FCP X and Education

[Mike Jeffs]

Here at BYU Idaho we are also not sure if we are going to go FCPX. We are currently going to do the wait and see, but we are not going to upgrade anytime soon. I am starting to lean farther and farther away from FCP. Adobe in my mind might become the Next FCP for students here. While there are many features i like about FCPX there are many i don’t, and there not the compaints that have been gone over on these forums ad nausem.

will see.

Mike Jeffs
Video Coordinator
BYU-Idaho

[Bret Williams]

I’d urge everyone to go download the Avid Media Composer 30 day trial and go through the tutorials. I’m REALLY wishing I’d taken them up on their $995 deal. As someone that edits at home and freelance, I have to assume that in the next year Media Composer will regain it’s status as the norm even here in the corporate world. Most of the places here were Avid houses 10 years ago when I was primarily freelance. And if Avid supports AJA, it’s literally a $2300 expense for those FCP places that have AJA boxes, and the Matrox folks (like myself) are already good to go.

I have Premiere on my system, and with it’s basic FCP 7 compatibility it may serve me well here at my place, but I mess with it every year and it just feels clunky to me. I’ve demoed it, open FCP projects with it, done tutorials, etc. but something always seems wonky. Frames are dropped, or a setting is screwy, or it doesn’t like ProRes, etc. Avid really has it all down with their AMA file linking and then consolidation and media management overall. The thing is solid. I opened up the demo install, linked a folder of files via the AMA thing, and they all came in instantly. From DV to ProRes to H264. And they just played no worries.

I just don’t seem Premiere becoming the winner here. I can’t really put my finger on why, but they’ve never been able to take market from Avid, and they quickly lost to Apple when they came along. Maybe they try to hard?

[Bret Williams]

Someone else posted that they can’t go FCP 7 because their students can’t buy copies, even though it’s probably a viable thing to learn for the short term. And FCP X really has no place in the pro world, yet, if ever. Plus it’s nothing like Avid or FCP classic (7) or Premiere. At least those three share 3 point editing. Premiere is a good option, but I’d say Media Composer is where it’s at for students.

[Andrew Dietz]

I went to Ricks back in the day. Speaking as a former student and now professional editor I think you should stick with FCP. You don’t need to switch to X right away. Besides, you don’t need to teach “professional” editing. FCPX would suffice for even the most advanced of students.

[Jean-françois Robichaud]

[Bret Williams] ” And FCP X really has no place in the pro world, yet, if ever. Plus it’s nothing like Avid or FCP classic (7) or Premiere. At least those three share 3 point editing. Premiere is a good option, but I’d say Media Composer is where it’s at for students.”

FCP X does have 3-point editing. It’s got a whole list of missing features, but that one is not on the list.

[Steven Gonzales]

I worked in various roles at a film school which decided to require students to purchase final cut pro in order to learn feature film post production.

The school required computer and software purchase, so over 10 years it was on the order of 700 to 800 purchases. Even taking a low figure of $2000 per, that’s $1.4 million in revenue.

Now the only choice is Avid, and why not PC laptops to save the kids some money?

I evangelized ever since editing the first feature finished to film in 1999 on FCP 1 and Film Logic. I have nothing against Avid, but the interface has sacrificed elegance for the ability to operate nearly identically in a PC or Mac OS.

FCP has definitely lost the higher education market to Avid if feature film editing and post production are the curriculum.

[Chris Kenny]

[Steven Gonzales] “FCP has definitely lost the higher education market to Avid if feature film editing and post production are the curriculum.”

I feel like a broken record here, but this is basically an insane thing to say a little over a week after FCP X’s release.

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[Steven Gonzales]

Insane sounds a little extreme, but I need to:

import a flex file
export a cut list

And a lot of other exchanges. If you can tell me how to do those two simple things, then you can continue questioning my sanity.

[Mike Jeffs]

a lot has changed since we were Ricks 🙂 that being said yes we will be holding off and waiting. we are not going to make any rash desision and a lot of this is knee jerk reactions. but i have to be mindful of what we teach students. i have to completely disagree with your we don’t have to teach “professional” editing. while we are not a film school we still are in the buisness of turning out professionals in all of the schools. so yes we need to teach what will get them jobs and careers.

also in its current state FCPX doesn’t intagrate into our currernt infastructure at all. and if it never does then we have to look to what will.

Mike Jeffs
Video Coordinator
BYU-Idaho

[Mike Guidotti]

Most schools have shared edit bays which require multiple user logins as well as SAN storage. That basically rules iMovie X out. oh, sorry FCP X.