Bill Davis
Forum Replies Created
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As Jeremy notes, Ed, FCP-X is essentially “codec and frame rate agnostic.”
It “auto-sets” it’s timeline (and it’s parent Project) to the specs of the first clip you drop on it unless you specify a framerate/size/codec in the project Prefs up front. At that point, any clips that you add to the timeline or the event browser that are “other” than the established project preferences, X goes to work to transcode them.
So take his suggestion – check the Project properties and if it’s something other than the format of the majority of the clips you’re using, there’s going to be a LOT of needless calculation going on under the hood.
Hope that helps.
“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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[Herb Sevush] “I don’t think Apple was trying to shake things up – they already knew what they had, they had tested the UI on Imovie. They were simply trying to redefine their market – out with the upper 5%, in with the theoretical hordes of new users for their simplified workflow.”
First, I think you nearly totally misunderstand the target market for FCP-X.
It’s popular to think it’s aimed at the iMovie crowd, but if you’d have spent any serious time with it, you’d know how silly that sounds.
iMovie folks do not need a complex database in their NLE. They don’t need 32 bit floating point math accuracy. They don’t need or want clip collections, I/O paths to Motion or XML interchange.
And if you think the X interface is “simplified, you really haven’t used it much. I’d argue that it’s significantly more complex than Legacy ever was. Not because the structure is currently “built out” at the same level Legacy was after a decade of development, but because at it’s core – it’s a whole lot more “extensible” than Legacy ever was.
The truth of X is that it sequesters assets upon import – then allows the editor to affect them by the application of robust metadata to represent clip change states in ways that allow the user to preform countlessly more complex operations than Legacy ever did.
The reason is that the timeline in legacy was a dumb beast. It was a fixed container that “learned” from nothing and “informed” nothing in return.
X, on the other hand, is an agile data container (one type of which can be video assets, but can equally be fixed graphics, motion graphics, sounds or whatever) that can be affected by other data (and can in turn reflect it’s internal states via data export) in ways the Legacy was simply never built to do.
As robust as it became over time, FCP-Legacy was a pretty DUMB construct (if often operated by many, many very smart people.)
X is a much smarter design – and when it grows more, you’ll be seeing whole new possibilities emerge from that intelligence.
Every month I learn more about it as a user, I’m more and more comfortable betting my whole business model on my growing certainty that time will prove this view to be accurate.
And the “it’s dumbed down FCP-Legacy” to be totally discredited.
We shall see.
“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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[Christian Schumacher] “our conventions that agreeably have endured over a hundred years. “
Uh….
I’m confused as to which “conventions” your talking about?” TV was only developed in the late 40s’ early 50s. Are you talking movies? Are you saying that somehow “cut on the action” or “dissolve implies passage of time” traditions that might have vaguely sorta been around since the magic lantern era can’t be done with FCP-X?
Heck, I’ll spot you 70 of those 100 years. If you can name an edit function that’s been around for even that long that FCP-X can’t do quite handily, I’ll bow to your wisdom. But I don’t believe you can. So your original post was simply more hyperbole, IMO.
“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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[James Daugherty] “I would just like to make Apple feel the way I feel about their betrayal. I have some ideas. Maybe a t-shirt for NAB… developing.”
Now THAT made me laugh.
Back in the late 1980s I had almost the EXACT same plan. I was going to get a bunch of T-shirts made up that read “Friends don’t let friends drive PCs” for an early MacWorld. (We were in our early blush of success with the Mac and everything seemed so superior to our untrained brains!)
Considering all the changes in the subsequent years, the Scully/Amelio led downturn in Apple, and the long slog back to relevance, I think if I’d done that in the blush of youth, I’d have not looked back on it as a moment of displaying much sober intelligence to the world…
But that’s the normal province of the young. So rock on, James. Have fun. Just keep your eyes open, dude. A few of us think the long game is far from decided in the NLE evolution wars.
Peace.
“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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[Christian Schumacher] “Where were you in the last six months? When Apple’s new paradigm was introduced, even a cat sleeping on a couch has become a “storyline” and it is considered an “event”. Want to add a dream sequence over it?
That’s on a “secondary storyline”…And so on…Forget any titles though, better add them on youtube.”I guess you’re not quite over the “let me be clever and wrap some ill-thought dismissal in poor argument” era.
Can I join you and be equally dismissive of the conventions that, in Avid (or Vegas, or Legacy) everything is reduced to being a “track?” (A thing that shows something has passed by learning nothing save an impression in the dust – and certainly nothing of value — behind?)
Or are you suggesting that interface designers must re-tag their interface with precision descriptors like “insert dream sequence” so that the user can comfortably do precisely that?
; )
“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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[Shane Ross] “That shows how little you know about our world. The editor needs to be a skilled storyteller too. It is a collaboration. The director isn’t in the bay just telling us what to do. We edit the footage without them there, and then they come in and give us notes.”
But Shane,
That’s just your experience.
Personally, I’ve seen so many possible permutations of what a client considers “an editor” or “a director” or “a producer” that I gave up on a single, easy to categorize definition decades ago.
It’s anything from a deeply experienced pro who understands the possibilities and limitations that makes them effective in whichever hat they’re wearing at the moment – to the idiot nephew of the financing party – who’s given the “title” to keep them out of the way.
I’ve seen “editors” who are truly just button pushers who look to the director for approval every 5 seconds, and editors where it’s obvious after 2 minutes in their suite that by far the best “direction” you can give them is to leave for a 4 hour coffee break to get out of their brains and let them do what they do really well.
The real issue, is that while good ones (most likely like you) are a joy – the reality is that with the economic downturn and gutting of the ranks of developing talent (everyone who was filtered-up out of the newbies and given raises to keep them around were also the first ones the “cost cutters” booted to cut costs) has caused a BIG gap in talent in the entire industry.
Want to find the experienced 45 years olds in this market who WERE the soul of creative industries like ours? Order a pizza. The chance is it will be delivered by a guy in that age group who can’t find work in whatever they’ve been getting good at for the past 20 years.
That, IMO, is the hidden crisis in our industry. That original vision of a cadre of “pro editors” in shops all around the planet ready to help the newbies and provide the wisdom to run the new tools? D-E-C-I-M-A-T-E-D.
I’d actually be interested in hearing from the facility guys here. Ignore the “boss” and the managers and just look at the guys in the seats that comprise your editing crew – now estimate their median age. I’d be curious as to whether it’s greater than or less than the average age of pizza delivery guys today.
Weird world we live in.
“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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[Herb Sevush] “As for the rest, the solution isn’t a better NLE, the solution is more experienced and better trained producers.”
I actually agree with Herb on this wholeheartedly.
Sadly, I don’t think we’re going to see a very large group of such “experienced producers” re-entering the business any time soon.
Most people know that I work primarily in the once lucrative corporate video space.
Nearly every quality, experienced producer I’ve ever worked with at the Fortune 500 corporate level has long been “downsized” in the rush to cut expenses starting about 4 years ago. They’ve been freelancing ever since, but since business budgets have been crunched in the same cost-savings at all costs – efforts, they’ve been forced into the “fast and cheap” space along with everyone else.
Quite a few of them have moved on, taking their experience into teaching, making their digital documentaries (good luck with that) or taking a job at Sears simply to cover the costs of keeping the lights on at home.
It may be different in the “movie making” business – but in the bread and butter “corporate production” space I’m familiar with, the entire industry is essentially being driven by well intentioned young men and women who were the administrative assistants of yesterday who had low enough entry level salaries to keep around during the crunch and are now the employees with 5 years on the job who are being asked to “supervise” whatever return to production may come down the pike.
Sadly, these young “producers” are likely NOT going to be the folks to bring back patience and a push for quality. Since they’ve likely never had much experience in translating “thinking time” into superior results.
Probably 50% of the bids I’ve been asked to generate over the past year, have been “vetted” by people with no experience in reading a quote – and the most “analytic” response I typically get is is limited to “is there a way you do this any cheaper?”
Be REALLY nice if I was wrong about this, tho.
It also makes me supremely thankful for the clients I still have that value quality and are willing to spend some money to acquire it!
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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The best way to asses this is to ask yourself the following question.
If instead of making videos, the job in question was painting the building that your offices occupy, what would you say to the boss?
You could certainly go out and buy paint sprayers, ladders, scaffolding, brushes, tarps, et al.
And let’s face it. Painting isn’t rocket science.
And video making isn’t either. However, I don’t think it would surprise anyone (even your boss) if the first dozen or two building painting jobs you did, you got pretty substandard results and made much more of a mess than a qualified professional painter.
Same thing with making videos.
Buying a camera and lights and microphones and editing software is no different than buying paint sprayers, ladders and tarps.
Oh, and that stuff, while necessary, has nearly nothing to do with picking COLORS or deciding whether to paint the trim the same or a contrasting shade. That stuff is pretty important too if you don’t want the people judging your company on the quality of the building to drive by and furrow their brows!
Good luck.
“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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[John Irvine] “Interesting idea, Bill. Will keep it in mind, but this shot needs its scenic truth!”
I completely understand that. And appreciate your desire to keep the “real” in your work.
I’ve actually spent a good bit of time recently working around architectural photographers, who’s workflow is typically about “idealizing” each part of a still image using masks, multiple exposures, and stuff like sky, grass, paint and even people replacement, as needed.
It’s a whole new perspective on the idea of what constitutes a “picture.”
“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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[David Roth Weiss] “Are you trying to be funny Bill, or is this just accidental?”
It’s “accidental” in precisely the same way that in classic debate, the “pro” or the “con” sides each argue from a point of view.
I don’t try to make the other sides points – and I’m fine that they don’t try to make mine.
That’s the difference between debate and propaganda, now isn’t it?
I know it’s a complex concept, David, but in this style of discussion, each party is not required to be “balanced” – but rather to provide the alternative view.
It’s presumed that the audience is sophisticated enough to understand that each party might well understand the positions on both sides – and perhaps even agree with some of each.
But debate utterly fails if both parties merely argue the same position.