Plug in confusion/online editing question

[Grinner Hester]

You don’t have to draw a line.
Offline editors were cutters that could save budget by telling a story without eating up big dolalrs in the suite that cost 500 an hour. Today we can take a much more non linear approcah (literally) and simply make a show, never drawing that line at all. It’s my opinion that if you can’t offer sound design, compisiting and at least a little bit of animation, you are greatly handicapping yourself as an editor. Today’s editors are show makers, wearing the hats of everything from logger to producer.

There is no industry standard on plugins, just personal favorites but if you do not know After Effects today, again you are greatly limiting your marketability. These simply are not two different jobs anymore.

[Stephen Smith]

[Jon] FCP, , I was wondering what is the industry standard, there are so many plug ins available that I dont know where to start and where to end

Jon, Grinner is right. but here is a lis of my 5 favorite free Final Cut Pro Plug-ins.

Salt Lake Video

Check out my DVD Money Making Graphics & Effects for Final Cut Studio 2

[Roy Schneider]

As Grinner has mentioned the line between online and offline editing has been bluured to the point of slowing the render! Only on the highest end spots (and DI for Movies and episodics) do they have a process of online. This process is generally adding effects, color correction and titles.For the rest of the world (and that is a big world) the editor is the mixer, designer, colorist, sound designer and post producer.

Learn all the skills you can, and your true talents will develop.
Roy

Roy Schneider
Long Live Da Cow!

[Richard Herd]

“Editing is not the most important part of making a movie. It IS the movie.” –Anonymous (but some say it’s Stanley Kubrick)

[Andrew Kimery]

The line is definitely blurring but how much it has blurred depends on what market you are in and what segment of that market you are serving. For example, I know lots of places in LA working far away from “hi end” stuff yet there is definitely an offline/online process and gfx, music, final mixing etc., get done out of house. I also know places in LA where everyone has to wear more than one hat. If your client base is typically one that can afford to hire specialists than it’s in your best interest to specialize. If your client base is typically one that looks for a jack-of-all-trades than it’s in your best interest to generalize. It’s basically a trade off.

Generally speaking being a specialist can have greater rewards (more money, working on bigger gigs, etc.,.) but it also carries more risk because you are putting all your eggs in one basket, so to speak. On the other hand being a generalist makes you more marketable to a wider audience, but you’ll probably never become skilled enough in a single discipline to be part of the cream of the crop in that field. Neither is one is wrong. It just depends on what your career goals are at the moment. I say “at the moment” because I know a few editors that walked away from the ‘big leagues’ because of the stress and the toll it took on their personal lives. Most people who move to LA dream of editing movies and these people were like been there, done that, not doin’ it again ’cause I value my friends, family, and sanity. 😉

As fewer and fewer places do the traditional online/offline workflow the role of the online editor will change. For example, since ‘offline’ editors won’t be stuck w/low-res media anymore I think more final effects will done in the offline.

-A

3.2GHz 8-core, FCP 6.0.4, 10.5.5
Blackmagic Multibridge Eclipse (6.8.1)