New Stuff - Cool Stuff
September 29, 2014
In This Issue
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All Kinds of Cool Stuff
Boris FX: BCC Motion Key
Boris FX: BCC Wire Remover
Motion: Create and Animate Masks
Boris FX: GoPro Lens Correction
Boris FX: BCC Magic Sharpen
FCP X (v.10.1.2): Complete!
Top 3 Lists
Compressor 4.1 Training
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Larry Jordan Five new articles this week - four of which apply equally to Final Cut, Premiere, and Avid.  Plus a tutorial on masks in Motion.

IMAGE QUALITY FOLLOW-UP

Generic newsletter bulletLast week, I wrote up my concerns about an article making the rounds on the Internet indicating that Adobe Premiere had lower video output quality than Final Cut Pro X.  My issues were that the methodology of the test was woefully inadequate; so much so that the test results were totally unreliable.

Last week, Espen Ryksen, CEO of Vizart Media Production in Oslo, Norway, decided to do his own testing. He and I worked out a methodology that compared both FCP and Premiere output when using similar compression settings.

The short answer seems to be that when the output settings match, the quality is very, very similar - though compression speeds vary widely.

I'm in the process of duplicating his testing and will report further on this in next week's newsletter. In the meantime, I wanted to give you an update that the image quality issue is not as drastic as screaming web headlines might make you believe.

FOR A LIMITED TIME: 
GET STARTED WITH FINAL CUT PRO X

This offer ends at midnight, Sept. 30.

A frequent request from young editors is for a way to get a basic understanding of editing in Final Cut Pro X, without investing in all our training all at once. Just for September, we created "Get Started."

Get Started with Final Cut Pro X is a subset of movies from our FCP X: Complete title specifically chosen to provide an understanding of media management and editing in Final Cut Pro X. This contains 32 movies - more than two hours of training  - all designed to get you up-and-running as quickly as possible.

Even better, this package has an incredibly low price of only $9.99.  If you are looking for an inexpensive way to start learning Final Cut, or deciding if our training is worth watching, this is a great way to start.

I'm excited to offer this bundle and, if you haven't purchased my training yet, urge you to add this to your system. This is for a limited time, so please act quickly.

Here's the link.

LAST WEEK'S WEBINAR:
CREATE AND ANIMATE MASKS IN MOTION 5 

Generic newsletter bullet Last week, my webinar looked at creating and animating masks in Motion 5.

I will confess that masks intimidated me for a long time; until I discovered that a mask is just a fancy way to "hide a portion of an image."  Ha! I realized I'd been doing that with the crop tool for years.

Which is true, but if all you know is cropping and the very, very, very limited mask tool in Final Cut Pro - you are missing a treat.

Motion 5 takes masks to an entirely different level - which I illustrate in this webinar. Learn how to:
  • Create and animate geometric masks
  • Create and animate Bezier masks
  • Discover the power and flexibility of B-spline masks
  • See how to apply filters and behaviors to create mind-bending effects
I discovered some really cool techniques which I share with you in this webinar.

Download the webinar here.

And, remember, subscribers can watch any webinar FREE at any time in our Video Training Library. Save money and subscribe today. 

THIS WEEK'S WEBINAR - TIMING IS EVERYTHING

Generic newsletter bullet Our most popular webinar this year looked at editing as a craft, rather than technology. We called it: Editing As Story-telling - and the room was PACKED!

I can take a hint. So, I created another craft session for this week: Timing is Everything. Discover:
  • What is a story and how to improve it
  • Editing rules to keep you out of trouble
  • The 180-degree rule
  • How shot order changes the meaning and emotion of a scene
  • How shot angle and shot height change the emotion of a scene
  • How to recognize and leverage pacing
  • How to use reaction shots to improve the dramatic intensity of a scene
Registration to the live show is free but we have a limit of 100 seats. Act fast! Sign up here.

FEATURED BUZZ INTERVIEW

Buzz newsletter bullet This week's Digital Production Buzz featured a mix of interviews, but the one I want to highlight for this week is Tom Bassett, Founder/CEO of Bassett Partners.

Tomorrow (Sept. 30) Tom is releasing his 30-minute documentary free on the Web. Featuring interviews with some of the most famous creative people on the planet, his program looks at the role of the Creative Brief in defining creative works-for-hire.

We had a great interview and the trailer looks fascinating. And FREE has a great sound to it.

Listen to Tom's interview here.

Listen to the entire show here.

Thanks to the folks at Take1 Transcriptions, you can read, as well as listen to each show. Read this week's show transcript here. (You'll also find show transcripts on each Buzz show page.)

FIVE NEW ARTICLES THIS WEEK!

Generic newsletter bullet Last week, I did a webinar focused on the new Boris Continuum Complete 9 effects suite for the folks at Boris FX.

There are lots of new goodies in that software, so I wrote up four effects that you need to know about. The cool news is that BCC works on all current editing platforms - Apple, Adobe, Avid, Resolve 11 - so regardless of what you are using for software, you can benefit from these. Plus, Boris announced new, lower pricing which makes these more affordable than ever.

Also, I have a very cool excerpt from my recent webinar on creating masks in Motion. All-in-all, it's been a great week.

And, as always, I've updated our Top 3 lists. 

ARTICLE: BORIS CONTINUUM COMPLETE
Remove Moving Objects 
 
Have you ever wanted to remove a moving object in a clip and make it look like it was never there in the first place?

The BCC Motion Key can do it. The results are stunning and easy to achieve - once you know how.

Whether you use Adobe, Apple, Avid or some other editing platform, this is one effect you need to see - just for the sheer fun of it.


ARTICLE: BORIS CONTINUUM COMPLETE
Remove Wires 
 
The BCC Wire Remover removes wires and other thin objects from the frame.

Think of it as a cloning tool for video... except, it removes the wire without altering the background. And, no, I don't know how it does it.

This effect compliments the BCC Motion Key by removing objects from the frame and making it look like they were never there in the first place.

This is another effect you need to know about - because there's always something in the frame that shouldn't be there.


VIDEO: MOTION 5
Create and Animate Bezier Masks  
 
Masks remove a portion of an image. Bezier masks allow you to remove image sections using either straight lines or curves.

In this short, seven-minute video tutorial, I show how to create a Bezier mask, how to change its shape, and how to animate it over time using keyframes.

If all you know is the mask tool in Final Cut Pro X, you owe it to your clients to watch this video.


ARTICLE: BORIS CONTINUUM COMPLETE
GoPro Lens Correction 
 
The GoPro is a great camera - with a great fish-eye lens on the front.

A fish-eye lens means that everything stays in focus, regardless of how close, or far, it is from the camera. The bad news, though, is that straight lines look like pretzels.

This effect, in Boris Continuum Complete, fixes that.

This article will take you three minutes to read and make a huge difference in how your GoPro shots look.


ARTICLE: BORIS CONTINUUM COMPLETE 9
Bring A Soft Shot Into Focus 
 
Sometimes, a shot you thought was in-focus is just a wee bit, um, off.

Or, maybe a wee bit more than a wee bit.

In any case, you can't go back and reshoot - but it sure would be nice to make the shot look sharper.

This effect is new with BCC 9 - a new sharpening tool that makes a clip look more focused without adding excessive edge ringing and artifacts.

I never sharpen my shots - until last week, when I multicam shoot I was editing had one camera that was soft compared to the other two. This effect fixed it.


ALL-NEW AND UPDATED!! 
FINAL CUT PRO X 10.1.2: COMPLETE 
              
This title contains everything you need to learn Apple's
Final Cut Pro X v.10.1!
 
This title includes both:

* FCP X: Workflow & Editing

* FCP X: Effects

 

All in one place, for one great price!

 

Start with initial setup and media management to editing, effects, and output, there's no finer training on the market.

* Need to get started in a hurry? We condensed everything you need into one chapter.

* Need to learn just the new features? We've got you covered.

* Need in-depth training on everything you need to know to become a video editing pro? Start at the beginning and work your way to the end.

You'll be amazed at how much you learn!

THIS TRAINING INCLUDES ALL THE NEW FEATURES IN THE FCP X 10.1.2 UPDATE
(It is also current for the 10.1.3 release)


Over 200 movies, more than 22 hours of training! Each movie is laser-focused to get you the information you need exactly when you need it. (The average movie length is about seven minutes.)

One title - everything you need - available right now.


TOP THREE + 1 LISTS 
   
Here are the most popular articles, webinars, and audio interviews for the past seven days across all my websites.

Articles

This list expanded to the Top 4 to add some variety:
For an index of all our articles, visit here.

 

Webinars

This list is based on the webinars watched most often by our monthly subscribers. For a list of all our webinars, visit here.

 

Digital Production Buzz Audio Interviews   

For a list of all Buzz audio interviews, click here. 


BRAND-NEW TRAINING
Learn Apple Compressor 4.1
   
Apple continues to update Compressor with an all new interface, improved compression settings and better monitoring. This application has some much new stuff inside that we went back and re-did all our training for the new version.
  • Better organized
  • More informative
  • Tighter focus on making your images look great.
NEW TRAINING NOW SUPPORTS
COMPRESSOR 4.1.2

These days, everything we do ends up on the web.
Which means that if we don't know how to compress our video to make it look good, all our work during production and post is wasted.

In this in-depth video training, Larry Jordan shows you how to make the most of Apple Compressor 4.1.x.

Whether you are a new or experienced, this training will help you make your media look and sound great!

We are committed to providing the highest quality training at the lowest possible price and distributing it as widely as possible.

From subscriptions to individual downloads to free techniques and articles -- we've got your back.  And there's lots more to come.

Thanks!

Larry Jordan
Larry Jordan & Associates
P.S. I always love hearing from you. Feel free to write.