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Is FCPX gaining any ground?
I have been stalking this forum for awhile and not really posting of late. I did post a similar thread awhile back.
What I am seeing in the Cow forum is that here a lot of the pros have adopted FCPX as their go to NLE, but wonder if it is kind of a insular bubble outside the real world.
Most of the editors I deal with still view FCPX with the same disdain that they did when it was first released and steer clear of it. My friend who works in LA says there is no move towards X, that most still edit in AVID or FCP7, though some are looking at PPRO6 as a future option.
Maybe I am the one in the bubble and there is a larger use of FCPX outside of my group. I don’t know. I finally got X and PPRO6 but find myself still mostly using FCP7 –mainly due to familiarity. This does not seem uncommon in my circle.
I am not saying one NLE is any better than another. It is just that I do see a lot of posts here from folks that have embraced, either in part or whole, the FCPX paradigm. I am just not seeing it in my world.
So I am wondering where it is that FCPX is being used as a primary NLE? Is it gaining ground? Or have we moved into a world where multiple NLEs are just a way of life? Or maybe even there are more folks out there using FCPX but are embarrassed to admit as much because there is still a stigma held over from the public relations disaster that surrounded FCPX 1.0.
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94 Replies
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I think it is, slowly.
I see it on one hand on forums, like REDUSER, where no one wanted to touch it, but with all the updates, people are getting more and more interested, toying with it.
I also notice it around me. To give my own example: I didn’t want to use it in the beginning, tried it again after 10.0.3, and liked some parts, hated others.
Tried using it more and more, liking it more and more, and now I’m responsible for letting my work switch over completely to FCP X.
We just had our first project on FCP X.We had one colleague who never had worked with it before. After I had given him some lessons, he said: “I like it. FCP 7 already feels old.”
Yes, we both have a wish list, but the program is very good on other areas. I think it also helps that I gave him lessons from someone who already used the program for about 10 projects, making all the ‘first-time’ mistakes for him minimal. I clearly explained how media management etc is in FCP X, and it’s there that often people use FCP X without first reading about it, or looking at some tutorials. It minimizes the bad experience with X.Another editor came from another country, and both him and our bosses hiring us were all raving about the speed and the quality of the multicam + quality of the chroma key.
There are some things that are easier on 7, but those feature-lists are getting smaller with every update of X.
I’ve noticed that as more and more editors use it, tell other people about it, those give X another change. And most of the time they find some very interesting things. And I notice that as more and more people use it, it’s more and more difficult to ignore it.I’m sure it’s still far from an FCP 7/Avid market share in the professional world, but I’m having the feeling that with every ‘big’ update (10.0.3, 10.0.6) more and more people come up and say: “maybe I should give it another look.”
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It’s gained a LOT of ground…in certain areas. And no ground in other areas. FCP-X isn’t for every workflow. It does well for certain types of projects, and in those areas, it’s doing well.
Where are you looking for it to gain ground? Feature film? Broadcast television on a major TV network? Corporate video? Web video?
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
[Shane Ross] “Where are you looking for it to gain ground? Feature film? Broadcast television on a major TV network? Corporate video? Web video?”
Not really looking for it to gain ground anywhere. I just read on here a lot of posts by professionals using it, but not seeing it in my dealings with editors I know or work with.
Was more curious whether my experience was more indicative of FCPX’s lack of acceptance. Or if what I see on the Cow forum is closer to the mark.
I should say that the folks I deal with mainly shoot commercials or many are low-budget filmmakers. I do know some in local broadcasting. X seems perfectly doable for all of these guys IMHO, but there is a resistance to adopt.
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[Clint Wardlow] “What I am seeing in the Cow forum is that here a lot of the pros have adopted FCPX as their go to NLE, but wonder if it is kind of a insular bubble outside the real world.
Most of the editors I deal with still view FCPX with the same disdain that they did when it was first released and steer clear of it. My friend who works in LA says there is no move towards X, that most still edit in AVID or FCP7, though some are looking at PPRO6 as a future option.”
Because every activity in FCPX requires a different approach to the way that one has been working (in my case FCP7) it has to be approached with a positive attitude. It is a programme that requires a fresh mindset and a fair amount of time to unlearn / relearn very familiar NLE activities. And it’s certainly more suited to smaller production houses and shooter / editors.
Whilst I can understand people viewing it with disdain when it was bought out it has since changed so fundamentally in terms of stability and new features that hopefully some editors would form a different opinion were they to reappraise it.
John Davidson’s recent series of films published over on the FCPX Techniques forum provides a really good example of how one company has embraced FCPX and is now reaping the benefits of developing new workflows to transform the organisation of media and files through every stage of the post production cycle.
https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/344/16634
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[Mark Dobson] “Whilst I can understand people viewing it with disdain when it was bought out it has since changed so fundamentally in terms of stability and new features that hopefully some editors would form a different opinion were they to reappraise it.”
Intial reactions often stick whether warrented or not. I think FCPX is still tarred with the same brush (unfairly perhaps)in a lot of ways with the disastrous PR surrounding its release.
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Well, I’m in the New York area, working in corporate video mostly, and from that perspective I can say it is. I know of a number of editors who have made the switch, and a lot who haven’t. One positive is that it is getting easier for us to find good FCPX freelance editors.
And here’s some data points: I shoot all over the place. Was just in Atlanta and learned of an editor who switched and is loving it. Was working with a crew in Tokyo and they had switched. Was shooting in Chicago–FCPX still had a lame rep.
So, it does seem be gaining traction, bit by bit. Seems like still a long way to go to make inroads into broadcast and feature work though.
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I know of two shops in LA using it…both make content for the web. And Leverage is still reputed to be using it…and that’s a major cable show.
At the last LAFCPUG (pardon, LACPUG) meeting, about half the audience there of 150 or so people raised their hands when asked if they use FCX. That’s a lot. But then the audience does tend to be filled with a lot of people who use it for their personal gigs or hobby videos….just like we started using FCP.
Another interesting thing…during the STUMP THE GURU’s part of the show, 9 out of 11 questions asked were about Adobe Premiere Pro…which meant that we the panel were pretty much stumped, because we had Bill Davis and Phil Hodgetts up there as FCP and FCP X gurus, and me and Monica Daniel as the FCP/Avid experts. The other two questions were FCX based. So I think that is a good example of the trend of things.
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
the Northern California film community, industrial, education, feature indie and commercials seems to have embraced FCPX pretty well, especially with 10.0.6. It’s also all over the educational market and schools as well.
We’re doing all our feature doc work and wine films with it as well.
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Well, I keep hoping it will gain some traction in Utah, where I am located.
This is for perfectly selfish reasons. Being lazy, I don’t want to slog through the tutorial videos. Being cheap, I don’t want to pay for a class. I am hoping for another editor to do all the heavy lifting in X, so I can pick his or her brain before I leap in.
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Outside of just p[laying around with X, I really learned how to use it well with the lynda.com series on FPCX :essential training. Well worth the price and very easy to follow and understand.
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