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San Fransico FCPUG drops final cut from name
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Obviously if Apple would have released FCS4 the groups wouldn’t have dropped the “FC” from their names.
Without a common denominator lets see if those groups survive.
rafael -
[Rafael Amador] “Without a common denominator lets see if those groups survive.”
I doubt the name change would have made the slightest difference.
What’s killing user groups isn’t any split in products – it’s the general explosion of on-line knowledge.
Back in the day, the whole point of users groups were to share specialist knowledge amongst like minded local people.
Today everyone has instant access to all the knowledge they need via the net and places just like this one.
So you’re left with social interaction. Period.
So the user group thrives, survives, or fades based (in my opinion) on one thing and one thing alone. The SHOW the group can put on. If it’s tightly run, presentations are vetted for interesting content and that content is delivered well – then like a mini- NAB demo, people will come to see it.
If it devolves to just a room where a small group of folks gather to re-hash what someone can actually look up MUCH easier on the internet – then they will fade out.
Here in Phoenix, we used to have UGs for all the major software programs. No more. They’ve all faded to shadows of their former size.
In the final analysis, users groups thrive when they solve problems for their members. When knowledge is scarce, a group that has and shares such knowledge is valuable. But when the knowledge is broadly available, then the hassle of driving to a meeting and sitting through what you don’t want to see to get to what you do find useful is pretty inefficient.
In most “group” settings, what actually keeps groups alive is the economic benefits they provide to members, time being money and all. I think the real problem with users groups is that in a sense they’re like a big “leads group” where everyone is selling the exact same service.
And that’s the real crux of the problem IMO.
FWIW.
“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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As far as the LA group is concerned, not sure if this wasn’t a mistake. They still draw good crowds to the Barnsdale regardless of the name. LA already has several other post groups including Avid and others. Mike Hortons FCP group helped grow FCP in LA for over a decade and it’s sad that they would cave this early in the FCPX era.
Time will tell but what if in a year or so FCP is back on top? Will they change the name back? If not, that means anyone else can now come in to the biggest post market there is and start the LA FCP User Group. I would have waited at least until after this next NAB before throwing in the towel. Avid and Adobe will never draw the young excited crowds like FCP did in the early days at the LA Film School.
There’s nothing cool or exciting or groundbreaking about using PPro or MC. We all felt like we were really starting something back in ’99 with FCP and our blue and white G3’s. But strangely, when I read a post by Bill Davis or watch a tutorial by T or sit working with Tonalizer inside FCPX, I get that little spark like it may just happen all over again… not right away, but I truly think FCPX could be the killer app we’ve all been waiting for…
Lance Bachelder
Writer, Editor, Director
Irvine, California -
I didn’t think waiting till after NAB would make any difference. All that’s going to be at NAB will have nothing to do with FCP. If anything that might be the time to become the LAPremiereUG.
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 -
Not specific to NAB but one might hope the major revision of FCPX would be out by that time.
There will be another round of assessment between catchup features and features that might put it ahead of other NLEs. The challenge with the latter is that some won’t recognize that because “ahead” my be tied to the “paradigm shift” that some don’t value.
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[Bill Davis] “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… 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.”
For me, being a generalist is more about an individual crossing functions than being adept with multiple tools that do the same specialized thing.
If you know how to pull a key in one piece of software, then presumably you already understand the mechanics of keying, and moving to another comparable tool wouldn’t really be that big a leap.
Gathering skills that span disciplines, though — like an editor learning compositing — that’s the foundation of being a generalist. The fact that software developers sell suites instead of products, and that every editor here knows how to pull a key speaks to how generalized our industry has become.
Editorial, compositing, audio, color grading, motion graphics — these are all areas of specialty, with room for high degrees of expertise and nuanced expression out of the reach of anyone other than a specialist — and they are all practiced by generalists such as yourself and most of us here.
Everyone knows the first half of the saying, but the second half is rarely heard. It seems apropos to emphasize here:
Jack of all trades,
Master of none,
But ofttimes better
Than master of one.Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events -
[Bill Davis] “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.”
Why would they mention FCPX in the context of file-based workflows or merging IT with broadcast? FCPX (currently) does neither.
A file-based workflow is not the same as a tapeless workflow. FCPX thinks in terms of clips which are stored in events, not files which are stored in directories. Woe is he who manipulates FCPX’s referenced media files directly outside of FCPX — or tries to write a broadcast automation script which ties multiple tools together to do the same.
As for merging IT with broadcast, this will be impossible with FCPX as long as it remains a relatively closed system. FCPX’s success here will be dependent on the degree to which Apple opens it up, via improved XML, other interchange formats, or APIs.
If metadata is finish line, I don’t think the race has been decided yet. FCPX is too closed to be useful in collaborative environments or complex workflows — the metadata only works in FCPX itself. Which will happen first — will other developers like Adobe and Avid (with more open products) build robust metadata tools for editorial, or will Apple (with more robust metadata tools for editorial) open up their system?
I’m curious, Bill — I’ve read many of your arguments here as essentially populist, stating that it’s a waste of Apple’s resources to develop the features needed only by the broadcast niche in the face of so much demand from larger market segments, and yet here you’re talking about how FCPX would be a good fit for the broadcast niche.
Do you expect that Apple will double back and fill in the gaps for the markets they left behind last June, or do you expect that they’ll continue developing solely for the broad middle? If the latter, do you expect that the overlooked niches will drop some of their requirements in order to be able to use FCPX?
Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events -
Agree with you fully. Which happens annoyingly often in this forum. Please try to me more unreasonably argumentative. We have standards in this forum, don’ cha know. ; )
“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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Exactly. I’m guessing Apple will release update BEFORE NAB. Man that would be sad thought to change to the Premiere group – I remember cutting a feature back in 2005 as an Adobe beta site and showing all the guys in the various suites PPro – they’d all laugh and go back to their FCP suites. Now they’re all gonna switch? Next you’ll be telling me the Cippers are gonna sell out Staples Center… oh wait…
Lance Bachelder
Writer, Editor, Director
Irvine, California -
[Walter Soyka] “Why would they mention FCPX in the context of file-based workflows or merging IT with broadcast? FCPX (currently) does neither.
A file-based workflow is not the same as a tapeless workflow. FCPX thinks in terms of clips which are stored in events, not files which are stored in directories. Woe is he who manipulates FCPX’s referenced media files directly outside of FCPX — or tries to write a broadcast automation script which ties multiple tools together to do the same.
As for merging IT with broadcast, this will be impossible with FCPX as long as it remains a relatively closed system. FCPX’s success here will be dependent on the degree to which Apple opens it up, via improved XML, other interchange formats, or APIs.
“Totally agree. SMPTE has been working on IT-related sets of standards for metadata in file-based workflows for years, now. In fact it was one of the two tent poles (the other being developments in stereoscopic) of the Technical conference two years ago. FCPX’s approach flies in the face of almost everything SMPTE is trying to do. I can see how, from a great distance, the subjects might look like they relate with each other, but in reality it is like saying that cocaine and voting are the same thing because they both involve lines.
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