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Quoi faire?
I have been in the industry since 1981. I shot film until 2001. I made the post move to tape from film in 1985, to Avid in 1991 with a linear online, Media 100 to master from 1994 to 2002, and FCP till today. I have always been forward thinking and have been one of the first to adapt new technologies including building one of the first post facilities in New York that was completely based on Macs, AE and Media 100 in 1994. I have called it pretty well all along and have not made any big mistakes in going with platforms, hardware or software. My choices have pretty much been mirrored with the majority of pros out there that have embraced new technology. Our shop presently is on FCP 7, AE, Color and AJA cards.
For the first time in 30 years I am stumped on where to go next. I so want to embrace FCPX. Has 10.0.3 made it viable moving forward? Is there hope?
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31 Replies
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Yes of course there is hope, clearly FCPX is going to be developed much further, but everything depends on your particular needs. What sort of work are you doing?
Steve Connor
“FCPX Agitator”
Adrenalin Television -
We are doing everything from 30 second spots to full length broadcast docs, with a spattering of corporate videos for the web, dvd, events etc. We do not shoot or cut much above 1080p.
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[Michael Brassert] “For the first time in 30 years I am stumped on where to go next. I so want to embrace FCPX. Has 10.0.3 made it viable moving forward? Is there hope?”
If I were you I would run FCPX in tandem with your present set up which presumably still works well.
I don’t actually think that FCPX is ready for the big time yet. It’s getting there and is fine for people like me who shoot and edit their own material albeit to broadcast specifications. But I don’t think I would run a production house around it.
I really like FCPX and in many ways feel like I am willing it work better than it does. I find it absolutely frustrating and unreliable against tight deadlines. Whilst 10.0.3 is substantially better than the product that was launched last summer it is still very twitchy and throws absolute wobblies from time to time.
All my main concerns have been answered, broadcast monitoring, support for 3rd party apps, multi cam, etc etc but it still has a long way to go before it can be considered as a reliable alternative to FCP7 or a real contender up against Avid and Premier Pro.
Most people in the situation you describe have already switched away from Apple.
However, for me I know that FCPX is going to be my primary editing tool for many years to come in fact it will probably see me through into retirement, beekeeping and non digital activities.
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Look,
FCP-X costs between $299 and $399 depending on whether you want Motion and Compressor.
The cost is largely trivial in any serious video for money endeavor.
What is not trivial is wrapping your thinking around the FCP-X approach to editing. From overall design, to it’s new database capabilities, to it’s layout and organization, there is much re-training and re-thinking necessary in order to understand and learn what it’s capable of doing.
IMO, it takes most editors at least a few months to fully grasp all of the hallways, nooks and crannies in the software – and what it can and can’t do well.
X may be inexpensive, and downloadable – but don’t make the mistake of thinking that means it’s going to be “easy” to fully learn and use. It’s not.
An increasing number of us believe it’s the roadmap to a more flexible and in many ways “better” editing future – but it simply takes a while to learn to drive the new vehicle.
So if you have to turn out work now – I’d go ahead and buy it and start to explore it, but I’d use something more traditional (Perhaps even Legacy, if you already own a version that still works) if you find yourself facing current deadlines.
In six months, if you’re like me, you’ll shudder at the thought of editing on anything else.
But that’s an evolution for those of us who’s work “fits” what FCP-X is designed to do – not for every editor in every situation.
I would personally suggest you start your journey up the learning curve sooner rather than later. After all, the company responsible for the most successful video editing software of the recent past has signaled that this is the future of their editing products line.
You’ll notice that even lots of those who trash it consistently are STILL coming back here to obsess over it and debate it. So their continuing engagement is a clear sign that virtually none of them actually believe that FCP-X is irrelevant to professional editing.
So dismiss it at your risk, IMO.
“Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions.”-Justice O’Connor
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Yeah, it’s cheap. But how long will the platform it runs on be around?
If the announcement that apple has suspended sales of all laptops and desktops came tomorrow, I wouldn’t be surprised.
I also wouldn’t be surprised if they announced the EOL of X either.
They have yanked the rug out from under users so many times in the past, including users that had a much bigger investment than 4oo dollars.Scott Sheriff
Director
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com“If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur.” —Red Adair
Where were you on 6/21?
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Yes, sometimes it was a very expensive rug that got yanked. *COUGH* Shake *COUGH*
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“THAT’S our fail-safe point. Up until here, we still have enough track to stop the locomotive before it plunges into the ravine… But after this windmill it’s the future or bust.” -
[Bill Davis] “You’ll notice that even lots of those who trash it consistently are STILL coming back here to obsess over it and debate it. So their continuing engagement is a clear sign that virtually none of them actually believe that FCP-X is irrelevant to professional editing.”
No…we just like to trash FCX whenever we can. (hee hee).
I do pop in here occasionally to see if someone has done something with FCX on a type of project that is in my area of production, just to see if it was successful and what they did to make it work. But as FCX is showing no signs of use, or thoughts of use in projects that I work on (Documentary series, long form doc specials, narrative TV shows, feature film…even broadcast TV promos…in Hollywood and surrounding areas), I cannot see learning to use it.
Then again, that’s what it was like with FCP 1-3. It was cute, but not used. Only when it added features that we needed did we pay attention. So, we’ll see how Capture Card support pans out…
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Shane,
I see you mentioned capture cards. Is that the last missing link for you? Do you not consider a trackless environment a dead end?
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Michael,
If you have the liberty (like myself) to wait a bit, there is Premiere CS6 which will arrive in the next couple of months and Lightworks which seems to be imminent. Once those are released you’ll have a full field of options to compare before making a move.
If you’re not tied to Apple platforms then the field is a bit wider as well, though Avid, Adobe, and apparently Lightworks are or will be cross-platform.
Franz.
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The argument that it is $299 or download a trial ignores the fact that it is advisable for anyone using FCP7 commercially to protect and isolate a working setup before installing Lion and FCPX or CS5.5 or AVID.
So factor in the cost and effort of either a drive partition and a full OS and software install on a separate partition or drive to keep your money making but potentially fragile system from being broken by just downloading and installing trial or otherwise version of software on a legacy system.
Just hop over to the FCP legacy forum and search for the issues many have faced with trying to update OS and install FCPX on existing FCP7 systems
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