Bits & Pieces | Foxvideo Productions

A Band shoot...

30.10.2020 written by: Dave Farrants

Over the past 20 years or so we’ve been asked to shoot a few artist / band songs, these usually involved shooting several takes in different locations and using a CD boom box to play the song out for lip syncing, then in the edit, use the CD as the main audio track to sync to the video using the recorded audio, then drop the camera recorded audio for the final video output.

I bought an iMac!

15.10.2020 written by: Dave Farrants

If you’ve been reading any of the previous posts you’ll have seen the problems with my 2010 MacPro Quad and it’s overheating on load. A new 4Gb GFX card failed to fix it, a software fan control program worked for a while but then the problem started again! Time on Google suggested the thermal paste used on the processor may be failing, after a stressful edit that needed to be mastered to a deadline, I realised it was probably time to look for a replacement machine……

'Flare' enough!

09.09.2020 written by: Dave Farrants

Subtly done, a lens flare can add dramatically to an edit, I've looked for weeks to find a flare effect that can be adjusted rather than use an overlay, of which there are many available, I spotted a Facebook post on an FCPX user forum today that mentioned http://brooklyneffects.com/ they had some plugins including Skyline Lights that looked interesting and at a very sensible price of $34.95 (roughly £26 UKP). A buy and download and I was soon playing with it, it does everything I've been looking for, you add it as a title and then everything is adjustable - I'd seriously recommend it if you're looking for a flare effect plugin for FCPX.

Seeing Red (X)

06.09.2020 written by: Dave Farrants

With the huge increase in editing projects due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I’ve spent very little time away from FCPX and the keyboard!

In a previous post I mentioned the problems with a GFX card overheating which was then replaced, a few days after installing a new 4Gb GFX card, the same problem occurred! It only happened the once but led me on a trail of problem solving…..

Grappling graphics glitches.

21.08.2020 written by: Dave Farrants

My MacPro 5.1 could not be upgraded to OS Mojave unless it had a ‘Metal capable’ graphics card, so when finances permitted I had a look around eBay and found one, an AMD Radeon R9 280 3Gb for £150, it was a ‘flashed’ card but was guaranteed and I paid via PayPal so it looked to be worth buying. When the card arrived, I fitted it and was then offered an OS upgrade from Apple to OS 10.14 Mojave, problem solved!