-
News
Every time I shoot a press conference these days there is a newspaper set up next to me shooting video.
Papers have figured out that many people are too lazy or just don’t want to READ the news anymore. They would rather watch it.
One of the most talked about and watched stories in the country recently was Herman Cain’s flub on Libya (this is not a political post follow my point).
If you recall, it was a newspaper that broke that story with video. Back in the day when I started in Network News that would have been us. Television had the lock on that.
Now it’s quite different isn’t it.
All the networks had to run with that paper’s footage.
As you know, papers use DSLR cameras and need to sync audio.
Right now papers tend to just post up the video almost AS IS with very little editing, but that won’t stay that way.
There are thousands of papers all over this country who are starting to edit video. Most of their staff didn’t go to school to do television but that’s where their work is ending up (Cain)
Now………..who stands to capture this huge new market?
Yes, Apple
I have seen the new MC and it looks great, but I don’t see papers buying it for their staff to learn over X
The same goes for PrP
Apple saw this coming and I believe now stands to gain thousands of new users in that market place alone. More than any other NLEs
They may not use X in Hollywood right now but if Avid and others can’t grow their share at the same pace as Apple or faster, it’s going to be hard for them to compete.
Take over new markets first (making it hard for others to expand). Then slowly creep up on the old markets until you have both. It’s actually brilliant.
The main reason I bought X was because I liked many of the tools and I knew it could be very useful in sports and other projects, but also because I think it will be a big player in the market place in the future so I wanted to learn it. I like to keep up with new stuff in general so I can be competitive.
I can always buy the new Avid and get back up to speed if I need to. It hasn’t changed much.For now it’s X
The Cain story was made more powerful by the video. It wouldn’t have had the same impact if they just wrote about it. This is their future and they know it.
Someone asked on here who the target was for FCP X
I believe it has many targets, but one can be found in
Herman Cain’s answer, or should I say, non-answer.Tony West
-
49 Replies
-
An interesting idea but I think in this case you might be counting out Adobe prematurely. A lot of the layout of papers and almost all magazines are done with Adobe InDesign. Many of the digital magazines front end is done with the same plus Adobe DPS (Digital Publishing System).
Large publishers often purchase Master Collection which includes both the publishing portion plus the video portion. With strong metadata workflows to connect the video with the portion of the mag or paper, it is a compelling event for publishers. Combine that with Adobe’s recent acquisition of Auditude which provide contextual ad insertion for these same companies and I think that you’ve at least got a fair fight on your hands.
And in case you didn’t already know…
Dennis – Adobe guy.. 😉
-
Gosh, I guess if Sony, Quantel, Grass Valley, BMD DaVinci, Autodesk and others don’t specifically and almost exclusively cater to this market, they’ll be out of business, too. I guess that’s why Canon also developed the C300. 😉
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
Actually Sony and Grass Valley do cater to this market with Sony Vegas and Grass Valley Edius. Edius would probably be the go to NLE for this sort of application, incredibly fast, can handle anything on the timeline with no rendering, not heavy on the graphics and audio side.
Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
—————————
nothin’ attached to nothin’
“Deciding the spine is the process of editing” F. Bieberkopf -
I don’t think those you named will go out of business. I just don’t think they will grow as fast as apple.
I like Autodesk. It looks awesome. I hope it’s out there forever.My point is, people think they made a stupid clueless move with X
I think they didn’t.
There are other phones out there other than the Iphone, it just doesn’t seem like it when you look around the room sometimes : )
-
[tony west] “My point is, people think they made a stupid clueless move with X. I think they didn’t.”
I’m not so sure most people here would actually agree that it was clueless. However, in any case, Autodesk (particularly Smoke) is about as far away from this concept as an NLE could possibly be. The concern and concept are interesting in the theoretical. The real question is – assuming Apple doesn’t grow FCP X beyond this direction – is it a software design that you would personally find beneficial in the work you do? For me, I could care less whether my local newspaper photographer uses Media Composer, FCP X or iMovie. It has zero bearing on any of the projects I post and those range from simple, short jobs to the web all the way up to occasional indie features. Growing FCP X to best help a larger market doing news stories for the web doesn’t add the features I need for the other 90% of my projects.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
I think FCX is a great choice for taking in DSLR footage, syncing audio, and cutting a basic news package in a hurry. For backpack journalism and one-man banding with a DSLR, FCX is a strong offering. The competing Avid product for this market is not Media Composer, it’s NewsCutter.
As newspapers get more sophisticated about video, they’ll probably adopt a workflow similar to television news organizations: Avid is firmly entreanched in this market. I have not seen the version of NewsCutter that Avid just released. But they apear to be continuing to build a very appealing product tailored to professional newsgathering workflow.
-
I hear you, I’m trying to figure it out like many others.
I don’t care what they use much either but I don’t want to invest in a product that’s not going to be around in the future so I’m looking for clues in the trends to see where things are going.
Many of the new features help me or will help me more in the future.
Nobody I work for wants to pay overtime these days. It’s like a dirty word. I’m asked to do more and more and all folks care about is the time it takes me to do it.
If I can find clips faster for Sports Highlights that means I can spend more time being creative.
That’s the whole reason I got into this field to begin with. I want to create.
Something as simple as that skimmer gets me up and down the timelines fast.
Watch sports on TV and all you see is time ramping all over the place. I think that’s easier.
No matter how good it looks someone walks in and wants a change so they can justify their job.
I think that timeline makes that easy.The other thing is I like Motion. If they would have dropped Motion I would have moved on, but they didn’t.
I was on a shoot yesterday and my friend pulled out his Iphone and was showing everyone the new features. It looked really cool. I have the second phone that came out so I can’t get those features.
My phone was awesome when it first came out but yesterday it felt very old : (The iphone has made great leaps since it came out and I think X will do the same.
Those are my thoughts Oliver.
And As far as Canon goes with their c300 I think they had to go that direction. Sales of point and shoots are down because people use their phones to take pictures. (I have a nice Canon that just sits)
The only place for them to go is up to another market. I would have done that also if I were them.
-
[Brad Spinoza] “As newspapers get more sophisticated about video, they’ll probably adopt a workflow similar to television news organizations: Avid is firmly entreanched in this market. I have not seen the version of NewsCutter that Avid just released. But they apear to be continuing to build a very appealing product tailored to professional newsgathering workflow.”
I obviously have my point of view, but I would be curious to have you answer the question why you think this way?
-
[tony west] ” but I don’t want to invest in a product that’s not going to be around in the future so I’m looking for clues in the trends to see where things are going.”
All your points are quite valid. However, investing in a product with a future is a bit of a sore point for many. Clearly all the time invested in FCP 1-7 and the FCS suite is now completely thrown out the window. Someone with FCP 7 chops and someone with no previous NLE chops is just about at the same level. If you want to leverage what you already know, then FCP X is the wrong tool. But that doesn’t mean it won’t be the tool that dominates in the future… UNTIL Apple changes it AGAIN 😉
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
[Oliver Peters] “If you want to leverage what you already know, then FCP X is the wrong tool. But that doesn’t mean it won’t be the tool that dominates in the future… UNTIL Apple changes it AGAIN ;-)”
Oliver,
I understand what you’re saying – and if you think “what you already know” is largely about OPERATION, then I’d agree.
But I think increasingly that if you peg “what you already know” to tool operation you’re playing an increasingly losing game no matter which NLE you operate. The market has nearly totally devalued the “operation” skills of the video editor. There are multiple millions of people around the world with with “NLE operation” skills today. Yes, fewer at the top end, but everyone who is currently NOT at the “top end” are likely getting better every day with practice – and that means “operational excellence in NLE driving” is going to be less and less a competitive advantage in the future. What I believe is left in the wake of that are the intangible skills of judgement, taste, and business skills. Not editing prowess.
I think Tony’s story is a big deal. (and thanks for posting it here, Tony!)
It’s a glimpse into a world where video editing skills are rapidly becoming GENERAL business skills – not specialist talents as they used to be.
If that’s true, then the future belongs to tools that are the MOST accessible to the most people who need to edit.
I actually agree with Dennis’s post about how Adobe has tools that are already in the newsroom environment – and to the extent they can leverage those, they might have some advantages in that area. But it’s going to be a tough battle. They are up against a monster competitor in Apple. And to make matters worse for them, Apple just took the BIG gamble and STRIPPED much of the core complexity out of their flagship NLE product.
Those same “features” that pro editors hate – the magnetic timeline, clip collision avoidance, looking at video in a vertical arrangement of connected elements rather than exclusively as discrete chunks over a rigid time base – those things might be mothers milk to new business editors who don’t have to overcome too much baggage about how editing is SUPPOSED to be done – but rather can remain focuses on how it IS done in the new software.
I would imagine the Adobe is looking at what Apple did with X and thinking about their own “future strategy” for editing in a world of more mobile devices and on-line outlets – rather than the “broadcast” legacy of things like the Viewer/Canvas reflection of the old Preview/Program paradigm.
We all know things are changing.
The question is which company is changing WITH their users – and which companies will keep trying to CHANGE their users to fit their companies needs. (an argument that can clearly be “spun” for or against either approach, IMO btw!)
Both Apple and Adobe, (and AVID and SONY et al) have the capability to make great tools for this new generation. The only untold story is which will figure out the right strategy.
The Apple bet is pretty clear. They value individual empowerment over catering to the structural needs of organizations – betting that in the future, individual user demands will increasingly trump what IT dictates. (kinda like what’s happening with people bringing their own customized laptops to work and businesses caving to the onslaught of the iPad culture!) That works in SOME companies, not all. But it appears to be an increasing trend.
So I think the real question is whose tools will prove to be more accessible to the most important market of the future.
And the story is still totally undecided on that.
FWIW
“Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions.”-Justice O’Connor
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up