Apple updated FCPX, so I figured I should update this blog...

A new year. A new Final Cut Pro. A new machine to pair it with. More editors trying it out and beginning to take it seriously.

And yet... I haven't posted since October!

I underestimated my ability to edit a feature film on deadline while also teaching part-time AND keep up with what I initially imagined was going to be a week-to-week blog. In a single image, I can sum up what kept me away:

I'll clean up this timeline, promise.

Excuses, excuses.

Assembling Your 3rd Party Tool Belt: Two Key Questions

It's been well documented how many features were missing when FCPX was initially released. Apple has done a decent job of adding many features back that editors clamored for before they would remotely consider using X.

But Apple has still left many holes it expects third party developers to fill. It's possible Apple will eventually replace or modify features that editors live by in broadcast or feature environments. There's no telling really. I have a hunch that, from here forward, Apple will continue to let developers take on the features that either a) Apple still deems part of the "old workflow" or b) that Apple would like to have us think FCPX can take care of itself (a good example of this is color correction. FCPX's color correction tools aren't bad, but I wouldn't necessarily grade a feature with them).

Before launching into a feature film with X, we needed to determine we could take our edit to the next two stages of the post-production workflow: Export for a professional color correct and export our sound to Avid Pro Tools for a professional sound mix.

The first question was answered fairly quickly: Da Vinci Resolve can import FCPX's new XML file format natively. I've read in forums that there are have been a few issues that have come up for folks that have utilized this workflow, but that overall its fairly smooth.

Less straightforward is how to get your sound to Pro Tools. In FCP7, the editor would (ideally) organize the soundscape by placing different sound elements in designated track assignments. Then you would export directly out of FCP7 to OMF. Sometimes if a feature's soundscape is complex, it would require several, well-labeled OMFs to get the job done.

You can't export OMFs out of FCPX. Not without a little help.

Editor Jonny Elwyn Does Us All A Solid

Launching a Final Cut Pro X blog while in the midst of editing a feature in Final Cut Pro X is... well... a bit more of a challenge than I thought. That's not true: I knew it would be a challenge and my time to write thoughtful commentary regarding FCPX and our workflow would be tight, but I ventured forth anyway. But boy, has it been tight.

So in between my longer, more project specific posts I will, from time to time, share shorter pieces to give the two or three of you who may have placed this blog in your RSS reader of choice something chew on or explore outside of what I'm bringing to the FCPX table.

To reiterate, this blog was never meant to become a home for tutorials on how to use FCPX technically. I will get into some of that, yes, but if you are new to FCPX and looking for that type of resource, or if you have already dived into FCPX but still need some advice to help you shortcut a technical headache, a good place to start may be London-based editor's recent, aptly titled blog post:

FCPX - Tons of Resources

Final Cut Pro X: The Bold And The Brave, The... Wait, You're Not Serious Are You?

“Final Cut is dead.”

That said - there is curiosity and skepticism mixed with FCP’s decade-plus worth of history in independent film productions. Hence why I feel it deserves the attention of a blog diary such as this.

That’s all I’ve heard since Apple unveiled a re-imagining of their flagship editing program. Hell, even I said it after I sat down for five minutes looking at version 1.0...er... 10.0.

“This looks like iMovie.”

“What the hell is a magnetic timeline?”

“What do you mean no tracks?”

Two years later, skepticism remains high and rampant. When I attended the Sundance Doc Labs this summer, the wise veterans of the doc world declared over and over that Final Cut was dead and we had better learn Avid if we hadn’t already. (For the record, I have cut on Avid... though not nearly as much as I've cut on Final Cut.)

Final Cut Pro was the first professional NLE I came in contact with. My high school film teacher handed me v.1.2 and said, “Here, learn this.” Neither of us knew what kind of impact it would have on my future or my career.

I edited shorts and eventually features on Final Cut Pro. Over the course of a decade, I came to know it inside and out.

So... though even I had written off Final Cut Pro X (is that a number or a letter?) upon its initial release, I'm also one of the faithful deep inside. I had grown up with this program. It shaped my filmmaking career. Like I said: I’ve worked on Avid. I could (and should and will) learn Adobe Premiere. I still firmly believe each program is just a separate hammer for your creative toolbox.