One of my favorite new features of FCP7 is the fact that you can now almost completely customize the automated naming process in Log & Transfer.

Previously, you could tell it which of the 5 or so categories you wanted it to include in the name, and then each incremental clip would get a number at the end.

Now there’s a Naming Preset dropdown menu at the top of the L&T window that has a handful of basic presets, and the ability to edit them and create new templates of your own.  Click it and select Edit or New to bring up the plethora of options now available to you.

Okay, the preset you use or create is going to have a lot to do with the subject matter you’re editing, and the format of the show.  Currently, I’m editing a hunting show which is unscripted.  There are always several different hunts, sometimes with the same person, sometimes with multiple different hunters.

Hypothetically, let’s say you’re cutting a 30 minute unscripted episode following one person through several hunts on several different days. You might want to set up a preset that pulls the camera date & time info, then adds your clip name, and the scene information.  Since FCP organizes alphabetically in the browser by default, this will help keep your clips in chronological order, which will in turn keep each hunt grouped together and displayed in order.  Just by putting the camera information first.

Now let’s say you’re cutting a 30 minute unscripted episode following a group of 4 people through a few hunts on a few different days.  For this, I’d name the clips by the name of the hunter, enter the scene info into that field (ex. “Intro”, “Hunt”, “Update”, “Kill”, “Close”), and create a template that creates a clip name from the Clip Name_Counter_Scene.  That way, all the hunts will be grouped by who was hunting, then in chronological order (at least if you load them in order) with a counter that counts up incrementally, and then the scene name.  You would get clips like “Dave_04_Update” and “Dave_07_Kill”.  Everything in order, and easy to find what you’re looking for.

There are tons of different fields you can choose, from the camera metadata to the custom fields, etc.  It’s a great option, a great tool, especially for those of us who like to use the Log & Transfer process as the first rough cut.

Don’t forget to set your DVRs!  Average Joe’s Huntin’ Show premieres June 28th, 2010 on the Pursuit Channel (DirecTV 608 or contact your local cable provider).  It’s been a fun show to edit, their crew is a great bunch of guys.

For you techy folks out there, they’re shooting with a variety of cameras.  A Sony HDV camera, a few different Panasonics – my beloved HMC-150 and a couple of the guys are using the HMC-40, and various other cameras and formats.  Let’s just say that ProRes has been my friend.  :)

Throughout the last several years, there’s been a very cordial, quiet battle between fans of BlackMagic Designs and AJA products.  The battle always seems to have less to do with the products and features as they have been about customer support.  I just wanted to offer up this little anecdote to the battle.

DISCLAIMER: I have absolutely ZERO experience with BlackMagic Designs hardware, hence I have never dealt with they’re customer support team.  This is not a bash on BlackMagic Designs.

Now for the story:

I have been editing away on the Average Joe’s Huntin’ Show episodes (premieres Monday, June 28th on the Pursuit Channel — set your DVRs!).  A couple weeks ago came time to put the first couple shows on tape to send off to the network.  Fire up the trusty ol’ AJA IoLA to do a pass of color correction and print them to tape, and guess what I see?

Everything looks fine on the timeline, but the sync is berzerk on the external monitor.  And it’s 10pm.

So the next day, I emailed support at AJA and got a near instant response.  I called in, a human being picked up the phone, and transferred me to another human being.  We’re already off to a good start.

But we couldn’t track down the problem.  The box had worked perfectly in March, the last time I used it to print commercials to tape for another client.  What had changed since then?  Oh yeah, a new computer.  We re-flashed the firmware, reloaded the drivers, even hit the reset button on the back of the unit.  No change.

So Hector says, “Well, what we will do is replace this unit for you for the cost of shipping.”

Wait.  Did I hear that right?

“But this box is about 5 years old.  It’s way out of warranty.”

“That’s okay, we’ll change it out for you.”

So they did.  And guess what?  The new box arrived, and still no change.  It’s obviously a software issue, not hardware.  More troubleshooting, this time around with Tony.  Nothing changes.  Now, what to do.  I mention that the box is undoubtedly on it’s own FW bus, so that couldn’t possibly be a conflict with another FW device.  He hung up to pull a different IoLA unit on his end and see if he could recreate the problem, and said he would call me back.

While off the phone, I remembered, hey, this is a new mixer, too.  So I unplugged the Project Mix I/O.  Still no change.

About an hour later, Tony called back to report he couldn’t recreate the problem with any box on any computer. I told him I had unplugged the mixer which hadn’t done anything, either.  Then Tony had a thought.  ”Your AJA box is connected to the MacPro’s FW bus, right?”

“No, it has it’s own PCI card with nothing else on it.

“Oh, it needs to be connected directly to the computer, we don’t test them with any other cards.”

Swap the cable.  Bam.  All that, and I had just plugged it into the wrong port.  I was so careful to not have anything else on the bus, that I forgot it needed to be on the actual computer’s port.  So now I’m busy printing to tape.  And editing more episodes.  And printing to tape.

Getting ready to send out a quick sampler of the Ronnie Montrose DVD so we can move forward on getting that out and into your hands!  Good Rockin’ Tonight indeed!

Well, the interwebs are all abuzz these last couple days about a horribly unthought out post on Apple Insider, claiming that Apple is dumbing down Final Cut Pro to appeal more to prosumers.  I’m tired of talking about it, but I thought I’d lay out my thoughts and concerns quick before I move on.  I will point out now that I am basing this all on my thoughts and opinions, some basic facts, and the state of today’s market. I have no inside information, and I do not claim to have any sort of secret knowledge like some of the other interweb asshats do.

I just posted a comment on Shane Ross’ blog that was so long I decided to make it a post here.  :)  Sorry Shane.

First of all, why is editing natively such a big deal? Drives are cheap. Convert those files to a format that is smooth as silk to work with.

Second of all, who really cares how many people are editing on a certain platform? Are you really so insecure that you feel the need to get as many people as you can on your platform? I have worked in the worlds of AVID, Premiere, Vegas, Media100, and Final Cut Pro. I’ve landed with FCP and I’m staying because I like the hardware, the features, the price point, it just does what I need it to do. If you want to work on FCP, that’s great. If you don’t, I could really care less. It doesn’t affect me at all. At. All.

I don’t care what Walter Murch uses to edit his next feature. I don’t think any REAL editors do. Sure, it’s an interesting story, but I don’t know a single editor who switched to FCP because Murch used it. What that did do was give FCP a boost in credibility among those in the industry who are NOT editors. Again, I don’t care.

My clients are not the kind of clients who give 2 shakes what software I use, as long as I get the job done to their satisfaction. If I could make it look good enough for them, I could cut it on 3 1″ machines and an Amiga if I wanted. Stop worrying so much about what everyone else is using and use what you’re good with, what fits you. I’m not trying to sway anyone in any direction.

Seriously, you know what this really reminds me of? Like every state with more than one college sports team, or pro sports team, there’s always a ton of arrogant fans for one of the teams that just expects everyone would like their team had there not been some tragic accident some point along the way.  You know what I mean?  Here:

I work for Iowa State.  I attended Iowa State.  I am an Iowa State Fan.  Have been for most of my life.  Over the last decade, in football, we are 5-5 against the university of iowa.  We were well ahead in the count, but we had a coaching change that didn’t work out and set us back.  This year, we had a new coach again.  He miraculously got us a bowl victory in his first season.  He is very inspiring.  He was even the lead on Sportscenter for a week straight with an emotional, inspired speech in the locker room after we beat Nebraska IN Nebraska.  We are happy to have him as our football coach.

This season, however, iowa won the rivalry game. And they had a great season.  But do you know why I HATE the hawkeyes? Because a HUGE percentage of their fans are arrogant enough to honestly look me in the eye and say  things like “You know, you could always become a hawk fan. It’s not too late.”

Are you serious?  SERIOUS?  Sad thing is, they are.  They have this arrogant, cocky assumption that somewhere along the line, we were told we couldn’t be fans of the hawks, and we were really upset about that.  And that ‘for a limited time only,’ we too could have the chance to be an arrogant cocky asshole who drives to iowa city every other Saturday.

(By the way, I’m proud of the State of Iowa, I love Iowa State, but I refuse to capitalize iowa when used in reference to the eastern iowa university hawkeyes, because I refuse to show them the respect. My keyboard works just fine, I just refuse to capitalize those references. And if you scan back a few paragraphs, I even capitalize Nebraska. So suck on that, hawkeyes.)

The hawkeyes were on their way to a perfect season, undefeated, but some injuries took that dream from them.  I was ecstatic when they lost a game.  Not for the team.  I felt bad for the team, because they were a really good team.  No, I took great pleasure in watching the hawk fans writhe in misery and pain and wallow in self pity after the loss.  For the team’s sake, I wish they’d have gone undefeated, they deserved it.  But for the fans, I savored every moment of their turn of luck.

Okay, I’ve strayed far enough from editing.  What am I trying to say?  Use the tools that fit your style and leave everyone else alone.

Okay…back at it for the night.  Moving right along…

In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, or need a quick refresher, check here.  Otherwise, here we go.  Tonight’s process:

1. Install drivers & software for my AJA IoLA (not the newest box, but a rock solid performer for putting closed captioning and 4-channels of audio down onto BetaSP)
2. Plug in the AJA box, check it in Final Cut Pro…no problems
3. Setup the M-Audio Project Mix I/O as a control surface in FCP…no problems
4. Run all available software updates
5. Install Shake 4.1
6. Install Aperture 3.0
7. Run all available software updates
8. Install Logic Studio
9. Run all available software updates
10. Repair permissions
11. Really reconsider installing Adobe products, since it’s running so smoothly
12. Install Flip4Mac Studio Pro HD (some clients still need wmv unfortunately, and this is a good product)
13. I’ve decided to wait on Adobe’s stuff.  Everything’s running smoothly.  I’ll see how long I can go before installing it.  The replacement hard drive will be here Monday (newegg.com’s customer service was great about a quick replacement).  SWEET!  Now to get going on this Montrose DVD and the Average Joe’s Huntin’ Show!

Okay, by popular demand (meaning I had one request), I’m going to create my log for setting up my new system.  This is really going to be step by step.  Part for your reference, part for mine.

Editor’s Note: While all steps are performed I am listening to Ramsey Lewis, Dexter Gordon, and other great jazz on the turntable.  I think it helps.

Here goes:

1. Unbox the beast
2. Connect Monitors
3. Fire it up
4. Go through the OS X setup screens, get on the network
5. Install ALL software updates (including 10.6.3)
6. Shut down
7. Add 3 1TB hard drives from newegg.com
8. Boot up, one drive is bad
9. Shut down, remove all 3 drives, add 1
10. Repeat step 9 to isolate bad drive
11. Format the 2 good drives (wait to RAID until the bad one has been replaced)
12. Shut down
13. Install 2 el cheapo Firewire cards from newegg.com with no problems
14. Install drivers & software for M-Audio Project Mix I/O
15. Shut down, connect & power on Project Mix I/O
16. Restart MacPro, configure audio in system settings & M-Audio control panel (no problems)
17. Install Final Cut Studio 3, which is going MUCH faster from the discs than it did on my office Quad-Core late ’08 Mac Pro

I also rearranged my desk a bit while updates were downloading in step 5.  I’ll post pics tomorrow (don’t want to hook up my iPhone to this computer

- keeping it production only!).  Reconfigured my piles of decks.  I need to get a nice equipment rack.  Been watching craigslist, let a couple go by that I should have jumped on.  Oh well.

That’s where I’m at tonight, going to get FCS finished up and updating before I go to bed.  I’ll pick up tomorrow night with the installation of Aperture 3, Shake 4.1, Logic Studio, and the Adobe stuff.  All told, I’m extremely happy thus far, I’ve had no issues at all yet except for the DOA HDD. Honestly, I was nervous about the M-Audio stuff.  My G5 didn’t like it at all.  Happy camper.

Well, my new Mac Pro has arrived.  I’m using the term ‘new’ loosely.  I should have it up and running just in time to read all about the new updated Mac Pro impending release.  Yay.

I’m actually considering doing a really nice unboxing and setup video for archival purposes.  Not that people haven’t seen a Mac Pro before, but, quite frankly, this could be the last Mac Pro of this generation ever made.  So maybe there is somebody out there that cares.  Wait, did I just say that out loud?  hehe.

Anyway, it has made me think it will be a good time to create a nice post about setting up a FCP system.  I’m going to start a post with the unboxing and track my progress all the way through updates, hardware installation, software installation, etc., until it’s up and running.  Maybe.  I might completely bail on that idea, too.  We’ll see.

Luca Visual FX has just released their Film FX Transitions Pack 1.0.  There’s a nice launch special offer good until April 15th.

I’ll probably pick them up and report back once I’ve had a chance to play with them.  Seems to be video clips to overlay, not true FCP transitions.  But that also makes them compatible with more than just FCP.