Avid or Final Cut. Does it matter?

[Walter Biscardi]

[Terry Kelley] “I’d recommend AVID although I’m partial to FCP. There are only a few television shows and feature films being done on FCP (Scrubs, Nip Tuck, a bunch of MTV shows like Real World) but everything else is still AVID.”

So just a few shows are cut on FCP and everything else is AVID? That’s quite misleading to say the least. Hmmmm, you’re leaving off Fox’s NASCAR, the Super Bowl, Simple Life, ESPN Programming, a ton of Discovery Channel programming, some History Channels shows, quite a few movies (in fact there’s a great article about Tim Burton’s “Corpse Bride” on the Apple site), etc…… We’re cutting one HD series here now and are most likely going to be cutting one or two more series next year.

Are there still some shows cut on AVID, sure, but to say that “everything else is cut on AVID” is definitely not entirely accurate anymore.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Creative Genius, Biscardi Creative Media
https://www.biscardicreative.com

Now in Production, “The Rough Cut,” https://www.theroughcutmovie.com

Now editing “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

G5 Dual 2.0, AJA Kona 2, Medea FCR2X

[Antelope]

Thank you Terry, you may just regret that offer!

[Antelope]

I know this is just not the place to say this but I seem to have no choice. The CC website is not displaying properly for me, most of the page content is missing and the link to ‘contact us’ finds no page. I’m also unable to start new topics. Is anyone else having problems? Its been this way for several days now so presumably its my end that has the prob but I have no idea what it could be. No probs with any other sites. Could someone draw the ‘management’s ‘ attention to my situation as I can’t contact them? Tks.

[Mike Most — account bouncing, bad address]

If he was referring to network/cable dramas and sitcoms, and the vast majority of feature films, the statement is indeed accurate.

[Antelope]

Bingo…it all works again!

[Chris Bové]

[antelope] “Which is the most appropriate for someone starting out and which is more likely to lead to work opportunities?”

Both. Equal. Independent films, broadcast, corporate, you name it. It’s pretty even for beginners and ameteurs. A lot of places are even starting to put both onto the same machine. So seriously, test ’em both and decide on one to start.

Ford or Chevy. Who cares. (Subaru is better anyway.)

______
/-o-o-\
\`(=)`/…Pixel Monkey
`(___)

[Kieran]

I wonder if Avid is going to lose out in the long run.

First of all, Avid has fragmented its market far more than Apple. This isn’t so much of a problem when there is a required difference in hardware. But recent history suggests two things – that almost anything absolutely requiring hardware will eventually be done in software (see mpeg encoding, or outside editing, VOIP etc) and that consumer hardware will catch up with pro hardware. This is a pretty big problem for Avid, because if it wants to keep its neat partitions it has to provide some value added between them. Apple doesn’t have that problem, as Final Cut Pro is its top end, and so it can put top end features into Final Cut. When this happens Avid will respond by adding things to XPress Pro, but they’re eroding the value of their high end suites in doing so. The avid-monopoly over features has been questioned now that Walter Murch has demonstrated that you can edit a big-budget feature film on Final Cut. And if Apple keeps adding features, and with hardware improving, Avid’s current business model is going to be unsustainable.

Moreover, it has been rumoured that the new intel macs are essentially apple PCs. And recently Apple’s rewritten OS was successfully (it was claimed) run on a PC. If this is true then Final Cut might start to compete more directly with Avid whether officially or not.

[Malcolm Thorpe]

Ok, add this to the mix. There are times in my editing career when “the art of the edit” is carried in the door with me. However, that “art” must be tempered by the desires of the producer. I have walked into sessions when the producer wanted all the whistles and bells I could provide. I have also walked into sessions editing single layer video with nothing but perfectly placed disolves, each and every transition visited numerous times by both myself and the producer.

We have a wonderful enigma with which we work. We are Jackson Pollock, when asked to be…..or Normal Rockwell. But regardless of the desires of the producer, we always get to hid our little bit of ourselves in each and every piece on which we work (or should I say play)

[Enzo Tedeschi]

…and viola, Malcolm, you have hit it. The Art of the Edit is, at the end of the day, “making it work”. There are arguably more finely honed skills at work when you are restricted to cuts and dissolves – making these work is often more challenging than being able to step in with a push, wipe, page peel (ugh!), or razzle-dazzle swirly thingy that is far more style than substance… :o)

Ultimately, the drive will come from the person signing the cheque – if they can respect the subtlety of a cut as opposed to the extra bell on top of the whistle, then that rocks for us editors. But those bells and whistles can often sound like the glorious noise of the local pokey paying out a jackpot!