Andrew Kimery
Forum Replies Created
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[Andrew Richards] “I agree Avid needs the high-end customers, since they buy the big iron that makes Avid its real money. Adobe?”
Poor choice of words on my part. I was trying to avoid the ‘what is pro’ bear trap and it didn’t quite go as planned.
What I meant was, the core demographic for Avid and Adobe are professional users. The same isn’t true for Apple. Apple could drop Logic, Motion, FCPX, Compressor & Aperture and it would be like a semi running over a squirrel.
-Andrew
2.9 GHz 8-core (4,1), FCP 7.0.3, 10.6.6
Blackmagic Multibridge Eclipse (7.9.5) -
[Chris Kenny] “If this is true, it stands to reason that if Apple’s focus managed to produce a tool that met the needs of high-end users last time around, there’s no reason to believe it won’t do so again.”
When/if it does how many of the high-end users are going to be the market to switch NLEs… again? And why toss the baby out with the bathwater on the rebuild if that’s a market you want to keep? If FCPX didn’t ship with Import from iMovie or Share to CNN iReporter I don’t think anyone would’ve raised a fuss over those missing features at launch.
For a long time I’ve wondered about Apple’s commitment to the higher end of the market. They buy Shake, they kill Shake. They make an exclusive deal w/RED and they do nothing with it. Color, Final Cut Server… it’s like Apple wants that feather in their cap but they don’t want to do the demanding, end-user-centric work in order to get it. Ron Brinkman even said that when Apple purchased Shake all user input was basically severed.
I’ll try and find the link, but I remember reading an interview w/one of the guys that worked on FCP during the early days (like v1.0 early days) and he was surprised when the project lead said the goal was to get Avid. Obviously they couldn’t go from nothing to king of the hill over night but that was the long term goal. To go toe to toe with Avid.
Maybe that still is the goal but they are going to do it by building a more profitable business as opposed to building a better product. 😉
For better or for worse Avid and Adobe need higher-end users so, as long as there is competition, those companies will cater to those higher-end users. Apple, for better or for worse, doesn’t need higher-end users so they’ll keep doing whatever it is they want to keep doing. If higher-end users like it, I’m sure Apple will be glad to sell it to them. If higher-end users don’t like it I’m sure Apple will be glad to sell to the wider market that does.
-Andrew
2.9 GHz 8-core (4,1), FCP 7.0.3, 10.6.6
Blackmagic Multibridge Eclipse (7.9.5) -
I mentioned this in another thread, but w/o seeing more detailed info this doesn’t give any real insight into what’s going on in the industry NLE-wise. SCRI lists six markets that they look at “…broadcast television stations, cable television stations, post production facilities (video and film), video production and multimedia facilities, corporate and institutional video facilities (government, educational, medical).”
I’d be really interested to see who uses what where and how often (sometimes, all the time, I opened it up once… by mistake).
I mean, heck, Premiere was used in the slimmest of ways on Avatar yet Adobe still crowed about it. If PPro wasn’t included w/their CS bundles I doubt anyone would have thought to use it.
-Andrew
2.9 GHz 8-core (4,1), FCP 7.0.3, 10.6.6
Blackmagic Multibridge Eclipse (7.9.5) -
[Andrew Richards] ”
This sentiment puzzles me. Had they waited to release FCP X in January, 2012 instead of in June, 2011, it would mean they care about professionals?”I think I see where Shane is coming from. To me, and I may be off base here, if you are going to launch a new product you are going to put your best foot forward towards your core demographic first and I feel like if Apple wanted to target the ‘level’ of professional that needs b’cast monitoring, multicam, etc., those things would’ve been higher on the priority list. They would have been there at launch while import from iMovie and share to CNN iReporter would’ve been added in later updates.
Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but that plus other things that happened signals to me that Apple is targeting a different demo w/FCPX. Will they take higher end users? Of course. Will they add higher end features? Sure. But, if push comes to shove, those things will take a back seat to the wider user base that they are targeting.
-Andrew
2.9 GHz 8-core (4,1), FCP 7.0.3, 10.6.6
Blackmagic Multibridge Eclipse (7.9.5) -
The entire industry has become too broad to paint with broad strokes. This isn’t 30yrs ago where it was ABC, NBC, CBS or nothing. Companies that used to just distributed the work of others (AMC, HBO, etc.,) are now creating compelling content. This is the best of times (Game of Thrones) and this is the worst of times (some Reality TV show I saw about a family that makes fish tanks). 😉
As for what a Hollywood Editor is, I have no idea. Trailers, promos, workout videos, docs, scripted TV drams, reality shows, web-only videos, big budget summer blockbusters, porn, etc., are all done in Hollywood. And they all can have different workflow requirements which may or may not be conducive to what FCPX has to offer.
-Andrew
2.9 GHz 8-core (4,1), FCP 7.0.3, 10.6.6
Blackmagic Multibridge Eclipse (7.9.5) -
My experience has been closer to Chris Harlan’s than Chris Kenny’s.
Whenever I run into someone (either online or in the real world) that is optimistic or interested w/FCP X I’m initially taken back because it happens so infrequently. Maybe it’s because lots of the work that I do isn’t, or doesn’t appear to be, conducive to FCPX’s workflow so maybe it’s just that I don’t swim in the circles that even see FCPX as a possibility. I don’t know really.
W/o knowing more details about the SCRI numbers it’s hard to know what they really mean. How many people are using FCPX day in and day out and how many played w/it for a few hours and haven’t touched it sense? I mean, last year Adobe claimed some huge number of PPro installs (more than FCP classic) but how many of those are people actually using PPro vs PPro just came along for the ride in the CS purchase?
A few years ago a SCRI study showed FCP w/like 52% of the NLE market and Avid w/22% while an ACE survey from the same period showed like 80% of ACE members used Avid and 20% used FCP. W/o having more granular data (data that reflects your market, interests, workflows, and needs) the numbers aren’t very useful in creating an accurate picture of what’s going w/in all the niches that make up post production.
-Andrew
2.9 GHz 8-core (4,1), FCP 7.0.3, 10.6.6
Blackmagic Multibridge Eclipse (7.9.5) -
I’d like to see Avid leverage their ‘big iron’ storage towards cloud computing. Their Edit Anything, Anywhere demo from a couple of years ago showed they were already thinking about cloud editing and I have to wonder if their iPad app is a test run for working out the kinks of a mobile editing GUI.
Of course the big issue with having an ISIS in the cloud is loading all the media. For larger installations, like Mark’s, the ISIS could be onsite (like it is now) but for smaller shops maybe they rent space in the cloud from Avid and upload everything using an upload accelerator. Avid would either need to make its own data centers for this or lease them from someone else.
Some have mentioned maybe Blackmagic would buy Avid, but I don’t see that as much of an improvement. If BM bought Avid would Avid then only work w/BM cards? Isn’t that basically the same path that many say is dooming Avid now? BM, like Avid, is at it’s heart a video hardware company at a time when the largest sectors of growth don’t necessarily require video I/O hardware.
-Andrew
2.9 GHz 8-core (4,1), FCP 7.0.3, 10.6.6
Blackmagic Multibridge Eclipse (7.9.5) -
The art is what ultimately matters but the paint, the brushes and the canvas etc., all play a part in the creation of the art.
Back on topic…
Reliable b-cast monitoring was one of the big things I was waiting for X to get back before I’d even contemplate giving it a serious look. Glad to hear that that seems to be one more thing I can check off my list.
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[Chris Kenny] “Pulling Final Cut Studio was clearly an error, but it was never literally unavailable, and Apple put it back on sale when people expressed their concerns. I’m not sure how Apple making a mistake and correcting it in response to feedback justifies long-term distrust.”
FCP was literally unavailable through retail channels (I’m sure people were still selling it on craigslist and eBay) until Apple decided weeks (months?) later to start selling it via their 800 number on a limited basis. Maybe other people had a different experience but it was gone from Apple’s site, gone from Apple’s stores and gone from the the handful of 3rd party Apple retailers I called in my area.But that’s all water under the bridge now.
Why can’t everyone just agree that painting with broad strokes (whether that broad stroke is to call people that don’t like FCPX dinosaurs or to call people that do like FCPX un-pro) is a major hindrance to having a rational discussion and just stop doing it?
-Andrew
2.9 GHz 8-core (4,1), FCP 7.0.3, 10.6.6
Blackmagic Multibridge Eclipse (7.9.5) -
It sounds like you shot 24p which, w/DVCPro HD, can be contained in a 60i video stream. There is specific function w/in FCP to remove the extra frames upon import but I don’t know what it is off the top of my head. I’m sure it’s in the FCP manual.
-Andrew
2.9 GHz 8-core (4,1), FCP 7.0.3, 10.6.6
Blackmagic Multibridge Eclipse (7.9.5)