NLESystems Blog

Splice Here by Steve Cohen

Media Composer 5 will be released a week from tomorrow, and without question, it represents the biggest upgrade Avid has offered in years — since the last version 5, to be exact, way back in 1994, when the modern Media Composer was born. The symmetry is the result of Avid resetting its numbering scheme in 2003. So here we are at version 5 again. Five was — and is — a very good number for Avid. I can still remember the cheering at the user group meetings. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see that same excitement this time. Continue reading »

How Music-Video Vet Don Wilson Managed a Stereo Workflow for Final Cut Pro

When Action 3D Productions hired an editor to cut the concert film Phish 3D, it made sense that they’d go to Don Wilson’s Americana Media. Wilson is an Emmy-winning producer-director-editor whose experience in the industry stretches back to the early days of MTV, when he was cutting promo clips for any number of top-tier acts. (His resume since then includes positions at Varitel and EDS Digital Studios, Craig Murray Productions, The Selluloid Group, and AMI.) As Wilson describes it, working in 3D was a technical complication rather than a creative one. And, as an early user of CineForm’s Neo3D editing workflow, Wilson was one of the guinea pigs who helped CineForm make Apple’s Final Cut Pro stereo-friendly. F&V talked to him about his career, his stereo workflow, and why he thinks cutting concerts in 3D is actually easier. Continue reading »

Studio Daily Blog By Scott Simmons

The post-production Internet has been all a-Twitter for the last 24 hours after Apple Insider posted some nutty story about Apple scaling Final Cut Pro to fit more of a consumer market. After the FCP fanboys went ballistic the great, silent behemoth that is Apple actually spoke today about this very topic, telling CNET that “Final Cut Pro is the first choice for professional video editors, and we’ve never been more excited about its future,” Apple spokesman Bill Evans told CNET. Continue reading »

A great list of FCP freebies got me thinking about what are the must have paid tools as well

The DV Show dropped a great post over the weekend that answered a question from one of their readers: “I’m looking for some plugins or tools to enhance my productions. I mainly use Final Cut Pro and was wondering if there are any free or low cost alternatives to make my videos look better.” With that they listed 14 Must Have FREE Plugins & Tools for Final Cut Pro. It’s a fantastic list of a number of great tools that will be right at home in any editor’s toolbox. But this post got me thinking about some of the paid plug-ins and tools that are great in the FCP editor’s toolbox as well. Continue reading »