FCProse Ep6 – fcp to speedgrade via premiere cs6

It has been a long while since I’ve had the opportunity to produce a FCProse video tutorial.  And Adobe Production Premium CS6 should be making a big splash at NAB this week.  Well, the universe has propelled me into a wonderful collaboration with Steve Crouch who has been working with SpeedGrade for a period of 8 years or so.  And I’m excited to present this quick tutorial highlighting a few workflows targeted for the independent filmmaker (click thru to Vimeo for the HD version).

I’ve been using IRIDAS SpeedGrade as a stereoscopic 3D conform tool for the past year and a half.  As a Red Scarlet user, Adobe SpeedGrade CS6 is a boon to my 4K finishing capabilities.  Seeing Adobe integrate SpeedGrade in its CS6 release shows me Adobe is committed to attracting filmmakers focused on high resolution acquisition and stereoscopic 3D.  IMHO, Adobe Production Premium CS6 picks up the ball where Apple dropped it – and kicks it through the uprights for a dramatic victory.

I should also mention that I have started Salviascope, a new production company providing 4K solutions for 2D and stereoscopic 3D productions.  I’d like to put a special thank you out there to Neil Thompsett who graciously allowed Steve and I to feature footage from his upcoming short film, working title The Bounty Hunter, in this tutorial.  And also a big thanks to my friend and colleague Charlie Lawson who is the actor featured in the footage.

I hope this introductory tutorial helps you get to know a little bit about Premiere and SpeedGrade CS6.  I’m looking forward to getting to know them both quite well.  I’ll be walking the show floor Tuesday and Wednesday, maybe I’ll see you there!

proactively • 4K finishing for realsies • peter

Adobe Production Premium CS6 = Final Cut Studio next?

I was fortunate enough to get a sneak peek of Premiere and SpeedGrade, as well as After Effects CS6 – all included in the upcoming release of Adobe Production Premium CS6.  I must say that the FCP + Color paradigm has not only been successfully matched by Premiere + SpeedGrade, it has been improved upon exponentially.  With Adobe Production Premium CS6 you now have a fully native .R3D capable post pipeline for 2D & stereoscopic 3D projects.

I’ve worked with Premiere 5.5 on a couple of projects now and some big plusses were native .dpx file playback and good workflow interoperability with After Effects.  The real time DPX playback can be particularly nice for VFX editorial pipelines.  Not sure how important this is for Adobe though I’m sure folks at The Foundry working on Hiero are paying close attention to these developments.  Of course one of Premiere’s ongoing strengths has been EDL and XML pass through so if Hiero is already a big part of your pipeline Premiere will have no problem playing nice.

Obviously, the dynamic link functionality with After Effects is great for cutting animatics, managing and versioning the work of several motion graphics artists in your timeline while continuing to peice together a story and edit audio in a functional NLE GUI.  The keyboard shortcut capabilities of Premiere 5.5 definitely left something, well ok quite a few things, to be desired.  From what I’ve seen so far in Premiere CS 6 this has been a point of emphasis for marked improvement by the Adobe team and it shows.  Josh Weiss of Retooled.net has quite a few nice tutorials so click thru and check them out.  And I’m not an After Effects person but Chris Meyer certainly is; you can read all about his take on After Effects CS6 and its new features here.

As for SpeedGrade, I’ve been using it in a playback and review environment for about a year and a half now (the last version released by IRIDAS before the Adobe purchase).  It is definitely a step up from Color as a conform tool, it has stereo 3D optimization features and a legacy of color grading chops, and it also has lots of potential as a front end on set data management system since it can be equipped with a Red Rocket card.  What I like most about SpeedGrade is that it rounds out Production Premium CS6 to be a fully functional 4K post production pipeline.  It fits the Final Cut Studio paradigm so many of us have come to know, love and expect.  And it’s brought to you by a company that has a proven track record of treating its suite of applications like its life blood.

Looking forward to implementing this new suite into full time post production pipelines… see you at NAB!

proactively • refreshed • peter