I’m working on two distinct projects right now in Final Cut Pro X, including importing 90 minutes of a speech for a corporate client, allowing FCP X to analize the 1080p30 Sony EX1 footage, rendering the timecode generator I dropped over the primary storyline and export as a 640 x 480 QuickTime for my client. I needed to do some additional work on another project, a short film I produced and directed called Hellevator, written by comic book legend David Michelinie (Iron Man, Superman, Spider-Man). My long-time friend and colleague Jeremiah Hall is taking care of the visual effects and uploading 720p24 clips (the animation QuickTime codec) to DropBox for me to grab.
Editing Hellevator in Final Cut Pro X
So with the first project handling analysis, render  and 480p export, Final Cut Pro X (10.0.4) easily opened Hellevator up, and I was able to quickly replace green screen shots with finished ones. There was no lag, no spinning beach ball of doom, none of that. FCP X handled all the tasks without a problem, and didn’t skip a beat. Plus, broadcast monitoring is still working well with the new Matrox drivers and my MXO2 mini!
Oh, and did I mention that I’m currently cutting on a mid-2011 base model Mac mini with an Intel Core i5 processor (dual-core) running at 2.3 GHz, with an Intel HD Graphics 3000 and 8GB of RAM, along with a FireWire 800 external hard drive, and a Mercury Elite-AL Elite Pro Dual mini RAID from Other World Computing? Now, imagine if I were on a quad-core Intel Core i7 iMac or MacBook Pro? Final Cut Pro X is a true multitasking workhorse. As a long-time Final Cut Pro editor, since 1999, I’ve waited a long time to be able to do this. Also, be sure to check out Final Cut Pro X in Action, which showcases the team behind TNT’s hit show Leverage.
