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San Fransico FCPUG drops final cut from name
Now its CPUG (Creative Pro User Group) What more can be said?
RCardonna
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29 Replies
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And so has Boston.
…. as co-leader of the AZFCPUG we we’ve been strongly considering it and now that we’ve seen SF and Boston flip we think that lends strong precedence for us to probably follow.
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Not surprising at all, many of the user groups had been featuring other NLE’s for sometime anyway
Steve Connor
“FCPX Agitator”
Adrenalin Television -
Quite a bit, actually.
The originator and long time head of the San Francisco group, my old friend and early adopter Kevin Monahan now works for Adobe and contributes here semi-regularly. He’s a great guy, very knowledgable, and I begrudge him nothing in his ability to publicly weigh in on issues. But he’s not exactly an neutral observer. I
As to Boston, that group is largely run by Dan Berube. Another great guy I’ve known for a long time. He and his fellow Supergroup organizer Mike Horton have had to navigate the treacherous waters of the FCP verses other NLE manufacturers schism.
That users groups might be doing some fracturing along “party” lines isn’t surprising in the least. If I was in PR at either Adobe or AVID, I’d be looking at this as a golden opportunity to spread some marketing money and talent around to do whatever I could to influence public opinion as well.
It’s just smart business.
The question at the core isn’t whether a users group changes direction. Volunteer groups do that all the time based on the personalities and perceived needs of the group in charge at any given time.
The real question is whether FCP-X has a future.
The more I use it, the more I think that’s a solid yes.
Witness, the cover story in this weeks Broadcast Engineering. Under the subhead “Some of broadcasts brightest reveal where the industry is headed.” the universal themes are “file based workflow,” and “merging IT with broadcast.”
Nope, none of them mention FCP-X. But that parochial view doesn’t account for the fact that all of them are obsessed with managing file based metadata in the coming years. And what sets X apart from the competition? The elevation of data handling into a role arguably equal to image manipulation.
If that is increasingly the skill set that drives efficiency and results – I’m more convinced then ever that what I’m learning with my migration to FCP-X is the right direction change to enhance my career.
YMMV.
“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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Actually Final Cut was never in the name. To the best of my knowledge it’s always been called SF Cutters and still is. It’s the organization that puts on the Supermeets that has changed it’s name. They just announced it at the Supermeet in San Francisco.
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Dan is correct. SFCutters has not changed its name. LA changed its name from LAFCPUG to LACPUG. It was announced at the San Francisco SuperMeet.
All the best,
Tom
Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP7,” “Basic Training for FCS” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”
Coming in 2012 “Complete Training for FCPX” from Class on Demand
“Final Cut Pro X for iMovie and Final Cut Express Users” from Focal Press -
What all this really points to is the nature and purpose of User Groups.
As the industry progresses, the days of the big shops continue decline relative to the entire industry.
For me, there was a time I’d go to work and all day long I was surrounded be people in production and post production to talk to, pick up tips, etc. The editor were all using the same tools, the ones common to the shop.
Today, many of us are working in one person shops and/or with a very small group of associates. Our interpersonal view of the industry can be extremely narrow.
The User Group is an opportunity to regain that broader view by learning how others are approach the creative craft as well as the technical tools. For a few hours, usually once a month, we have some aspect of the big shop social atmosphere.
The other purpose some user groups had was centered around honing our skills with a specific tool. There were Avid groups, Final Cut groups, Adobe groups (After Affects or Premiere or Photoshop users). Perhaps this is on the wane. It may well be the plethora of tutorials and forums specific to tools has replaced the need for social bodies forming around specific tools.
On the other hand, the cursory information presented in a User Group not committed to a specific tools, may not do a tool’s features justice for those who want to hone their skills on a specific tool. So many of the tips, tricks, deeper or less obvious functions, do not become apparent by watching online tutorials.
While many of us are generalists by necessity (or desire) a general purpose user group might give me a great superficial overview of things. As video craftsperson I may pick up a morsel of important information or be introduced to a new technique or tool in a general User Group. I think there’s still purpose for tool specific User Groups . . . but maybe I’m wrong about that.
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Sorry for the confusion. I stand corrected the announscment was made in SF about th LA grooup.
RC
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[Craig Seeman] “As video craftsperson I may pick up a morsel of important information or be introduced to a new technique or tool in a general User Group. I think there’s still purpose for tool specific User Groups . . . but maybe I’m wrong about that.”
Craig,
I couldn’t agree more.
If you seek to be a “generalist” – walk in somewhere and cut on whatever they use – then the correct path is to understanding the widest range of software and it’s strengths and weaknesses.
If you seek to be the best you can be at getting your work done in a single program environment – then while general knowledge of the wider industry is of some use, it’s largely inefficient in helping you master the tool you most often need.
Put simpler, the steps necessary to pull a clean key in Software A is what I need to master now. The steps necessary to pull clean keys in ANY software is a more complex body of knowledge and I have to be careful about how much time I spend on comparative knowledge if operational knowledge is what makes the the most money.
This is where choice makes things difficult. Also where the constant evolution of the products makes the choices ever more persnickety. A feature in A today (for instance the “unusual for a general purpose NLE” weight on database management in X) might migrate to all it’s competitors over time.
The best any of us can do, in my opinion, is to take whatever time we can afford for “exploration” gain as much general knowledge as possible, and then get off the pot and make the choices that we feel are the best for our particular circumstances.
We don’t always be right. But if we hesitate to even MAKE the choices, we risk more than choosing wrongly and having to reverse ourselves at some point.
My 2 cents, anyway.
“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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So are people pronouncing it “Lah-see-pug” as a shortened “Laf-see-pug” or the more phonetically correct “Lak-pug”?
Best,
Andy -
“Witness, the cover story in this weeks Broadcast Engineering. Under the subhead “Some of broadcasts brightest reveal where the industry is headed.” the universal themes are “file based workflow,” and “merging IT with broadcast.”
Oh dear. It isn’t where it is heading. It has already arrived. This was the buzz talk about a decade ago in broadcasting in Australia. I was promised eight years ago that I would be able to deliver mpeg streams to broadcasters within five years. Well seems like they still want an HDCam here and internationally.
It reminds me of a keynote address 20 years ago at the AES show where the president of the Audio Engineering Society said we will all be using virtual reality controllers within ten years. Such broad sweeping ill directed motherhood statements are common and journalists love to dress them up. Actual reality is that quietly the broadcast industry has been moving to file based, IT integrated workflows for a long time. It is a fairly slow and measured response as sudden radical change by any manufacturer or developer spooks the horses. That is why you don’t hear FCPX mentioned at all.
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