-
Complicated means Pro : Simplified is Dumb/Amateurish
I have just recently been visiting Cow all because of FCPX, for guidance and perspective from all the industry experts that I use to think proliferates much here with all your sigs and first-paragraph-introduction-to-tell-people-what you did-so-what-you-say-matters. I thought this community is about the development of video creativity…but recently, as I visit this section everyday, reading all of the same arguments being reiterated in several distinct incarnations but ultimately meaning the same frame of thought over and over again, I am reminded of the constant bickering between Apple vs. Android fanboys on tech sites that I usually frequent too.
And the above title is what I generally get. FCPX is far too simple to look at/use that any dude who’s been editing her cellphone videos on iMovie can now edit professionally too. And the complicated structure of traditionally UId NLEs are what pro’s is all about. Complicated. Complex. Requires a thousand trainings and decades of experience to master. And all this who do not respect its complications are amateurs who does not matter.
And these arguments eventually boils down to Apples apparent forthcoming decisions on majorly overhauling OSX and macbook pros, and making high powered iPads. And a lot of people are still surprised, even self proclaimed fanboys. Well I have been extensively reading Apple news every single day of my life since I first saw the iPhone’s inertial scrolling demo of the iPhone at Apple’s keynote and I believe I can share a proper perspective as to why their decisions are coherent and have been in place since Job’s return to Apple more than a decade ago.
Ever since he started Apple on his garage on his twenties he had one major dream that haven’t changed one bit uo to this very moment: MAKE COMPUTING ACCESSIBLE TO ALL.
Simplicity.
Power in the hands of the user, not the other way around.
Here is a quote from his 1985 Playboy interview:
“PB: Maybe we should pause and get your definition of what a computer is. How do they work?
SJ: Computers are actually pretty simple. We’re sitting here on a bench in this café. Let’s assume that you understood only the most rudimentary of directions and you asked how to find the rest room. I would have to describe it to you in very specific and precise instruction. I might say, “Scoot sideways two meters off the bench. Stand erect. Lift left foot. Bend left knee until it is horizontal. Extend left foot and shift weight 300 centimeters forward…” and on and on. If you could interpret all those instructions 100 times faster than any other person in this café, you would appear to be a magician: You could run over and grab a milk shake and bring it back and set it on the table and snap your fingers, and I’d think you made the milk shake appear, because it was so fast relative to my perception. THat’s exactly what a computer does. It takes these very simple-minded instructions––”Go fetch a number, add it to this number, put the result there, perceive if it’s greater than this other number”––but executes them at a rate of , let’s say, 1,000,000 per second. At 1,000,000 per second, the results appear to be magic.
That’s a simple explanation, and the point is that people really don’t need to understand how computers work. Most people have no concept of how an automatic transmission works, yet they know how to drive a car. You don’t have to study physics to understand the laws of motion to drive a car. You don’t have to understand any of this stuff to use Macintosh––but you asked [laughs]
Link: https://gizmodo.com/5821429/that-time-in-1987-when-playboy-interviewed-steve-jobs
Here’s an explanation of why the iPad is the future: https://gizmodo.com/5506692/ipad-is-the-future
Google and link up all of the presupposed facts from that article and realize Apple’s ultimate direction. As S. Jobs himself said, they “we are trying so hard to eliminate the file system.” Steve Jobs was the first to offer GUI based interface for personal computers..so that instead of memorizing command lines, you can move a pointer on the screen and draw a circle. Now as the software and computing power progresses, Jobs finally realized his ultimate computer dream. A device anyone, from a 1 year old baby to a 99 year old grandma can pick up and immediately use without any learning curve whatsoever. All you get is a sea of icons, you want to do something, click it, and the screen morphs into whatever it is that you are current doing. The hardware “disappears”. All you get is a multifunctional device that morphs into whatever you’re using it for the moment, mail, message, compass, video player etc.
And then there’s iCloud. One location for all our data, and all of our Apple devices will be able to access information from it with their native interface on whatever device your using. You know what this means. Final Cut Pro X editing on your iPad, in full power. Then you put it down, pick up your edit on your iMac. These devices does not even need to be as powerful as each other, as the rendering will be done remotely either on the cloud or on your own personal mini servers at the post house.
And this explains everything. From the metadata based file organization, to the self-contained “app” metaphor of FCPX, its visual metaphored interface (clip connection,magnetic timeline etc), to the plans of thinner macbook pros, to retina display iPads, and the iPadification of OSX Lion. In the future, very near future, these devices will be irrelevant, they will be just windows, “mobile interface” for our centralized data. And that is why FCPX is what it is. IT IS THE FUTURE. A first step, so that when the time comes that all tape based capture and delivery are irrelevant, and all is digital and metadata based, it would have evolved enough that it will be the industry standard at that point. While all the other companies are just scrambling to make their reboot to cope. Fine it is not usable by all today, but there are those whose could already. Events coverage and web video delivery are big businesses too you know.
Quobetah
New=Better -
53 Replies
-
What you seem to fail to realize is that it isn’t computers. or NLEs that are hard to master, that require thousands of hours of training and apprenticeship – it’s editing that is hard, the way playing a violin is hard, the way sculpting marble is difficult, the way you have to spend years to attain a black belt – and no computer ever made would have helped Davinci paint any better. The most time consuming function for an editor is thinking – this was as true in DW Griffith’s time as it is today.
On this forum we argue about functionality and paradigms, but a lot of this discussion is about the technical in’s and out’s of file creation. Most of the editors here can create good work with anything from a scissors to a Discreet smoke, given a minimum of training. But, sadly for you it seems, all of them spent years learning how.
There’s no free rides, even on an Ipad.
Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions -
[Gerald Baria]And then there’s iCloud. One location for all our data, and all of our Apple devices will be able to access information from it with their native interface on whatever device your using. You know what this means. Final Cut Pro X editing on your iPad, in full power. Then you put it down, pick up your edit on your iMac. These devices does not even need to be as powerful as each other, as the rendering will be done remotely either on the cloud or on your own personal mini servers at the post house.
At this time, on average, I shoot at least 16GB of footage per shoot (I do a lot of DVCPRO HD and soon to be AVC-Intra). I do a lot of DSLR shoots that average around 40-ish GB.
Are you telling me that I will be uploading all that to the iCloud?
Please.
-
Eventually you may want to for the power and convenience when all other pieces are in place. If your running a mac, it will be uploaded in the background anyway. And internet will only get cheaper. Im thinking forward here.
Quobetah
New=Better -
“Re: Complicated means Pro : Simplified is Dumb/Amateurish
by Herb Sevush on Aug 24, 2011 at 10:03:43 amWhat you seem to fail to realize is that it isn’t computers. or NLEs that are hard to master, that require thousands of hours of training and apprenticeship – it’s editing that is hard, the way playing a violin is hard, the way sculpting marble is difficult, the way you have to spend years to attain a black belt – and no computer ever made would have helped Davinci paint any better. The most time consuming function for an editor is thinking – this was as true in DW Griffith’s time as it is today.
There’s no free rides, even on an iPad.”
I thought that was the main point of FCPX, make editing easier so you could focus of the more important thing, “telling the story”. Its on their ads right? At the end of the day, its about that creation in your head and how you turn that into a finished file. I completely agree with that.
“On this forum we argue about functionality and paradigms, but a lot of this discussion is about the technical in’s and out’s of file creation. Most of the editors here can create good work with anything from a scissors to a Discreet smoke, given a minimum of training. But, sadly for you it seems, all of them spent years learning how.”
I assume that, so why is a lot of people keep bitching about FCPX over and over and over again, shouldn’t you just spend enough time with it that you’ll be able to do your edits as easily or even easier than you could with PPro,FCP7 or Avid?
Quobetah
New=Better -
“I assume that, so why is a lot of people keep bitching about FCPX over and over and over again, shouldn’t you just spend enough time with it that you’ll be able to do your edits as easily or even easier than you could with PPro,FCP7 or Avid?”
Why should I prefer FCPX to PPro or Avid? It is the least functional, most untested, least compatible NLE out there. Why shouldn’t I make my life easier and move to a faster, better, more robust featured program?
Am I missing something, do I owe something to Apple? As a matter of fact they just EOL’d FCP7, a decision that’s going to cost me a lot of time and money. So why on earth do they get primacy?Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions -
Thanks Gerald for a really great post. might not all come true but I think you’re not far off. Lots of hurdles still to jump but the direction is obvious.
Really interesting happened the other day. A distant friend coming over and not having seen my edit suite. She was really disappointed to not see a million monitors and pieces of equipment as I just reduced everything getting ready for the slim lined world of FCP x. So very true that a lot of people still relate professional to complicated.
Interesting times.
Carsten
-
LOL, because we all know that productions are always located where food, water, power, and high speed net is always conveniently located on set.
Scott Sheriff
Director
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com“If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur.” —Red Adair
Where were you on 6/21?
-
[Carsten Orlt] “So very true that a lot of people still relate professional to complicated.”
I guess it would depend on what profession you’re in. And most professional don’t consider what they do complicated. It is just simply what has to be done to work at a certain level in the industry.
If you want simple, there is always Windows Movie Maker, imovie, and that other new one that just came out.Scott Sheriff
Director
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com“If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur.” —Red Adair
Where were you on 6/21?
-
“Why should I prefer FCPX to PPro or Avid? It is the least functional, most untested, least compatible NLE out there. Why shouldn’t I make my life easier and move to a faster, better, more robust featured program?
Am I missing something, do I owe something to Apple? As a matter of fact they just EOL’d FCP7, a decision that’s going to cost me a lot of time and money. So why on earth do they get primacy?”Your not part of the editor demographic that will be financially sensible to “immediately” move to FCPX because of the fact that your heavily invested in FCP 7 gear, (plug ins,hardware etc.). Thats fine. But for the rest of the other guys, those that are about to go inoa transition period of upgrading their systems, those new businesses that have an al digital workflow, and all the new editors that want to get into the game and looking for a system to invest into, in short, those who are thingking about their future, FCPX should be a great option. And all the wounded group that companies like yours belong in should not jump into every single inquiry about it because a false image is being generated. It is such a powerful software. Given that there are currently stability issues, minimal plu ign support, file sharing capabilities but those have been promised to be fixed, AND WHEN THEY DO, what becomes of your previous opinion about FCPX?! Suddenly it becomes the fastest most powerful editimg software that exists…and all the new editors that youll be hiring, those exposed on an all digital workflow, will like it.
All Im saying is we should not be too quick to dismiss it. Apple has proven time and time again that it could rock an industry and be successful in it. Initially there is uproar and shock, then after some time its the greatest thing ever. The iPad have just recently made the largest PC manufacturer give up, and every other competitor fail…and to think a week after its release every major gadget site laughed at it for being a large iPod touch.
Quobetah
New=Better -
But all those productions are edited and finished on post houses, after being backed up on 5 secret servers right!? Because what you just shot is a multimillion dollar commodity.
And Im not saying everything will be cloud based “only”, of course you can still save local and edit there, but your file system is formatted by the OS when you get into an internet area, its backed up automatically to icloud in the background. So when your client on the other side of the contry calls up to check up on your work, he can just pull in his iPad access the project and make his notes, or revisions.
Quobetah
New=Better
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up