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Fear, Loathing and Final Cut Pro X.
New software has joined our old software.
New ways of thinking about important tasks have also joined our old ways of thinking.And from the tenor here while I was away shooting in San Deigo. Today FEAR reigns supreme!
“Litsten to ME everyone,” I see a lot here. “I’m the one with specialized knowledge and I just noticed that the red birds are flying north. Let me be the first to tell you why this is the first sign of the apocolypse. Follow me to safety – or rue the day!”
Screw that.
I get it. Change breeds fear. But you know what?
I’m not afraid.
Quite the opposite. I’m excited that this is rattling my cage. And I’m old enough and experienced enough to know that sometimes the red birds flying north just means that the freeking flock leader spied something interesting toward the north – not that the whole darn flock will necessarily fail to get to Brazil for the winter and die.
Maybe what the flock leader saw is really sweet – and as soon as the flock gets there, the whole flock will prosper and be glad the flight happened.
And yeah, maybe it will be parched out there and we’ll have to back-track. That will suck. And some birds will dive out and go their own way. To quote David Byrne, “same as it ever was.”
To me, what I’m reading on the boards is only a little interesting about FCP-X and a lot more interesting as a reflection of the state of the PEOPLE in this business.
Tough economy, changing world, and, to over mix some metaphors purely for fun, a big player just debuted a pitch we’ve never before seen. We’re replaying that pitch over and over and over again. Coaches and pundits and legions of simple fans are huddled down with their noses to the screen debating out what the new pitch means to the future of baseball.
They will debate it endlessly, call meetings and hold long discussions about the pitch.
Other players will quietly figure out how to HIT the damn pitch.
Count me in for that.
“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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17 Replies
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I love it.
Go Bill!
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski. My Blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/Jerry-Hofmann
Current DVD:
https://store.creativecow.net/p/81/jerry_hofmanns_final_cut_system_setup8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX – Cinema Displays I have a 22″ that I paid 4k for still working. G4 with Kona SD card, and SCSI card.
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[Bill Davis] “I’m not afraid.”
Then you have something in common with the majority of people who have not embraced X. It’s not about fear. It’s about reality. It’s about practicality. It’s about a tool that didn’t deliver on it’s promise now and some very untenable moves towards 7.
This “fear” mantra is getting way more over-blown than any of the misinformation getting bandied around about what X can and can’t do…
Doesn’t wash. I’ve played with it too, doesn’t do what I need it to. I have no expectations, I can’t “hope” the things I do rely on will be put in. Moving on. But I’ll voice my displeasure in the product all I want…
Does that sound scared?
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Well said Bill.
I think people are busy wondering why there’s no kitchen and failed to notice that they’ve just build an excellent foundation. While I don’t move my family into a foundation, only a house, this promises to be a very good skyscraper.
To me, looking at a foundation and complaining that it’s not a house is pointless. The more I play with FCPX the greater respect I have for the child that will one day be a champion.
Apple’s biggest mistake was not continuing to sell FCS while allowing the child to mature. It forces the child to be head of a household not yet built.
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[Craig Seeman] ” While I don’t move my family into a foundation, only a house, this promises to be a very good skyscraper.”
Some feel the foundation is too rigid and want to be able to continue editing with the feel and customization they are not only used to, but have grown to appreciate.
That doesn’t automatically equate to fear. Why is it, if we don’t automatically like a product, we just don’t “get it”…
If we don’t like the changes, we don’t like the changes. Most have been quite vocal why, but it seems to be dismissed continually in blogs and threads like this as if we are children whining over spilled milk…
My only observation here can conclude, maybe it’s like politics, the minority opinion can be the most vocal and that translates into majority opinion…I think we should be careful here and stop lumping everyone together (I can be guilty of that too) and respond accordingly.
It’s good to address the changes that are moved where some might feel its gone, but it’s also good to look at it’s inadequacies and “hope” those are addressed.
We can work together on these things. I see a lot of this being too divisive…
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I have to say bill
I have not seen a better statement yet.
I too am going no where. im on FCS3 and will not be upgrading till December/January. By that time everything will be worked out and ill be happy……in the mean time ill get Resolve and life will be good.
RED,DSLR, FCS and more,
High End, Production & Post Production
in the Caribbean
http://www.bistt.com -
Doesn’t sound scared.
It sounds perfectly reasonable.
You’re unwilling to look at it through any lens other than your current experience profile.
I get that. It’s rational, understandable, individually defensible, and should generate nothing but understanding from anyone reading your post.
But that does NOT mean you’re particular perspective is any more proper or even informative to others than is mine.
I’ve seen the perspective you espouse over, and over, and over, and over again during the past few days.
I just think it’s useful to ALSO hear voices that try to offer a different perspective. After group dynamics – especially those that are fear-based – are proven to often be unnecessarily destructive to healthy thinking.
Notice I say “healthy” – not “right’ or “wrong.” FCP-X will be a success or a failure on it’s own merits.
I didn’t see your particular post as particularly fearful – but there are a LOT running here where that’s the primary driver under what’s being discussed.
In my youth, Frank Herbert’s Dune impressed me with the powerful liet-motif, “fear is the mind-killer.”
I’ve found that to be nearly scrupulously true over the many decades since.
Simple as that.
“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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I am rocking with the primary storyline – i am insanely excited by the fact that all clips placed above the primary storyline attach themselves to it like insane limpets – i am engorged by the vimeo export options, I am enthralled by clip selection with a yellow rectangle – I am pitching my tent in my user home folder and never leaving, my clips are moving around each other like harry potter has a wand, again V1 is apparently a storyline, perhaps V3 is an epilogue, i am using some of the gaudiest irritating (yes I have now laid hands) garageband, screw you software, I am encountering the fist of apple where I thought it would never go..
oh my spleen, I am running out of invective.
http://www.ogallchoir.net
promo producer/editor.grading/motion graphics -
Again, this is the “I just don’t get it” argument.
The tangible reasons for not liking or embracing this product is no mystery. It’s also, for the most part, completely dismissed. And again, for the most part, dismissed as “fear”…
It’s simply not true. I understand and appreciate your perspective, but a lot of what is being said here is dismissive and not appreciating those tangible opinions that have been vocal not to embrace it…
So far, we have been called chicken littles, unhinged, over-reactors, babies, spoiled and on and on…
And I will take exception to this playground mentality until it ends. I will agree that the customization that 7 offered may have spoiled us, but at the same time, it’s no less legitimate to suggest losing that is a step backwards for many here. Including myself.
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Looks like the editors on Conan’s show aren’t afraid either: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=sRzLP0FJ82I
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Good on you Bill. If it works, do it.
Meanwhile Im sitting here editing and having the time of my life with software I never thought I would use. CS5 (specifically PP and AE) is a true pleasure to create with. I think its what I hoped FCP X would be.
Familiar, fast and fun.Ive reached the point where all posting begin to sound like “blah, blah,blah”.
If you cant enjoy what you are doing, you are doing the wrong thing.Then its time to move on. I did and Im glad that door opened.
Tom Daigon
Avid DS / FCP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
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