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OT: Edit Software of Oscar Nominees
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Steve Hullfish’s interview with the “Gravity” editor.
https://provideocoalition.com/shullfish/story/gravity-co-editor-and-oscar-nominee-mark-sanger
Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
I believe that the AVID code for their editing software is the best, smartest and most comprehensive code ever written for non-linear editing. At the time FinalCut Pro came out, the only reason it won the battle (in many ways) was cost. We forgave its shortcomings, like media management etc. AVID was a tool you could trust to handle the numbers correctly.
I am not saying it was perfect, but to me it still stands as the best code ever written for our industry.
Bold statements, I know, but it is second to none in its robustness and solid interface by which many have tried to copy.
Not surprised the pros to whom every nuance of the edit matters use AVID.
Rich Rubasch
Tilt Media Inc.
Video Production, Post, Studio Sound Stage
Founder/President/Editor/Designer/Animator
https://www.tiltmedia.com -
[Rich Rubasch] ” At the time Final Cut Pro came out, the only reason it won the battle (in many ways) was cost.”
It won the battle for many many reasons. Cost was a big part of it, yes, but the fact that the Adrenaline was a piece of crap was a major contributor. That’s what made me switch. Adrenaline failed on almost every level for the projects I was working on.
But adding to this, was the fact that compositing shots in FCP is much easier than in Avid (Picture in Picture, 3D Warp…all behave very oddly, and take a long time to accomplish what I can do in seconds in FCP), moves on stills is easier in FCP, no need to rely on Moving Picture, (and now the unreliable PAN AND ZOOM). A lot of the shows I worked on, and still do, incorporate a lot of stills, require a lot of compositing to be done by the editor in the Avid application.
FCP answered a lot of post needs I had…far better than Avid did.
Avid still has the most robust media management..hands down. Which is why we put up with it. But man, I had to do layering of stills and a background just last week, and it took me 2 hours to do. Something I could mimic in FCP in 10 minutes.
As a straight cutter, I love it. When it comes to doing FX inside of it…oy! And what about plugins/filters? They are very few, some are very hard to use, or they are astronomically expensive. Sapphire, the best set hands down, costs nearly THREE TIMES the cost of the Avid software itself! Unjustifiable, if you ask me.
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
I am with you Shane. Great post.
Even straight cutting is way slower in Avid than it was is 7 and now especially compared to X. Love Avid for some things, but as the competition gets better, faster and, yes, cheaper, I find myself using it less and less. Maybe one or two jobs in 2013.
Scott Witthaus
Senior Editor/Post Production Supervisor
1708 Inc./Editorial
Professor, VCU Brandcenter -
I use Avid in a multiple-editor enviroment. 3-6 editors working on one show at a time…sharing the media. Plus, we are in an offline/online workflow, as we have hundreds of hours of footage in each project. If we did this with any other NLE…it would fail miserably. Even FCP 7 would task this workflow…
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Yup. That’s Avid’s sweet spot.
Scott Witthaus
Senior Editor/Post Production Supervisor
1708 Inc./Editorial
Professor, VCU Brandcenter -
So, while all the Oscar 2014 nominee movies were cut on Avid, and probably all the top 20 features might have also been cut on Avid. Why, even a majority of the 100+ feature films made in the USA were probably cut on Avid.
Add to that, hundreds of TV shows get cut on Avid too.Sadly though, that’s probably about all that Avid is being used for. There’s a huge universe outside of feature film and prime time TV in the USA. And, of course, there are a few countries and quite a few people living outside the USA.
In that larger universe, Avid is a sort of a minority, niche platform.
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Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India -
Yeah, ditto man.
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Not sure that’s true – in UK now all my freelance work is Avid (was up to 50% FCP7 for a while). Doing Paralympics on avid, did Olympics on Avid, will be doing French Open & World Cup on avid (although host are adobe for that, which is interesting).
MC software is the loss leader but is essential to their continued existence.
ISIS/Interplay/Airspeed all strong products now. Used Artist Control to live mix segments – made me want to buy one. If I was stock-savvy I’d be buying Avid, there are a lot of older installations around the world that will need to pony up for upgrades in the coming years…
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[Neil Sadwelkar] “In that larger universe, Avid is a sort of a minority, niche platform.”
Yup. The fact Avid cuts features and reality TV (among broadcast) means nothing to most people. Avid has not been able to communicate who they are (even Hernandez admits that) and WHY new editors should choose Avid. The fact that Honey Boo-Boo was cut on an Avid means nothing to that “why” (that’s a fact that would move me to use another platform immediately!).
Look at Avid Everywhere. Aimed solely at big broadcast, and Louis Hernandez stated that AE is Avid’s vision and centerpiece going forward. MC and PT will be “key parts” of the Avid Everywhere solution. Loss-leader is a correct term. The company will never make money selling one-off MC seats to freelancers like me or small shops. They need big-iron to big clients. MC is a way to sell that big iron. And honestly I think Avid is making the correct moves, albeit very late, with Avid Everywhere.
Scott Witthaus
Senior Editor/Post Production Supervisor
1708 Inc./Editorial
Professor, VCU Brandcenter
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