential would satisfy their potential clients/ cinematic needs. Its a fools gamble to take if it affects the well being of you and your family. But if you are suggesting that there is a learning curve that takes "months/years/decades" for someone to learn how to get the best out of a camera you own and could afford, that is a bit pessimistic. With Andrews guide, the manual, vimeo project descriptions/ comments, youtube tutorials and a few weeks trial and error - I think you would be very well informed about the GH4. Especially if you have been using prosumer cameras for a few years. I just feel that if you feel you can afford it, get the best camera you can buy and spend the years learning how to use it to tell a variety of stories or projects, rather than a camera that is best for niche subjects. The idea that training wheels are still needed in the video game is not as true as it used to be when every aspect of a production was a mystery. 12 years ago if you wanted to know how to focus pull, someone would physically have to train you because who the hell could afford a follow focus system. The same with motion graphics, who had a computer powerful enough to learn at home in their underwear. Who could afford anything but a zoom lens for their XL1, if you wanted to understand how lenses worked you had to assist a pro. Anyways, I conclude that we should not discourage people from punching above their weight because it is never a matter of IF they will ever figure out how to max out the camera, it is only when and we should not underestimate the power a young, hungry individual with time and the power of a google search. I would advise to spend those months and years with a Red rather than a GH4. It makes no difference really. I'm playing the name the next RED game. It's fun, you should give it a try! Think of the most macho words you can imagine and up the specs!

i think you meant the new RED® NUCLEAR WARHEAD w/ VIAGRA-X SENSOR™® - 8K (6.5K 400p cropped)

Don't worry, when I get on my pedestal my posts are looong. But, eh, no one is paying me to be concise.

For a laugh, i'll break down this email from a salesman's/ executive producer's point of view. "Greetings! - denotes all times of day and suggests something festive is entailed. Yes, we actually exist and have a voice. - you don't know who we are but you did at some point, but you have forgotten. We are incredibly grateful and humbled by all the support. - OK, even if you don't remember us, everyone else does. (Classic 'humblebrag'). And because of that, we are only sharing the following email to you—our early adopter email list. - FYI, you are special and unique and part of a private club who got in first. Aren't you lucky? We have looked forward to sending this email for months. You should know that we will not publish this anywhere else. That means you are the first to know. - you owe us your attention because we have invested a lot of time on this product exclusively for your benefit, and you have such a unique opportunity here because we haven't told the world about it yet because you are our favorite person. When we tell everyone, we can't make any promises on your VIP status. I bet many of you have wondered, “What’s the deal with Craft?" There has been an outpouring of interest for Craft from all over the world and from all walks of life—from Hollywood, indies, corporate marketing departments, agencies, and amateurs. They have reached out by the thousands trying to figure out what we are working on. - (more humblebrag) My lord, have you been missing out! For over a year, we have been developing the Craft Camera—a new system that we believe will help users tell better stories. - we have developed a system to make you a creative genius, you are a craftsman and we are called Craft, geddit? On April 18th around 12pm EST, we will announce Craft Camera on craftcamera.com. This announcement will include initial information, a first glimpse of the Craft Camera, and we will start taking initial reservations. - Sshhh, listen, here are some hard facts. We are committing to a time and place for one time only. We will blow you away with a few seconds of footage and allow you to give us your credit card details, BUT only if you are on time and in the right place. Since Craft Camera is still in development, we won’t be releasing every single detail because we hope to get feedback from reservation holders before we publish final details. - in case you aren't impressed, don't worry, you haven't been given all the information and glimpses yet, be patient and get in line anyways. We will figure this spec stuff out eventually once we receive enough complaints to warrant changes. A reservation will require a $500 deposit, your name, email, and phone number. Reservations will only be available on craftcamea.com and will be 100% refundable. Your deposit will be deducted from the total price once you place an order at a later date. - (classic close) Absolutely no risk involved. But wait there's more... As a reservation holder, you will also receive a 10% discount off your final order along with some additional perks like first looks, priority reservations on future products and a few other surprises. - (classic time sensitive bonuses) Please note we are offering a limited number of reservations which is why we wanted you to know about this first. This means when we hit our limit we will stop taking reservations. No exceptions. The reservations are first come first serve and when the cameras ship, we will do so in the order that the reservation was placed. - remember, this deal is exclusive to you and time sensitive. This is urgent! The Craft Camera comes in 2 models. There are 4K and HD models with a price range between $699 and $2899 depending on the configuration. Initial units will ship late 2016. - (actual information, vague, but actual information). Comforting because facts make you feel good, right? But not to many or you will commit from informed deliberation rather than impulse, which is not cool for us. I will leave you with this—we believe there is a huge need for Craft Camera. We believe it is a revolutionary product that will give production alums a great tool to do things they couldn’t do before while opening up storytelling through motion pictures to a whole new generation. - (rehash of making you a creative genius theme) You will have an advantage amongst your peers. You will be Spielberg, or maybe Jim Jarmusch... at the very least. With that said, we understand Craft Camera might not be for you and...we are fine with that! We will still treat you with respect and we hope the same from you. - seriously, no pressure. I am truly humbled by all the support, and I hope you become a part of the Craft family. - (humblebrag,) we have heritage and will be around forever. Keep telling beautiful stories. - we are on your side, you artist you *pinches cheek*. Monies? What's that? Scott Brag(g) - Mr. S. Humble... Founder of Craft Digital Systems Inc. " - the absolute boss and the ducks nuts. That was fun (for me). Having sold stuff from Kirby vacuum cleaners to tvc airtime, its a trip down memory lane. I wouldn't touch this kit with a ten foot pole. A bit too sleazy for me. If it's a young company then I would ditch the bullet-benefit-close-bonus approach and just talk about the things you are trying to solve for your target demographic. Visuals, ergonomics, mobility, compatibility... etc. (even if its just your intentions, with no hard specs to announce)