The Real Menace of FCP X

[Simon Ubsdell]

[Brett Sherman] “Simon has become increasingly dismissive of FCP X. Fine, whatever. Don’t use it.”

I’m just going to knock this piece of ad hominem nonsense on the head once and for all and then leave.

I was here enthusing about FCP X before most of you showed up – within days if not hours of the launch to be exact.

I have consistently made sure to state that there are many things I like about FCP X and my most recent comments are no different in that respect.

I do not believe I have ever been dismissive of FCP X nor do I have the intention of ever being dismissive of it now or in the future.

I will continue to use it and enjoy using it for as long as it’s still around.

And I will reserve the right to be as critical of it as I would be of any other piece of software.

Simon Ubsdell
tokyo productions
hawaiki

[Neil Goodman]

[Steve Connor] “It’s a simple matter of ignoring them, blocking them or just marvelling at how ridiculous some of the comments are :)”

For sure but I feel like they have some valuable things to say, if only they could ever see the other side of the coin and get off the defense pedal.

[Brett Sherman]

[Steve Connor] “Because buried amongst it there is some EXCELLENT debate on here and Simon is one of the best contributors”

I agree. Simon is very knowledgable, helpful and usually offers interesting food for thought. But lately he’s become more caustic and just making s&*t up out of thin air. Such as – “If an editor advances a stragegy that doesn’t fit perfectly with FCP X, his/her opinion must be dismissed as worthless, the more insultingly the better, regardless of pedigree, as happened the other day (shamefully) with Alan Bell.”

That just didn’t happen. No one insulted Alan Bell. Yes there was some pushback on the ideas, but isn’t that what this forum is for?

This thread is pure crap as far as I am concerned.

[Tony West]

I just feel much like politics, things are being discussed on here in too general of terms.

There are all types of editing environments. Some people are in a news stations, some in their office or home or remote trucks or in the filed or wherever.

Feature film, sports, local news national news, you name it. To think that any one technique is going to work all the time across all these different situations is unrealistic, and anyone that’s been working in this field for decades should already know that.

It also gets back to what I was talking about before. Having a conversation with people who are doing the same type of work as you vs. trying to generalize about all kinds of jobs and all kinds of situations across the industry.

[Joseph W. bourke]

Neil –

You have to understand that the people here who are calling others stupid or behind the times have a dog in the race. Anyone who earns money on the back of an NLE (not as an editor, mind you) has something to gain monetarily by getting the most people who need training, or third party stuff, etc. on the FCX bandwagon. You won’t find the people who man the Koolaid stand bad-mouthing the Kool-aid…

Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media
http://www.bourkemedia.com

[Bill Davis]

[Dominic Deacon] ” But surely that’s the fun. If you’re going to have a decent debate you need some zealots to fire up the moderates or it gets boring fast.”

????

Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery.

[Bill Davis]

[Simon Ubsdell] “And I will reserve the right to be as critical of it as I would be of any other piece of software.”

I publicly deem it a Menace – but yet I embrace it.

“FCP X – Or Nots… very own Chaos Candidate!

How contemporary.

Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery.

[Neil Goodman]

[Joseph W. Bourke] “Neil –

You have to understand that the people here who are calling others stupid or behind the times have a dog in the race. Anyone who earns money on the back of an NLE (not as an editor, mind you) has something to gain monetarily by getting the most people who need training, or third party stuff, etc. on the FCX bandwagon. You won’t find the people who man the Koolaid stand bad-mouthing the Kool-aid…”

For sure, just frustrating when those people chime into an otherwise constructive and informative discussion with their very narrow point of view.

[David Mathis]

This forum used to be fun. I don’t mind a lively debate but we all need to be sensible. Snide and condescending remarks should never be welcome. There are at least two members in this thread that are just that, perhaps three. Any and every NLE on the market is going to have its own set of issues not to mention deficiencies. However, one should never use that as an excuse to belittle others over a difference of a viewpoint or opinion. It is one thing to be critical over a piece of software but quite another to resort to personal attacks or putting others down. This forum is not a political debate group on Facebook rather it is a place where we should all try to be corteous, helpful and professional. It is sad to see a great forum and thread get ruined by a few bad apples.

I like Final Cut and I know it has its problems. I don’t use Premiere Pro often for my own reasons but will never put someone down who uses it or call the software trash. It is their deciscion to make and will respect it. They know what works best for them. We all have a choice and we all need to respect others.

Another issue I see is people being belittled because they are not using the most up to date version. They have legitimate reasons in many instances. So they don’t upgrade like everyone else. We should reach out to them, find out what their reasons are and give the best advice we can without smacking them in the face. I know of at least two people who does not follow that simple advice.

Please be tactful, diplomatic and friendly regardless of your opinions. I hope that is not too much to ask.

[Scott Witthaus]

“I’ve said it before – I dont want to go faster – Speed is not something I advertise in my skill set although I’ve proven to be fast enough to compete in broadcast and theatrical marketing which is has blazingly fast turnarounds. I just want to create and be creative and have tools that help me facilitate that – lucky for us – no matter what road you head down, there’s plenty of tools available.”

You are looking at speed in terms of a race. That’s not correct. What speed does is allow time for more creative options to be tried. In the advertising world, I never found NLE’s made the rough cut phase shorter. Agencies still pushed to limit to air-date as they did in the linear days. What the “speedy NLE” did, however was allow us to try more ideas and versions. So they still booked the same amount of “Avid time” as they always had in pre-Avid days but we just got to try more things because of “speed”. In my mind, the inspiration comes out of the work. You don’t sit there with your feet up on the console waiting for the great idea to hit you like a bolt of lightening. You get material on the timeline and start crafting. The more efficiently you can do that, the better. If that’s speed, that’s better.

Scott Witthaus
Senior Editor/Visual Storyteller
https://vimeo.com/channels/1322525
Managing Partner, Low Country Creative LLC
Professor, VCU Brandcenter