Bill Davis
Forum Replies Created
-
[Walter Soyka] “[Bill Davis] “So while FCP-X may do nothing for you right now. If it catches fire over the next few years, It is GOING to drive innovation across the industry in ways that I simple don’t think it’s competitors can do.”
Such as?
“
Well,
I think the “elevation” of general purpose video editing into a mainstream form of communication is liable to be transformative. There will always be professional editors with high level skills and business models that drive their work and paychecks. But up to this point in history, it wasn’t really possible for specialized skills such as video editing to spread out of the pro shops and into the larger population. Today, I know a lot of business owners who are increasingly “video fluent.” It’s the guy who owns the dog training operation shooting his own training sessions, editing the results and using it just like the sports teams do to drive performance. It’s the small business woman who figures out that she CAN set up a camera and even if she’s not completely smooth and professional, can do a credible job of demonstrating her new product or service.
There was a point in human history when the ability to read and write was the great distinguisher between those who had the best chance of upward mobility and those who didn’t.
It’s interesting to imagine what “visual communication skills” will enable for people who have them in the future.
As an example, just based on my corporate work over the past few decades, I’ve seen a lot of circumstances where corporate team members with “video chops” moved ahead of competitors who didn’t understand the communicative power of video or who couldn’t face the lights and look capable.
I’m not contending that there’s any direct causal connection between editing skills and general life success. But as video creation skills spread, I bet that we see more and more “non-pros” using the technology to drive the kind of financial and business results that not long ago HAD to rely on specialists.
Just thinking out loud.
“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
-
[Simon Ubsdell] “Printing them up now – what’s your size?
“I normally wouldn’t even respond to this – but after a many, many month long dedication to improving my personal health – I’m ecstatic to report that over the past couple of years I’ve dropped from a 2XL to a simple large!
Which means when I actually win a “gimme” t-shirt these days – at least I can actually wear it!
(it’s never too late folks, I’m proof!)
“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
-
[Walter Soyka] “You’re probably doing mostly video editorial; I’m doing mostly animation, motion graphics, and compositing at larger-than-HD resolutions. We have different goals, different workflows, and different needs.”
Granted, Walter.
But one of the “keys” here is which is the question the broadest market needs answered?
Walter, I want you to have the solutions you need. I even want you to have an array of choices on how you solve your needs. But (and it’s a HUGE “but”) – I don’t want you to have those solutions if giving those to you means that every single company that makes the solutions has to limit their thinking to how they are going to meet your needs. Because your needs are niche needs. And it’s a shrinking niche.
I actually think that is how innovation gets stifled.
And looking back, you have to admit that the very company that used to be the “outlier” in editing – Apple, eventually re-invented and re-popularized the field to the point where the industry got a LOT healthier. (Remember the cost of an AVID system compared to a FCP rig back in 2006 or so?) that “popularization” led to development – and to the high end migrating to and using the same tools that the industrial and “resume movie” makers largely paid to develop.
So while FCP-X may do nothing for you right now. If it catches fire over the next few years, It is GOING to drive innovation across the industry in ways that I simple don’t think it’s competitors can do.
And in ways that those competitors CERTAINLY can’t do if they have to keep their focus on a shrinking (albeit high end) market such as episodic TV and feature shops.
In this economic environment where the economists have been saying “grow or die” for a decade – I’d like to know how PPro or AVID stand to “grow” when they can’t really offer something that the middle or the low end wants? Are there enough seats at the top of the heap to drive a profitable editing software development industry? I certainly hope so, but I’m concerned.
Their “base” isn’t growing. It’s shrinking. Everyone at the bottom can get free editing tools. In the middle, there’s FCP-X at $350 a seat (with Motion) and there are a few players at the top end fighting for the seats in the commercial editing shops.
That’s a pretty scary scenario for editing as an industry.
I just think it’s time to be very careful out there.
Flux happens. And we’re in the middle of a big one.
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
-
Just to add another voice…
I started with no crashes at all. Probably my first 2 weeks. That was with relatively “low stress” projects. DV footage, no complex fonts, and I was keystroking moderately since I was “feeling out” the software.
Then I migrated to more complex projects. At one point, I started getting crashes. For a short period, I had 3-4 a day when I was working on some DSLR projects with more complex timelines including relatively large imported photos.
I haven’t had a program with a large number of big photos lately, but I did notice than after the two subsequent FCP-X updates, my timelines, my footage, and the speed of my use of the program have all increased significantly – and I haven’t had a crash in weeks.
It’s really hard to diagnose other people’s machines, software, and setups. In the past I’ve seen too many posts where someone was having a horrible time – only to find that in a week or so they discovered some “individually specific” cause – perhaps a RAM chip gone bad, a bad font, a behind the scenes program (remember how evil INITS used to screw things up in the old days!) or some other issue specific to that particular editors system that did not effect the general editor.
This is a hassle and I feel for the OP. Because I’ve been there when it was MY machine that wasn’t working right when everyone else’s was.
But I’ve got to report that X and Lion are working fine together on my MacBook Pro. (I just ordered a new Open CL compatible graphics card so I can also start cutting on my MacPro system – but I’m so happy with my laptop performance that I’m not sure I’m going to migrate even when I can.
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
-
[Simon Ubsdell] “Persuading people that you’ve got something worth saying is arguably more important in this field than actually having something important to say.
“This, my friend, deserves a t-shirt!
“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
-
[Christian Schumacher] “https://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/11/stale-mac-pro-lineup-has-pro-user…
The natives are getting restless…Apple have already thrown a lot in the trash bin.”
Saw that in Ars nearly a month ago and it instantly reminded me that this whole discussion of “dumped the pros” is like deja vu.
I heard the EXACT same things when I tried to talk folks into giving FCP V1 a try back at the end of 2000.
I’ve learned to take all the “it’s NOT for PRO use” talk with a huge grain of salt since I’ve watched countless times as the market decided that something totally inadequate for “professional” work – swept the market and eventually became the darling of the same pros who dismissed it most loudly upon inception.
Off the top of my head…
DV vs Beta-cam
Laserwriters vs Linotronics
H4ns vs Nagras
LEDs vs HMIsClearly I’m NOT saying that the former is superior to the latter. (in most cases, the exact opposite is clearly true.) I’m saying that the VALUE PROPOSITION of the former created an income stream so significant that the marketers of the former eventually BECAME the companies who were healthy enough to continue to advance and grow and move their products firmly into the professional space.
If the “laptop lines” are the production lines humming in the manufacturers plants around the world – it just stands to reason that they resources are going to go there first.
Personally I’d LOVE to see Apple ZAG once again while the market keeps ZIGGING and introduce some new component-able building block monster desktop array that lets you pick and choose the blocks you need right up to the bleeding edge. That makes a LOT more sense to me than building heavy blocks of (albeit beautifully milled) aluminum that cook away under the desk and are a kind of a hassle to transport, connect, and upgrade.
I’m doing end of year cleaning in the studio, and I just came across a big box of about 2 dozen AppleTalk boxes and maybe 150 feet of attendant cable. I also know that there’s probably 200 feet of various signal and power cables in service to the Audio/Computer/Cinema Display and NTSC monitors around the system I’m typing this on.
It seems SO old fashioned when compared to my MacBook Pro that does nearly everything the MacPro does, but without all the attached crap.
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
-
[Simon Ubsdell] “I had to read this twice before I could get my head around the fact that this is the same Bill Davis who has been so consistently and volubly lauding the democratisation of video editing (or shall we just call it the “advent of cheap editing software”?) as the best thing since the invention of the sliced loaf 😉
Sorry, Bill – a cheap shot, I know, but just too tempting to be ignored.”
Fair criticism.
However, I don’t see “democritization” as the the same as “lowering standards.”
One implies that everybody has the same access to the tools necessary to improve.
That IS NOT the same as arguing that just because you CAN do something, that the market shouldn’t also judge how well you do it.
Every professional on this board had to learn to take criticism – and use it to drive improvement. Criticism is inescapable. Particularly in a craft where everyone who watches what we do generally feels they’re qualified to critique it.
If I was harsh to the OP -that was NOT my intent. But my intent WAS to point out that sitting at a microphone and “real time” narrating a disjointed overview that has little structure, is un-edited (yet designed for EDITORS?!) and is a bit long on self indulgent elements like the time in the beginning devoted to branding, driving Twitter and Facebook traffic, and generally messing around before any actual content was delivered – was NOT the sign of someone who is serious about providing value to their audience.
No big sin, that. It’s simply the mark of an amateur. And while we were all amateurs once, I still think it’s fair to point out the difference – if for no other reason than those who are thinking about doing something similar might be driven to take their work more seriously.
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
-
I don’t want to be harsh here, but with the advent of cheap “instruction” software and the ability of every and anyone to set up a “screen recording” and a microphone and pretend to be an instructor – are we join to be forever having to wade through content like this?
I know the guy is doing nothing but trying to share knowledge, but it appears that without so much as an OUTLINE – let alone an actual “lesson plan” we’re getting treated to a raft of people who think that launching a program and wandering around in it while describing it in real time is worth presenting to the world via the web…
This is worse than when Desktop Publishing came out and everyone was suddenly a “type designer.”
Sigh.
“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
-
Their marketing department should be able to direct you to an internal FTP site that has what you need.
What you download from there is purpose designed for public promotion and will free you from copyright issues so long as you are sent the link through legitimate company channels.
Whoever your contact is at the business that reps HP will surely have the company contact you need.
If you go outside the company chain, you might end up dealing with either grey or black market channels that could put you at some risk.
If the seller you’re working with doesn’t have legit company contacts, it’s not a good sign.
Be a bit careful.
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
-
Another thing we agree on Walter!
My thanks to all as well.
It’s been stimulating, educational and downright fun.
Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate it!“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