[Bill Davis]

[Franz Bieberkopf] “I agree the source / record analogy in FCP and other NLEs comes from broadcast. I am looking at the timeline.

I am talking specifically about the approach to editing – the idea that you cut an A-roll and “cut away” to B-roll. This approach seems built-in to the Primary Storyline model (with attached clips).
“

I think apple used the useful part of that method (connected clips essentially ARE cutaways, aren’t they?) but just extended it so that instead of it being fixed single use thing – it became a very flexible thing.

That’s the point of the new Auditions idea. The cutaway can be a “container” for choices, if you so choose.

Different, but not just different to be different, different to add value.

“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

[Bill Davis]

I’m trying to look back and see a time that Apple (at least under Jobs) was ever a “bet hedger.”

Sink or swim, what makes them Apple is partly the willingness to push for better than “we do that too.”

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

[Bill Davis]

[Franz Bieberkopf] “Something about your post and the recent tutorials by Andy Neil seemed to crystallize an impression I’ve had. What you are talking about is class A-roll, B-roll editing – Andy’s tutorial is base on it – and this comes from broadcast (and if I’m not mistaken, it comes from broadcast news practice).

It seems like this is the paradigm that FCPX is designed around: The primary storyline is the A roll against which the various B roll elements are cut.”

Franz,

I couldn’t disagree more. I guess you can make that point if you narrow the question to the timeline ONLY. But in point of fact, a tremendous amount of the old A/B roll paradigm is precisely what X has stripped away.

It was based almost totally on hardware. (yippie, I used an italic rather than just CAPS – I’m learning!) The editor had one or more physical source decks – that fed a switcher with a Source Monitor (the Viewer in Legacy)- which in turn fed one record deck (the Canvas.)

That arrangement was driven by the tapes and decks hardware world. Only as “sources” morphed into digital streams that were disconnected from hardware was a change in the editing tradition possible.

Every NLE I’ve ever used or seen (not all, but many) were based on this tradition because thats what “editors” expected.

FCP-X still has a “timeline” metaphor in the form of the Primary Storyline – (tho it’s characteristics have clearly been changed) but upstream and downstream of that it’s very different in how it handles the editorial process.

My view, anyway.

“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

[Bill Davis]

[Rafael Amador] “How many languages do you use in a normal job?
rafael
“

Just for fun, here’s my answer after a moment of thought…

According to my wife, many.

I use rational language, emotional language, visual language, auditory language, high-level language, low-level language, even (I bet if you asked her on a day of conflict) stupid language.

So lots and lots and lots of different languages are arguably in use by every person in any particular day.

Is that germane?

“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

[Bill Davis]

[Herb Sevush] “But I thought I count as an “everyone” and I’m opposed to the idea of any type of prayer in a public school. Not trying to make this a political thread, just pointing out that you often argue from a point of view that intimates that your personal experience is universal, when it isn’t.”

Herb,

You’re correct. Actually, I pushed the rhetorical point too far. And so publicly apologize to any agnostics, ignostics, or just plain folks who don’t want this distracting diversion. And I acknowledge that I’m prone to falling into the very same trap I often argue against — thinking that my experiences should be relevant to all.

I must say that if you look over my writing here overall, I’m more often part of the minority than the majority. So in that sense, I believe my views help present a bit of “check and balance” to some running trends and that may contribute to a broader picture for the lurkers – but I also freely admit that balance is in the eye of the beholder. So your point stands.

“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

[Bill Davis]

[David Lawrence] “This is a statement of absolute fact. A new visitor looking to this forum for information, not knowing where you’re coming from could easily read it that way. If you’ve talked to the engineers and they’ve told you this, awesome, please say more. If not, then I think you should expect some push back when you make this kind of argument.

Also, you do know it’s common netiquette that anything in all caps IS CONSIDERED YELLING, right?

Just say’in 😉
“

Yeah, and push back is fair. I can handle that.

As to the caps thing, I struggle with that. In all my years of writing, I had access to quotes, italics, bolds and underscores. As I migrated to newsgroup posts, those kind of conditional markings all too often ended up looking like: “what I <%said%> meant no offense… so I kinda devolved into using caps as a reliable emphasis tool. I know that in strict “texting” circles it’s considered yelling, and I try not to do it, but I find myself in mid thought and feel the need to EMPHASIZE a word for meaning and I’m too stuck in my traditional keyboarding ways to catch myself FAR too often.

(It was easier for the decade I wrote on deadline for the magazine, since there was a copy editor between me and my readers to make sure I didn’t screw up like that. I miss the convenience!)

I apologize for any impression of impoliteness that it communicates. That’s never my intent. And I’ll try harder to remember it in the future.

“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

[Bill Davis]

[David Lawrence] “has arguably become the best in its industry.”

Well, there’s the rub.

Is “the industry” – limited to the needs of the top pro facilities editors?
Or does apple see it as the wider world of ALL those who need to edit video at a level higher than iMovie can accommodate?

Does the editor working on the video for the local car dealership, the municipal water district, or the university sports team deserve to have their wants and needs prioritized right alongside those of the feature film or the episodic TV editor?

I don’t know the answer to that, btw.

I just know that the question reminds me of the classic conundrum of prayer in public schools. Like everyone else, I’m all for them – just as long as *I* get to decide which ones. Its when somebody else gets to set the prayer agenda, that we tend to bristle.

And so it goes.

“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

[Bill Davis]

Fair enough, Herb.

I haven’t read the book so I’m not qualified to comment.

Did enjoy the movie, modestly. So that’s my only reference point.

Thanks for the time to respond.

“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

[Bill Davis]

[Jamie Franklin] “Yes Bill…I notice where this is trending. I disagree, or don’t have an appreciation for it simply for the very fact it’s just a silly gimmick to throw an edit suite on an 9inch pad and would be nothing more than a toy…. You want it, all the power to you…hope you get it…more gadgets NEED MORE GADGETS! I hope it makes pancakes too”

All I can tell you is that everyone want to tell time.

Once, that meant you had to look at the sun or the shadows and guesstimate.
That led to sundials. Then clocks. Then digital clocks.

Now, you probably have fifty clocks in your life. Your computer has one, your microwave has one, your phone has one.

The utility of the clock was strong enough to adapt that from a “specialist” tool in the tower in the center or town, into something that migrated to the class of “people who NEED to monitor time” like train conductors or a watchmen – then it spread out to the general population.

If you don’t think manipulating time based visual information (of which video is ONE form) will become a general purpose task, fine. I do.

Just like magic markers made “sign construction” a thing that could be done by any shop keeper who cared to. Yeah, there are still pro sign painters. But the service is not RARE anymore – there’s an AlphaGraphics (or 20) in every community of size on the planet. Signs are a Commodity.

Face it. Video is becoming exactly that..

A few firms have the expertise to put gigantic signs up on stadiums. And some folks with superior artistic chops make really, really pretty ones. But day to day – you need a simple sign, you pull out a magic marker and make your own or perhaps have a buddy who has some modest artistic talent make one for you (nearly everyone knows someone like that in the modern world). Cuz once the world is awash with magic markers – it’s not exclusively a specialists task anymore.

Simple as 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

[Bill Davis]

Okay, now I get the context.

Herb, I’m interested in how you see it.

This guy seems to be saying that in our industry, leveraging content for additional use (I guess kinda the equivalent of business metrics that focus on generating “incremental sales” in retailing.) is a big potential profit driver that should be taken very seriously.

Are you saying that this *isn’t* the case in media production, that it “shouldn’t” be – or maybe that a video asset is something essentially different from any other type of business asset?

This has clearly put a thorn in your side.

I’m honestly interested in your view.

“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