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FCP X Six Months Later – Blog Post
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Any business that’s thinking with their emotions is risky, Anybody he only doesn’t “trust” Apple probably hasn’t been in the business long enough to experience what Avid did a little over 10 years ago, or were using Discreet Edit or Combustion or any other moderately popular programs that were EOLd.
Given the ROI costs of buying an NLE now compared to 1999, the cost of moving is much less, granted there is certainly some cost and some learning curve.
If Apple presents a good value proposition entry into post production for professional startups, for example, its use will expand. If a facility can put together 10 seats of FCPX, networked with asset management allowing facilities to turn around product faster and for less money, you’ll see growth, There’s no guarantee that will happen of course, but I’m sure that’s what Apple has in mind.
If you look at where the expansion in production will be over the next few years, as I think Apple is, there will be growth in direct to web episodic content, for example. This is compared to broadcast/cablecast, feature film market.
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I wouldn’t not expect this. Makes total sense to me. But my “huh?” was actually directed at Craig’s assertion that this was somehow redefining what “pro” is in the light of what the argument on this blog is. If Gannet, which has a huge investment in Avid equipment, suddenly installs 1000 FCPX stations, I’ll pay attention. But otherwise, I still say “huh?”
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[Adam White] “I say that for 2 reasons – firstly, there is now absoloutley NO reason for any Editor to trust Apple. As the article says, trust is an absoloutey vital element to consider when choosing the software vendor that you base your livelihood on. From the freelancer right through to the post production house, this year Apple have shown they are utterly untrustworthy. I’m not sure they can do anthing to resolve that; the damage done this year has just been too severe and from the conversations I’ve had with people the biterness and frustration hasn’t really abated since the Summer. Those that are most ‘zen’ about the situation are so because they have already moved to another platform or have already made the decision to.”
There’s no question that Apple left no popcorn trial for legacy users, and it’s tough to not now immediately where to go. If you stick around in this business long enough, you’ll find this is how it works. It happens when good clients move elsewhere or take the business in house, it happens when they stop manufacturing your particular camera, it happens when you can’t find the right gear in your area to rent, it happens when companies make business decisions about their own future without asking their customers what they want. If you trust a giant company to make the hard decisions for you, or if you think everything including software technology lasts forever, then what you are witnessing now is a good lesson for you. Nothing lasts forever, and things change, so you have to stay sharp, and count on tomorrow being different from today. I’m not making excuses for Apple, and luckily there’s a few good NLE alternatives out there. Once you start looking around, you’ll see why fcp needed an overhaul as it is hardly the pinnacle of modern technology. We can’t use FCPX for everyday work, but maybe some day. In the meantime it’s mostly fcp7 while we test other NLEs.
[Adam White] “Secondly – whatever add-ons or bug fixes come along, Apple are locked into some fundamental design decisions that the vast majority of professionals find simply abhorrent. We all know what these are, and I fail to see how the most deeply ingrained of these can ever be made to work in a professional environment. Call me shortsighted in this regard, but I still cannot for the life of me figure out how trashing a century’s worth of practices, paradigms, terminology and established workflows was ever anything more than hubris in the extreme.”
if fcpx had interchange and video monitoring on day1, my bet is that these statements wouldn’t be so definitive. Arguments have been made that the fcpx interface actually goes further back to the roots of flatbed based editing. Also, I’m not sure what a bin of film had to do with a giant pile of data. The last 100 years of film technology HAS changed a bunch. Fcpx still allows a cut and dissolve. Where it has changed is treating the modern tapeless architecture as data. Moving forward, it is the right move, in my opinion.
[Adam White] “The only way this thing can survive is if it becomes the NLE of choice for a new generation, but speaking as a young (24) editor I know that the priority when your starting out HAS to be to understand, respect and conform to the standards of the industry you want to be a part of. Playing by those rules, FCPX is a total non-starter. I’m sure some geat storyellers will be able to do good work with this, but its an ISLAND and if it doesnt fit in to the rest of the industry why on earth would you consider using it if you aspire to work as an editor in any professional capacity? “
Over a decade ago, these same exact things were said about Final Cut Pro v1, and look what happened.
I do agree, you have to use the tools that will get you a job. That, of course, only makes sense. If fcpx doesn’t get adopted, then of course it won’t survive in multiseat post houses for very long. It will survive in the hands of many individuals though, just like its predecessor. It will give many people opportunities, just like its predecessor. Of course, it’s not there yet, but neither was final cut pro v1. It took a minute to get there, and so will X.
Timeline aside, there are many extremely powerful features in X (and I don’t mind the timeline) that other NLE companies should note. In my opinion, there are a lot of things about an NLE that deserve to change to keep up with today’s times, even though it might rustle a few feathers. I am glad someone had the balls to do it. Red and others are doing the same thing for cameras, and it’s been a bumpy road. Why shouldn’t the post tools keep up with production?
Jeremy
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The point is that people keep saying Apple is a “consumer” company and yet iPhones and iPads are being used in “Pro” environments including “online broadcast.” Those same journalists may be cutting packages in the field using iMovie or such field rough cuts may even be imported into FCPX for finishing.
It was at a recent trade show in a forum about future industry directions where I saw someone from Future Media Concepts (a training facility) show an iPad kitted out for field shooting and post production. They mentioned they were developing pieced of the kit. Now a few months later I see the info about Gannett.
In fact Gannett’s response is in many ways the antithesis of CNN, which laid off people to depend more heavily on CNN iReport. Gannett, on the other hand, is using the same tools (iPhones and iPads) in the hands of trained journalists. Both are dealing with economies of scale (and it is business economics). For every journalist in a truck with a “broadcast” camera kit, they’ll be scores more with iPhones and iPads able to get to a location and deliver, live if needed, faster.
Apple and FCPX may well lead in this market . . . and this market is going to grow a lot faster that episodic TV and feature films . . . and it is Broadcast (even if online) and it is Professional.
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[Craig Seeman] “The point is that people keep saying Apple is a “consumer” company and yet iPhones and iPads are being used in “Pro” environments including “online broadcast.””
Clothespins are used in studio lighting, that still doesn’t make my local supermarket a studio lighting company.
[Craig Seeman] “For every journalist in a truck with a “broadcast” camera kit, they’ll be scores more with iPhones and iPads able to get to a location and deliver, live if needed, faster. Apple and FCPX may well lead in this market . . . and this market is going to grow a lot faster that episodic TV and feature films . . . and it is Broadcast (even if online) and it is Professional.”
When they shoot the next Brian Williams standup with an Iphone, then I’ll consider the Iphone a broadcast tool. Telephone calls with ID slides make it to broadcast air, what standard are we talking about – if the content is strong enough they will air VHS originated material on a news show, does that make VHS a pro broadcast standard?
Your playing semantical games, Chris’s point is correct.
Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
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nothin’ attached to nothin’
“Deciding the spine is the process of editing” F. Bieberkopf -
“So if Aperture, like After Effects, allowed for a Canvas of 30,000 x 30,000 pixels, it could be a serious competitor to photoshop.”
I’m sorry David, I still don’t understand your point. Apeture is a tool for oganizing and manipulating photos, and Motion is designed for motion graphics work… neither have (or claim to have) the kind of advanced graphics editing/compositing/creation capabilities of Photoshop, so I’m not sure how either could act as a PS replacement. Do you have a use case?
“As for the paint tools, they are all vector, and can be resized, rescaled, changed, tweaked, turned into a path, all after the fact.”
AE’s paint engine is also vector based, so all stroke options can be changed after the fact. If additional functionality is required, a shape layer can be used.
“After Effects actually added paint and write on tools after Motion came out in CS3 I believe…”
AE has had vector paint tools since v 5.0(about 2001).
Shawn
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[Craig Seeman] “The point is that people keep saying Apple is a “consumer” company and yet iPhones and iPads are being used in “Pro” environments including “online broadcast.” “
I think you are far too sensitive about this. Much of this argument comes from the way Steve Jobs reinvigorated Apple by creating a distinct pro niche with his little four-square box. These are divisions that Apple projected on itself, and then actively promoted. Most people look at a PC, for instance, and don’t really worry about whether someone is going to use it in an office or at home. Telephones started as a purely business device, than entered homes, then became so useful that no one worries whether a telephone is pro or not. Even trying to think that argument is a silly one. It is equally silly to wonder if cell phones and tablets are pro or not. If they are useful in business, they will be used in business. In any way that they can be used. Right?
[Craig Seeman] “Apple and FCPX may well lead in this market . . . and this market is going to grow a lot faster that episodic TV and feature films . . . and it is Broadcast (even if online) and it is Professional.
“They might. Let’s see if they do. All kinds of factors in play. All kinds of people competing. The argument “If iPhone, then FCP X” is not a valid one.
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[Jeremy Garchow] “If you stick around in this business long enough, you’ll find this is how it works. It happens when good clients move elsewhere or take the business in house, it happens when they stop manufacturing your particular camera, it happens when you can’t find the right gear in your area to rent, it happens when companies make business decisions about their own future without asking their customers what they want. If you trust a giant company to make the hard decisions for you, or if you think everything including software technology lasts forever, then what you are witnessing now is a good lesson for you. Nothing lasts forever, and things change, so you have to stay sharp, and count on tomorrow being different from today. I’m not making excuses for Apple, and luckily there’s a few good NLE alternatives out there. Once you start looking around, you’ll see why fcp needed an overhaul as it is hardly the pinnacle of modern technology. We can’t use FCPX for everyday work, but maybe some day. In the meantime it’s mostly fcp7 while we test other NLEs. “
Well said.
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[Chris Harlan] “It is equally silly to wonder if cell phones and tablets are pro or not. If they are useful in business, they will be used in business. In any way that they can be used. Right?”
Thank you very much for arguing my point. There are MANY here who keep saying Apple has become a “consumer” company. That’s absolutely false IMHO. I believe Jobs also said they would simply make the best product and the end users would use.
[Chris Harlan] “The argument “If iPhone, then FCP X” is not a valid one.”
It certainly is valid. Look at all the folks on this forum who rant “iMovie Pro” meanwhile iPhones and iPads may be moving into field production editing on . . . what? And if iMovie is inadequate, what NLE imports iMovie projects?
Seriously, think this thing through. Apple is about ecosystems. Apple is not a consumer company. Apple has become a “commodity” company with a different and more profitable business model in commodification.
Before analyzing anything, look at Apple’s business model, please.
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[Chris Harlan] “It is equally silly to wonder if cell phones and tablets are pro or not. If they are useful in business, they will be used in business. In any way that they can be used. Right?”
[Craig Seeman] “Thank you very much for arguing my point. There are MANY here who keep saying Apple has become a “consumer” company. That’s absolutely false IMHO. I believe Jobs also said they would simply make the best product and the end users would use.”
And yet there are still feature sets that differentiate “professional” phones from “consumer” phones, because they serve different groups with different needs.
Most consumers wouldn’t buy a phone for Exchange support or remote wipe. Most professionals wouldn’t buy a phone for a “Share on Facebook” button or Beats audio.
Is there some overlap? Sure. Does that change the validity of segmenting the market based on their needs and expected use for a product? Not at all.
[Craig Seeman] “Seriously, think this thing through. Apple is about ecosystems. Apple is not a consumer company. Apple has become a “commodity” company with a different and more profitable business model in commodification.”
I think Apple would resist your commodity characterization very strongly.
Commodity lies on one end of the spectrum for goods, opposite differentiable product. I think Apple would consider their products to be highly differentiated, and unless you think the iPhone is just another cell phone, you’d have to agree.
Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
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