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FCPX Trumps Avid
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[Walter Soyka] “would everyone using FCPX for “big budget gigs” today please raise their hands?”
Define “big budget”
“My Name is Steve and I’m an FCPX user”
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[Steve Connor] “Define “big budget””
Don’t ask me. Ask Bill. His words, not mine.
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
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events -
The Avid editor your client was talking to, is your client’s spouse.
Kind of like …
Brothers and sisters I have none,
But that man’s father was my father’s son. -
I’ve earned a decent living doing video production and editing for nearly 30 years. Very rarely has a client been overly concerned with many of the issues that the professionals on these forums talk about. In my experience they just want the job done reasonably well within their budget and time constraints. They don’t otherwise care if I were to use a pinhole camera and stop-motion to get it done.
NT
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How about looking at the question of NLE platform attracting clients another way. Among discerning clients seeking post-production services (not full-service, end-to-end production), which ones of these statements would they like most to hear?
- “We’ll be cutting your project on an Avid in our fully-equipped suite.”
- “We’ll be cutting your project on FCP7 in our fully-equipped suite.”
- “We’ll be cutting your project on FCPX in our fully-equipped suite.”
I am sure that someone will say that the tools don’t matter, and only the results do. For that, I’ll add the following:
- “We’ll be cutting your project on iMovie on our laptops in a coffee shop.”
Rightly or wrongly, many clients use your choice of tool to help them gauge the kind of results they can expect. Others may have specific reasons for wanting a project to be cut on a specific platform.
My guess is that most folks using FCPX professionally are providing finished products to their clients. FCPX can be a perfectly suitable choice here.
However, on larger, multi-vendor projects, which tend to be what I’d consider “big budget gigs,” FCPX’s low level of interoperability is an obstacle. On jobs like these, the tool choice does matter a great deal.
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
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events -
[Kevin Patrick] “The Avid editor your client was talking to, is your client’s spouse.”
I understand what you are saying, just not why.
Jason Jenkins
Flowmotion Media
Video production… with style!Check out my Mormon.org profile.
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[Nick Toth] “I’ve earned a decent living doing video production and editing for nearly 30 years. Very rarely has a client been overly concerned with many of the issues that the professionals on these forums talk about. In my experience they just want the job done reasonably well within their budget and time constraints. They don’t otherwise care if I were to use a pinhole camera and stop-motion to get it done.”
I think it depends on what kind of client is hiring you.
End clients are results-only.
For agency or production company clients, both results and processes count.
I recently lost a bid for some 3D animation work because I use Cinema 4D and the agency wanted native Maya work. Could we have achieved the same end results with C4D? Of course, but that would have only met one of the agency’s needs. They also needed to know that the work would fit in their client’s pipeline without any issues if they needed to repurpose it.
From their perspective, even though we have a great relationship and they knew that we’d deliver the results they needed, I would have been the wrong choice for the job specifically because of the tools I use.
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
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events -
Another comment from the real world…
I cut on Avid, Premiere Pro, FCP 7 and FCP X as needed. I have NEVER had a client send me files to finish from any other NLE than FCP 7. That’s the main reason I moved my home machines to Macs years ago to maintain this compatibility. I suspect that will continue. Sure would have been nice if Apple had considered this reality.
Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
[Oliver Peters] “Another comment from the real world… I cut on Avid, Premiere Pro, FCP 7 and FCP X as needed.”
In your experience, Oliver, when has FCPX been the best choice?
What are the characteristics of a good FCPX job?
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
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events -
Hi Jason,
Thanks for sharing. I took a moment and peeked at your website. Nice work. It’s good to see that you have 10 years experience doing this type of work. With that sort of experience, I expect you want to continue to work. This is why it puzzles me that you are so proud of the fact that you are on the front lines of our industries seeming “race to the bottom” rate wise. The fact that you have apparently undercut a contemporary, who seems to have a lot more of an investment in money and (perhaps) time in what is still an industry standard NLE makes me wonder if you’ve thought out the broader implications of what this might mean for someone in your position.
With 10 years into this game, I expect you anticipate continuing growth of your business. While many might say lowering your investment overhead will make you inherently more competitive price wise, it also broadens the opportunity for those who will undercut your prices as well. While you may have gotten the gig this time, next time your new client is just as apt to contract out their high school cousin who just got FCPX. Yes, I know your experience is what separates you from others with whom you might compete, but you will still have to deal with a much larger pack of lesser skilled competition.
When DV came along, I still shot BetaSP for many years before transitioning to it. All that time, I had to compete against a growing pack of idiots who could afford the first generation of DV camera’s and sold many of my clients on it being “just as good” and “broadcast” at a fraction of the industry rate. All of those clients eventually came back when they realized it takes more than a camera to craft video. There were many gleeful shooters who I thought very poorly of, though I never said as much to them or my wayward clients. When asked, I would only say, “Good luck with that, I’m here if you need me” and more times than not, they did end up needing me.
My point is, it is great, appropriate and appreciated that you share your experience in the a forum such as this, but it is a bit of an overstatement to say “FCPX Trumps Avid”. It’s like saying “Nails Trumps Screws”. They both have their appropriate uses. I would like to believe you are merely excited by the fact that you have gotten a job using FCPX. Nothing wrong with that, but it’s only an example of an appropriate usage of this application. One that I am sincerely thankful that you have shared.
“FCPX Trumps Avid”? Um, not quite yet. Maybe in a few years.
Marvin Holdman
Production Manager
Tourist Network
8317 Front Beach Rd, Suite 23
Panama City Beach, Fl
phone 850-234-2773 ext. 128
cell 850-585-9667
skype username – vidmarv
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