OT: SpeedEDIT

[Shane Ross]

[Steve Putnicki] “Need ammunition. How can I convince “Bean Counters” the $495 software on PC will be “better, faster” than FCP.”

You mean, how can you convince them that it ISN’T faster or better? Without knowng a thing about that software, I cannot comment. I might assume it is faster, for arguements sake, but better how? I have the mindset that you use certain tools for certain jobs. Depending on the job at hand, it might be better and faster. Or FCP might, or Avid might.

Without knowing the situation, project, or the other product it is tough to tell.

Shane

Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net

[Chris Borjis]

well, a helluva lot more people know how to use fcp than SpeedEDIT for one thing.

[Chris Poisson]

Making the same assumption as Shane, that you’re trying to convince your bosses that FCP is “better” than something else, even if you print the feature lists side by side, they will likely still vote for Speed Edit, or whatever, scrolling to the ever-present bottom line. They will likely point to You Tube for examples of everyman edits which were done on a shoestring or less and which are, brilliant. Tough battle my friend. I will just say that if you were stuck on a desert island with Speed edit and a power supply, you would likely become a master with it.

If the story were FCP vs. Premiere or something that takes price out of the equation, different ball game. I fought that battle myself 6 years ago with the company I worked for then, and fortunately, FCP won out!

[Paul Dickin]

Hi
When it came out I reviewed Aboretum’s Montage, which became Hyper-Engine AV.
SpeedEDIT has many similarities.
Both could be great fun for simple whiz/fizz music video editing from a source tape or two.
Any sort of larger scale media management, or multi-layer sound track laying sound fraught….

Quote from the SpeedEDIT documentation:
“The time-line is far too literal for something claiming to be non-linear, and this is its biggest
weakness (and its fatal flaw). Every clip has a space in time, taking up space in the time-line
proportional to its length…

Storyboard, on the other hand, is conceptual and fully non-linear, which is its biggest strength.
Changing one edit point means changing one edit point, with no need to worry about neighboring
clips, or destination in / out points. As an editor, all you typically want is for one clip to play, and
then the next, and then the one after that; usually it doesn’t matter when it happens, it just needs
to happen in sequence…

Storyboard can reach limitations or be difficult to use with complex situations that call for A/B
edits, split audio, or compositing. And under these circumstances, SpeedEDIT

[Steve Putnicki]

Thanks all. I appreciate the opportunity to receive input that will at least validate my feelings (and probably will not change a lot of corporate minds). This is probably a post that might appear on the Art of the Edit list, but as Shane implied, it depends on the project, not the equipment. But taking this a step further, it depends on the person telling the story. PowerPoint can tell a story effectively, if designed properly. We are story tellers who should rely on our own talents, intuition and creativity to tell our clients (or our own) story in a meaningful, informative, entertaining manner. Equipment be damned! Does name-brand, higher priced ‘stuff’ make our product better? Do we NEED to have the latest in “Buzzword” hardware – (remember the ADO 1000)? However the right tools will make the project easier to accomplish and help in telling the story in a more effecient and hopefully, more compelling manner. Thanks for allowing me to rant; FCP will remaind in-house (upgrading to new G5), and appreciate the opportunity to learn and share from the talented and professional folks here in the pasture.
PAX