Focus – Light Iron videos

[Ty Vann]

Hilarious threads like this keeps me checking the COW.

Bash the director and editor of a big budget Hollywood production. Clueless hacks for using their NLE of choice. Second rate. Mediocre IMDB credits. How dare!

Then when said director shows up on the thread, it’s like: welcome, we are so blessed. Btw, we will show ourselves out the backdoor now.

Makes my day brighter when editing dull corporate pieces.

[Charlie Austin]

[Jeff Markgraf] “like to come up and pontificate on how unsuitable X is for professional work. Not that they’ve used it. They just know.”

This is exactly the attitude I’m encountering… The way I see it is:

If someone learns X, really learns it, and just doesn’t like it… fine
If someone has a workflow requirement X isn’t suited for… fine
If someone messes with X, doesn’t bother to learn how it really works, and then proclaims it unsuitable and backs their opinion up with anecdotal opinions from other people who don’t use it… I get all pissy. 😉

In my very specific case, X could conceivably give us an edge on our competition. We could make changes faster with the client looking over our shoulders, the GFX guy wouldn’t have to waste time constantly making revisions to titles and other temp GFX stuff, lots of little things like that add up. Many things that are of course do-able in other NLE’s, but they really do take longer and/or look worse.

But no… nobody uses X, the end. :-/

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~ My FCPX Babbling blog ~
~”It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.”~
~”The function you just attempted is not yet implemented”~

[Glenn Ficarra]

I know and have worked with a lot of co-directors professionally and personally (Coens, Lord and Miller). Most tend to write together and hash out the differences early on in the process. This is true of my partner and I. We’ve been working together for 25 years. We’ve developed a shared brain and a trust in that time and are old enough to not waste time on ego battles and other distractions. We have also known Jan for 20 years and let me tell you, when you erase ego and territoriality from the equation it’s simply about having fun and making a movie. I for one do not believe in the auteur theory as a monolithic definition. It’s more like a band. No matter how strong your voice is, there is always the unique flavor of the mix of people that affects the whole. Sometimes this is a conscious mix and sometimes it’s a happy accident. This mix includes the editor, PD, the composer, DP, VFX, even the AD and on a huge level, the cast.
Anybody here ever see the doc Sound City? It’s a really great illustration about how changing the team on the slightest level can affect the whole and it’s neither better or worse- it simply is (as long as you have a kick ass Neve console and great-sounding-by-accident drum room, that is)

[Gary Huff]

[Tim Wilson] “I still come back to the reality that “the Cold Mountain moment” was for users. “Hooray! My faith in this tool is validated!” “The Cold Mountain moment” was also nearly 100% responsible for Avid still being the major player in feature and episodic workflows. It dramatically underscored the extent to which FCP didn’t provide a viable alternative. “

Yeah, after reading Murch’s book on the subject, I was amazed that he put everything on the line with using FCP, and basically was only successful because another company provided the software he needed that definitely broke their NDA with Apple. Not exactly praise in my opinion.

[Tony West]

Glenn, thanks for sharing your thoughts on here. I’m looking forward to seeing the film.

I have enjoyed working with X myself, albeit not on as large a budget as yours.

I never saw why X couldn’t be used the way you guys used it, but it’s nice to see someone actually do it.

I’m glad it worked out for, and good advice on getting the ego’s aside.

[Andrew Kimery]

[Gary Huff] “Yeah, after reading Murch’s book on the subject, I was amazed that he put everything on the line with using FCP, and basically was only successful because another company provided the software he needed that definitely broke their NDA with Apple. Not exactly praise in my opinion.”

Murch choosing to use it (especially on such a prominent project) and continuing to use it is what carries the weight. He’s a very well respected editor so people take notice to what he says and does. No offense to Jan, but if Murch had cut Focus using FCP X the resulting discussions would’ve taken an entirely different tone and direction.

[Oliver Peters]

And some more info.

https://www.creativeplanetnetwork.com/news/edit/focus-feature-future-final-cut-pro-x/609084

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com