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Metaphors and terminology
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Judging its utility is separate from finding the function itself. If one wants to find “Match Frame” in FCPX one must somehow discover that it is “Reveal in Browser.”
The frame and clip it matches to could be improved and the lack of “Reverse Match” (Reveal in StoryLine?) are certainly subject to debate but that’s outside the scope of the language which is the subject of this thread.
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[Charlie Austin] “Or, if we’re really being all modern and digital, we could maybe use something like keyword collection or tag. :-)”
You jest, but that’s not accurate either. A Keyword Collection is something new – it’s a collection of assets that have specific keywords attached to them. An event can have assets that have keywords and assets that do not have keywords. But a keyword collection cannot have assets that do not have the keywords. Keyword collections are subsets of data.
I suppose Apple could have called events Keyword Collections, but how do they further sub-categorize things the way keyword collections currently do? Perhaps keywords would become tags?
It doesn’t get much simpler and easy to understand than folder. Or bucket. Or bin. Or container. They all do the same thing – they hold assets, and nothing more. It’s the new stuff (keywords) that deserve the new names because they add a functionality that isn’t really present in other NLEs. But Event? It’s just a bin and does nothing more than what a bin currently does in any other NLE, so the name change is unnecessary.
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Michael Hancock
Editor -
The problem is an someone very experienced with other NLEs has no way to find synonyms.
One should be able to search Match Frame and find Reveal in Browser.
One might search Bin and find Keyword Collection and Smart Collection.Of course none of the above are exactly the same. It’s not only new language but new features. But one should be able to use old familiar language to learn the new language.
Experienced editors jumping into FCPX can become frustrated because Apple does not include a Babel Fish.
Apple has this (FCPX for FCP7 users) but this isn’t found in the iBook Store and should really be integrated into the FCPX User Guide so one can search terms and find links to the pages with the synonymous functions.
https://www.apple.com/final-cut-pro/docs/Final_Cut_Pro_X_for_Final_Cut_Pro_7_Editors.pdf -
[Michael Hancock] “But Event? It’s just a bin and does nothing more than what a bin currently does in any other NLE, so the name change is unnecessary.”
I wonder if part of this discussion comes from the parallel change in media acquisition during the same period.
NLEs do not develop in a vacuum, obviously.
When film and tape ruled the world – REEL was understood simply.
But attach a camera with internal RAM, some form of NAND chip, a hard drive – or (who knows!) a future 3-dimentional bubble memory bit bucket – to a new workflow and all you get is confusion.
My “acquisition bucket” today might contain content from a dozen projects shot on a dozen days with a dozen different cameras at a dozen different frame rates.That’s NOT a REEL in any functional sense.
My personal opinion is that the language change at Apple was the result of a good bit of debate between a lot of smart and experienced NLE interface designers and was – at the end of the day – the best result they could get out of a bunch of internal discussions.
That the result didn’t satisfy everyone is a big DUH, in my mind. Theres no way it EVER could. (Particularly since those discussions happened largely in an environment of all the seething discomfort and angst with the EOL of Legacy.)
In the end, they kept some things intact for the traditionalists (e.g. Reel # in the database.) And in other areas they were content to signal that it might NOT be wise to approach the Primary Storyline as “just” the exact equivalent of “my timeline.”
That’s how it seems to me, looking back.
Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.
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[Craig Seeman] “One should be able to search Match Frame and find Reveal in Browser.
One might search Bin and find Keyword Collection and Smart Collection.”This is VERY true, Craig.
I’ll also note that like much else in this debate, the terminology is also robustly keyed to the type of work one does most often.
Out of the 40-odd videos I created last year, probably less than half a dozen had me invoking Reveal in Finder a lot. Granted, the ones that did, it was certainly an important (heck, even critical) function. And if my work was consistently of that type, it’s one of the FIRST things I’d be interested in.
But the very type of work I make the largest part of my living on has simply changed. My clients aren’t looking (as much) for traditional narrative style pieces. Instead, they are asking for stuff that’s all over the map. Lots of motion graphics driven projects. Convention coverage with minimal traditional narrative opportunities. Web training pieces where it’s ALL just decorating a linear screen capture. And while those might find me employing Reveal in Finder occasionally, on some projects I never go there even once.
I know many editors do the same type of work day in and day out. But it’s hard to argue that the universe of types of desired videos in the marketplace hasn’t expanded mighty. So a feature like Match Frame has what I’d call an evolving constituency. In one group, it’s needed daily and absolutely mission critical. In another, it sits on the shelf most of the time.
I just see visual editing (it’s really not just *video* editing any longer) as a massive, diverse and rapidly evolving target in the modern world.
FWIW.
Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.
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[Craig Seeman] “Of course none of the above are exactly the same. It’s not only new language but new features. But one should be able to use old familiar language to learn the new language.”
True. In many cases, it is fairly intuitive to find equivalencies. But I’ve found that a quick Google search provides the answer for exceptions. Not optimal in some cases, but worth it for the value of using FCPX.
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[Charlie Austin] “Why not? if you’re shooting a feature, each day on set is an “Event” which generates dailies that are associated with it. I agree it is all semantics, but event, as it’s defined, is a correct term.”
Do you not think there is a remote possibility that the reason they chose the word Event was to maintain continuity with iPhoto where it was and is the main organisational term … rather than that, quite fortuitously and without remembering that they’d already coined it for iPhoto, they came up with the same naming convention because it was so obviously just right for video editing?
Simon Ubsdell
tokyo-uk.com -
[Simon Ubsdell] “Do you not think there is a remote possibility that the reason they chose the word Event was to maintain continuity with iPhoto (and iMovie) where it was and is the main organisational term … rather than that, quite fortuitously and without remembering that they’d already coined it for iPhoto, they came up with the same naming convention because it was so obviously just right for video editing?”
Actually, I think that’s exactly what happened, 🙂 I’m sure they ultimately wanted it to be the same across all their “visual media” apps. I was actually going to edit my post, but now I don’t need to!. lol
I still do honestly think it makes sense, in all those contexts really. But I plan to keep arguing, because it’s fun. 😉
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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”~ -
[Charlie Austin] ” if you’re shooting a feature, each day on set is an “Event” which generates dailies that are associated with it. I agree it is all semantics, but event, as it’s defined, is a correct term.”
And if your building a piece using stock footage that’s conceptually organized – how is that an event? If your using graphic elements – how is that an event? Sometimes “event” is applicable and sometimes it isn’t. On the other hand a container – be it a folder, a bin or a garbage can – is always applicable.
[Charlie Austin] “We’re just gonna have to disagree on this. “
Agreed.
[Charlie Austin] “It’s not really complicated at all once you get it, and gives you way more flexibility than any track based NLE in this regard.”
It IS really complicated, because the work is really complicated. Now you can either have complicated tools with simple usage, or you can have simple tools with complicated usage – to me the difference comes down to personal preference – but you can’t uncomplicate a complicated process.
[Charlie Austin] “And this is a bad thing? You’re only constrained if you A-want to be or B-need a feature that isn’t there. Which I sometimes do FWIW. X is not all rainbows and unicorns (at all), but for me there are more of these in X than other NLE’s.”
As I said, it’s neither good nor bad, it comes down to style and preference.
[Charlie Austin] “can we maybe just agree that all NLE’s are a baffling PITA to a greater or lesser extent. ;-)”
Yes we can.
Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
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nothin’ attached to nothin’
“Deciding the spine is the process of editing” F. Bieberkopf -
[Charlie Austin] “The browser in X is exponentially more efficient than dozens of hierarchical nested folders. As I’ve said before, I keep X open with a mirror project when I’m in Pr because it’s much quicker to find/audition stuff in X and then just go right to it in Pr. “
Paging Dr. Lawrence!
David started a terrific thread in June 2014, FCPX Is Now A Universal Logging and Organizing Tool For Any NLE.
Is that still the case?
Anyone else using X this way?
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