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“Telling a Story” …
I want to make it clear that I’m not freaking out over FCX. I am concerned, but am willing to wait and see what happens. I think that Apple has made a huge mistake, but maybe – MAYBE – they’ll listen to everyone’s concerns.
That being said, I wanted to address something that I’ve read in a lot of these threads today: the “telling a story” comment.
I’ve read this in countless threads now, about it’s not necessarily the tools you have, it’s how you tell the story. Well, I for one do not have the luxury of sitting about doing straight edits of movies and documentaries all day. In a perfect world, that would be my job. But most of my work is corporate, and completed for people who don’t know a thing about videos.
However, I work for a not-for-profit and do everything from quick edits to commercials. I do everything – I’m camera, editor, graphics, you name it. I also do freelance work. A LOT of my content – I’d go so far as to say 75% of the content I receive from others – is in formats that don’t play nice with FCP. I have to run them through other programs, I have to find work arounds, I have to tweak and tweak and tweak to get a quality video. I certainly could NEVER do the kind of work I do using iMovie or Camtasia.
What I’m trying to get at is this: from what I’ve read on this forum since joining, I think most of the people here don’t just do straight editing. We require very precise tools in FCP, Motion, DVD Studio Pro, and Color in order to do our jobs. A lot of the work I do seems simplistic, but from a technological standpoint, it’s highly complex. And, from what I’ve read both here and from other sources, I’m not sure that FCX is capable of handling the kind of jobs I do.
So, to keep saying “it’s about telling the story” seems a bit ridiculous to me. Yes, I can create a quality story even if I’m editing between two VCRs (which is how I started out editing when I was 12). However, editing these isn’t as simple as that. How many types of video files are out there now? How many different codecs?
Again, it’s hard to judge without using it myself, and I’m trying to keep an open mind, but after reading articles and reviews from people who are actually using FCX, it just doesn’t seem like it’s geared towards someone like me, or towards the majority of people who participate in these forums.
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16 Replies
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I like you do everything as well. You kind of have to if your gonna make it in the Post world in 2011. I edit, shoot, do GFX, 3d modeling, Color Correction, Layback. IT, and many other things I wear many hats. Just yesterday I had to Install avid plug-ins and trouble shoot because our in house freelance $95.00/hour avid editor didn’t know how to do anything besides Cut pretty pictures.
as for the Telling a story part, I wish it worked like that. but it doesn’t
Producer: ” We Cut On Avid”
Me: ” But I use Final Cut?”
Producer ” We dont use final cut”
Me: ” But I can tell a story…”
Producer: (Rolls Eyes) “Thank you for your time, there’s the door”
and with FCP X and its Very Rough Release Its lost MAJOR Respect in the Editing world already.
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[Greg Burke] “Producer: ” We Cut On Avid”
Me: ” But I use Final Cut?”
Producer ” We dont use final cut”
Me: ” But I can tell a story…”
Producer: (Rolls Eyes) “Thank you for your time, there’s the door””
What do you do when in three months it’s FCP X they bought for 300 bucks and not AVID?
Same thing, right?
David
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Believe me. Everything is a lie. -
[David Battistella] “What do you do when in three months it’s FCP X they bought for 300 bucks and not AVID?
Same thing, right?”
It’s too early to tell, but if FCX really is iMovie Pro, then I walk out. I don’t work with clients who insist on editing on Camtasia or iMovie. They’re what I call “amateurs”.
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Greg
where do you work?? Hell Ill come and edit on an Avid for $95 an hour and I know how to install plugins and trouble shoot. HA HA HA
BTW I know how to do it on FCP too HA
Matt
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[Lynette Gilbert] ”
It’s too early to tell, but if FCX really is iMovie Pro, then I walk out. I don’t work with clients who insist on editing on Camtasia or iMovie. They’re what I call “amateurs”.”FCPX, even in its nascent state, does a lot more than iMovie and Camtasia combined.
…and do I detect a bit of snobbery in that tone? 😉
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[Greg Penetrante] “…and do I detect a bit of snobbery in that tone? ;-)”
No, it’s called “experience”. Those people usually want $500 worth of work for $50 and then complain when you can’t do what they want because their program sucks.
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I’m surprised at this attitude towards FCP nowadays .. but the attitude in general has some merit. There’s LOTS of great story tellers, but that doesn’t make them fit for TV. It’s equally about having director screenings, being able to interpret and address network notes that may (in your opinion) butcher your work — but you have to do it without getting ego-hurt.
The AVID editor is a safe bet that they encompass the rounded-out qualities of this type of editor. It’s a shame they associate this with a piece of software… but to a laymen producer the correlation must happen more than we’d like to admit.
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I hate what Apple did and I don’t think FCP is coming back anytime soon with anywhere near the
capabilities it had before. On the other hand I had to buy X and I have to learn it because eventually
someone is going to ask me to use it, and I’m not going to turn down work to spite Apple. I also
think there might soon be a healthy market for unscrewing FCP X projects.bigpine
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I think “Final Cut Prosumer” is more like it.
Writer/Radio host/Community Media Advocate
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I doubt they ask for Final Cut Pro “X” specifically. They’ve probably just heard that “professional” editors use FCP, and will merely ask for that, not really thinking about what version of it you’ll be using, or what being able to work in FCPX vs FCP7 is any better/different.
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