Tonight was a little different in that we concentrated more on ideas then FCP. The ideas derived from Extreme Sports photography and equipment used to get those ideas on tape. Yes it was different but it was exciting. Special thanks to Sports Photograher Tony Donaldson for the great pre show slide show

As usual we started off with Stump the Gurus with regulars Ken Stone, Andrew Balis, and guests Larry Jordan, and special guest Ralph Fairweather. Some of the questions asked and answered were:

Q.) I hear FCP is not very good with multi cam editing. What are the work arounds?

A.) Well in FCP 4 there are much more elegant solutions but in 3.0. one nifty way is, say you have 4 camera angles; Capture all 4 angles and place them on V1-4. Shrink each image so that it fits in its own square in the canvas window. You are now looking at 4 images at the same time in the canvas window. Render over night and then begin cutting using the razor blade. FCP 4 has gang sync which helps a bit. There are many other work arounds such as using tracks as priority using the highest number track as your highest priority.

Q.) When I have two nested sequences and apply a transition between them I always get this one frame default transition. What's up with that?

A. ) FCP sees a firm out point at the end and beginning of your sequences if you nest them. Therefore there is not enough handle to handle a transition. So open your sequences one at a time in the Viewer window and set your in and out points, THEN apply the transition leaving enough handle to allow it.

Q.) When I try to save my movie in OSX I get this message that says "You dont have access..."

A.) This usually means that OSX thinks that the folder you are saving the file too is LOCKED. If you dont have admin privileges, then try a Save As to another location. Also run Repair Permissions.

Q.) I get this white screen when exporting my FCP movie to drop into DVDSP.

A.) Turn OFF Range Check before you export.

Q.) Any good sources for FX Builder?

A.) www.joemaller.com

CatchItCam, is a camera mounting system for helmets and has been in existence since 1999. Chris and Rick Boggs and Rick's guidedog Jake joined us from CatchitCam to talk about this system.

Chris began by talking a little about the history of the system which began with 5 other people who were avid sports fans. They wanted something better and so they made it. They mount a Sony Xview lens (waterproof) and a microphone and build into the helmet using a single connection to your recording device (camcorder/deck).

CatchitCam is easy to put on and take off simply because of this one connection. CatchitCam has been everywhere from the top of Everest to the helmet of a Snowboarder.

Lens exposure is pretty much auto focus and audio is digital and vibration is minimized by resistance built into the lens itself.

They then showed a video of the CatchitCam in action and the results showed very little if any shakies.

CatchitCam sells for between $500 and $700 with out recorder and lots more info can be found at the CatchitCam web site.

Next up was Dean Cleary who filled in quickly as we had a last minute cancel. Dean is owner/operator of world famous Dean Cleary Surfboards in Huntington Beach CA.

Dean showed us down and dirty and quickly edited clips of surfers he had shot with his Digital 8 camera intercut with an interview segment asking folks in the Atlanta Airport what they thought about Surfers. You'd be amazed what you can do with a Digital 8 Camcorder and some quick edits.

Dean also showed clips describing the process of making a surfboard which is extremely interesting.

What was VERY cool was footage of this indoor "Standing Wave" device that is a apparently hauled about by 20 trucks and is capable of pumping 250,00 gallons of water producing pipeline waves for surfers to compete on. Really something to see.

Thanks Dean for filling in on such short notice.

Howie Zechner next joined us to talk more on Motor racing and with Howie was President of Ultimatte, Paul Vlahos who served as cameraman with Howie on the shoots.

Howie showed us clips from the Speedway Motorcycle National Championship which are brakeless motorcycles that race on a small oval track. Howie and his company Raz Video shoot events at Irwindale Raceway in Southern California and have been for a number of years.

This particular event was shoot with 6 cameras. 5DV and one betacam and edited on a 733 Mac using FCP. Paul said Howie often brings his crew together to discuss "helping him out" before the event begins by showing previous events and telling them not only where to put their cameras but where he has trouble making cuts so that each can make adjustments to make his life easier.

Howie uses certain markers throughout the footage that the cameramen focus on to sync the cameras so he can do his edit. He picks a primary camera and puts it on V1 and takes the other cameras and lays them on top and starts razor blading. He says it's pretty straight forward and he has developed his own way of doing things that work for him but he complains about rendering time. His new dual 1.42 Mac should help a bit.

Howie doesn't find it cost effective to do a live switch type event so he will stick with the system he has developed.

We hope to have Paul Vlahos and Ultimatte come to lafcpug very soon.

Brandon Schrichten is 17 years old and hails from Thousand Oaks Ca and has been making and editing videos for three years and pretty much showed all of us that experience counts for nothing. Talent is everything, and Brandon is one talented kid.

Using a trusty VX1000 with a Fish Eye lens he makes videos for his friends and is so good some of his footage has ended up on those 411 videos so popular with the skate crowd. Brandon compiled a 6 minute sequence of some of his favorite clips and yes, the audience was wowed.

What was remarkable was what Brandon did with the titles and effects in this video. Nothing outside FCP was used and the result was not the usual eye candy one sees in videos such as this but something completely different. Which is what an audience such as this looks for. Oh sure the footage is stuff you've seen before but not the way he put it together and it is in the putting together that sets Brandon apart.

Time for the break and in the lobby was a NHRA Jr Dragster with 8 year old driver Shelby McWilliams, plus Promax showing off toys and CatchItCam showing of its groovy way of catching video.

Jim Greer has been shooting Top Fuel Dragsters as well as driving them for quite a number of years and was here to talk about direct to Hard Drive taping because tapes and camcorders fell apart with the massive vibration the dragsters produced. The normal lipstick camera to tape just did not work. So Jim went to a company nNovia <http://www.nnovia.com/> and out came a HD with vibration resistance built in and the result is now a workable solution for high vibration sports such as Dragsters and race cars.

The hard drive is nothing more than a standard ATA notebook HD shock mounted inside a case and so far no problems. The camera lens is a Fuji telephoto lens.

Jim was joined by his editor Faraz (sp) who then showed a few clips of Top Fuel Dragsters at Pomona Speedway in So Cal.

DP Evan Nesbit was up next and showed off a killer 3 minute Demo reel, which included a great section of motorcross racing from this years National Competition, and a lot of Visual FX Camera work that he had Done on the 1st X- Men Movie , Little Nicky,and The Green Mile.....plus MANY others. A "wow" trailer from the 35mm feature "SuperCross" a multi million dollar feature on Motocross racing rounded out his presentation.

Evan also showed a small piece of amazing skate board and BMX bicycle material he shot for a commercial that is currently being used to raise money for the film. Evan is a Director of Photography that has been working in the film and TV world for 15 years. The material was originally shot on H.D., Film, DV, and Vistavision and it is quite wonderful.

Todd Grossman is 26 and a grad of the USC film School and obviously prayed attention in class.

Todd has shot numerous films, documentaries and commercials for such clients as ESPN, Fox Sports and Sony Pictures. Grossman was nominated for best documentary of the year, for XXX: A FILMMAKERS DIARY. A former professional inline skater as well as competitive skateboarder and snowboarder, Todd has shot, edited, and directed everything ranging from Logic Skateboard Media's home video series, to followcaming the bike/blade/board athletes in the ramps at summer contests. As an athlete and actor he has appeared in various feature films and commercials such as BATMAN & ROBIN, and starred in the Michael Bay directed NIKE Superbowl commercial series, THE ALPHA PROJECT. all of which he showed tonight and all of which is expertly shot, edited and produced.

World Famous Raffle was up next and the following prizes were given away and we thank those who generously donated to the cause.

ShuttlePro - Contour Design
2 FCP Keyboard Keycharts - Neotron Design
2 Royalty Free Stock Footage CDs - ThinkStock
2 personally signed Tony Hawk Skateboards - BirdHouse Skateboards
2 Dean Cleary Surfboard T-shirts - Dean Cleary Surfboards
Troubleshooter for FCP 3 - Intelligent Assistance
Great VisualFX for Final Cut Pro - Intelligent Assistance
DVD Companion Pro Pack - Recipe 4 DVD
Various books - CMP Books
2 Free Tickets to Irwindale Speedway - Irwindale Speedway
Final Draft - Final Draft
1 VIP pass to Entertainment Technology World - Mindshare Ventures
1 T-shirt - kenstone.net
2 copies of lafcpug DVDs - lafcpug
2 Press Passes to "6th West Coast Hot Rod Happenin" at Pomona Raceway (winner must bring own Camcorder and MUST shoot) - Jim Greer
Final Cut Express For Dummies - Helmut Kobler