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FCP X and the “industry”
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[Glen Hurd] “But to simply dismiss these people because they are numerically insignificant seems short-sighted – if not just motivated by a little jealousy. The elite, in any industry, have enormous impact on that industry. They represent both the financial and intellectual peak of that profession’s achievements. They are the measuring stick by which a culture defines success, and their opinions carry weight, because the intellectual component to their success is undeniable. “
But they are rarely first-movers. The dominant pattern in this industry over the last decade has been that new apps/techniques/approaches/whatever start with ‘outsiders’ (who don’t have unlimited budgets and aren’t wedded to current approaches), who prove them. They’re then picked up by more adventurous elites, which eventually makes them ‘safe’ for less adventurous elites, at which point they become accepted tools for high-end production. Whether you’re talking about the original FCP, AfterEffects or the Red One, it’s the same pattern.
Given this pattern, it is in fact expected (by Apple as well, I suspect) that FCP X, with its fairly radical changes, won’t be accepted by elites at first. People are making long-range projections on the basis of this lack of immediate acceptance, but immediate acceptance is virtually unknown for any new tool different enough to actually be interesting. The question to ask about a product in FCP X’s position is not “Will elites accept it immediately?” but “Is there a unique value proposition here that could cause some talented outsider to choose this tool over other options and do something interesting with it?” That’s the first step. And I think the answer is very clearly “yes”.
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Digital Workflow/Colorist, Nice Dissolve.You should follow me on Twitter here. Or read our blog.
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Well said, Chris.
“Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions.”-Justice O’Conner
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[Bill David]I was there when ALL the people at the top TOTALLY DISMISSED 3.5 Mbps digital video as sub-standard, non-professional – and the mark of an amateur.
That’s right! And now you see all these great broadcast commercials and all these theatrically released feature films that were originated in DV!
Err…wait.
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You are correct in the sense that if your definition of “professional” is reduced to only those who create feature films or high end commercials – you clearly win the argument.
However, I’m sitting here in my own purpose built production studio surrounded by 600 plus 120 minute DVCAM tapes the production of which earned me an extremely comfortable living for decades.
If I let you define my success as someone who didn’t do “MOVIES” or NETWORK TV – I guess I am in trouble.
However (and youngsters watching this discussion from the bleachers, pay careful attention here) if you define success by the ability to engage in work you love, live in a fashion that makes you happy, and attract work that pays you a robust and sustainable living wage – I implore you NOT to let others define what success means for you.
Letting others define what makes you a success or a failure is the ultimate suckers game.
FWIW.
“Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions.”-Justice O’Conner
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[Bill Davis]You are correct in the sense that if your definition of “professional” is reduced to only those who create feature films or high end commercials – you clearly win the argument.
However, I’m sitting here in my own purpose built production studio surrounded by 600 plus 120 minute DVCAM tapes the production of which earned me an extremely comfortable living for decades.
Oh, Bill, I’m sorry. You said “ALL the people at the top” and I take “top” to mean those professionals whose work is broadcast nationwide or is shown in theaters. Can’t get more top than that.
I guess by “top” you meant anyone who works in video?
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A fair point.
I did say “top” – but in the context that for many years, NOBODY at the top would consider, for example, using DV sourced material for broadcast … right up to the point where EVERYONE decided it was absolutely fine to do just that.
Do you remember when suddenly everyone from Brian Williams to Anderson Cooper started trotting around with hand-held DV cameras in far flung lands and putting their footage directly into “nightly news” packages – the precise same thing that all the “professionals” were arguing was akin to “amateur” the month prior.
Now, a solid percentage of news coverage originates on formats and equipment that broadcast engineers found LAUGHABLE a decade ago. Heck, on our local stations, I see more shots of TWITTER displays shot off lousy LCD monitors as the local anchors try desperately to remain HIP by putting on TV the exact same stuff that people are LEAVING their broadcasts to watch on their computers.
Look, I’m not arguing that there’s not a devaluing of standards at work here. I’m arguing that yesterdays “this is absolutely unacceptable” is tomorrow’s commonplace IF it presents a superior enough value or convenience proposition to the market.
That’s what drove DV, then DVCPRO, then XDCAM, then 5dMkii files first into competition, then into DOMINATION over Ikigami, Sony D-900s and their ilk. The last few times I’ve been on location around news crews, they’re probably using some JVC SD Card camera that would have been considered a JOKE a few years ago.
Tech moves on.
The tool does NOT define the professional. And if you think it still does, good luck with planning your career on that basis.
If someone CAN cut a news package on FCP-X – you can BET YOUR LIFE they will. And sooner rather than later. Because it’s an alternative in a world where standards are not fixed ideas, but rather, rapidly evolving moving targets.
That’s just how it is. Like it or not.
“Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions.”-Justice O’Conner
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[Bill Davis] ” if you define success by the ability to engage in work you love, live in a fashion that makes you happy, and attract work that pays you a robust and sustainable living wage – I implore you NOT to let others define what success means for you.”
Well stated, Bill. I was one of those video editors that was “on top” in my industry. I worked for “60 Minutes” and chose to leave the show to return to my home state and pursue what I considered a better quality of life.
Now I make a comfortable living producing, writing, shooting and editing my own video creations. And, I’m currently editing some of them on FCP X. Does that make me less of a “professional” now?
Forrest
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[Bill Davis] “If someone CAN cut a news package on FCP-X – you can BET YOUR LIFE they will. And sooner rather than later. Because it’s an alternative in a world where standards are not fixed ideas, but rather, rapidly evolving moving targets. “
2 years from now a version of the iPad will be the news camera, the edit system, and the cellular uplink.
TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions,Adobe Certified Instructor
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[Bill Davis]Do you remember when suddenly everyone from Brian Williams to Anderson Cooper started trotting around with hand-held DV cameras in far flung lands and putting their footage directly into “nightly news” packages – the precise same thing that all the “professionals” were arguing was akin to “amateur” the month prior.
That’s a very poor example. What they are doing is trying to emulate that look, for the sense of immediacy that YouTube has given to videos that look like that. They would never shoot a sit-down interview with an important figure using those cams. It is done specifically for an intended purpose.
The tool does NOT define the professional. And if you think it still does, good luck with planning your career on that basis.But in some ways it does. When you’re on your own, shooting weddings, family doctor web videos, or whatever, no one is going to care that you edit on Windows Movie Maker. However, if you want that recently posted editing job at your local news station or mid-level production house, do you think you’ll have any chance at all if you can’t say that you know FCP7/AVID? In certain environments, it doesn’t matter how cool a video you have on your reel if you did it in iMovie and your competition for the job has experience in a network-based AVID workflow, even if his stuff is not as flashy.
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I was imagining last night what it would be like to have an iPad the size of the Cinema Display I’m writing this on….
THAT would be an interesting editing platform, wouldn’t it?
And a dirt simple evolution of the “all in the display” iMac models popping off the assembly lines right now.
Hummmm….
“Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions.”-Justice O’Conner
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