Here’s tech tip for Final Cut Pro.  (I am working on FCP 7 so I am unsure if this works on ‘X’.) I have been using Final Cut Pro since its inception, having worked with Marcus Gillezeau at Firelight Productions in the early days of the development of Final Cut Pro where we were given a copy to demo by Apple. I have to say one of my favourite features is ‘show duplicate frames’ (sequence>Settings>Timeline Options>Track Display). Basically it indicates duplicate use of footage. In the age of increasingly tapeless media some workflows mean the function seems to disappear. Here’s a quick and simple fix. If your ever working with tapeless media that has been pre converted for you, the media may be missing reel names. Its the reel names that makes it possible for the database in FCP to identify the instances of duplicate frames in your edit. In the browser scroll right to find the reel column. If the reel information for your clip is blank enter some logical information to identify the media’s source. In our case we add a tape number, or other source number that corresponds to our media library if the media has come from DVD, CD or External HD supplied by the client. Now any instances of duplicate use of material in your sequence will be indicated by a coloured line at the bottom of the video track in the sequence.

I have finally got around to my first tech post. After many years of wrangling macs, data, video and running Converse Media I have learnt some great tips and effective pathways and techniques. Now I am sharing these with the world wide web.

Some tips are strictly pro, others consumer. But as Apple blurs the line between the two that gap is narrowing. Anyhow here’s my first offering.

MacBook Pro battery light indicator

MacBook Pro – poor battery performance
After waiting for the release of the Thunderbolt MacBook Pro in early 2011 I invested in a top of the line model (i7, 8gb RAM). Since day dot I have experienced terrible battery life and performance.

Apple and the my reseller both offered the option of a battery diagnosis and potentially replacement.

After some searching on Apple discussion boards I found gfxCardStatus, a simple utility offering the ability to designate the graphics card – integrated or discrete, thus offering the ability to determine graphics card use according to the requirements of the task. The result is immense power savings and improving battery performance from 2hrs to 5+, when only the integrated graphics card is needed.

Like all third party solutions it’s a case of user beware. Results so far are excellent. This Tip won’t solve the problem of rendering After Effects on the run as the discrete graphics card would be required. But this definitely fixes battery performance issues for email, word processing and other graphics light tasks.

This video combines still images, concept drawings, animated text and video coverage of the launch and is featured on George P Johnson Australia’s YouTube channel. The event is the launch of the IBM New Zealand Data Centre held on May 26 in Auckland New Zealand. Held in a 12m inflatable cube featuring interactive projections. Event designed and produced by George P Johnson Australia.

We’ve just updated our website with a new look and feel. Along the way we’ve explored wordpress from the ground up and got stuck into a few of our favorite themes and plugins. We’ll be blogging more frequently here with commentary on technology, production processes and going on in the media industry both in Australia and abroad.