YouTube smash 'Despacito' shot in one day, edited on Final Cut Pro X

By Mike Wuerthele

"Despacito," the most viewed video on YouTube, has garnered over 4 billion views -- and was edited and produced using Final Cut Pro X.

The most viewed video in history was entirely shot in one long day in La Perla, according to an interview by FCP.co. After the rapid shoot starring former Miss Universe Zuleyka Rivera, it was edited with Final Cut Pro X at Elastic People, a studio in Miami.

To "stylize and pay-off" the song's title, that means "slowly" in English, the crew shot all the video in hi-speed. As a result, there were sufficient frames to play with different speed ramps during the edit, made simpler by Final Cut Pro X.

Editor Leo Arango claims that the "overall editing experience" is what makes Final Cut Pro X his solution of choice.

Elastic People standardized on Final Cut Pro X in 2015, according to studio founder Carlos Prez. All of the studio's work, including productions for Bacardi, Harley-Davidson, Nike, Pepsi, HBO, Sony, Columbia, ABC, and Toyota were churned out on the Apple-developed solution.

Just 6 months after "Despacito" was released it became the most streamed song in history, with 4.6 billion plays across all streaming services. The song reached the top spot on Billboard's Top 100 in the U.S. and stayed there for 16 weeks. On Sept. 26, "Despacito" was nominated for four Latin Grammy awards, including best music video.