There’s a problem with the XML Export function in Final Cut Pro 7.0.2. As Andreas writes:

Over the last few weeks I got more and more mails from people who complained about missing line breaks in XML metadata text entries — and they asked for a workaround.

The issue is very simple and probably won’t affect too many of your readers, but I got more than hundred mails about that issue.

So it’s simple. Enter a text with line breaks into any metadata field which allows that — like with text generators, markers or comments.
They could look like this in FCP:
line 1
line 2
line 3

The XML exported will give you a value:

line 1 line 2 line 3

with any app which tries to interpret the XML — this includes FCP itself.

This is a real disaster, if you working with subtitles which are are sent forth and back between systems using XML. I got a customer who had a documentation with 7 languages each about more than 2000 subtitles which were fine tuned within FCP — all in all there were around 15,000 subtitles screwed up for release on DVD, film, YouTube etc.

It was solved by the workaround described below – the customer was more than happy. Imagine, if you need about 1 minute to control each title, it would take about 250 hours to fix this one movie.

Andreas went on to detail the solution:

This is a known bug of FCP 7.0.2 and will affect all XML exports and there is no workaround within FCP. This is more than annoying if you work with subtitles, but it can/will be the same little disaster if you want to ‘downgrade’ to a lower version of FCP or collaborate using XML as interchange format.

So if you already updated to 7.0.2 here a tip how you can create ‘clean’ XMLs.

1. Move your ‘Final Cut Pro.app’ from the Applications folder to the Desktop
2. Insert your FCP installation DVD and install FCP 7.0 only
3. After installation is done, rename the freshly installed ‘Final Cut Pro.app’ to ‘Final Cut Pro 7.app’ – this way it won’t be touched by any automatic updates
4. Ctrl-click the ‘Final Cut Pro 7.app’ and select “Show Package Contents”
5. Navigate to Contents/MacOS/Final Cut Pro
6. Create an Alias of the ‘Final Cut Pro’ either on the Desktop or in the Dock.
7. Close the Folder
8. Move your current ‘Final Cut Pro.app’ back to the Applications folder

Procedure:
If you want to export an XML from your current FCP 7.0.2 then
1. Save your project
2. Double-Click your Alias ‘Final Cut Pro.app’ executable which you have created earlier. ‘Terminal.app’ will start and maybe give some error messages which might be interesting, but can be ignored.
3. An instance of FCP 7 will launch beside your FCP 7.0.2
4. Open your current project with FCP 7
5. Export XML without saving the project
6. Close the project or keep it open when you know you have to export more changed XMLs from that project — use the “Revert” menu to update from your 7.0.2 project
7. Never save the second instance of your project

Notes
1. If you know that you have to do a lot of XML exports, keep the FCP 7 instance open – it will share all the settings with the FCP 7.0.2
2. To quit the FCP 7 instance, close the ‘Terminal.app’ window related to your FCP 7 instance – this is cleaner than quitting the FCP 7 instance
3. Once you have created the FCP 7 version on one machine, you can copy it to other machines where you need it without using the Installer, you only have to create or fix the Alias

Larry adds: As you can probably tell, this workaround is not for the new user. But for those people that have experienced the problem, now you have a solution.

Thanks,

Larry

www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/in-action/eatpraylove/?sr=hotnews.rss

I liked their description of their use of ProRes Proxy and the workflow they followed.

Larry

This process, called “Fair Use,” allows us to use short segments of other materials without paying royalties or requesting permission of the copyright holder.

This recent ruling is a very big win for filmmakers. However, while the broad picture is easy to state, the actual application is murky. For example, it is legal for a filmmaker to use encrypted materials from a DVD, but it is NOT legal for a software company to provide the tools that make this possible!

Whew!

Last night, on the Digital Production Buzz, I interviewed Jack Lerner, clinical professor of law at USC, and the director of the Intellectual Property and Technology Law Clinic at USC. He and his team were directly responsible for this ruling and we wanted to learn more.

You need to listen to this interview – it runs about 15 minutes. Not only does he describe the significance of this new rule, but he also provides FOUR specific criteria you can use to make sure that your use of copyrighted materials is covered by Fair Use.

Click here to listen to the Jack Lerner interview. (QuickTime audio file, running time 15:03)

We’ll be covering this more in upcoming shows. For all the latest news on our industry, stay tuned to the Digital Production Buzz.

Thanks,

Larry

P.S. We devoted most of the show to this issue. Click here to listen to the entire program.

With the American Film Market 2010 drawing closer (it starts in November), now is the perfect time to start planning on how to sell your movie. And what I learned from talking with Stacey this week is that you don’t need to hire a rep, or spend vast amounts of cash to get you and your project in front of buyers with checkbooks.

Take a listen to this interview from the show. In it, Stacey describes what AFM 2010 is, what types of films they are looking to buy, whether you need to hire an agent, and provides five solid tips you can use to make money from your film. (As a bonus, she also tells you a great way to save money on your registration fee!)

Click here to listen to her interview. (TRT 14:30 — 5.9 MB — QuickTime audio file)

Thanks!

Larry

Joe Berlinger made a documentary about Aguinda v. Chevron, a class action lawsuit filed in 1993 against Chevron’s oil operation in Ecuador. Chevron is demanding all Joe’s outtakes — more than 600 hours of video material — as part of their legal defense. Is this an issue of First Amendment rights, trying to uncover the truth, or a large corporations acting as a bully? One judge in a lower court has already ruled in favor of Chevron requiring Berlinger to surrender his footage. On Wednesday, July 14, U.S. Court of Appeals heard oral arguments. And the impact for filmmakers could not be more significant.

This case raises issues of: Who is a journalist? What constitutes free speech in documentary filmmaking? What rights, if any, does a corporation have to media shot by someone that is not a corporate employee.

This week’s Digital Production Buzz featured Jonathan Handel, Of Counsel, Troy/Gould, talking about the First Amendment implications and ramifications of Chevron Oil’s case against documentary filmmaker, Joe Berlinger.

This is an interview that everyone interested in documentary film production needs to hear. Because if the wrong side wins, the effect could be chilling.

It took the Appeals Court exactly a day to reach a preliminary decision. Listen to learn more.

Click here to listen to the interview.

Click here to listen to the entire program.

Click here to read the original LA Times article.

And click here to read the followup article on the Court’s ruling.

Please tell your friends about this interview – because the results affect all of us.

Thanks,

Larry

P.S. Click here to learn more about the Digital Production Buzz.

(You can hear her interview here — 14 minutes, MP3 file.)

I found the interview to be an excellent orientation to getting our files prepped for permanent storage. We didn’t talk about archive hardware at all, just what we need to do with our media.

Well, after the show, John Mozzer and Evelyn McLellan had an email conversation that I want to share with you, as it is relevant to all of us. (And thanks to both John and Evelyn for allowing me to share this with you.)

John Mozzer asks:

I’m pretty confused by the Digital Production Buzz interview with Evelyn McLellan, Systems Archivist for Artefactual Systems.

I think I understand sustainability factors when choosing media file formats (adoption, non-proprietary, etc.), and the benefits of storing the media on a server (the software tools, etc).

But I don’t understand the reason for converting video to MPEG-2 with Intra-coded frames, even though it is high quality.  To what extent does this involve re-encoding the original video?  If it involves re-encoding, why do it?

I can understand needing to uncompress and re-compress Digital Betacam, for example, in order to store that video on a server.  (Am I right about that?)  But, for example, what about all the legacy standard definition video on tape in the DV format, which can be captured bit-for-bit?

Evelyn McLellan responds:

The purpose of re-encoding the video is to reduce a multitude of incoming formats, many with proprietary codecs, into a few device-independents format for long-term preservation. Since different formats and codecs are likely to become obsolete at different times, it becomes very difficult, if not impossible, to monitor which video files are at risk at any given time. MPEG-2 is a non-proprietary, openly-specified codec and many heritage institutions are using it.

This means that, for a long time into the future, there will almost certainly be tools and support for MPEG-2 – in other words, we won’t have to re-format for a long time, if ever. The idea is to reformat only once if possible. So there may be some (imperceptible) data loss with the initial reformatting, but the alternative is to fail to reformat proprietary and/or obsolete formats until it is too late and thus lose the ability to render the video. Of course, as I mentioned during the interview, we keep all the orginal formats as well, in case a better preservation strategy comes along that we aren’t able to predict right now.

Generally we deal with device-independent end-state formats. My understanding of DV is that in order to render it device-independent you need to place it in some kind of wrapper (such as AVI, QuickTime or MXF) or store it as raw video (DV-DIF). The Library of Congress is investigating wrapper formats for DV, particularly MXF (which is the wrapper we use for our video files), since AVI and QuickTime are proprietary. Actually, Library of Congress is an excellent source of information on this subject – please see
http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats/content/video.shtml.

Apologies if this is insufficient detail – I’m an archivist, not a video expert, and video files are just one of the types of digital objects we’re trying to preserve (the others are office documents, e-mail, audio files, raster and vector images, web sites, databases, etc.). However, similar principles apply across the board when it comes to digital preservation – accept or convert to a small number of non-proprietary, openly-specified, device-independent and widely used formats, and use redundant storage to allow for replacement of any damaged objects.

Thanks for your questions & I hope this helps.

Larry adds: Thanks for allowing me to share this!

This month, I want to showcase some Final Cut Studio plug-ins that can make your life a lot easier.  Plus, some of these are just plain fun!

Here’s a quick guide to what I will be covering:

Plus, there’ll be time for answering your questions, as well.

The group requests a small donation at the door, but the cookies alone are worth it. Plus, you get to meet lots of great folks, discover stuff you didn’t know, and get your questions answered.

I look forward to seeing you there!

Larry

Today just blew the doors off what we used to consider “editing systems.”   Let me start with an email I got this evening from Tony Liuzzi:

I have been using LogMeIn.com for at least six months. It works great. With that as background, here’s my story.

I was flying from New York to San Francisco recently, and said, “why not try using LogMeIn  from an airplane at 35,000 feet and see how it behaves?”  I had purchased an internet connection on my flight — the cost was discounted since I was a first-time user.

I checked my email and read that my client had a revision to be made on a current Final Cut Pro project. So, I said, what the heck? Let’s see.

I logged into my edit system and discovered I had great response/control from the flight. As good as I had when I am connected on land. I was amazed!

I made the changes to the project and exported the file.  It went from Final Cut Pro to Squeeze, all controlled from my flight. Then, I opened up Transmit to send the newly compressed file to their FTP site for approval.

Now, here is where the story gets even funnier.  I sent an email to the client telling her I was making the changes right now — but NOT that I was on a plane.  She reviewed and approved the changes — all before I landed.

It was a VERY cool moment. And I thought you’d enjoy the story.

Larry replies: This whole idea of remote computer control totally changes what we consider an editing system.  Is it the computer doing the editing or the computer CONTROLLING the computer doing the editing.

These lines got even more blurred this morning, when Steve Jobs showcased the new iPhone 4 running iMOVIE!

Sheesh!

What made this even funnier for me was that Tom Tomchak ran an April Fools Day press release talking about porting Final Cut Pro to the iPhone.  At the time, it made for very funny reading. Who knew that he was actually able to see the future?  He wasn’t being preposterous, he was being prescient!

The editing community is already starting to take sides on this new $4.99 software.  But I think some of the discussion misses the point.

Tens of millions of people will have access to simple equipment to shoot 720p30 HD video. Using the latest version of iMovie for the iPhone, they can edit it in their phone. Then, imagine that when they connect their phone to the computer, that iMovie file transfers over in a format that’s readable by iMovie on the Mac.

At which point, it is only a mouse-click to send that edited file via XML to Final Cut Pro for final polish.

The mind reels — I was blown away when I realized a few years ago that I had more editing power in my laptop than I did in a multi-million dollar post-production suite 20 years ago.

Now, that power is migrating to cell phones!

The key for us is not to run away from this new technology, but to realize that there are about to be millions of new customers than can use our expertise and experience to make their movies look even better. At the end of the day, it isn’t the tools, but the people using the tools that make the difference.

As another email today emphasized: “We’re not in Kansas anymore.”  (Actually, I’m beginning to think we aren’t even on the same planet.)

Strange times, indeed!

Larry

Ian Hart

I find Movie*Slate very handy as I often need a clapper to sync multi-cams and/or digital audio recorded on my Zoom. I work on my own or with a very small team and I can operate Movie*Slate with one hand (shake to iPhone to cause the slate to clap).

I bought Storyboard (Cinemek) with which you use the iPhone camera to construct a storyboard, then perform pans, tilts, zooms etc, rearrange your shots, add dialogue (as subtitles) etc, play in "real time" and then export to a PDF document. Very impressive app, but until now it’s been more like a party trick than a serious part of my workflow.

Voice Memos is a really convenient tool for research. With a 30GB iPhone you can do very many hours of recording.

And the camera, of course. Just about an indispensable tool these days.

Gary Wales

My current favourite iPhone App is Movie*Slate. A simple yet multifunctional digital clapperboard that allows you to export/import XML files into Final Cut. A real time-saver on a shoot and can be blue tooth synced with another iPhone for multi-cam use.

Steve Schumacher

Time calculator is great if you need to add minutes and seconds, etc. Works just like a stand alone time calculator.

For pre-production and planning of shoots, Sunrise & Set Lite is fantastic. It tells you when the sun rises and sets, not just for today’s date, but for any day you choose. Perfect for knowing in 5 months when the sun is setting.

Kit Lammers

Convert – convert any units, use for time (no time code though)

OS X Ref – Quick reminder for key commands

DipSwitch – Calculate DipSwitches

Keith Marshall

ProPrompter
This is a very cool app where I can upload/download scripts and use my iPhone as a teleprompter. If you have another iPhone/iPod available, you can use it to control the other as well.

Storyboard
This will allow you to build a storyboard, animate camera movements and export as a pdf. I was working on a project as a teaching experience to a group of teens and we used this to educate them the process of planning.

And my most favorite…

iProRecorder
I can dock my iPhone into my Alesis ProTrack and record 16/44.1k stereo or mono to my device. This acts just like a field recorder and the ProTrack allows me to plug in XLR or Phono audio source or use the built in X-Y stereo microphones

Norman Hollyn

AJA DataCalc
DVDBudget
Both of Moviola’s guides: FCP Guide and Pro Video
Diana Weynand’s iKeysTo Go is also a good alternative
And I also like NEDi (which is macPro Video’s online tutorial guide

Pat DeFilippo

P D Post has used DJay software (Mac only, $50) for years to live- and auto-mix walk-in/walk-out music at corporate events, dance music at parties, etc. Today, DJay released DJay Remote, a $5 app for iPhone/iPod Touch. You still need the full version of DJay installed on your Mac, however DJay Remote lets you completely control all of your songs with DJay’s powerful functions remotely via the same Wi-Fi network that your Mac is on!

Tore Jonssen

I use CodecCalc and AutoCue all the time, works like a charm.

John Warner

I use Focalware on each and every location shoot to accurately predict sun and moon positions globally from sunrise through sunset anytime of the year.

All interesting choices. Let me know what your’s are and I’ll add them to the list.
Larry

I just released my 10 DVD series on making concert classical guitars. The project took two years to complete and due to the tiny budget available I was only able to hire a camera crew to shoot it, therefore I had to do everything else myself or the project would not have been possible. There is a trailer on my site. To view, click here.

I was able to learn how to do almost everything (editing, animation, working with stills, color correcting, audio) by watching your tutorials on Lynda.com and by attending the three day seminar you gave in Charlotte. WIthout having this information available and presented in such a clear and concise manner this project would never have been completed. I can honestly say it was worth every penny.

Your instructional style made learning all this stuff a pleasure, and in the end I was very happy and proud of the final product.

Letters like this make me feel very proud. First, that I was able to help. But, more importantly, because the skills that we take the time to learn help us to achieve dreams that would otherwise be impossible.

Larry