Opinions on what NLE to teach on a new BA in Film & Screen Media Production

[Andrew Kimery]

What NLE(s) are most prevalent in Ireland and Europe? My pragmatic suggestion would be to teach what your students are most likel to encounter when the graduate. Also, with FCPX only being $299 that puts it much more in the range of personal affordability than Media Composer. With that being said the student discount for MC, at least here in the States, is $295 + 4 (5?) years of free upgrades. Teaching a different NLE to third year editing students is an interesting approach and would help hammer home the idea that they will be required to know how to use multiple NLEs if they wish to stay employed

Of course I can’t skip over the required advice saying that teaching them how to edit is more important than what software they edit with. 😉

-Andrew

[David Roth weiss]

Daniel,

Although Avid Media Composer is used extensively by high-end facilities, especially those specializing in advertising, broadcast, and film, it is certainly not the “industry standard,” at least not in the sense of the number of licensed users, and by a long shot. I know it seems hard to believe, but if the sheer number of licensed users constitutes the industry standard, that slot has been, and continues to be held by Adobe Premiere.

The true answer to your question really cannot, and should not, be dictated by sales or popularity, but instead by the aspirations of your students, and by the aspirations of your school for its students, in terms of which segment of the industry they will most likely be able to work in, gainfully, after graduation. Is their employment most likely to be in corporate video, broadcast, film, or some other arena?

Or, is the real objective of your school not to specialize in video at all, but simply to teach students how to better communicate in the modern world, to better tell stories, and to better convey messages? In other words, is the language of video going to be taught as the new study of “English,” in a broad curriculum, in which the overall objective is to learn to improve general communication skills, such as in a Bachelor of Arts degree, where students study a variety different subjects rather than churning out specialists?

David Roth Weiss
ProMax Systems
Burbank
DRW@ProMax.com

Sales | Integration | Support

David is a Creative COW contributing editor and a forum host of the Apple Final Cut Pro forum.

[Andrew Kimery]

[David Roth Weiss] “The true answer to your question really cannot, and should not, be dictated by sales or popularity, but instead by the aspirations of your students, and by the aspirations of your school for its students, in terms of which segment of the industry they will most likely be able to work in, gainfully, after graduation. Is their employment most likely to be in corporate video, broadcast, film, or some other arena? “

If the students aspire to work in b’cast & film and NLE X is most often used in b’cast & film in their region doesn’t that mean that they should learn NLE X due to it’s popularity?

Of course we shouldn’t over think the issue as what they learn in school is going to be merely the starting point of their education (which is why I like Daniel’s idea of switching NLEs in the final year).

BTW, nice to see you again, David. I feel like I haven’t seen you around in ages.

[Steve Connor]

[Andrew Kimery] “BTW, nice to see you again, David. I feel like I haven’t seen you around in ages.”

I’ll second that!

Steve Connor
‘It’s just my opinion, with an occasional fact thrown in for good measure”

[Bill Davis]

I second David’s overall message.

Editing isn’t done by a NLE program. It’s done by a person.

Every editing software from Windows Movie Maker to AVID can assemble scenes.

If your goal is to train for “personal” editing competence, I’d still tilt toward FCP-X simply because it has a wide modern focus that goes beyond timeline operations, incorporating data handling basics, taxonomy, and web deployment – tools for al of which are all built in.

If your students are looking to work into filling seats as professional editors where the bulk of what they’ll do is precision timeline editing and full production – focusing on AVID would be smart.

Many who don’t like AVID and feel that X is to “non-standard” feel really comfortable with Premier Pro. As part of the creative suite, it’s a really good doorway to editing in the more traditional mode.

My view anyway.

Also if you’re teaching editing, you might check out my sig line.

SEN is totally software agnostic and comes with licensed practice content built precisely for classroom editing use.

Hope that helps.

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.

[Franz Bieberkopf]

Daniel,

Your issue is very much in line with questions I faced last spring and summer (and may well be facing again) – I designed and taught a 3rd year University level editing course. At that level, the students were already familiar with the software, and the course was focused on creative issues, but of course technology and workflow were also central.

I stayed with FCP7 for that experience, for several reasons.

First, it was what I was (and what I still am) using professionally. It’s incredible to me that some 18months on, this so-called “dead” software is still the software of choice for me (for flexibility, reliability, familiarity in something like that order …).

Second, it was what the students knew, though most had a familiarity with Avid and Premiere as well. The media lab was outfitted with towers and FCP7 licenses (though Creative Suite was also on those machines …)

Third, it’s a good tool.

I may well be facing such questions again in the coming months, and while I am less certain what my answer would be, FCP7 would still be in the pool of consideration.

One discussion I had around this issue has stayed with me – that, in fact, the idea of deciding which NLE the students should use is less and less a useful question. If the students have tools and can edit on them, they should be able to use the NLE of their choice. There are issues with this, of course (which NLEs for the school to purchase, the question of accepting any number of project formats for evaluation and discussion) but it seems to me the way things are going.

The question of NLEs is no longer a monolithic choice.

Which is to say, I don’t have a good answer for you – but in the first case I wouldn’t discount FCP7 from the discussion, and I think your inclination to teach more than one NLE is a good one. From my perspective, we’re still in a transitional phase of some sort as FCP7 limitations become less acceptable and the new tools develop – I’m pretty wary of those who think the transition is over. Teach the uncertainty.

Franz.

[Lance Bachelder]

Everyone goes to film school for different reasons – some want to write, others direct, some to become cinematographers and some to edit etc.

As an all-around program for aspiring filmmakers I really love FCPX as it would allow students to to do polished work on picture and sound in one app. I have a strong feeling that FCPX will become the NLE of choice for young filmmakers everywhere in the next couple of years just like FCP7 was.

For those that aspire to become Editors, I agree it’s important to learn the NLE’s that will get them work when they finish school – whether that’s MC, Premiere, FCPX or some other program. Final year editing majors could easily spend a semester with Avid and another with Adobe.

Lance Bachelder
Writer, Editor, Director
Irvine, California

[Dan Stewart]

Identify what program is being principally used in the student’s likely eventual market. Teach them that.

(Nb: It’s not FCPX)

[David Lawrence]

[Andrew Kimery] “BTW, nice to see you again, David. I feel like I haven’t seen you around in ages.”

[Steve Connor] “I’ll second that!”

I’ll third it! 😉

_______________________
David Lawrence
art~media~design~research
propaganda.com
publicmattersgroup.com
facebook.com/dlawrence
twitter.com/dhl

[David Lawrence]

[Franz Bieberkopf] “From my perspective, we’re still in a transitional phase of some sort as FCP7 limitations become less acceptable and the new tools develop – I’m pretty wary of those who think the transition is over. Teach the uncertainty.”

Agreed. Well said.

_______________________
David Lawrence
art~media~design~research
propaganda.com
publicmattersgroup.com
facebook.com/dlawrence
twitter.com/dhl