[Chriss Williams]

Our program- a NJ State University- sends many students to work at broadcast networks in NYC (ABC, Fox, MSNBC, SYN, YES, et.) and several of our Film grads have gone to top Film Schools (USC, Chapman, Emerson). Years ago we faculty decided that exposure to both NLE’s was important since employers in our market use one or the other. Most students HATE Avid, and end up using Premiere exclusively. But they do know how to use it. Some students may get an Intro to FCPX in an Advanced class- depending on who’s teaching it.

I teach them all (along with After Effects, Photoshop, Motion, and Resolve) in a few Advanced classes. So some leave with a full knowledge of most professional media making tools.

Many student do, however, use FCPX on their laptops for personal projects (“It’s so much easier than the others” students have told me).

But the biggest reason most schools don’t teach FCPX is because in order to teach it, you need Faculty who know it. And, sadly, too many faculty are unwilling to learn anything new. For them, the switch from Legacy FCP to Premiere was, and will be, the last change they care to make.

Of course, this is Professor/Instructor specific, but it is my experience from teaching college for 20 years and speaking to faculty at Conferences that faculty adoption of FCPX is the biggest hurdle.

[Chriss Williams]

Or, of course, if they are on macs they could use iMovie, or Windows movie maker (I’ve never used it). But what I’ve seen from kids now, versus in the past, is that so long as they understand the idea of editing- IN/OUT, putting together a scene– learning any individual software package is fairly simple.

It’s amazing to watch (having come from the steenbeck days) a kid sit down at a brand new program and immediately know how to cut. And considering that they’ve had access to more films and visual media at their age than any generation previous, many already know must of the editing “creative” rules (180 degree line is the most obvious)– though they don’t realize it.

Years ago I would teach AVID over 6 meetings, now by the second, many are cutting shots together. Still, my point is whatever you may have already on the computers- is probably good enough for your needs. (Though obviously, if it’s not an issue, and you have the time to teach them, learning one of the professional programs is best.)

For the classes, someone else will have to help you as I have no real knowledge of networks. But if all the classes are already networked together via ethernet, it sounds easy, eh? (Which means it’s probably impossible).

Good Luck. Your kids are very lucky to have you.

[Chriss Williams]

Are you going to be editing alone? Or will students help? I teach college Avid, Premiere, and (some) FCPX- and if I were teaching younger kids I’d go FCPX without question because it’s so easy and intuitive, whereas I’ve used AVID for about 20 years, taught it for 10 and it continues to frustrate the newcomer. Likewise, while easier, Premiere is still hard for the non-user.

But FCPX? With its easy to use effects, titles, music, photos and its built in, makes me understand why Apple made it– for kids (Middle, HS & College) now, who will be the “Pros” in the near future.

However, if editing alone and you have CS6 or CC, they are perfect as they can handle almost any media you can throw at ’em. And if you use Photoshop or After Effects– it’s a no brainer.

For “streaming” to the classes, if they have decent WIFI, rather than dealing with “wiring” the classes, why not use something like UStream? At my College, we have several “live” events and the students shoot them in our TV studio and “broadcast” it live on to our cable network AND to UStream. So kids all around the building and campus can watch- easily, simply, without wires.

[Chriss Williams]

It’s funny, I was a long time AVID editor, so the idea of calling something important, “Scratch” never made sense to me. I learned to ignore sense when dealing with these things– the idea of a “bin” on a computer being the most obvious. And don’t get me started with the dumb Canvas/Browser & Source/Record windows.

However now, so far- I kinda like the “new” 10.1 media management. (I also NEVER put real project stuff on my system drive- it has enough to do.)