Boston SuperMeet 2011

Last night the Boston Final Cut Pro User Group hosted the 2nd annual Boston SuperMeet at the Stuart Street Playhouse in downtown Boston.  It was a dark and stormy night, with the threat of the first snow of the winter, so it was a great night to be indoors with a bunch of other video production nerds.  My coworker, Kevin McGowan, and I arrived about an hour and a half before the show so we could walk around the exhibit floor and visit some of the vendor booths.  I don't have any hard numbers, but it seems like there were more vendors this year than last year.  It's a great opportunity to talk to some company reps and get some hands-on demos of gear and software.

Michael Horton and Daniel Berube hosted the evening

Around 7pm we all headed into the theater to start the show.  Hosts Daniel Berube and Michael Horton put together a great lineup for the Masters of Light and Illusion theme.  I'm sure there will be video from the evening posted on the FCPUG SuperMeet YouTube channel, so I'll just post some pics and highlights from the evening.

Alexis Van Hurkman and Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve

First up was Alexis Van Hurkman with a DaVinci Resolve demo.  I'm always reminded of how little I know about advanced color correction when I watch demos from pros like Alexis.  I think I'm finally motivated to download the free DaVinci Resolve Lite and try my hand at more advanced color correction.

Jem Schofield talking about the Canon EOS 1DX

A couple of weeks ago Canon announced their latest flagship DSLR, the EOS 1DX, and Jem Schofield was at the SuperMeet to talk about using that camera for video production.  Wonderful looking specs on that camera, but unfortunately I don't have $6500 to drop on a body.  My real takeaway from Jem's talk is that I'm now turned onto his great website/blog, theC47.  Some interesting tutorials on there.  He said he has achieved his goal of posting five video tutorials per week!  Jem closed by hinting that we should all pay attention on November 3rd for an important announcement by Canon.  A 4K video camera, or a 5D refresh?  We'll see.

Marc-André Ferguson with Autodesk Smoke

Our next demo was an Autodesk Smoke demo from Marc-André Ferguson.  This must be the seventh Smoke demo I've seen, and my opinion is still the same:  it looks like a very powerful program, but just too much for what I'm doing.  For those working in high end video/film production, I think this is a great program packed with features they will use.  As always, I'm still baffled about the choices Autodesk made for the user interface on Smoke.  Maybe once you use it regularly it starts to make more sense, but I just see it as a pretty uninviting interface to work with.

Corey Tedrow giving an Avid Media Composer 5.5 demo

With so many video production pros giving up on Apple because of the Final Cut X mess, Avid seems to be welcoming all Final Cut converts with open arms.  Our next demo was an Avid Media Composer 5.5 demo from Corey Tedrow.  Avid always does a great job of pointing out all the Media Composer features that people were wishing for in the new Final Cut X.  The statement that got the biggest reaction from the crowd was the announcement that you can now export ProRes files directly from the Media Composer timeline.  With a handful of discounts being offered by Avid, I'm sure many Final Cut users will find themselves trying out the free 30 day trial version of Media Composer.

Film editor Andrew Weisblum

The next presenter was an Avid sponsored talk from film editor Andrew Weisblum (Black Swan, The Wrestler, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Darjeeling Limited).  Andrew showed us the nightclub/drug scene from Black Swan and described how Avid products helped him collaborate with others in finishing that scene.

Walter Murch

Our final presenter of the evening was Walter Murch.  His resume is loaded with plenty of well known films, but some of the biggies he's edited are: Apocalypse Now, The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Jarhead, and Ghost.  I was really pleased to hear that he edited what I believe to be the only acceptable 3D film: Captain EO.  I wasn't a film major, so this was the first time I had attended a talk from a major Hollywood film editor.  I was surprised at how grounded Walter is.  With all the major films he's worked on, and all the awards he's won, he could have easily turned into another Hollywood type with a major ego.  Instead I got the total opposite impression from him.  There was a kind of complex simplicity about Walter.  I started to forget that I was listening to a three time Oscar winner when he began telling us that it's important to put one foot on a stool while editing to reduce lower back pain.

Walter Murch and his latest Final Cut timeline from the HBO film Hemingway & Gellhorn, consisting of 22 video tracks and 50 audio tracks

I also liked the fact that Walter obviously has a wonderfully creative mind, but he's also very in touch with the technical aspects of editing.  He really enjoyed telling us about the Arri Alexa that they used on his latest film, Hemingway & Gellhorn.  I was very impressed with a picture of his Final Cut 7 timeline from that film (pictured above).  22 video tracks and 50 audio tracks is a project that I just can't wrap my head around.

Walter Murch and his famous standing editing station

Walter also showed us a photo of one of his famous standing editing stations.  He really attested to the idea that standing opens him up for a more creative workflow, rather than losing creative energy sitting at a desk.

Walter concluded his talk with mention of the new Final Cut X.  He described it as a child that doesn't play well with others.  He said that in June he sent Apple a letter outlining why he wouldn't be able to use Final Cut X on his projects.  Walter's biggest complaints were the restructuring (aka lack of) audio tracks, no external monitoring and no SAN support.  He admits that they're slowly resolving those issues, but he was also concerned that Apple essentially killed off Final Cut 7.  If you would like to read a more detailed blog post about Walter's SuperMeet talk, Chris Portal wrote a nice post. 

The evening concluded with the famous SuperMeet raffle with over $50,000 in prizes.  Unfortunately, just like at the Vegas NAB SuperMeet, my coworker and left empty handed.

Once again, Daniel Berube put together an enjoyable Boston Final Cut Pro User Group meeting and SuperMeet.  If you live in the Boston area and you're into video production, you should really attend the monthly BOSFCPUG meetings.

Boston Final Cut Pro User Group meeting recap: 6/14/11

View of Boston harbor from this month's BOSFCPUG meeting on the 33rd floor

Another Boston Final Cut Pro User Group meeting is in the books, and as usual, it was an enjoyable evening.  This month's meeting took place at the University of Massachusetts Club in Boston's financial district.  I think Daniel Berube had to schedule this month's meeting a week early since he'll be in the U.K. next week for the London SuperMeet.  Unfortunately, there wasn't any news about a Final Cut Pro X release, since there wasn't an announcement made at Apple's June 6th WWDC.  This month's meeting featured Ken LaRue discussing Autodesk Smoke for Mac 2012, the always entertaining Bob Russo talking about Avid's Media Composer 5.5, , and Jay Ignaszewski talking about AJA's tapeless workflow solutions.  As usual, the evening concluded with the Big Dig Raffle, which featured an AJA KiPro Mini.

I was especially interested in Bob's Media Composer presentation, since I use Premiere and Final Cut, and haven't had much exposure to Media Composer.  I was also looking forward to hearing from Jay, since I enjoy keeping up with tapeless workflow solutions.

Ken LaRue talking Autodesk Smoke

Ken LaRue started off the evening with an Autodesk Smoke demo.  Ken is a great speaker, and ran a very nice demo.  I have never used this program before, but this is the second demo I've seen of it.  Ken kept pushing the fact that we all use multiple programs to get the job done (Final Cut, Photoshop, After Effects, etc.) and Smoke combines the power of those programs into one package.  Smoke really provides some powerful tools for editing, motion graphics, 3D effects, titling, keying, color correction, motion tracking and Photoshop type painting tools.  Here are some of the highlights from Ken's demo, along with some opinions from me:

• At first glance, the Smoke GUI is very cluttered and utilitarian.  Ken stressed that as you use the program, you start to get more comfortable with the layout.  Looking at it for the first time, you just see a screen cluttered with many buttons in no apparent logical order.  Ken was using what looked to be a Wacom tablet and pen to navigate.
• Smoke offers very impressive tracking tools.  Ken showed us some tracking demos, and Smoke handled multiple tracking points very quickly.
• There's lots of rendering to be done after you apply all of Smoke's various tools.  Ken rendered everything, rather than show it in real time unrendered playback.  He was using a nice Mac Pro with a powerful Nvidia graphics card (I forget what model he mentioned), so the renders were pretty fast.
• Obviously, Smoke integrates well with other Autodesk programs like 3D Studio Max and Maya.  Ken was importing 3D objects created in 3D Studio Max and had the ability to manipulate them in Smoke.
• Smoke has node based aspects to it as you start to apply the available tools, so that node window can get very cluttered and hard to read.  Ken flew around the node window very quickly, so I'm sure it's something that comes with using the program.
• The retail price for Smoke is $15,000, so their target market isn't the low end video production pro.  Their demo video featured many high end post production houses using Smoke for feature films and national commercials. 

Bob Russo discussing Avid Media Composer 5.5

The next speaker was Bob Russo talking about Avid Media Composer 5.5.  The last time I heard Bob speak was at the November 2010 BOSFCPUG meeting at WGBH.  I have never used any of Avid's products, so I was interested in getting an introduction to MC 5.5.  Here are some highlights from Bob's talk, along with my opinions.  Remember, I'm new to MC 5.5, so you might think "duh, they've had that for years" to some of my observations:

• MC 5.5 now supports the AJA IO Express to capture footage.  To end a debate I had with a couple coworkers over a few beers one night, Bob pronounced it "A.J.A." (the letters), not "Ahh-Jaa" (phonetically).
• Bob started with a demo of combining multiple formats and varying frame rates on the same timeline.
• Bob continued on to show us a multicam edit.  The process and interface looked very similar to multicam edits in Final Cut and Premiere.
• ScriptSync is Avid's tool for linking your media to a text file containing your script.  Bob had footage shot for a very cheesy small budget film, along with the script.  ScriptSync was able to process the text in the script and sync it with the same text spoken in the footage.
• Bob's next demo showed us how to manipulate clips in the timeline using the tools we're familiar with in FCP and Premiere:  ripple, roll, etc.  Bob also showed us that it's easy to simply click on a transition in the timeline to adjust duration.
• Bob threw in a little sales pitch for some control surfaces that will integrate well with MC 5.5.  Avid purchased Euphonix a year ago, so those were the control surfaces featured.
• PhraseFind is a feature in MC 5.5 that will scan the audio in your media and catalog it to make a searchable database.  It phonetically catalogs the dialogue, so Bob mentioned that you also need to think and type phonetically when you're searching.  I imagine it has the same issues as text to speech conversion, but just in reverse.

(L to R) Bob, Ken and Jay Ignaszewski from AJA

The last speaker of the evening was Jay Ignaszewski from AJA.  Here are the highlights from Jay's presentation:

• Talking about the Ki Pro, Jay said "right now it's just ProRes".  Does that mean that AJA is working on offering multiple codecs, like the Cinedeck Extreme that can record to ProRes, Avid's DNxHD and Cineform?  Or it means nothing and I'm digging too much into his comment.
• Only a few compact flash card manufacturers are approved by AJA for use in the Ki Pro Mini.  Obviously they've had issues with cheap cards not being able to keep up with the bandwidth required to capture ProRes 422 HQ (which is 220 Mbps).
• It's easiest to connect the Ki Pro Mini to a laptop via ethernet and make settings adjustments with the software interface.  The screen on the unit looks pretty small.

As is customary at BOSFCPUG meetings, the evening concluded with the Big Dig Raffle.  Daniel had the usual assortment of Focal Press books, FCP plug-in packages, Adobe Production Premium CS5.5, and an AJA Ki Pro Mini.  I've been unlucky for the past few BOSFCPUG raffles, as well as the huge raffle at the NAB Vegas SuperMeet, but tonight my luck turned around.  I won this little beauty:

Big Dig Raffle prize winner!

Now, I fully appreciate the fact that I was a winner this time, but even Daniel essentially admitted that this was a re-gifter.  I haven't tried it out yet, but I can't imagine this is a rig that Zucuto will be selling anytime soon.  I especially like how it has no brand name.  This generic baby is straight out of a Lillian Vernon catalog!  The best part is the creepy mustache that the model on the box is sporting:

Creepy

I was thinking of asking the winner of the Ki Pro Mini to trade with me, but he left before I could hunt him down.

Next month's Boston Final Cut Pro User Group meeting will focus on the newly released (hopefully on Tuesday) FCP X and will feature Steve Martin (the FCP trainer, not the comedian).  Steve is a great trainer and I look forward to seeing him.  My coworker, Kevin McGowan, took a couple Post Production World classes taught by Steve this year at NAB and really enjoyed them.

I'm a big fan of the BOSFCPUG, so if you live in the Boston area, keep an eye on their website for news about the July meeting.  I hope to see you there!