After the infamous Apple’s mess-up of its Final Cut Pro X, I seriously started to think of covering my back and learning Adobe Premiere. Just in case, so I can continue my work if the good old FCP 7 fails to run after another upgrade, and new FCPX versions fail to meet my expectations. And with the awesome 50% SWITCH discount – when else will I have another chance like that? So, I downloaded a trial of Video Production Premium and ran through the features I’ve been using the most in Final Cut. The result is the following table that I hope will be helpful to those trying to decide between the two systems:
I’m actually comparing the entire suites – Adobe Video Production Premium CS5.5 and Final Cut Studio 3. Overall, the two systems look surprisingly similar, but there are a few fundamental differences that make me want to own both at the same time. Here are some highlights.
Adobe’s great at:
- Mastering & burning Blu-ray in Encore (hello, Apple, get a grip already!)
- Native support of most formats, including AVCHD. Drop in and edit, no transcoding required. I hear FCPX is trying to emulate that, we’ll see.
- Different formats in multi-camera tracks (must match in FCP)
- Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash as a bonus
Apple FCP beats Adobe hands down at:
- Offline editing (with proxies). I mean, come on, Adobe, you cannot scrub 4 tracks of HD with effects on them, not on my laptop anyway.
- 16 tracks of multi-cam (vs. only 4 in Premiere). Might not be a big deal, most of the time I use 2 or 3, but there was a project where I used 12. Seriously. And with proxies it worked smoothly on my laptop. Total awesomeness.
- Motion templates. Ohh, I love those! If you need 20 lower thirds of exactly the same elaborate design but different text, you do it once in Motion, and have 20 instances in FCP, editable directly in the Viewer. And you can also add drop zones for videos and stills. Adobe – you probably have to duplicate an AE project 20 times and edit each of them. Extensive googling didn’t produce even a slightest hint at how to do templates in Adobe. One thing is clear, either me or Adobe is missing something…
Both are great at:
- The primary function: editing. Apart from slightly different keystrokes, the two systems are almost twins in basic functionality. Well, maybe FCP is slightly more intuitive, but I may be biased.
- VFX – I still have to see for myself, but for the most part what people say they can do in AE, I was able to reproduce in Motion. Those who use Motion claim AE is more advanced. Go figure.
- Integration between components. Adobe might even have it slightly better, but at least as good.
Both suck at:
- Subtitles / Closed Captions. What’s up with that?
- Reverse Telecine. OK, I figured out the flow in both, but it involves transcoding individual clips. FCP may on occasion do the right thing in batch mode, but no guarantee. Adobe claims to be doing the right thing on the fly, but it doesn’t. Royal pain, given that all 24p HDV cameras record with pulldown. Same for most consumer AVCHD camcorders that claim 24p, and even some AVCHD DSLRs.
Tags: Adobe Premiere, FCP, Final Cut Pro, PPro
My friend Jennylyn Gleave has interviewed Steve Wozniak on her show, Give It A Name with Jennylyn. Steve is quite inspiring to listen to. For those on the run, I’ve edited a short teaser below. You can also watch the complete 30 min interview at Give It A Name TV.
Tags: Apple, Community Television, Jennylyn Gleave, Wozniak, youtube
Or “what mischiefs have I done this summer” -- a movie that we shot together with my brothers. For English subtitles, enable closed captions (CC button or that upward triangle under the video):
Based on a story by Alexei Berezin.
Starring:
Igor Ovchinnikov
Roman Toschakov
Alexei Berezin
Ekaterina Alipova
Natalia Berezina
Director, editor: Sergey Berezin
Producer, Sound Editor: Dmitry Berezin
Cinematographers: Marina Vedernikova, Dmitry Berezin
Production Assistant: Yulia Grinko
Music by Alexei Vedernikov & Kevin MacLeod
© 2011 Creative Association “Berezin Film”
in collaboration with Studio Berezin Film, NSK Records, Elephan in a Wheel
Special thanks to the staff of the House of Children’s Art (Novosibirsk, Russia) and personally to the director Olga Vagner
***************************
По одноимённому рассказу Алексея Березина.
В фильме снимались:
Игорь Овчинников
Роман Тощаков
Алексей Березин
Екатерина Алипова
Наталья Березина
Режиссёр, монтаж: Сергей Березин
Продюсер, звукооператор: Дмитрий Березин
Кинооператоры: Марина Ведерникова, Дмитрий Березин
Ассистент режиссёра: Юлия Гринько
Композиторы и исполнители: Алексей Ведерников, Kevin MacLeod
© т/о Березин Фильм 2011
При участии Студии Березин Фильм, NSK Records, Слон в Колесе
Отдельная благодарность всему коллективу ДДТ им. А.И. Ефремова (г. Новосибирск) и лично директору Вагнер Ольге Николаевне.
Tags: Meeting, NSK Records, Слон в Колесе, Совещание
A friend of mine started a new show at a local public access TV station (KMVT), and I’ve designed the opening and closing titles for her in Apple Motion:
The effect is designed as a static 3D model, and the only moving part is the camera. The camera moves are programmed with the camera framing behavior -- I specified the locations, and it flies right in.
In the closing credits, the final move to the disclaimer is programmed with “null objects” -- a couple of invisible rectangles. The camera first frames one null object, showing the cool 3D perspective I wanted, and then proceeds to the other null object with the disclaimer text attached to it, making a nice turn. This is a technique I learned from the MacBreak Studio podcast.
The flashing “floor” is another technique from a book. The floor itself is a static rectangle. The flashes are also just a single rectangle with animated gradient fill, replicated a bunch of times with a random start frame. This way the flashes seem to go chaotically, yet in the same direction and the same speed.
Tags: Apple Motion, KMVT, TV, VFX
I had an interesting discovery about Final Cut Studio today (FCS 3, FCP 7). I went and shot something with my HD camera in 1080/60i format with the idea of using it later in the SD NTSC timeline (the NTSC DV, to be exact). My camera shoots HD only, so I didn’t really have another option, and I naively thought, what the heck, it’ll just work. Well, not so fast…
First of all, my camera’s real-time downscaled RCA output to NTSC for some reason looked pretty bad compared to that of native DV cameras on the same shoot. Bummer. So I tried to drop my HD footage into the DV timeline to replace the bad looking clips. To my utter disappointment, the HD footage in Final Cut looked horrible, even worse than the RCA feed.WTF?
So, after a number of hours and extensive tests, here’s what I finally concluded.
First, my RCA output is not that bad after all. Even my horribly outdated DV palmcorder digitized a decent picture from that output. Something must have gone wrong in the switch board somewhere down the line. Screw that, not my problem anymore.
Next, Final Cut only displays the scaled-down frame badly, but on export the frame is actually good. Better than going through in-camera RCA and external DV recorder. And fast. Contrary to many online complaints, Final Cut is smart about downscaling interlaced footage, so you actually get a true interlaced downscaled version of each frame. Or maybe they fixed it in the latest version – either way, it works for me.
What’s weirder, if you convince Final Cut that your clip requires rendering (orange/red bar instead of green), and your rendering quality is set to High, then the frame in preview will look as good as in the final render. Go figure…
A couple of words about working with interlaced footage in Final Cut. You should be aware that any time the preview scales the frame, it effectively de-interlaces the image. So, if you did something wrong and mistakenly de-interlaced your footage (e.g. ran it through Compressor with the wrong settings – see below), then you may not notice it until way later. And even worse, if by mistake you flipped your fields, the result will still look fine in Final Cut, but totally unwatchable on TV.
To avoid the disaster, check your clips: set the viewer to 100% and look for movement. In a properly interlaced clip, you will see the “jagged” lines – that’s a good sign. I also apply the “de-interlace” filter and check which field is displayed first – this is crucial for matching the field order. DV NTSC must show upper field first, while 1080/60i apparently shows lower field first, so they have to be flipped (filter “Shift fields” – FCP applied it automatically for me).
Finally, if you really want to go for quality, Compressor can do a splendid job downscaling interlaced footage, but ONLY with Frame Control enabled, and ONLY with “Deinterlace” option set to “Best (Motion Compensated)”. This takes about a year to convert half an hour of footage, but the results look really good. Oh, and remember to set the “Crop to” option to 4:3 (in Geometry section) if needed; otherwise you’ll get an anamorphic 16:9 DV clip.
Happy downconverting!
Tags: 1080i, 480i, DV, Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Studio, interlaced
The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
STC Genre: Institutionalized
- “Group” – the Family
- “Choice” – whether Michael joins family business or not
- “Sacrifice” – will Michael sacrifice his family or his soul?
I don’t think it requires any comments – this is such a classic. One of my takeaways, because the movie is so long, it helps if the setup is actually a bit tighter than the beat sheet suggests, or at least is spiced up by more action. But then, I’m an action junky…
Tags: Francis Ford Coppola, Institutionalized, Movie Reviews, The Godfather
Two men reaching middle age with not much to show but disappointment, embark on a week long road trip through California’s wine country, just as one is about to get married.
Director: Alexander Payne
STC Genre: Rites of Passage (mid-life crisis)
- “Life Problem” – Miles can’t get over his divorce
- “Wrong Way” – lying your way through
- “Acceptance” – moving ahead the way you really are
Somewhat slow starting and gradually gaining pace, this movie definitely hits the mark by the end. Interestingly, many Hollywood movies have a very impressive beginning and a (comparatively) pathetic ending. But not this one – it actually picks up the pace, suspense and overall quality towards the end. My impression was that the filmmakers dragged their feet through the opening and setup and couldn’t wait to get to the meat of the story, which is really in the second half of act 2 and act 3.
Overall, a pretty damn good movie.
Tags: Alexander Payne, Movie Reviews, Rites of Passage, Sideways
Britain’s King George VI (Colin Firth) struggles with an embarrassing stutter for years until he seeks help from unorthodox Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush).
Director: Tom Hooper
STC Genre: Rites of Passage
- “Life Problem” – an embarrassing stutter
- “Wrong Way” – denying the deep psychological roots and trying to solve it mechanically
- “Acceptance” – literally accepting Lionel as a member of his family
The movie is truly remarkable in many ways. First, it is a great modern movie that holds up strong without any crutches like sex or violence. The story itself is simple yet so powerful it keeps you on the edge. Acting is awesome. Score is all classical and absolutely beautiful – who would have thought it can work so well in a 21st century movie? Camera work is bold and I’d say experimental at times. For instance, a great use of “fish eye” lens to show the emotional state of the king as he stands in front of people and feels overwhelmed by fear that he won’t be able to speak.
This will surely become another classic of the 21 century.
Tags: King's Speech, Movie Reviews, Rites of Passage, Tom Hooper
In this meditation on the need for passion and human connection — the final film in Krzysztof Kieslowski’s “three colors” trilogy — an accident brings together two very different people: Valentine (Irene Jacob), a model, and Joseph (Jean-Louis Trintignant), a retired judge.
Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski
STC Genre: Out of the Bottle
- “Wish” – a wish for connection, true love, something that never happened in the old man’s life
- “Spell” – in a weird way, he’s reliving his life again in a different way through another man
- “Lesson” – learning what really matters
A classic of sort, this is a slow “savoring the moment” meditative story of love and fate, right and wrong, life and death. It seems, the director tried to use the least amount of action to get the point across, and make you think on your own. Who’s right? What’s really happening? You decide. Take your time.
From the technical point of view, the camera work is beautiful – the use of color (especially red) is very deliberate and powerful. Pulling focus, slight camera moves – they are almost imperceptible, but add much depth to the emotional charge. Just as all the other aspects – lighting, music, costumes, decor – the list goes on. And yet, with all the deliberation, it looks very natural, the way it should be. The true magic is invisible.
Tags: Krzysztof Kieslowski, Movie Reviews, Out of the Bottle, Red
Ex-con Marv (Mickey Rourke) avenges a hooker’s (Jaime King) death, Detective Dwight (Clive Owen) gets involved with hazardous vixens and a rogue cop (Bruce Willis) becomes hell-bent on saving a stripper (Jessica Alba) from a rapist (Nick Stahl) in interlaced stories adapted from Frank Miller’s graphic novels.
Directors: Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez
STC Genre: Superhero
- “Special Power” – virtually everyone is a superman (or a superwoman, for that matter), often in their own unique way
- “Nemesis” – again, everyone has their own, unique enemy
- “Curse” – plenty of that stuff. Just read the tittle again
Very cool modern film noir that is so faithful to the comic book style you have to see it to believe it. The fast-action story line, violence, sex, and other very primal attributes may be debatable for some, and certainly not for kids.
However, what impressed me most is the way it is shot and styled. It is largely black and white, but with selective colored elements – like blue or green eyes, red dress, golden hair, etc. The color stands out so much on the black-and-white background that even very little of it makes a powerful statement. From a technical point, this is one hell of a movie.
Tags: Frank Miller, Movie Reviews, Robert Rodriguez, Sin City, Superhero
