DC Metro Final Cut Pros

I’m representing our DCFCPUG at the national level in San Francisco this year. I’m registered for the free workshops during the morning and in the afternoon we do a roll call of all FCPUG Leaders around the country. This will be the FIRST year DCFCPUG will be represented. Another milestone for our growing PUG community! Given the epic snow storm descending on the DC area, I can’t complain about the rain here in the Bay Area too much… I just hope I still can fly home as scheduled on Sunday… if not, guess I will just have to tough it out here in the Silicon Valley one more day..

Post a comment and say hello…

All the best and edit the rest!
Rodney Mitchell
President, FCP Leader and Apple Ambassador

Washington DC Metro Final Cut Pro Users Group

http://www.dcfcpug.org

email: rodney [at] dcfcpug.org

Here is the details of the events today. Perhaps Washington, DC might be a new destination for the SUPERMEET one year!

San Francisco Supermeet

Event specifics – Ninth Annual San Francisco SuperMeet to take place on Friday, February 5, 2010 at the University of California San Francisco, Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco, CA. Doors open at 3:30PM with a Digital Showcase and presentations begin at 7PM and continue until 11:00PM. This SuperMeet promises to be the single largest gathering of Final Cut Studio, Adobe and Avid editors, gurus and digital filmmakers in the Bay Area for all of 2010.

• Canon: Best Workflow for Canon File-Based Cameras
• Canon’s line of EOS HD Video Cameras has created a storm of interest among cinematographers and videographers, using them exclusively as a tool for video acquisition. Joe Bogacz of Canon will present solutions for matching Canon’s file-based cameras with the most functional workflow choices for high-end production.
• Autodesk: Smoke on Mac OS X
• Alexandre Domingue, President of Post-Moderne will show commercial and music video work on Autodesk(R) Smoke(R) on Mac OS(R) X.
• Music Video: “Destroy Me”
• The debut music video from Indie/electro band Lilofee for their single “Destroy Me” was directed by filmmaker Jordan Livingston. The video features all six band members perming amidst eye-popping, post-apocolyptic dreamscapes. Visual Effects and Animation were created by Tony Hudson in extensive collaboration with the visual effects students at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, CA.
• AJA KiPro and Io Express: A Simple Workflow from Lens to Post
• Jon Thorn of AJA will show off the simplicity of a 10-bit workflow from lens to post using both the AJA KiPro and Io Express. The Ki Pro’s ability to instantly create Apple ProRes files on-set has revolutionized post-production in addition to giving file-based life to a range of tape-based cameras. Io Express, a portable digital i/o with full 10-bit support can be used alongside Ki Pro recordings to monitor and edit files anywhere, at anytime. Jon will demo how the Ki Pro’s included up/down/cross conversion brings unity to a production while providing the most efficient direct-to-edit capabilities in the industry.
• Motion 4 Does 3D
• Apple Motion expert Mark Spencer will show us real honest to goodness 3D by showing how to integrate Motion 4 and Maxon Cinema4D together into your editing workflow.
• The New Speed Tools in Final Cut Pro 7
• Final Cut Studio Guru and author Kevin Monahan returns to the SuperMeet stage to show off the newly improved and much easier to use speed tools in Final Cut Pro 7.
• Top 5 iApps Every Digital Content Creator Must Have
• HandHeldHollywood.com’s Taz Goldstein will show off 5 of the newest, most innovative must-have iApps for the iPhone and iPod Touch designed for digital content creators, along with a variety of hardware that’s been developed to support this growing market.
• Matt Silverman: The Idea behind IDEO’s Living Climate Change
• IDEO CEO Tim Brown needed to tell the world about his latest initiative, LivingClimateChange.com. Bonfire’s Creative Director Matt Silverman convinced IDEO’s senior creative brain-trust to move away from a simple live-action video and created an eclectic motion graphics piece utilizing a combination of live action video, rotoscoping, hand-drawn illustration and animation, 3D animation, and hand-lettered typography.

The San Francisco SuperMeet will also feature Show and Tells from Bay-area digital filmmakers

• SuperMeet
• AJA Ki Pro
• Autodesk
• Canon
• Adobe
• Red Giant

SuperMeets are gatherings of Final Cut Studio, Adobe and Avid editors, gurus and digital filmmakers from throughout the world who use or want to learn to use Macintosh-based workflows and solutions such as Apple’s Final Cut Studio suite of applications. SuperMeets are held annually in San Francisco, Las Vegas, Amsterdam, and London, with a new major city to be announced in 2010. The SuperMeet agenda usually includes demos of new products, digital video tips and tricks, and filmmaker show and tells, including a SuperMeet Digital Showcase with vendors and small developers providing workflow solutions for digital filmmakers and content creators.

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For the 2010 Las Vegas NAB show, I was asked to be a author/contributor to the famous FCPUGnetwork.org SUPERMAG (digital magazine) that reaches thousands of FCP oriented people, worldwide.

I appreciate the confidence from my peers in Los Angeles (Mike Horton) and Boston (Dan Berube) and the opportunity to author a topic and get our group greater exposure on the national and international scene.  Let’s talk about how I might be able to help our members and their respective companies greater exposure via the SUPERMEET and NAB this year.

Regards,

Rodney Mitchell
President, FCP Leader and Apple Ambassador
DC Final Cut Pro User Group

http://www.dcfcpug.org

Free Workshops and Open Screen Theater!

The 9th Annual San Francisco SuperMeet is coming up soon and will once again be held at the UCSF Mission Bay Conference Center on Friday, February 5, 2010.

Tickets are on sale now for the “Early bird” price of $10.00 each. Which means if you plan to attend, then buy your ticket now or you pay $15.00 after January 4, 2010 and $20.00 at the door.

This event will be the single largest Bay Area social gathering of digital filmmakers, content creators, FCS, Avid and Adobe Gurus and users in all of 2010.

SuperMeet Digital Showcase
This years SuperMeet promises to be bigger than ever before. In addition to a great show we will once again have a vendor area we are calling the “SuperMeet Digital Showcase,” with over 30 software and hardware developers including AJA, Autodesk, Canon, Avid, Blackmagic Design Footagehead, G-Tech, Matrox, Maxon, Noise Industries, Red Giant and others.

FREE Workshops
Also, for the first time ever we will include FREE educational workshops as part of the SuperMeet experience. Workshops during the day, and SuperMeet at night. The workshops are sponsored by Adobe, Autodesk, Canon and Red Giant and all are 2 hours each and all are absolutely free. You can sign up for one workshop or for a maximum of three. There are only 40 seats available for each workshop so if you are interested, then register NOW. Go here to register and for course descriptions:

<http://supermeetworkshops.eventbrite.com/>

What’s on the agenda?
Well, it’s SuperSecret, but we can tell you this: There will be USER-driven presentations from AJA, Canon and Autodesk. There will be show and tells from local Bay Area filmmakers, FCS tips and tricks and yes, the World famous Raffle where we will give away thousands of dollars worth of prizes to dozens of lucky winners including a Canon EOS 5D Mark II HDSLR, AJA KiPro, NLE software, plug-ins and more. More importantly the SuperMeet is your chance to hang out and network with over 600 of your peers, many of whom know more than you do.

Open Screen Theatre
Not enough? We’ve also added an exciting component to the SuperMeet Digital Showcase. Local filmmakers can showcase their projects in what we are calling the “Open Screen Theater.” Filmmakers and digital content creators wanting to get seen will have a a 10 minute chance to do so in an informal, collaborative setting. We want those who are shooting with HDSLRS and other tapeless workflows to screen content and interact. Filmmakers, just show up and sign up, get up and show off. It’s first come, first serve in our “Open Screen Theater.”

Buy Your SuperMeet Tickets Now
Tickets are on sale now, and as usual we expect this event to sell out. As you all know, SuperMeets always sell out.

Again, tickets are only $10.00 each and will remain so until January 4, 2010. After that it’s $15.00 each. So buy your tickets early online. There are only 500 tickets available online and once they are gone, they are gone.

Go to the SuperMeet web site for daily updates, directions to the MBCC, updates on the FREE educational workshops and the ever growing list of raffle prizes and generous sponsors.

<http://www.supermeet.com/>

See you in San Francisco on Feb. 5, 2010. We can’t wait!

Thanks!

Dan
—-
Daniel Berube
Co-Producer, SuperMeets

BOSFCPUG

Some of the DCFCPUG Leadership team will be attending the SuperMeet for the first time! More to come on this topic, but if you are interested in attending, head on over to the FCPUGnet site to take advantage of the discounted room rates at the KIMPTON Serrando Hotel in SF.  They will have day long workshops before the evening SUPERMEET this time around so it should be educational as well as a chance to meet and greet our peers on the West Coast. I hope to have some reporting from the field while in attendance.

If you can join us, let me know!

Rodney
DCFCPUG

The Talk of the MacCommunity with Chuck Joiner podcast

Podcast Released 1 Sept 2009

Listen up DCFCPUG… this is why we exist and why I do the things I do for DCFCPUG. One day you will find us at the “top of the hill” with LAFCPUG, BOSFCPUG, SFCutters. I’m currently in discussion with Dan on the remake of FCPUGnetwork!

Be inspired, support your local FCPUG, it really does pay to be a member and you really do get back 10 times what you put into it.  The Washington Metro area has some very talented folks out there…. take a day for yourself to recharge with us at DCFCPUG and you just might win a tool for your next project and you can take THAT to the bank!

Rodney Mitchell
DCFCPUG

Michael Horton
LAFCPUG

Daniel Berube
BOSFCPUG

The latest iteration of the Final Cut Pro User Group SuperMeet is coming up, this time in Amsterdam. Event organizers Michael Horton and Dan Berube can’t help but display their enthusiasm for both the event and for their mission of bringing the power of digital storytelling to the world. They discuss some of the new features of this SuperMeet, such as turning part of the event over to the audience, the newest edition of their SuperMag and the expansion of the Final Cut Pro user group community. Their plans for the future, why it is so important to them, and why they refuse to make the SuperMeets “dog and pony shows” are all part of a look at one of the fastest-growing conference series going.

Rodney – DCFCPUG

SOLD OUT EVENT! You will just have to catch us next month!

Send us an email @ contact @  dcfcpug.org if you want to be on the notification list for future meetings!

FREE PIZZA and DRINKS provided courtesy of FMC!!!

This is the edition in which you will find your DC Final Cut Pro User Group as one of the expanding groups in the FCP Network – see PAGE 31!!!

The PDF magazine has finally completed publication and released today!

Its packed with 171 pages of topics you will find very interesting….

Remember; use the free Adobe Acrobat 9 reader to read this customized PDF!

HERE IS THE LINK!

• 
  
• We are Community by Daniel Berube
  We are the heart of our industry. We are the global community and are not only witnessing change/evolution, we are guiding it.
• Taking the SuperMeet Global by Michael Horton
  In January of 2007 just after the 6th Annual Macworld SuperMeet in San Francisco, Dan Berube and I sat down and decided to take the SuperMeet global.
• Shooting in HD and Editing in SD: Killer Tricks to Make Your Show Sizzle by Abba Shapiro
  The industry is buzzing over Blu-ray DVDs and high def transmissions, however most users will be watching your programs on standard def DVD player, maybe with up conversion to an HDTV, or on their laptops.
• Ten Years of Final Cut Pro by Rick Young
  Way back in 1999 Apple unleashed a tidal wave at the post-production scene. I doubt anyone in Apple marketing realized just how big this wave was going to be– it changed everything in the world of editing, and it has never been the same.
• The FCP Generation–All Grown Up by Merethe Rosvold
  It’s safe to say that for the last decade, Final Cut Pro has been making steady inroads into the world of professional editing. Supposedly, around 49 percent of the market uses Final Cut Pro today, which makes it the main contender to the industry giant, Avid.
• How to use Media Manager to Archive your Projects by Larry Jordan
  I am not a fan of Media Manager. In fact, in my classes I actively counsel against its use because it has the ability to permanently delete, destroy, or otherwise mangle your files. Especially if you overlook a critical check-box or two.
• How to Import FCP Projects into Adobe Production Premium by Karl Soule
  People who prefer to edit in other applications have been left out of the integration party until very recently. With the introduction of Premiere Pro 4.01, Premiere Pro can be used as an importer of Final Cut Pro project files…
• Final Cut Synergy: Project Sharing in Final Cut Pro by Stephen Kanter
  Simply put, Avid is designed to share projects, whereas Final Cut Pro is not. For some shows dependent on a collaborative work- flow, not being able to share projects in Final Cut Pro isn’t just inconvenient, it’s a deal breaker.
• The Ghost in the Palace by Phil Ashby
  By the time you’ve read this article, there will probably be another couple of codecs slipped in through the side gate.
• The 21st Century Pen: Remapping the Arctic with Digital Cinema by Jennifer A. Smith
  From a 400 square-foot cottage on Alaska’s Barter Island, filmmaker Arthur C. Smith III carved an icy niche on the northern edge of North America.
• Make Multiclip Sequence: A Hidden Gem in FCP by Alexander Snelling
  A lot of FCP users are probably familiar with the amazing functionality of Multiclip in FCP. When I edited the Sex Pistols’ 30th Anniversary concerts at Brixton Academy last year, I had to go deep into Multiclip and found a mountain of spices.
• Color Correction in FCP or Apple Color by Jamie Hitchings
  A large part of your post production end game should be dedicated to color correction. Achieving the right look in Final Cut Studio can be done either in Final Cut Pro or in Color, depending on what needs to be done, your level of comfort, and your turnaround time.
• Final Cut Server: One FCP Workflow for Starters by Aidria Astravas
  While Final Cut Server (FCSVR) may seem intimidating to the average editor, once set up by the right person, editors and producer’s workflows can be critically easier.
• Sony XD Cam EX Workflow and Final Cut Studio by Ned Soltz
  Considering buying a Sony EX-1 or EX-3? Debating the move from a tape to tapeless workflow? Or are you an editor just handed XDCAM EX files and wondering what to do with them?
• AVCHD Editing Workflow for Final Cut Pro by David Saraceno
  The HMC150 holds its end of the bargain by producing stunning AVCHD footage. However, editing native AVCHD in real time isn’t a reality in any video editing application, despite marketing claims to the contrary.
• It’s Not Just the Camera: A Mash of Thoughts on Production and Post by Jem Schofield
  My first-ever DVD authoring project was the beginning of my journey into the world of video production. I had just bought the first Mac tower that shipped with a SuperDrive (the 733MHz Power Mac G4), and a copy of DVD Studio Pro 1.0.
• Making Home Movies (The Secret Agent Method) by Mónica Reina-Kadner
  I’ve lived in Mexico City my whole life, but I love to travel. I also love to take pictures and when I can, video. But I like to travel as light as possible and I needed a camera that’s so small I’d never want to leave it behind. With all that in mind, I set out to find the kind of camera that would satisfy not only a Final Cut Pro user like me, but also a secret agent!
• How to Build an Audience for your Independent Production by Phil Hodgetts
  Traditionally, distribution of a film or television project was someone else’s problem. The producer created the project and handed it off to a distributor–if they were lucky enough to win the distribution lottery. The sad reality here is that less than .05% of the films submitted to the Sundance Festival actually obtain distribution deals.
• Using Shapes in Motion by Jim Kanter
  It is easy to create, modify and animate vector shapes in Motion. They can be used to add elements to a design or as masks. You can import shapes from other applications but creating them in Motion gives you the most control and versatility.
• Flying Photo in After Effects with Trapcode Particular by Rob Birnholz
  Like any effect in Final Cut Pro or After Effects, there are several methods to create the look, either manually or with help from a third party. There’s one technique using Trapcode Particular that I rely on time and again.
• Are these images too bright or is it just me? by Tina Lung
  Have you ever run into the situation where you are importing images from a PC into Final Cut Pro, but they look too bright? You are then spending a long time correcting them manually.
• The DPI Myth Explained by Ben King
  Over the years I have worked across the whole media industry from print design through all digital media to film and there is one thing that crops up time and time again on forums or questions from producers/directors/production managers. That is “What DPI do I use?” or more infuriatingly “What DPI is video?”
• Your Keyboard Galaxy by Loren Miller
  What to do when FCP command mapping needs a boost. How to match-map Avid and Final Cut Pro key commands
• Bento: Your FCP Media Library by Christopher Phrommayon
  You’ve decided to take a break from your Final Cut Pro system, and you’re on your first vacation in months. Since you can’t entirely leave your inner geek at home, your spouse let you bring your mini camcorder and a MacBook, because some of your vacation planning was saved in Bento. However, while on vacation, no editing allowed!
• Excerpt: Fast Path to Blu-ray Disc by Bruce Nazarian
  This quick tutorial will show you how a modest investment in software will enable you to create your first Blu-ray Disc project even if you don’t have a Blu-ray Disc burner! As a bonus, it will also allow you to use BD-R media for archiving and backup once you have a suitable Blu-ray Disc burner.
• Bullet-Proofing Your Editing System by Jeff Greenberg
  Entropy is one of the basic rules of the universe. Anything with moving parts breaks. Make that everything. Your editing system
  will eventually act up. It’ll never be a convenient time. It’s always going to be at the worst time, right before a job is finished. All you can do is try and prepare for this inevitability.
• I Ain’t Hollywood: Is RED One Right for Me? by Steve Sherrick
  So, I have some projects coming up that I’m interested in exploring to see if RED One is a good fit. It seems like every trade magazine I pick up either has the camera on the cover or at the very least, an article inside. It’s very hard to miss RED Digital Cinema these days.
• Beat the House: An instant Editing method for RED Footage with FCP by Noah Kadner
  The RED One is a challenging camera to shoot with in terms of manual focus, exposure and the like, but it’s even more complex in post-production.
• Amateur vs. Preditor: Whoever Wins–We Lose by Keith Larsen
  Every time we are told that we are in a recession, I do better. Our business is never affected by bad times.
• The Silver Lining by Jeff Rothberg
  It is hard to avoid the day-to-day pessimism that pervades all forms of digital communications. Continued stories of massive layoffs, downsizing and revised profit projections are all too familiar an occurrence.
  
• Apple Authorized Training Center Locations

Rodney - DCFCPUG