DC Metro Final Cut Pros

Don’t wait till the last minute, sign up NOW!!!

Thanks to our members and invited guests for a record turnout last night!

For those that missed our meeting last night, you missed a treat!

Manny from AJA gave us a thorough overview of the AJA product line.  We had real product in the room for members and non-members to see, touch and feel.  After an awesome demo of the KiPro and its exoskeleton mounting gear, we watched a showreel of footage in which AJA products were featured.

KiPro components and other relevant AJA products were passed around the room which stimulated lots of good dialog between AJA and our audience.  We had a robust Question and Answer period for FCP and the intersection of AJA gear which could have gone on for hours….

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Attendance was in record numbers for a cold Tuesday night in DC and our venue sponsor outdid themselves from 2009 by providing refreshments and food (lots of awesome Pizza). Thanks Future Media Concepts (FMC)!

As a special SURPRISE bonus for the January meeting, FMC gave away a FREE FMC FCP course to a lucky attendee. We conducted our famous WINNER’S CIRCLE raffle in which nearly $2,000 worth of valuable sponsor items were raffled off.

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Congrats to our winners from last night. I’m sure you will put those tools to work in your next creative piece.  Start prepping your best works as we will begin to showcase our member’s works soon.

Since the meeting is all about members networking and learning, I deferred the DCFCPUG status to our next meeting in February (just a couple of weeks away – 10 Feb) and since you have the agenda posted, you can think about questions for the next meeting since our invited guest is the famous, yet humble LARRY JORDAN – FCP EXPERT extraordinaire!

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SEND ME YOUR “STUMP THE EXPERT” QUESTIONS NOW!  As a courtesy, I will provide those to Larry before the meeting so he can be best prepared to get you answer during our meeting timeframe.  For the full FCP immersion, take his very reasonably priced course during the day (see prior post on this subject). SIGN UP NOW as we have an additional discount for DCFCPUG members. Email me for details, if interested.

Yeah, next time, you should sign up EARLY and attend because you never know what might happen at a DCFCPUG meeting!

Again, I would like to thank our NEW and returning members for coming out last night, our venue and corporate sponsors for outstanding support and Manny for our “business meeting” at the Sushi house afterwards.  ;-)

I’ll have the meeting details up for the February meeting soon so check back often and don’t forget to tell your friends and colleagues to REGISTER FOR FREE MEMBERSHIP, AND sign up EARLY for EVENTS which helps us forecast resources (chairs, food, drinks, etc)

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P.S: New sponsors are signing up to support us (I’ll announce those new sponsors in a separate post shortly….)

Well, gotta go do real work now…

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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

Buy some raffle tickets and come on out on the 26th January for our monthly meeting featuring a presentation of the new KiPro from AJA!

Registered members need to be LOGGED IN to see the MEMBER’S ONLY discount code/link on this page ## Please Login or Register to read the rest of this content. ## for entry and event registration for the upcoming January 26 meeting! Non members can become members for FREE.

NOTE: REGISTERED MEMBERS USING THE CODE WILL NOT BE CHARGED ANY FEES ($0 x fee still = $0)

Don’t delay, REGISTER NOW!

One of our members, Charlotte (“Char”) Rinderknecht and her business partner/husband, Bill own and operate the entertainment production studio, STUDIO KINATE in Northern Virginia. We were invited to share their special day today, at one of this area’s most authentic Irish Pub and Restaurant, The Auld Shebeen, in Old Town Fairfax, VA.

A few weeks ago, Char was interviewed by The Washington Post. The article was published today (1/24/2010), (online 1/23/2010) so today was a celebration of getting recognition from The Post on her achievements to date. Read the article linked above and congratulate her when she comes to visit us this summer as our featured guest speaker for July 2010.

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Studio Kinate recently won some top Animation Awards for their animated short,”Pete’s Odydessy”.  A sample clip from the short is below with other editons also available on YouTube.

Pete’s Odydessy was produced with a team of artists, led by former Director of the Disney Institute, Larry Lauria. Larry currently runs the Larry’s Toon Institute.

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On the back of Char Rinderknecht’s business cards is the Walt Disney quote:

“It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.”

Today’s lunch meeting demonstrated again that this region is rich with talent, vision and kindred spirits. Rekindling DCFCPUG, some would say, is a similar challenge (doing the impossible…) but with a focused approach to build a working community of digital artists, we can all ride on the successes of each others’ endeavors and give back to one another so we grow as a family. For example, Char and DCFCPUG intersected at our first CDIA Georgetown Screenwriter’s Event in April 2009, featuring Jim Mercurio.  Char and I have been leveraging the social media technologies to stay in touch and help each other.  At today’s meeting, I shared how DCFCPUG partners with our corporate sponsors which now will allow her to maximize her resources and create a shared benefit to create a win-win scenario.

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DCFCPUG and Studio Kinate are now exploring ways to grow an ANIMATION TBUG (ToomBoom)  microsite in Northern Virginia, leveraging our relationship we are building with ToomBoom.  Thanks to the generosity of  the VP, Marketing and Communications, Karina Bessoudo at ToomBoom for the interest in DCFCPUG.  ToomBoom is a sponsor of the DCFCPUG and are fans of their Storyboard Pro and Animate Pro software applications. Char and I both agree, that the art of storytelling is at the heart of what we do, whether it be on Apple’s Final Cut Studio, or ToomBoom’s Storyboard Pro and Animate Pro.  We all use the right tool for the job to get the story told .  Char is a fan of DCFCPUG and we appreciate her telling everyone in her circle of influence about the world of Final Cut Studio and its tie in with the creative 2D animation world.

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I  appreciate Char and Bill’s contributions to putting American animators to work and her involvement in the Tyson Animation Program at the Cicely Tyson School of Performing and Fine Arts in East Orange, New Jersey. I personally am looking forward to the continued collaboration with Char, Bill, and Larry.  We (DCFCPUG) will get a shot at assisting her toward her dream, while giving DCFCPUG members opportunities to get involved in the production workflow.  If you are interested in participating, let me know, as I will be discussing an upcoming project where we will be potentially given an opportunity to shoot, edit, produce training videos for Larry Lauria.  Leave a comment or email me if you are interested in getting involved.

Here’s to a successful 2010!

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Warm regards,

From CNN:

– It’s official: Apple Inc. will host a much-anticipated press event January 27 in San Francisco, California.

Invitations went out Monday.

Tech insiders expect the company to unveil a touch-screen “slate” computer, which would look something like a giant iPhone.

Buzz about such an announcement, and the possible press event, has been dominant news in the tech blogosphere for months.

The invitation to Apple’s event gives only a cryptic message about what news will come, however.

“Come see our latest creation,” says the invite, which was sent Monday by e-mail.

The e-mail invitation shows an image of bright colors splashed around an Apple logo. It does not show photos of products or specify what products Apple will discuss at the event.

The press event will be held at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts at 10 a.m. PT on January 27, according to the announcement.

The amorphous “slate” and “tablet” computer categories have drawn much attention from technology writers and the public in recent months.

Some companies say the devices — which fall in size and function somewhere between smartphones and laptop computers — are good for reading books, sorting through photos and browsing Web sites.

Others have criticized these emerging computer categories as overhyped.

Apple has a history of game-changing product announcements. The Cupertino, California-based company also has a reputation for being tight-lipped about its plans. The company has not commented on the frenzy of rumors about its supposedly upcoming tablet computer.

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I’m excited, are you? Comment!!

Rod-DCFCPUG

DCFCPUG members:

Thought this would be of interest given its significance to space flight and the commercialization of space and the “green technologies in play”…

Virgin Galactic unveils SpaceShip II, the world’s first manned commercial spaceship!
Watch the video for a look at the new Spaceport America located in New Mexico…

History in the making!…

Enjoy!

Rodney Mitchell
DCFCPUG