The Editblog

If you have been an editor for hire for any real period of time then I bet you have been handed a stack of videotapes or a hard drive in a box (or maybe a grocery sack) with no labels, no notes and no identifying factors whatsoever as to the format, resolution or frame rate of the source footage. It can be a very frustrating experience. I recently posted an An open letter to DPs, camera ops, DITs – Please label tapes and disks over at the Editblog on PVC. Let’s hope it might help out at least one job somewhere in the world!

The EDITBLOG on PVC: The iPhone 3G S can’t really EDIT video!

Yes it’s cool and yes it works very well but despite all the stories that say differently, the new iPhone can’t yet actually edit video. It can only trim individual clips. I wrote a little post over on PVC discussing just that along with a few video samples from the phone just to see what the quality is like. Pretty good.

It’s only  a matter of time before the actual video editing applications arrive though … I wonder what will be the first? Are you working on an iPhone video editing application? Let is know in the comments or send an email over.

A couple of months ago I took my Canon HV20 and GT35pro lens adapter down to the Barber Motorsports Park to watch the Indy Racing League pre-season test. Just in time for tomorrow’s Indy 500 I (finally) got a little 3 minute edit of the footage that I shot. I used my 300mm zoom to try and get close to the cars. I produced an unintentional but very cool tilt-shift effect. Check out the video and discussion of the shooting and editing in a post at the Editblog on PVC.

I believe I posted this link over to the Keyboard Manifesto at the Editblog on PVC a bit after it came out but since the blog was being hacked for nearly a week it seems to be gone. Here’s an excerpt:

When it comes to increased productivity and better efficiency while editing, saving time every place an editor can will help increase that productivity and efficiency. And we all know saving time is the client’s favorite thing as saving time means saving money. My favorite time saver in Final Cut Pro has been to remap the majority of the default keyboard setup. Since I began using FCP way back around 1999, one of my earliest thoughts was that the default keys weren’t very well thought out.

The Keyboard Manifesto makes a case for remapping the default Final Cut Pro keyboard to something that is much more geared toward editing efficiency and not just remembering where the commands are on the keyboard are located by their first letter.

If you’re coming to NAB I’ll be doing a presentation on this very topic at the Final Cut Pro User Group Network SuperBooth on Wednesday, April 22nd at 2:00 PM. There are presentations going on at the SuperBooth throughout the week and I am honored to do the same. The entire schedule is available at this pdf link.

About a year ago (March 22nd to be exact) I dropped a post here on the Editblog about Twitter asking for followers to join in and discuss editing, post-production, and all those things we do. A good group began to follow and now a year later there’s a very active editing and post-production group of Twitterers out there in the world. Over at the Editblog on PVC I followed up on this post a year later, taking a look at where we are and where we might go from here.

It was a crazy, busy month of February at the Editblog on PVC where we attempted one QuickTip a day (as well as all the other tasks of editing) for the entire month. They all went up (usually before noonish), some for Avid, some for Final Cut Pro with a few others thrown in the mix as well. Here are links to them all:

Quicktip Day 01: Use that CAPS LOCK! – FCP

Quicktip Day 02: Map your 9-split exactly to the keypad – FCP

Quicktip Day 03: Project folders in the Finder sidebar – Mac OS

Quicktip Day 04: Tear off the Avid tool palette

Quicktip Day 05: FCP Keyboard changes are viewable in the menus

Quicktip Day 06: Edit FCP Column Heading

Quicktip Day 07:  Custom Avid bin column headings

Quicktip Day 08: Play Base Layer Only – FCP

Quicktip Day 09: Save FCP Column Layouts

Quicktip Day 10: Save Avid Column Layouts

Quicktip Day 11: turn on settings in User Preferences – FCP

Quicktip Day 12: Expos̩ to the function keys РMac OS

Quicktip Day 13: Check Your FCP AV Devices

Quicktip Valentine’s Day 14: Insert a ? or a ? – Mac OS

Quicktip Day 15: Option click to select a file name …. or not? – Mac OS

Quicktip Day 16: Expand all FCP tracks via mouse

Quicktip Day 17: Add Avid filler at start

Quicktip Day 18: Determine total Avid bin duration

Quicktip Day 19: Try the option and shift modifier keys under the Finder menus – Mac OS

Quicktip Day 20: Annotate pictures with Preview – Mac OS

Quicktip Day 21: Set the FCP Logging Bin

Quicktip Day 22: slate buttons to increment numbers – FCP

Quicktip Day 23: Saving a Custom Avid Effect

Quicktip Day 24: Apply Saved Avid Effect to Multiple Clips

Quicktip Day 25: Access Custom Avid Effect

Quicktip Day 26: Saving EDL Comments in Avid

Quicktip Day 27: Promote to Avid Advanced Keyframes

Quicktip Day 28: Turn off Video Scopes Playback – FCP

Brian Wilson has started a blog about his Adventures in (AVC)HD and his new Panasonic HMC150. I’ll be reading this one with much interest.

This Motion tutorial is an easy method to do speed changes on particle effects. It helped me out of a jam one day.

Miny is yet another low cost 35mm lens adapter.

Shane Ross has produced a great tutorial on how to use film effects to enhance your footage, over at Art Beats.

For a great laugh, Steve is breaking up with Avid and has expressed his feelings in a letter.

Jon Chappell talks back-up options for filmmakers. And we all need them.

Alex4D has a number of free Final Cut Pro plug-ins.

FinalCutKing is posting even more FCP tutorial videos on You Tube.

Silverado Systems asks What do you want to see in the new Final Cut Studio 3?

You really can make a follow-focus out of Legos.

Over at Focus on Final Cut at Pro Video Coalition there’s quite a few recent articles. Composite Modes, ProRes Clips from Log and Transfer and my article 3 ways to get RED footage into FCP are all online.

Links from Twitter:

blatherskyke found Layers, an app which takes screen shots into multi-layer PSD files.

pauldv has Christian Bale getting pissed off at the editor.

Gautch found filmaps where you can share and discover film locations.

big_b_rad found a quick online HD video site comparison.

Speaking of Twitter, 140it “Makes Your Tweet Less Than 140 Characters.”

Off-topic:

As a father-to-be I find http://www.yourbabyisanasshole.com/ f*****g funny as hell. And that’s an appropriate post to be followed by this link to How to Shoot an Indoor Maternity Session.

And of course there’s Sony’s “curse”-ed new product. This one is funny but NSFW.

Adobe Premiere Express is not to be confused with Adobe Premiere Elements. AP Express is web application for video editing and it’s being used on the new Hyundai Genesis Coupe campaign. Head over the the Editblog on PVC for the scoop and a link to where you can use it to edit your own Hyundai Genesis Coupe spot!