Final Cut Express?

[Seblip]

In the past I've only attempted extremely basic films, often just projects for lessons at school, and thus far iMovie has more than satisfied my needs. However, I'm slowly becoming more ambitious. I was wondering if it's worth purchasing Final Cut Express 4. The way I see it, any improvement on iMovie is great, and for £100 it seems a bit of a steal compared to a lot of other editing suites. My worry lies exactly therein: is it that cheap for a reason?

Thanks,
Jack.

 

[directorik]

Welcome, Jack.

FCE 4 is excellent and it is an improvement on iMovie.
The reason it's as inexpensive as it is is because Apple
sees it as a step from iMovie to the full FCP suite. Start
small and cheap, hook in new users and what they have
to money to upgrade they might stick with the same
software.

Excellent business.

 

[knightly]

The difference is that FCE doesn't support all of the formats FCP does, it's geared more toward HDV and consumer formats... it also exports to fewer formats. The Suite it comes with is more limited and doesn't include the array of stuff FCS includes. If you're hitting the ceiling in iMovie, move to FCE, if you hit the ceiling there, move to FCS

 

[LastChancey]

I had the same problem a few years ago. I've been using FCE ever since, and because I'm constantly on the go (doing a lot of freelance travel videography in East Africa, and soon, in Europe as well) with naught more than a Macbook and a hard drive, I find that the smaller scope of Express is perfectly suited for me. If I ever decide to settle down and shoot more ambitious, original films, I'll definitely upgrade to Pro and update my hardware to boot. But for now, shooting 5-10 minute shorts in foreign languages and editing under serious time constraints and in (often) uncomfortable circumstances, FCE is the perfect editing suite for me.

My only criticism: I'd KILL to have more file compatibility. I have to convert my camera's raw footage several times in order to get the video in .mov and the audio in .aiff formats, which is a pain and takes up a lot of space, especially since I often outsource to other cameraman using equipment formatted for Windows. So I have to run through a lot of external programs/conversions before I can really even start organizing my footage. It's kind of a bitch, but I'd still rather have the smaller scale/scope of Express for my current ambitions.

 

[IndieBudget]

My only criticism: I'd KILL to have more file compatibility. I have to convert my camera's raw footage several times in order to get the video in .mov and the audio in .aiff formats, which is a pain and takes up a lot of space, especially since I often outsource to other cameraman using equipment formatted for Windows. So I have to run through a lot of external programs/conversions before I can really even start organizing my footage. It's kind of a bitch, but I'd still rather have the smaller scale/scope of Express for my current ambitions.

LastChancey, have you tried FFMPEG ? FFMPEG is free and works on Mac and you can specify whatever you want to transcode the media to using command line. There is a learning curve, however there is tons of resources online. You can take your input footage, tell it to convert to .MOV w/ .AIFF easily or even split it into 2 files, 1 audio, 1 video.






.

 

[chilipie]

Hi Jack, are you (or anyone you know) at university? If so, you can buy an Academic version of Final Cut Studio from the Apple store for only £250… if you can afford to spend a bit more and go this route, it'll definitely be worth it.

 

[Seblip]

Hi Jack, are you (or anyone you know) at university? If so, you can buy an Academic version of Final Cut Studio from the Apple store for only £250… if you can afford to spend a bit more and go this route, it'll definitely be worth it.

I'm not at Uni yet, but if all goes to plan I will be within 10 months. I had no idea I could get it that cheap though! My only concern is my little MBP's ability to cope with it.

Knightly and LastChancey - I'd read elsewhere that file formats are a bit of an issue, which put me off. That said, according to IndieBudget it's not too much of an issue. I might have to invest after all.

 

[LastChancey]

Thanks, IndieBudget, I'll absolutely look into that. Sounds like it could save me a lot of hassle and cut down on the technical steps between shooting and editing that I find least interesting.

Also, Seblip, it's only a minor point, but I'd recommend spending a few extra bucks to get an additional monitor. I had to scrounge around Nairobi for days to find a Mac monitor-output cable (and it ended up costing $60), but it was totally worth it. Using FCE can be a bit straining when you only have a small screen like my 16-inch. Using another monitor to display the full-screen renders can REALLY save you a lot of back-and-forth between other windows and screens, and probably cuts down on a dozen or so hours, in the end. Alas, I don't have one now, but my first feature-length production (where I served as DOP and Editor) was made a lot smoother by even that simple, cheap addition to my hardware.

 

[Alcove Audio]

Lots of visual monitoring can definitely move your sessions along. I have two - well, actually, three. I have two monitors for my computer to run Pro Tools and a third on a fire wire output dedicated to picture. Having the editing on one monitor, inserts, plug-ins and audio suite stuff on the second saves a lot of window opening/closing.

 

[Seblip]

@LastChancey - I have a second monitor already. I couldn't believe it when the adapter cost £22, but it's worth it. 13 inches isn't a lot of screen-space. The only drawback is that it makes my Mac lag a bit. If all goes to plan I'll somehow acquire a more powerful iMac in the future. xD

@Alcove Audio - That setup is insane! I Do I spy a Mac Pro? As far as I'm concerned: that's the stuff dreams are made of.

I think you've convinced me that FCE is a worthy investment, I suppose the next thing is to spruce up my hardware, eventually.

 

[knightly]

FCE is specifically setup for connecting a camera and importing the footage yourself. If you have other camera folks shooting stuff for you to edit, request the tapes from them and import them yourself -- a cheap camera should work fine for anything recorded as miniDV and import directly to Quicktime encapsulated PAL DV for you... then there's no issues with having to transcode.

The other thing FCE doesn't do is batch capture of many clips, just single clip or full tape captures... so there's a little extra time there.

 

[Alcove Audio]

@Alcove Audio - That setup is insane! I Do I spy a Mac Pro?

Yes, but I need a faster one or an upgrade to PTHD. Audio post calls for crazy amounts of real-time processing power. Imagine if you had to render visual effects in real time; audio is much "simpler", but I still will have a huge number of tracks with EQ, compressor/limiters and several IR reverbs running simultaneously. A fully blown PTHD3 system can run 512 audio tracks; big-budget action & fantasy films will have as many as four of those systems running in sync.

BTW, this is my business, so buying and maintaining/upgrading gear is a tax deductible business expense.

I hope to work at - or own - a place like this one day...

 

[LastChancey]

Add a few recliners, a cooler full of beer, and a huge delivery of pizza, and you've got yourself a bona fide editing party.