[Clint Wardlow]

[Kevin Patrick] “Perhaps I missed the point to your post. Are you concerned that Apple might drop the existing firewire capture capability that FCP X currently has? Making it much more difficult to capture your old analog stuff?”

I think my fear, assuaged somewhat by Jeremy, is that in the move to embrace all new and shiny technology, the rush towards a “tapeless” environment will make it impossible for folks like me that still embrace old technology as part of our palate. I consider myself an experimental filmmaker. I am not worried about loss of old analog tapes shot in the deep dark past, but stuff I create currently using old technology.

I still shoot using VHS or Betacam sometimes. I recently purchased a refurbished Mattel Pixelvision camera (but to be fair it was modified so it can record to another video source than the audio cassette originally used). I’ll even occasionally shoot using my Beauleau 4008 super8 film camera. It is not necessarily all about visual clarity with me. I like the feel you can get with old video and film cameras. Each format has a distinctive look that often creates a mood I seek.

I realize that this kind of puts me as the odd man out here as I am not usually shooting or cutting for a “client.” I create a lot of projection pieces for art openings and live band performances. Or I make many films that are not traditional or linear in nature. So I realize my needs are kind of specialized.

Sometimes I feel like one of those photographers that purposely works in large film formats and prints using wet collodion plates.

[Clint Wardlow]

[Jeremy Garchow] “Using a capture card and the proper drivers, you can can capture video without any NLE at all. You will need a capture card from AJA, Balackmagic, Matrox, etc, and the proper video deck.”

Thanks Jeremy. This is an area I really need to increase my knowledge. I have basically been using vintage decks and inputting them into my Sony camcorder to create DV tapes. Being able to capture directly onto my computer would be a big help. You think I would know more about this considering I shoot in many old formats from pixelvision to betacam.

So as long as companies like AJA and Blackmagic are around and I can dig up the hardware (which is becoming increasingly more difficult with stuff like Betamax decks) I am still okay.

Apple and FCPX has nothing to do with it.

[Clint Wardlow]

Actually the whole FCPX thing has really made me rethink the way I use NLEs.
I am one of those that jumped ship to Adobe, and as much as I am loving the Adobe Production Suite, I find myself jumping back and forth between FCS and Adobe. And I am loving this new way of working. Frankly, as much as I dislike the magnetic timeline, I can see a future in which I also incorporate FCPX into my new NLE jumping editing practices.
That is why I like this forum so much. Reading Jeremy and others keeps me up to date with what is happening with FCPX. It is this debate forum that will aid me in my decision of just when to purchase FCPX, next update or later.
Far from being dead, my thinking has changed to the idea that FCPX can be another, albeit different, tool in my arsenal. Now if I can only pony up the cash for AVID also I would be a truly happy camper.

[Clint Wardlow]

[Dennis Radeke] “I think one of the key ideas about Story is that it’s not necessarily about writing the script in Story. The value is in the rich metadata the story you write represents…

What I mean is that you should continue to write in Word and then import it into Story and have all of that data move directly to the clips and the actual production. While we strive to make the creation of scripts easier and more powerful in Story, I think our primary goal is connecting the script to the media in a new and powerful way.”

That is what I find so interesting, its ability to to connect with Premiere and On Location. Also its online collaboration capabilities.

As an experiment, I have started a script project in it that I will be shooting in Utah this spring. I am writing it in Story and have added two of my collaborators through share. We plan to use Story all the way from preproduction through post.

I am kind of exited to see how Story performs for the total film-making process. This will determine whether I will pony up the cash for the subscription fees after April.

Maybe Cow will soon start a Story forum (I hope). It would be fun to post the results of my working with the app.

[Clint Wardlow]

[James Culbertson] “Apple created software. A small group of vocal FCP users created drama around it. Most editors, producers, directors,… have barely noticed (if they have noticed at all).”

I am kind of curious where you got this information. Did you take a survey? Though it is only anecdotal, most of the editors I personally know are talking up a storm about FCPX and its implications.

[James Culbertson] “Have any of you considered therapy?”

Nope. Have you?

[Clint Wardlow]

[Joseph W. Bourke] “I worked and played with the early versions of Story, and, at the time, gave up on it temporarily because it wouldn’t import Word documents in column form, which is how I write my scripts (most of my clients – industrials – work in Word as well).”

I am not sure how well it plays with Word as of yet. I also feel its scriptwriting tools are very basic currently (Final Draft is in no danger as of yet). However, I think its strongest potential is in its online capabilities and a strong set of tools that allow you to import from various formats and integrate into other Adobe Products.

Of course it is free until April 2011–then once your hooked they will zing you with a subscription fee.

It just makes me feel that Adobe is working towards innovations that will require a minimum of change to workflow habits. Whereas FCPX (which admittedly has great potential also) wants me to relearn everything to take advantage of their innovations.

[Clint Wardlow]

I forgot to mention Movie Magic Screenwriter which is the other Hollywood standard for screenwriting. What I find interesting about Story is you can import both Final Draft and Movie Magic (along with Word or Celtx) formats in, work on them, and then import them back out in original format.

[Clint Wardlow]

[Bill Davis] “It’s gonna take a few years, but I’m still betting that big and monolithic is going to eventually fall to smaller and more agile.

Happened with music playback, telephones, and computers – and it’s GOING to happen with video production at all but the highest end. It’s inevitable.”

While this may be true to a certain extent, the “small and agile” then transforms into the “big and monolithic.”

In all these transformative movements, the window for the little guy to make real money is brief and it is large corporate entities that really benefit.

A prime example would be Jeremy’s list of top youtube earners. Not one of them makes a fraction of what Leonardo DiCaprio gets for a movie appearance or Hugh Laurie gets for a season of House or Lady Gaga gets in her record contract.

Whatever the outcome of FCPX, I think history has proven that the “big and monolithic” reap the windfall. The little guy may be able to cut himself a very small piece of the pie (or transform himself into one of the big and monolithic if his timing is right) and maybe FCPX can aid that process. But to think that is going to change because of any innovations is a tad starry-eyed IMHO.

[Clint Wardlow]

[Jeremy Garchow] “Nope, but there’s a program that will translate the FCPx timeline to FCP7 which can give an EDL. $50.”

Unfortunately, she doesn’t have FCP7 (or really any editing system beyond imovie which came on her mac).

Confession time: one of the reasons I was aiming her towards FCPX is personal. I am sure her movie-making enterprise is going to involve me. Unlike most folks on this forum who make their living editing for hire, editing other people’s stuff generally bores me to tears.

But she is my friend, and I do want to help her. I don’t own FCPX and by convincing her to buy it, I could get a chance to play around in it on her imac while I teach her how to edit. Now I am afraid it is going to be me doing the editing on my system in either Premiere or FCP7 while she watches (I don’t think she is willing to lay out the bucks to purchase the Adobe software and I am not even sure she can get a copy of FCS anymore).

[Clint Wardlow]

Actually, now that I think about it, the one thing she would need would be EDL which FCPX doesn’t have.