Our short documentary film is a finalist in the 2013 International Documentary Challenge! Many thanks to director Ruth Gregory, producer Luke Ware, producer/DP Daniel Berman, and everyone else on the long list of credits. It was a great team to be a part of. Our film will premiere at the Hot Docs film festival in Toronto on April 30. Hope to see you there. We can’t share the film with you until after the premiere, but stay tuned!
Rolling Credits by SUGARfx is a Final Cut Pro X plug-in that generates some really nice credits to add at the end of your film projects. In full disclosure, I recently tried out this plug-in for a new project I’m working on thanks to a free license from SUGARfx. In this Final Cut Pro X plug-in review, I’ll be telling you a few of the quick pros and cons about the plug-in so that you can decide whether or not you’d like to drop the $49 on a new FCPX plug-in, or just continue to create credits with the built-in generators that come with FCPX. (Read more Final Cut Pro X reviews here).
First off, I like Rolling Credits because the credits look sharp. Aside from price, user interface, etc., the credits simply look good. See below for more detailed pros and cons:
Pros:
Cons:
Below is the video tutorial for the plug-in, produced by SUGARfx themselves:
I recently worked with University of Washington Bothell recruiter Ramon Stephens, who is also a talented musician, to produce a music video for the school’s recruiting efforts. Ramon wrote and performed the song with help from Lia Brown, who added vocals. Have a look at “That’s Our Name” below!
The University of Washington Bothell has a wonderful culture and beautiful campus that is exploding in size. Have a look at the recent virtual tour video I produced and find time to visit in person if you can!
Have a look at this short film about former University of Washington linebacker Victor Aiyewa and share it to support his journey to the NFL. I filmed the workouts and there’s great editing by Ngozi Ashibuogwu.
I filmed the University of Washington Bothell Commencement for the third year in a row and am really happy with the short film I was able to produce. This is always a massive event with lots of emotion, and as a UW Bothell graduate school alum myself, it’s always cool for me to see each new group of students graduate from this campus. Of course, the student body is growing so rapidly that commencement is now at Alaska Airlines Arena on the Seattle campus, and soon will be too large for even that venue …
Another recent project that I produced for the University of Washington Bothell was a short wrap-up of a big annual event held for all of the new freshmen that have been admitted for the fall. Not all of them have chosen to accept their admittance yet, so the event is a chance for the prospective students to learn more about the campus, meet each other, and decide if UW Bothell is the place for them. It was a beautiful day and a fun event so have a look at the video above.
Have a look at the latest of my video work – a short film produced for the Burke Museum in Seattle. The museum wanted something that represented the institution as a whole but was geared enough toward the curators that it would be appropriate to screen at the museum’s main yearly fundraising event, the Curators’ Dinner. This was really a fascinating piece to produce and I was lucky to be able to explore the museum and meet so many talented individuals.
I recently produced a series of short videos about three outstanding graduating seniors at the University of Washington Bothell, each of whom was to receive a big award at the commencement ceremony. Jeb Pavleas and Chris McRae each won a Chancellor’s Medal and Chris Duong won the President’s Medal. They all have fascinating stories and are, of course, very very talented. For each student, after a short introduction on stage at the ceremony, my video was shown and the student was presented with their award. It was humbling to work with these three talented individuals and it was also cool to see my work on a big screen in front of thousands of people at the UW’s Alaska Airlines Arena on the Seattle campus. Have a look the the final pieces below:
Last week I was lucky enough to be a student at the National Press Photographers Association’s Multimedia Immersion, which was an intensive week long workshop on video/multimedia production. I had some amazing coaches and was assigned to find a story at a local animal shelter in Syracuse, NY. I met Bob Graham, who had a very interesting story to tell. Have a look at my final project and hear his story:
XEffects is another plugin for Final Cut Pro X (FCP X) that I have found useful for adding more of that polished look to my video projects. The plugin offers 10 or 12 distinctly different transition animations. These transitions are pretty sophisticated and so when you watch them, they feel professional. Not cheesy. They are intense enough for upbeat videos, but with enough options for toning down the mood more a more serious commercial project. I would highly recommend the plugin.
XEffects Tech Transitions is available from idustrual revolution for a reasonable $49.
Here is a video in which I used a couple of XEffecets transitions near the beginning:
Here is the company’s official tutorial:
Punchline is a plugin for Final Cut Pro X (FCP X) that offers some slick titles and transitions to spruce up your project and save some time with editing. I wanted to write a quick FCP X Punchline review so that editors out there like me can decide if they want to spend the money on yet another new plugin for FCP X. Personally, I enjoy editing and telling a story with visuals (since I’m a photojournalist), but I don’t usually want to spend a lot of time on animation, titling, etc. I’m also not ready to spend the money to outsource this work to a third party. Plugins are a great compromise here.
Punchline is available for $49 from SUGARfx. You get a set of about 10 or 12 different styles, all of which are highly customizable.
Here are some pros and cons:
Pros:
Easy to use
Quality transitions
High energy, which is good for sports and entertainment videos
Cons:
Variety – I might like to see a few more styles of transitions.
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You can watch the official FCP X Punchline plugin tutorial below: