An undersea Scuba series, “Destination Diving,” is now surfacing, thanks in part to Final Cut Pro, Apple’s high-end video editing application. The completed 13-episode diving series, which focuses on travel and the environment, airs on 200 Public Broadcasting System affiliates in the U.S. and will be distributed internationally. The first two episodes have already aired in 25 markets across the U.S.
Steffan Schulz is an executive producer and does work for NBC, MTV, PBS and ESPN using Final Cut Pro. Schulz wasn’t a diver when he agreed to take on the project — but he is now. And he’s also a bigger FCP fan than ever, it seems.
“The marine life do what they want and the visibility is dependent upon many variables both above and below water,” Schulz said in an Apple Hot News article. “So the ratio of what we use to what we can’t use in the finished project is in the range of 25 to 1 — for every 25 minutes of footage shot, only 1 minute makes it on the air. Above water, the ratio is generally 3 to 1.”
Plus, when you’re shooting in a weightless environment, you don’t have the luxury of locking the camera down and letting it roll.
Underwater, Schulz and his crew shoot with a combination of cameras: a Sony PD100 in a Light & Motion Bluefin housing, and a Sony VX1000 in an Amphibico housing. On the road, the crew uses a Sony DV to hook up via FireWire with a PowerBook running Final Cut Pro.
“FireWire is a blessing considering it replaces 6-8 cables in a traditional edit suite,” Schulz told Apple. “Not to mention the myriad of other benefits, like compact, portable storage, industry compatibility and broadcast-quality footage.”
The producer recently bought a Titanium PowerBook and packed it with Photoshop, After Effects, Commotion DV and Media Cleaner Pro. Back at the studio, they use Power Mac G4s with the same software line up.”
“As a producer, I want to create, not configure. The Mac allows me that freedom in a compact, extremely powerful and robust system,” Schulz said. “The Mac is not a high maintenance machine. But its system is predictable, user friendly and easy to configure.”
They’re also dependable. He’s had Macs in a variety of trying environmental conditions, and they always perform as expected. As for Final Cut Pro, Schulz said it has the feature set of a system that used to cost 10 times the amount.
In fact, Schulz is so adamant about Final Cut Pro that he’s hosting a couple of demo sessions this summer, starting in Houston’s SeaSpace 2001 in June. He’ll host another in Hayward, CA, in August 2001.
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