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A question of common approach.
rants and all aside –
say our perception, individually, of editing, is completely personal, because, well, it super, super is.
But – we tend to arrive at commonly held processes to solution.
We tend to arrive independently at common solutions.Isn’t this shared author experience? in some part, due to to utterly essential commonly held tool usage?
how can there be no onus on the makers of editing software to respect a notion as basic as this?
And in case there is confusion, I’m looking to secondary storylines, connected clips, and the rest of the cotton candy Apple circus.
https://vimeo.com/user1590967/videos http://www.ogallchoir.net promo producer/editor.grading/motion graphics
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26 Replies
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Or perhaps it’s good sometimes when Companies challenge convention, even when you don’t agree with them?
Good to see you back BTW!
Steve Connor
“The ripple command is just a workaround for not having a magnetic timelinel”
Adrenalin Television -
Certainly commonality of language binds people and subjects together. I will never forget sitting down at at Sony 2000 edit controller for the first time, having worked extensively with GVG and CMX controllers. Much to my surprise and confusion Sony had come up with entirely new terminology to represent conventions that had existed for decades (thankfully my mind has blocked out the details.) Why? I don’t know. I do know I did not encounter many other Sony 2000s after that. Realizing full well that I may have to work with FCP X one day I am still totally agog at what Apple did here. Primary storyline, secondary storyline, roles? Just the sound of the names is amateurish at best. And…it may be powerful, it may be versatile, it may have great databasing capabilities…but – after a year – it still ain’t stable. How many of us can afford that?
Tim
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10.04 is stable!
Steve Connor
“The ripple command is just a workaround for not having a magnetic timelinel”
Adrenalin Television -
Not from what I am hearing from people.
Tim
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So as not to sidetrack Aindreas’s original thread I might move this question to a new one.
Steve Connor
“The ripple command is just a workaround for not having a magnetic timelinel”
Adrenalin Television -
Excellent idea. I have colleagues who love the idea and potential of FCP X but have always had stability issues. And in my admittedly limited experience I have had stability issues, But I also know from reading this forum that there are people who are not experiencing this. So I’m looking forward to the responses.
Tim
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Getting back to the original topic… Yes, I do think commonly held processes need to be respected.
If a company thinks they have a better approach that will be helpful to learn, that’s great, but they shouldn’t force it on people overnight like Apple did with FCPX. As I mentioned in another thread, this whole fiasco could have been avoided it Apple had taken the same approach with X that they used for DVD Studio Pro, and kept things the way they were but also introduce a “magnetic timeline mode”. I think acceptance of X would have been much greater if they had done this.
It’s been said on here that the magnetic timeline is very powerful and much better, you just have to get used to it- and that may take a while. The problem, though, is there are other very capable NLEs that FCP7 users can switch to very easily and use very effectively, without having to spend time re-learning everything they’ve ever known about how an NLE works.
What Apple should have done, at the very least, is use the DVDSP approach with this release and then make it known that the next major release of FCPX would not include the track mode. This would have given editors time to slowly adjust, and it would have given Apple time to build a more capable, better organized trackless timeline.
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“THAT’S our fail-safe point. Up until here, we still have enough track to stop the locomotive before it plunges into the ravine… But after this windmill it’s the future or bust.” -
It may be that Avid set the conventions in the NLE world and all else followed from it (in most cases). Those NLEs that worked differently never grew beyond niche or failed.
Apple’s FCPX may be the first from a company that has the wherewithal to offer an alternative. Note that I say “alternative.” This does not mean they will change convention. They may allow for multiple conventions to coexist though.
Given my own 20 plus years sentiment towards tracks, I’m glad I finally have an NLE that’s moving the direction I’d prefer.
The short version, I’ve always felt that tracks serving two conflicting purposes of compositing and organizing was a kludge. That FCPX allows for compositing and layering with connected clips and secondary storylines and roles for organizing fist better with my approach. It’s not that both features work completely the way I want yet but that, for me, it’s heading in the right direction.
I’ve also been of the mind to categorize clips in multiple places but that was awkward in bin based systems for me. That a shot can be: two shot, exterior, night, NYC, John, Jane at the same time so for any given situation it’s where I’d naturally think of it for any given situation. I like keyword and smart collections much better than bins.
I’ve always wanted to move clips and their connected clips without having to lasso and do that move without having to clear space and/or trim first. I’d rather move first and then move or trim things after that.
I don’t know how many others have always wanted to work like that, but I have ever since my first year on Avid (1989ish). I’m happy I have hopes for an NLE that fits the conventions I’ve wished for.
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In the old linear days of cutting film with Moviola’s and flatbeds you learned method that worked on whatever brand of flatbed you were on. You might even keep your own cutter and grease pencils. Similar with linear off-line tape editing – either you were on a little RM440 or in a big linear bay which required huge money to set up and run.
I think with software NLE’s there’s always going to be a learning curve switching systems. Avid holds so many patents as do others and you can’t just copy them dead on. Apple had done a real good job of creating a truly pro NLE that could go head to head with Avid in legacy FCP. Maybe with Premiere, Edius and others nipping at their heals, they decided to make a bold move and be the NLE of the future – huge move, costly mistake in ways, but we won’t know if they were right for a long time. I don’t think they’re gonna lose the race in the long run, they have far deeper pockets than Avid or Adobe and can literally wait until the current crop of kids using FCPX as second nature, enters the work place and eventually replaces us all.
Lance Bachelder
Writer, Editor, Director
Irvine, California -
[Lance Bachelder] ” I don’t think they’re gonna lose the race in the long run, they have far deeper pockets than Avid or Adobe and can literally wait until the current crop of kids using FCPX as second nature, enters the work place and eventually replaces us all.”
Interesting that you say that. I’ve posted elsewhere that Apple is going to win in the attrition war. Over time I think it will be the new facilities considering it, that will drive growth and acceptance.
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