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Moving to FCPX, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Avid…almost simultaneously
So, I’ve now been steadily using FCP 7 for the past 3-4 years and am extremely comfortable with it. It still is very capable of doing everything I need it to do at my corporate video job and in my personal video life, but through happenstance, I’m hitting a trident in the road.
Our office may very well be moving to the Adobe Creative Cloud in the near future, which likely means I’ll be moving on to Adobe Premiere Pro CC when that occurs. However, in my personal video life, I’ve been more taken by FCPX’s advances since its big stumble out the gate and feel that now it’s a program I’d be interested in investing my time in. In addition to these, I’ll be doing assistant work at my alma mater for the advanced video class, where the professor will have me learn Avid Media Composer so to better assist the students beyond just creative help. So, in all, by this time next year I may have a working knowledge of 3 new editing programs. A bit overwhelming, but I started thinking, “Hey, I’m fresh out of college, knowing all these has to up my value…right?”
My question is, will having this familiarity with these three programs increase my value as a potential employee down the road, say if i went to a new job (not that that’s something I’d want right now), or is it just spreading myself too thin? I guess if I were an employer I’d be torn between choosing the person who seems to have a strong skill in one program against someone who could easily jump from one to the other with few issues. More basically, will this be good for me, good and bad, or bad?
Sorry if this wasn’t the place to bring it, but I didn’t see a general editing forum. Thanks!
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5 Replies
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You should learn all 3. Professional post production is in a state of flux. With the EOL of FCP7 many facilities are finding themselves having to choose a different system to work off of. There are a lot of editors out there looking for work. You only limit your job opportunities by committing to one NLE over another especially when some facilities are still deciding what they are going to do post-FCP7.
You don’t “spread yourself too thin” by learning more than one program because the important parts of editing remain the same no matter what program you use, and it’s not that difficult to become proficient in 3 NLEs which aren’t all that different from one another to begin with (true, FCPX has some elements to it that are unique, but not in a big picture way).
Andy
https://www.timesavertutorials.com
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Derek, this is a terrific opportunity for you, and you should fully embrace it. For one thing, you will learn far more about what you do by learning all three, then by learning any one of them exclusively. And yes, if being a editor means being somebody else’s fingers–as it does for many–than any future employer will want you to be extremely proficient. But that, really, is a separate issue. What you should be thinking about here is “and” not “or.” Dig in and have fun.
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My take on this is is that it might be more beneficial for you to pick one NLE or 2 at most and then complement that with expertise in other tools.
For example if you’re partial to the visual side of editorial pick something like Mocha or Syntheyes/PF Track as your tracking package and something like Smoke/Fusion/AE/Motion as your Compositor/Mograph tool and become proficient at that.
Or if you’re partial to Sound, pick one of the many Sound/Music tools and learn them well.
That way you can do more than just accomplish the same thing in 3 different NLE’s. You’ll be able to deliver a more polished/refined end product. Even if you plan on slotting into a facility somewhere as opposed to working on your own.
IMO of course.
Best,
Sandeep. -
This still makes me think of Michael Jordan.
Planetary class basketball player.
Not so much so as a baseball player.
I’m in the “pick a horse” and concentrate on that camp – then if you want to add hours to your learning schedule in order to become conversant/useful on other platforms and software, go right ahead.
But I think the pro editing software packages (not to mention the special purpose satellite programs like AE, Photoshop, Motion, Logic, Resolve, et al) are all so deep that even with full time study and use, you’re some years away from anything close to true mastery of any of them.
Particularly if you’re trying to learn them while simultaneously making a living with them – a process that often means you have to concentrate on the sub-set of their capabilities that fits the kind of work you do most often.
Just my 2 cents.
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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This really seems like a no-brainer if you ask me. Of course you should learn all 3 if you have access to them. I think there is no question that knowing more makes you more valuable. To say that you should focus on only one or two is like telling a world traveler that they should stick to learning only one or two languages. If you have the time and the access, why not learn as many useful programs as possible? It can only enhance your value. At least until such time as one of them becomes obsolete. I probably wouldn’t suggest spending too much time learning the Matrox Video Cube.
Professor, Producer, Editor
and former Apple Employee
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