[Bill Davis]

Will be very interesting if someday, I can create my special interest video in FCP X v3, drop it to iCloud – and anyone with an Apple branded TV, an iPad or suitable box can access it via iTunes WITH the capability to drive pay per use revenue to my PayPal account.

That would kinda change everything, huh?

“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’Conner

[Bill Davis]

Because those are only “basics” to a very narrow slice of the overall programs user base.

XML, EDL, and Tape are the tools of the centralized, monolithic studio video processing model that is aging rapidly – and that production model has been under siege for well over a decade. (I can’t remember what year was it that the Academy Awards broadcast graphics package was first done by a guy in his garage rather than at a post house but I think it was around 2004!)

Only work done in the “traditional workflow” model necessitates the tools you mention.

I suspect that the vast majority of the videos made for money today are done by one-man bands and smaller, distributed teams and and they simply do not require such legacy tools to succeed.

For what it’s worth.

“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’Conner

[Bill Davis]

Sheesh, much historical myopia here?

Yeah, there are 2 million FCP seats NOW. After a decade of development.

I don’t remember these voices being around in the days when we FCP editors numbered in the hundreds – but I was. It was software that did some things well – and did a LOT of things marginally. I’ve heard EVERYTHING in these threads before – back in the day.. Over and over and over again. “It sucks” “It will NEVER be pro” It’ll never be AVID. It will never be (for gods sake!) as good as Adobe Premier.

NOW the rap is that Apple screws their customers by screwing with YOUR pet software. Sorry, but I’ve been there and heard it ALL before.

How exactly is this world view different from the dozens of raps Apple had to suffer in the past?

“Apple screws their customers by fostering a CLOSED hardware system.”
“Apple screws their customers by not using MOTOROLA chips”
“Apple screws their customers by not supporting FLASH”
“Apple screws their customers by not opening up the OS”
“Apple screws their customers by not being compatible with (insert favorite software or hardware peripheral here)

and on, and on, and on…

All of that “screwing the customers” hurt them SO much that they’ve only become second most valuable company in the US.

Clearly this indicated that they have no clue how to run their own business, right?

Or, (crazy idea here) they actually DO…

…and the resources, talent and research forces that they can wield to capitalize on the coming changes that they have seen on the horizon – are based on something that we poor editing peasants (myself included) simply haven’t seen coming. (Which IS scary, because it’s not like we’re still in the “editing skills are the key to a great living” era anymore, are we!)

We will see in a few short years whether this, the thousandth time someone has argued to me that Apple has made a BIG HAIRY ASSED MISTAKE, is somehow MORE true this time than all those many, many, many other times in the past.

But I actually try to LEARN from my past experiences. And one of them tells me not to bet against smart. And Apple proves time and time again to be a very smart company. Particularly against an array of competitors that have shown, to my eye at least, only modest innovation in the prior decade.

If FCP X makes it’s nut and clears a profit – and I can see no way that it won’t – especially considering it’s cost’s as an exclusively electronic product are NIL outside of the on-going development talent costs – it’s going to be a BEAST for those legacy companies loading boxes on trucks as a “modern” business model.

This IS a different game, folks. Just not the one many people keep insisting we’re still playing.

For a while, a ‘pro video editor” will still be someone who works in a building with a big staff and a parking lot. But like it or not, someday it will be simply a person who understands how to edit. A tablet and the cloud, if it’s someday the FUNCTIONAL equivalent of FCP 7 right now or what FCP X will become in a few years – is where the game will be played. Your log in code to the project will be ALL that separates you from your fellow editors. Whoever, wherever and whenever they are called to participate.

If you can’t see that coming. Your chosen software package will NOT protect you.

Simple as that, in my view.

If the voices squawking about FCP are right, then I think we’ll be, at worst, moving toward software Groundhog Day – a shadowless year more of legacy cardboard box software hell.

But shit, I just finally tossed my 40 lbs of FCP volume 1-6 box crap away back in January – and enjoyed the feeling of shedding the past. Times move on.

And we must all do the same, eventually.

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’Conner

[Bill Davis]

Well,

One thing I AM noticing is that on at least two of the major boards I frequent – and I’m concerned to note that this is actually one of them – there is a pretty evident sudden spate of “opinion” pieces that seem to argue in favor of a switch from FCP to Premier – and then I glance at the advertising sideboard and sure enough – I see that Adobe appears to be a significant board sponsor.

Let me be clear, I’m not implying – in any way – that either site is guilty of any form of bias whatsoever. And I know that none of my personal comments – pro OR con about anything – have ever been censored either here or on the other site I’m talking about.

I do know, however, that when I worked as a columnist in the magazine industry – the best publishers and editors had an IRON CLAD division between the advertising staff and the editorial staff. Personally, as a reader in my younger days – I always wondered when a magazine suddenly published a glowing review of a product I’d never heard of before – and two pages later I saw a full page clearly paid advertisement for that same product. But I’m skeptical that way.

I do think this discussion is important since I really enjoy this community and this board – and the DIGG example is fresh in my mind – where a site had an extremely robust and trusting community which literally went from TRUSTED to BUSTED in weeks.

THAT is scary.

For what it’s worth.

“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’Conner

[Bill Davis]

Scott,

It DOES have more. Much, much more. from background rendering to the new core database structure there’s a whole new WORLD inside FCP X.

It’s just not obvious to most people – and it is definitely NOT what they’re used to.

So their reaction is to condem it. I understand that perfectly. I’m just not interested in playing that game. My history tells me it’s a losing strategy.

Here’s a story from my past that might explain the view.

When I was young man growing up out here in Arizona, I ran into legions of transplanted “back east” newbies who showed up wearing fancy suits and who constantly complained about our “lack of culture” – Where, they asked, are the great art museums, and the great symphonys? I’d politely mention that maybe they were stuck on EUROPEAN history – yeah, they weren’t going to find the same resources for THAT out here. But if they could just change their perspective and embrace a different view of what history actually might be, they would find even older native american cultures and vast and different musical traditions like those from south america and mexico that had been around for just as long as the Bach and Brahams that they considered their former cultural touchstones.

Funny, but I’d often run into these types years and years later – wearing cut off shorts and cotton t-shirts, talking about hiking the Apache Trail, and spouting barely-understood native american lore – and – and I LOVED this – complaining about how too many newcomers were clogging the better restaurants and local events.

That is precisely where this debate is getting stuck.

It’s largely about what FCP X lacks.

But seeing something that was there – but is now missing is SUPER EASY. What’s much, MUCH more difficult is understanding something that’s never before been on your radar – and actually SEEING what it might become.

As a writer’s analogy it’s the difference between stating with a blank sheet of paper and having to create the story – as opposed to copy-editing the story that already exists. Most of the people arguing against FCP X are trying to fit it into the story of their existing workflow. I get that. It’s perfectly understandable. But that has little to do with what FCP X actually is. It’s NOT an extension of FCP 7. Never was, and NEVER will be. And that’s got a lot of people in a tizzy. But it’s a reality that MUST be grasped if people want to move on to what might be better.

As to your kvetch about “editing today’s work” what’s stopping you? Has your FCP 7 stopped functioning? Mine hasn’t. As I posted elsewhere here, it continues to percolate along – stable, capable and I know it inside and out. Will it be gone someday? Sure. Stuff changes. That’s life.

You can be the guy who sits and rails against the change. Or you can take a deep breath – know that today does NOT equal tomorrow – particularly in a world where it’s almost cliche to be an easterner today – move out west – and complain for a while -right up to the point where you discover that everything you hated about moving to the new territory is precisely what you find yourself defending in the next iteration.

Such is life.

“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’Conner

[Bill Davis]

Directing light towards shiny surfaces is often a very bad idea. It creates hot spots and highlights that are very hard to control.

You don’t actually want to light the white board. You want to light a bright, even thing that the white board can REFLECT back to the camera.

The shower curtain idea is a great place to start. Diffuse the three Arris – (at full spread beam) onto the fabric that spreads the beam out – then set your white board so that it refllects the light from that large, softly glowing white surface.

Light any people in the shot separately.

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’Conner

[Bill Davis]

Look, it’s very, very hard to change people’s thinking.
You’re thinking this should be FCP 8. Lose nothing, increment changes.
The development team skipped 8 and 9 and went directly to X.
Do you not understand this? Does the blazing sign embodied in the program name itself need to be even clearer?
This is NOT the FCP you knew last month. Get over it.

Neither you nor I are the great exemplar of understanding what editing software must become in order to succeed in the rapidly changing world of modern computing.

You, I, the dev team, it’s quite possible for anyone to misunderstand a market – go in a wrong direction – or see something in the future that those not so closely involved inside the industry may not be able to clearly yet see.

Embrace what it is. Get stuck where you are and moan about what it isn’t. But sorry, you simply can’t convince me that this sucks simple because it isn’t what YOU thought it should be.

I’m seeing things in it that i LOVE – and the more I use it, the more it smells like the future to me.

You think I have a rose shoved up against my nostrils and can’t fathom the stink. And I think you have a cold and can’t smell out the big fresh change on the wind.

One of us is dead wrong. Heck, maybe BOTH of us is wrong and this will end up being something neither of us can see this early.

But a “the sky is falling” rant such as yours had better be backed up with some compelling reasoning as to WHY this whole new foundational approach is off – or you’re just nattering. And I don’t see anything close to that in your post.

Is leveraging the Core Services built into the new OS a stupid concept? Why will moving from a linear to a more relational database structure in the code prove to be LESS useful? Is sripping down the old bloated code so that it can be distributed electronically rather than pressed onto plastic and boxed in dead trees a foolish choice?

A lot is changing here. But I don’t think you can see the forest for the trees. And you probably think I’m just another fanboy. We’ll see who’s right eventually. Maybe.

Such is life.

“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’Conner

[Bill Davis]

Andres,

Since you asked directly about my feelings about the “core market” I’d like to respond to that.

(I actually just published a feature-length Word Press article for another site on just this topic)

Look, anything that can be described with the term “core market” has the characteristic of being insular and self perpetuating. That is EXACTLY what I think FCP X is trying to break down and re-invent.

I think the NLE industry was following the Detroit Auto Industry model lately – they changed colors, picked new seat cover designs, occasionally stuck some mods under the hood (Adobe. for example, is very good in making their recently revived but still old-style cars work better – and as with SUVs they will likely increase market share in the short run and make some good coin because they’re working hard to improve their entrenched position) – but in the end, making incremental additions to the big, old fashioned steel boxes that the industry was once based on is, IMO, a very bad long-term strategy.

It fails to move the wider car industry forward. And history tells us that innovation is what truly wins in the long run – NOT incremental tinkering.

The Japanese car companies figured that out at the end of the 1950s – re-tooled for smaller, more fuel efficient cars with better technology and ATE Detroit for lunch for a generation.

The HUGE problem is that after another generation, Detroit went right back to the old “big and bloated is better” thinking and led us into the SUV-era pandering to people with huge, inefficient metal boxes designed to appeal to vanity rather than intellect. Want one of those today? The used car lots are awash with them and nobody wants one when gas is hovers between 3 and 4 bucks a gallon. (something that could have been easily predicted a generation ago.)

Imagine where the US car culture might have been if Detroit had actually learned from the past and bit the bullet to develop something different in the 1990s. If all that energy and money that went into the development of the Escalade had gone into electrics, or hybrids or developed something transformative – you and I would walk into a car showroom today – or shop on the net – and we’d have multiple models of actually fuel efficient, affordable choices. And Detroit might lead the world wide auto industry and be a big factor in driving down US debt. But no. We have waiting lines for the few electric models that are seeping out from our overseas competitors – after Detroit quite literally crushed even the successful models like the EV-1 that were the initial hope for innovation. It’s pitiful leadership that protects the status quo even when it’s obviously becoming obsolete before our very eyes.

I simply admire people (and companies) who are interested in working towards what’s next – and less interested in hanging on to what was once an arbitrary standard.

It’s sticking around verses moving forward.

It’s why I spent yesterday in the studio with a fellow video pro crafting new interview looks with my LED and fluorescent lights.

Tungsten is old school now. I’m not throwing it out – but you can bet your ass I’m heading towards the new era where cool, power efficient and lighter gear will win over dragging heavy and energy inefficient tungsten kits around.

Same with my NLE. And that’s where I see FCP X going.

“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’Conner

[Bill Davis]

I’ll go check my bible.

I’m sure “the inability to import 2240×960” is directly mentioned as a sign of the apocalypse somewhere.

Boil ALL this piss and vinegar down and it distills to one simple sentence.

This is what **I** want right this minute – so everyone stop and listen to me so I can have what I need to be happy immediately. Which as the father of a teenager, I THOUGHT that I had just recently escaped – and considered the single MOST annoying stage in human discussion development!

Look, if there are actually a large enough percentage of editors that feel they must import 2240×960 footage, it will fail. But I’m guessing not. Most people will figure out what the FCP X timeline likes (just as in DV, DVCPro50 and DSLR workflows) and learn to shoot that.

This is how the business world has always operated. The only difference is that this same discussion took place in Guild Halls, on Shop Floors and in bar conversation between small groups. Now it happens on the net in front of everyone.

The signal to noise ratio of the whole FCP X discussion is, in my estimation, horrible.

But it will be fun to look back to all this immaculately archived public prognosticating in 5 years or so and maybe remember who figured things out and who couldn’t see the forest for the trees.

This post is now going to be part of my searchable public record for the rest of my career. (Hi, future!) Reasonableness, fear, loathing, courtesy or dis-courtesy locked in bits and bytes for the world to reference.

It’s a brave new era here. Enjoy.

“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’Conner

[Bill Davis]

I think Craig has a lot worthy to say in his analysis.

However, I don’t think the Esperanto thing is all that close on point.

I see it more as the computer industry acknowledging that the pervious books, written in LATIN are nearing the end of their useful life.

A lot of people at the top of society are trained in Latin – and those monks and educated folk are angry to see that their skill set is looking pretty dated in the face of the inroads that Spanish, Dutch and whatever are making. Now we see a new language emerging. They’re not asking it to be Esperanto and trying to unite whole world into a common language base – They’re looking at creating something more like English, I think – a somewhat more modern way to arrange words – with links to the past languages – but that moves the root language structures into something more modern.

But gutting the old sputtering code base of FCP – while critical to a lot of us here – ignores the fact that what’s really changing is modern computer engineering and silicone design. THAT is what’s pushing a lot of the re-write of FCP. Not the interface. It’s the core that they blew up. They actually left a LOT of the interface design intact – while concentrating in the first iteration on showing what the brand new CORE could do well.

YOU may want to cling to the LATIN. I see the value of letting it evolve into something better.

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’Conner