MacBreak Studio discussion on Avid and FCPX

[Walter Soyka]

A very nice and balanced look!

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

[Chris Harlan]

[Walter Soyka] “A very nice and balanced look!”

Agreed. Good discussion.

[Tony West]

Thanks for posting this Steve.

I watched the whole thing.

I liked the part when he talked about learning different NLE’s and that making you a better editor because it makes yo get out of your routine. I have seen that first hand.

It also reminded me how Apple was such a game changer.

The money kept most people out of the game early. You had to work in someone else’s house.

When Apple put out FCP it ended up bringing the price down to the point where you could have your OWN house.

That’s a huge difference.

[Daniel Frome]

The guy in the red sweater (right) is constantly chuckling in a condescending way every time they start showing Avid functions on screen. It gets a little annoying. He’s clearly not a fan.

[David Roth weiss]

[tony west] “I liked the part when he talked about learning different NLE’s and that making you a better editor because it makes yo get out of your routine.”

That’s not a universal rule that applies to all editors Tony. The old adage “Jack of all trades, master of none,” is something that applies in many trades, including post-production. Every situation is different, and one size does not fit all…

[tony west] “It also reminded me how Apple was such a game changer.

The money kept most people out of the game early. You had to work in someone else’s house.

When Apple put out FCP it ended up bringing the price down to the point where you could have your OWN house.”

The jury is still out on this one too. The democratization of video is not universally accepted by all as a positive. More is not always better…

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
https://www.drwfilms.com

Don’t miss my new Creative Cow Podcast: Bringing “The Whale” to the Big Screen:
https://library.creativecow.net/weiss_roth_david/Podcast-Series-2-MikeParfitandSuzanneChisholm/1

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

Creative COW contributing editor and a forum host of the Business & Marketing and Apple Final Cut Pro forums.

[Steve Connor]

[Daniel Frome] “The guy in the red sweater (right) is constantly chuckling in a condescending way”

Didn’t see that at all

Steve Connor
“FCPX Agitator”
Adrenalin Television

[Chris Harlan]

[tony west] “It also reminded me how Apple was such a game changer.

The money kept most people out of the game early. You had to work in someone else’s house.

When Apple put out FCP it ended up bringing the price down to the point where you could have your OWN house.

That’s a huge difference.
“

This is actually not true. There were many other early NLEs that were competitive in price with Avid, and some that were competitive in price with FCP. At the “Pro” level, D/Vision was a lot less expensive than Avid. As was Speed Razor, which was one of the first actual “broadcast quality” capable editors. It was extremely plausible to build your own house back in the late ’90s. Of course, these were both on PCs so much of the Mac crowd may never have come across them.

The expensive thing–back in the ’90s–was the digitizing/playback card because computers were not capable of data rates that could support video, and needed supplementary hardware to play back even low res “offline” video.

There were also a number of software only packages that matured just before or at about the same time as FCP. Premiere–for instance–which I found unusable until version 4.5/5, when it became a viable editor.

When Apple bought and released FCP, they did in fact change the industry, but as much by chasing smaller companies out as by attacking Avid’s user base. Most of these companies are now unknown to newcomers who have the perception that it has always been some kind of Avid/Apple war. But that is just not true.

[Walter Soyka]

[tony west] “It also reminded me how Apple was such a game changer. The money kept most people out of the game early. You had to work in someone else’s house. When Apple put out FCP it ended up bringing the price down to the point where you could have your OWN house. That’s a huge difference.”

This is a fair point to make, because FCP became so popular, but Apple wasn’t the only one to shake up the cost structure in the post industry. Remember that Avid was highly disruptive when it launched, too, and there were other NLEs on the market before the four A’s rose to dominance.

I think the cycle of falling costs arguably started in the 1980s and has been running ever since.

I don’t think it was just FCP’s price that was important, relative to Avid — it was Apple’s business model. FCP was sold software-only (in support of Apple hardware), so you could buy a Mac and an FCP license for a few thousand dollars. With Firewire, you could use DV without spending big money on “real” storage, monitoring, and output. (A “proper” FCP setup with monitoring, a VTR, a SCSI RAID, and a CineWave card was still pretty expensive.)

FCP was part of a wave of video products that offered 80% of the capability at 20% of the price, which enabled solo practitioners (like myself), with a little help from Visa, to offer some or maybe even most of what you could get at a post house, but with dramatic cost savings.

One-man shops disrupted the post boutiques of the 1990s, which were funded much the same way — except with a little help from your bank (with your home as collateral) instead of unsecured credit card debt. Was it harder and riskier to start a post operation then? Of course, but it was even harder and riskier before that. Prior to the emergence of desktop NLEs, you needed seven figures just to open the door of a post facility.

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

[Steve Connor]

[Chris Harlan] “Premiere–for instance–which I found unusable until version 4.5/5, when it became a viable editor.”

Barely viable I had 18 months on it at that time and I don’t look back too fondly!

Steve Connor
“FCPX Agitator”
Adrenalin Television

[Chris Harlan]

[Steve Connor] “[Chris Harlan] “Premiere–for instance–which I found unusable until version 4.5/5, when it became a viable editor.”

Barely viable I had 18 months on it at that time and I don’t look back too fondly!
“

Oh, I agree! It certainly wouldn’t have worked for me. And by today’s standards it wouldn’t have been viable at all. But, at the time, it was kind of cool that you could cut video without having to buy a card.