Phil Peel's Blog

Years ago I remember seeing a TV programme about Walter Murch editing Cold Mountain on Final Cut Pro. But what I thought was really strange was that he edited standing up.  Obviously a bit weird.

I thought no more about it until recently when I saw a BBC Horizon documentary : The Truth about Exercise.

One of the points it made was that sitting is a killer. ..or to be less sensational and more specific,  sitting for long periods  will shorten your life.  …and that got me to thinking.  What am I spending most of my time doing at the moment? Video editing and script writing.  Both very sedentary,  or in other words ..lots of sitting down.

In my youth, I was always convinced that the world would blow itself up in a nuclear war. I never expected to get past 30, so I’m somewhat surprised to still be around decades later. As I get older I’m also more aware that the end of my life is getting closer,  So the Horizon statistics about the number of days of your life that you will likely lose, due to sitting down, begin to assume a greater relevance.

I’ve been nervous about exercise after breaking my rib last autumn, whilst doing pull ups on a doorway and the bar fell off. Yes I know that’s illogical. But my subconscious has got it fixed that exercise = months of pain.

Anyway after seeing the Horizon documentary 3 months ago, I reorganised my edit suite. I have the Macbook Pro up on an Icurve laptop stand on top of high ( kitchen style) worksurface. So it’s level with  the other monitors.  ..and I’ve been standing up whilst editing or writing over the last 3 months.

..and it’s great. Admittedly my feet get a bit sore after 12 hours or so. Today I’ve been using it for 8 hours. But I’m sure it better for me. I think I’m losing weight.

I use an ancient Microsoft Natural Ergonomic keyboard, that is hideous  against the sleek looks of the Mac, but is far kinder to my wrists.

Here I’m I’m using it for scriptwriting. So the keyboard of the Macbook is a convenient rest for the printed script. For rewrites I  print out and write notes on the pages. Incidentally I’m using Scrivener to write with, which I’ve found is really excellent.

..and here I’m using it for video editing using FCPX.

On the right hand side is a wireless mouse and Wacom tablet. On the left is a Contour control shuttle.  So I can zoom in an out with the left hand, whilst using the tablet/mouse simultaneously with the right hand.

The second keyboard underneath (on the rolling table) is for the separate PC and monitor on the right. So I can look up stuff on the Internet (I’m still learning FCP X) without disrupting the main editing or writing.  Though I have to admit it can be a bit distracting at times.  ..pause whilst I check Facebook

One disadvantage of this is that I occasionally use the wrong keyboard when using the PC, which can mess up the main edit on the Mac.

The Macbook Pro also has a dual port ESATA adaptor running into 16 terabyte RAID array.

Here’s an interesting article about working standing up

http://www.karingottschalk.com/about/work/office-ergonomics/

3 months  ago

Mike and I have been colour grading the Stand in Line music video. After doing a primary grade to let the black and white levels right, then we moved on to the secondary grading.

Here’s Mike isolating the background. Actually the grey background was very difficult to separate. I wanted to matte out the floor as it had got dirtier through the 10 hours of filming, so the footprints are visible.

The yellow shirts really punched out well. So here we have 3 mattes : skin tones, yellow shirts and grey background

Here’s another shot where we we needed to isolate the grass, to make it consistent. When we were filming, one of the pitch floodlights was faulty, so one corner of the pitch was a strong yellow. My film lights were illuminating the middle area and the back floodlights were blueish

Adjusting the grass colour

The footballer shirts were orange. so here’s the  orange roughly isolated

The original colour

..with the orange brighter

..now yellow!

Could even go blue, I suppose, but notice how parts of the faces are changing as the orange floodlight makes the side of the faces orange as well. So it was tricky to separate the colours.

This is making the ball whiter.

Then similar clips are linked.

Very fiddly process

So we can apply the basic secondary grades to a set at a time, before going on to dealing with the individual clips

For all those who have taken the plunge with Final cut Pro X. there’s a useful and cheap!  new app in the  Mac Apple Store called  7toX app from Intelligent Assistance which uses XML to import Final Cut Pro 7 projects into Final Cut Pro X.

Here’s the link

Finally finished filming. Now just completing the rough cut edit, which has to be finalised as soon as possible to be ready for MIDEM, The Music Industry Festival in Cannes on the last week of January.

So I’m just waiting for it all to export and render.

On one hand having a lot of footage is good as you have a greater choice of shots, but converting from AVCHD to Apple Pro res 422 take ages, then there’s logging and sorting. Several of the locations I had planned to use ..football grounds.. proved impossible to get access to at this time of the year. Managers were (perhaps understandably) more interested in going for promotion or avoiding relegation than allowing a bunch of dancers, singers and actors onto their pitches.

And a well known educational establishment that promotes itself as industry friendly and keen to hire its facilities, still hasn’t replied to my urgent email and phone requests from well before Christmas.  (No ..it’s not an educational establishment I’ve worked at ..if you’re wondering..

So what with one thing and another, a lot of my carefully considered plans had to be changed. But that’s the name of the game really.  Plan as much as you can, but be prepared with backup plans B and C. Try to stick to your original ideas, but be flexible, take advantage of luck, happy accidents and the unexpected.

However this does mean that you can be left with a lot more footage than if things had gone to plan.

I’ve just realised that the term footage is very dated now. I suppose I mean Gigabytes …doesn’t quite have the same ring to it though.

I digress.   I ended up with over 300 files.  I think.. I can’t be bothered to count.

So having to sync up most of them to the music track I again tried out Final Cut Pro Multiclip. I ought to get on well with it as it mimics the process of live vision mixing , but somehow it doesn’t work for me and I’ve ended up using about 30 video tracks. I’ve been told that it not good working on that many tracks, but it works for me.

over 350 cuts in a 4 minute video. Phew!

It’s finished exporting now ..so back to work

Apparently as from Jan or February. Apple will no longer certify Final Cut Pro courses. If you want to become an Apple Certified Final cut user, it’s going to have to be Final Cut X.

So what is an Apple Certified Pro?
From the Apple site…

“An Apple Certified Pro is a user who has reached the highest skill level in
the use and operation of Apple’s Pro Applications as attested to by Apple.
How do I become an Apple Certified Pro?
To become an Apple Certified Pro, you must pass an online exam
administered at an Apple Authorized Training Center (AATC).”

I’m  also told that the Apple Certification Records System, where up until now  can provide access to employers to verify your certifications, will no longer keep records of Final Cut Pro certification. However if you’ve already done the Final Cut Pro courses, you hopefully still have your printed certificate.

I guess they’re pretty keen to get us to move to FCX