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Dangerous forest or enchanted meadow?
It’s been fascinating to read all your comments on the bricklaying threads, but one thing has very much stood out for me.
From what I have seen, there are editors who approach the timeline with extreme caution and who seemingly won’t venture there unless fully armed with everything they can muster.
Conversely there are others who apparently don’t feel the same trepidation and see the timeline as a place of possibilities.
Again, I am not making a judgment here. Perhaps it is the best strategy to confront the timeline with weapons at the ready, and perhaps it is hopelessly naïve to think it’s a safe place to play. Or perhaps not.
Apologies for the metaphor as always. It’s just a metaphor, with all the inaccuracy and foolishness that comes with it. but metaphors do get us talking and that’s a good thing, I hope you agree.
I’m not right and you’re not wrong. I’m just someone who’s very interested in the psychology of editing so many thanks to all of you for your endlessly fascinating opinions.
Simon Ubsdell
tokyo productions
hawaiki -
25 Replies
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Even if 10 different people use FCPX all ten may go about editing different. One person posted they color grade all the clips up front. That is not something I would opt to do. Is FCPX more like karate and Premiere Pro more like Judo? Metaphors and analogies are OK but sometime they can lead to even more equivocation.
[Simon Ubsdell] “From what I have seen, there are editors who approach the timeline with extreme caution and who seemingly won’t venture there unless fully armed with everything they can muster.”
I agree.
Even though I use Premiere Pro my editing paradigm can shift from project to project. I am always looking for better editing methods. There are some cool feature in FCPX that look nice as well as DR. There are cool things about Premiere Pro as well. Regardless of your choice of NLE they will all get better and better and our editing methods will probably continue to evolve as new features are added.
[Simon Ubsdell] “I’m not right and you’re not wrong. I’m just someone who’s very interested in the psychology of editing so many thanks to all of you for your endlessly fascinating opinions.”
What works for some may not work well for others. An editing contest might be interesting. I think we could all learn something new about our own NLE as well as what the competition has to offer.
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I hope to ever remain someone who enjoys going exploring.
On some long hikes, I want the safety of prepping myself with a compass, a pocket knife and extra water.
Experience has proved to me that for some specific types of adventures – it behooves me to plan and prepare myself carefully.But I also hope I don’t ever lose the type of exploration that doesn’t need ANY of that. To simply go to a place with out the slightest idea of what I’ll find and no plan in mind – and freely explore as the spirit moves me.
The world would hardly be as interesting if both those journey types – and many more – weren’t out there waiting.
My 2 cents.
Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery. -
I think the most important thing an editor can do is become totally familiar with all of their elements. If that means logging, bin sorting, key words and note taking, fine. If it means string outs and multiple timelines, fine. A combination of both, fine. Whatever gets an editor so immersed with the visual and audio elements available that he/she can make the unconscious connections that lead to good work is the right way to go. From file cards on a cork board to smart bins – if it helps the editor to absorb and remember everything they have to play with, then it’s good, but it’s important to remember that “the map is not the terrain.” I believe it is Frederick Wiseman who, after a film has been locked, goes back and looks at all of his footage one last time to see if he missed anything. As always, the most important tool for an editor is time.
Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
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nothin\’ attached to nothin\’
\”Deciding the spine is the process of editing\” F. Bieberkopf -
Well said.
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[Herb Sevush] “From file cards on a cork board to smart bins – if it helps the editor to absorb and remember everything they have to play with, then it’s good”
I tend to agree. At first it might seem a tad bit prehistoric to use use file cards but what if it proves to be very efficient?
[Herb Sevush] “I think the most important thing an editor can do is become totally familiar with all of their elements. If that means logging, bin sorting, key words and note taking, fine. If it means string outs and multiple timelines, fine. A combination of both, fine.”
I tend to agree. I don’t think it is one or the other. I think both paradigms have merit. I am not going to bad mouth FCPX or pretend Premiere Pro is perfect. On the other hand I don’t think any NLE is perfect at this point in time. Is it possible DR will implement metadata that surpasses FCPX and Premiere Pro? Who knows? All I can say is that in another ten years we may be editing halograms with microprocessors embedded in our brains making everything thing we know about editing thus far seem prehistoric. Will Google introduce Halo Edit 1.0 in the year 2026? Who knows? I just know things will evolve.
[Herb Sevush] ” As always, the most important tool for an editor is time.”
My editing system allows me to alter space and time : )
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Thank Herb…”after a film has been locked, goes back and looks at all of his footage one last time to see if he missed anything. ”
So many times we think the edit is over once it is “over.” But that last dig thru the footage has netted a gem almost every time! It is so different looking at footage purely subjectively rather than looking for a clip that will fill a hole. Looking after the fact affords that.
Brilliant.
Rich Rubasch
Tilt Media Inc.
Video Production, Post, Studio Sound Stage
Founder/President/Editor/Designer/Animator
https://www.tiltmedia.com -
[Simon Ubsdell] “From what I have seen, there are editors who approach the timeline with extreme caution and who seemingly won’t venture there unless fully armed with everything they can muster.”
Thinking about this from a developer’s perspective, Avid’s historical position has been, most things that can happen on the timeline are bad, and must be prevented. ????
To put it more positively, the timeline is sacred. ANYTHING that happens there, whether sculpting or bricklaying (and I think Avid has tended to prefer the latter), HAS to happen with intent. This led to a modal approach that I know has come in for grief from software purists, but it has its roots in the editing process itself: the concept of picture lock. Not just at the end of the process (okay, now we export a cut list and send it off to the negative house), but in the sense of, “Now that this piece is in place, nothing shall move it until I take steps to allow it to be moved.”
Hence the universal frustration of every editor coming from another NLE to sit at an Avid for the first time, click around on the timeline, yet nothing being selected. That’s the point. No random clicks creating unexpected results. Nothing becoming accidentally unsynced or unrendered. (These obviously being less of a big deal NOW, but 20 years ago, I assure you, A Very Big Deal Indeed.)
Instead, you had to enter a mode that allowed you to select things on the timeline, then choose a tool that actually allowed you to do so.
This speaks to a larger set of assumptions that have everything to do with Avid’s team-oriented approach to everything. The assumption is that many people will be touching assets in various forms of completion, and the one thing that must be protected above all others is the sanctity of the timeline, ie, The Edit itself. It’s an intentionally rigid construction.
It’s a gross oversimplification to place this at one end of a spectrum that has the magnetic timeline at the other end of the spectrum — an enchanted meadow of infinite flexibility, also a gross oversimplification. As I’ve noted, they have more in common with each other than not, including a single product manager responsible for the origination (or at least the management of the implementation) of both. They certainly share a preference for doing the “work” of the edit before you get to the timeline.
But when I hear “dangerous forest” and “enchanted meadow”, I think of something ancient — some combination of history and myth, which exactly characterizes not just FCP Legend but the relatively more recent legacy of FCPX. Media Composer’s roots can seem positively prehistoric that way, too. ????
But those are indeed its roots. Sync is sacred. Cuts are sacred. Placement on the timeline is sacred. None of this may be altered without honoring the forces that have bound them there.
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You sound like LeStat and his savage garden. 🙂
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An absolutely fascinating post. To draw the line that connects Media Composer with FCP X is extremely instructive!
My observation is quite a bit more banal than yours, and it’s this.
In the days of film and tape the act of “performing an edit” was fraught with consequences and was not entered into lightly. You made sure that you were doing something that you wouldn’t have to undo unless absolutely necessary.
Accordingly there was a strong element of performance anxiety attached to making the edit.
The advent of NLEs changed all that. Or at least it should have done. But for many, many editors it hasn’t.
It is very clear from the comments here that performance anxiety still afflicts editors even now when there are no negative consequences to “making the edit”.
There is still patently a strong feeling that you shouldn’t risk committing anything to the timeline until you’ve got all your ducks in a row.
I have seen a lot of this over the years – editors who dither helplessly before adding something to the timeline, just in case it’s “the wrong decision”. It sets my teeth on edge to watch.
“The Editor’s Fear of the Timeline” is an all too common affliction.
It takes serious editing therapy to overcome.
Simon Ubsdell
tokyo productions
hawaiki -
There might be something to that but I think a lot of editors just want to be familiar with their footage before adding it to the timeline for no rhyme or reason. That is how a lot of us have been taught. I would bet “performance anxiety” applies to all methods of editing whither you are editing subtractive or not. Simon, your post still come across as those that don’t edit subtractive are somehow inferior than those that do. I am sure that was not your intent. Got to go I am late for my editing therapy.
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