Tonight’s the night

[John Davidson]

So just to recap the night, Apple sent a representative into the Lion’s den to show off some of the updates since launch and demoing FCPX in action. It felt that the room was largely filled with a few folks who use FCPX, and more folks who haven’t kept up with what’s new(ish).

The LAFCPUG site seemed to imply that new things were coming or would be demo’ed. That’s why I went.

I’m glad to see Apple making an effort to dispel some of the rumors regarding FCPX. I do wish they’d spend more time having Q&A’s with those of us who use it, or attempt to use it. The way they edit with FCPX is very very different than how we’ve found best to use it. I wish I could show them. I think it would help.

Until then – no primary storyline for us commercial guys!

[Michael Gissing]

[John Davidson]”The way they edit with FCPX is very very different than how we’ve found best to use it. I wish I could show them. I think it would help.”

Thanks John for the report and interesting observation. I think that sentence sums up the fundamental problem. Every editor that I know that has looked at X has felt the software writers simply do no understand editing and that they are required to work around a methodology not with it.

I am speaking for the largely silent majority with that observation, not the vociferous minority. My job is to service a pool of editors with post finishing so I am in contact with 40- 60 editors each year and have regular contact with over 100. To date, not a single editor has switched from FCP 7 to X although about 20% have gone to AVID or Adobe in the past year.

[Carsten Orlt]

[Michael Gissing] “Every editor that I know that has looked at X has felt the software writers simply do no understand editing and that they are required to work around a methodology not with it.”

You know or worked with? Because you know me and I love it 🙂

I always have to laugh at ‘the software writers’ don’t understand editing’ assuming you are of the same opinion, at least that is what I read between the lines. What do you expect? Most editors don’t :-))

And before you start blasting: Do the research about who is behind FCP and it all becomes clear.
From the wikipidia about FCP:
Randy Ubillos created the first three versions of Adobe Premiere, the first popular digital video editing application.[3] Before version 5 was released, Ubillos’ group was hired by Macromedia to create KeyGrip, built from the ground up as a more professional video-editing program based on Apple QuickTime. Macromedia could not release the product without causing its partner Truevision some issues with Microsoft, as KeyGrip was, in part, based on technology from Microsoft licensed to Truevision and then in turn to Macromedia. The terms of the IP licensing deal stated that it was not to be used in conjunction with QuickTime. Thus, Macromedia was forced to keep the product off the market until a solution could be found. At the same time, the company decided to focus more on applications that would support the web, so they sought to find a buyer for their non-web applications, including KeyGrip; which, by 1998, was renamed Final Cut.

He is still working for Apple 🙂

[Lance Bachelder]

I was a little disappointed in the Apple presentation as far as “new” features etc. It was a nice recap of the past year and all the updates but the new bullet list is the same on we all knew about. It was a tough crowd though many seemed to come around a bit in the end.

The better presentation was Steve Martin’s project sharing tips including fast web sharing (assuming the person on the other end has all the media etc.) and how to use Disk Utility and spare disk images to share entire projects – very cool.

Best of all I won (the famous raffle) a copy of CrumplePop’s ColorKit Suite which I can’t wait to try!

Lance Bachelder
Writer, Editor, Director
Irvine, California

[Michael Gissing]

Hi Carsten. So the progress score is 99-1 . However the last job you did that came to me a few weeks ago was cut on FCP7. Your voice, that I do respect, has convinced me more than most here that one day I will need to have FCPX if only to manage the translation to something else. I have publicly stated that before.

However, it remains that after a year not one single job from FCPX has come my way. That some editors love the FCPX way is not in doubt. However I think the majority of editors have the right to protest loudly at not only what Apple did with their favourite NLE but also how they did it.

I have worked with software writers for many years and honestly only a few actually understood what people did day in day out with their software. I know about Randy’s background and experience but I have also observed the Apple ‘my way or the highway’ approach and fail to be impressed by the direction of FCPX.

I do retain an open mind to the possibilities and frankly I don’t care what tool the editor chooses as long as there is an open pathway and some basic standards that allow interchange. It was a long slow fight to get OMF working so I get nervous when I see Apple dancing around with six iterations of XML in a decade and a history of trashing backwards compatibility.

[Carsten Orlt]

[Michael Gissing] “Hi Carsten. So the progress score is 99-1 . However the last job you did that came to me a few weeks ago was cut on FCP7”

Not my choice 🙂

[Michael Gissing] “However, it remains that after a year not one single job from FCPX has come my way. That some editors love the FCPX way is not in doubt. However I think the majority of editors have the right to protest loudly at not only what Apple did with their favourite NLE but also how they did it. “

Absolutely. Just use the right arguments. And for the record ‘I don’t like it’ is a total valid argument. Just to say that the people behind FCPx don’t know what they’re doing is not.

[Michael Gissing] “I have also observed the Apple ‘my way or the highway’ approach and fail to be impressed by the direction of FCPX. “

Can’t follow here. Nobody forces you to buy it? If you’re favourite car maker brings out a model that you just hate and don’t want to use, you change. Even if you might have a decade old relationship with the dealer that you would have to give up. And I never heart that people take it personal when they do not like the new model anymore. Why do they do with software? Anyhow, looking at the traffic here lately the discussion is over.

[Michael Gissing] “I do retain an open mind to the possibilities and frankly I don’t care what tool the editor chooses as long as there is an open pathway and some basic standards that allow interchange”

I understand that you have the problem that you have to be able to work with what is delivered to you and you can’t just say: sorry can’t do anything with it. But I doubt that it would be the case even now with FCPx. I could be wrong though not knowing your exact requirements.

Best

[Craig Seeman]

[John Davidson] “The LAFCPUG site seemed to imply that new things were coming or would be demo’ed. That’s why I went. “

But that’s not the impression I got from Michael Horton. We emailed a bit and he said he expected pretty much what I saw at the Blackmagic road show in NYC.

Maybe people construed “new” as upcoming rather than recently released.

[John Davidson] “I do wish they’d spend more time having Q&A’s with those of us who use it, or attempt to use it.”

They did that at the BMD road show. They had a table set up after the presentation. Probably not quite as easy to do at a user group meeting. I think Apple may need to rethink their trade show participation as a result. The problem is you really can’t get professional questions answered in an Apple store. They really need to speak to the masses of editors, not just from a stage but in smaller groups gathered around an expert in front of FCPX running.

[Craig Seeman]

[Michael Gissing] “Every editor that I know that has looked at X has felt the software writers simply do no understand editing and that they are required to work around a methodology not with it.
“

And yet FCPX is finally and NLE that thinks like I do (12 plus years on Avid and 10 more years on FCP legacy). I think the biggest problem is virtually no one, including Apple, is focussing on workflow possibilities (and there are many).

I saw Diana Weynand do an all too brief explanation of her workflow on a doc she’s producing in which she named and organized clips in Finder to take advantage of FCPX import Folders as Keyword Collections. The value of that feature is made evident by showing how she works in Finder before importing in to FCPX.

Most demos and training I’ve seen show how this button does that, etc, and not how FCPX facilitates different kinds of project situations.

[Davee Schulte]

Did they actually show Dual Monitors and other upcoming features or just tell you they’re coming, i.e. a rehash of whats already on the website??

[Steve Connor]

Rehash I believe

Steve Connor
“The ripple command is just a workaround for not having a magnetic timelinel”
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