[Tim Wilson]

[Simon Ubsdell] “Call me crazy, but sometimes FCP X is just perfect for what I need to do.

And sometimes it’s Premiere.

And sometimes it’s Media Composer.

And sometimes it’s Resolve.

And so on.

I guess I need therapy.”

Not on this evidence. ????

Although I can see why some people would call you crazy for not just paying lip service to “using the right tool for the job” but actually THINKING about the best tool, and CHOOSING them on a project-by-project basis. Surely the definition of insanity. ????

[Tim Wilson]

[Mark Suszko] “add auto audio transcription and open and closed-captioning to FCPX”

I want to emphasize OPEN captions. Premiere is doing this better than anyone right now, but it needs to be better. You’re right, Mark — automatic is ideal! And completely do-able!

[Tim Wilson]

Yes, Mike, thanks! What a great story! Exactly what I was looking for.

To clarify for anyone else who’d like to chime in, by “using Resolve for heavy lifting as an NLE” I just meant as their primary NLE, whether for one project, or overall.

[Mike Parfit] “as Grant said more than once in the press conference, color is emotional. Just as I incorporate music very early in the editing process, so I want to see what my color is doing, or can do, early on.”

I couldn’t agree more with this. Although I haven’t really edited since the turn of the century, you describe my style to a T. Most of what I did was science and nature magazine stuff, so there was a heavy emphasis on facts (back when people cared about ANY of those things, much less ALL of them ????), but I always went straight for the emotional beats.

I did most of my own shooting, so I always had my cameras tuned to within an inch of their lives, and I placed tremendous effort into the most classical sense of “framing”and composing even the most prosaic shots, but I still couldn’t imagine a single final shot in post without multiple masks for adjusting color, focus, etc. For me at the time, it was first After Effects, then later, because I could do it faster in my NLE I turned to Boris FX for the majority of it, saving AE for my mograph finesse. Working in an NLE tuned for grading from the outset would have been a dream for me.

(btw, none of this should be taken as any suggestion that I was any good. ???? But a man’s gotta have goals, and them were mine.)

Again noting that I haven’t edited in 18 years, which is now almost the amount of time I DID edit before that (and some notion of how long I’ve been at this game), so I’m no position to endorse anything even by implication….but like you, Mike, I very strongly responded to Grant’s description of the emotional intent of the control surface, and by extension, that dimension of Resolve itself. That’s what I responded to you in your description as well!

It’s taking me a bit longer than anticipated to put together proper coverage of the event yesterday (surprise!!!), but for anyone who missed it, I do still recommend watching the full 80-minute+ press conference. Here’s the link again. Grant strikes a number of beats that some folks might not expect — you’ve probably not seen many CEOs dismantle their featured product with a Torx wrench mid-demo — but I especially appreciated the emphasis on the different needs that “an editor who grades” and “a color grader” might have from a control surface, and how the Mini in particular is aimed at people who edit and grade in particular.

It’s highly likely to me that the control surface will actually make some converts to Resolve as an NLE. My highly inappropriate (and oft-to-be-revisited) jokes about handling DaVinci’s balls notwithstanding, it’s not like other control surfaces, certainly not in this new price range.

There’s also a fundamental difference between external hardware controls to a software application (say, a Wacom tablet for FCPX or After Effects or whatever), and finally having affordable access to the heart of the way that the application was always designed to be used. There was never intended to be any difference between hardware and software. It’s not like a keyboard. The two are one.

Resolve is obviously entirely capable in its software-only state, which is how it has reshaped so much in this business so quickly. Still, the kinds of advanced features and finesse now literally at your fingertips, though, in a physical interface meant to be used emotionally, and dare I say it, intuitively, potentially facilitate new kinds of expression in the context of nonlinear editing.

Certainly new dimensions of expressiveness. It’s the functional equivalent of plugging in. This obviously isn’t only true for Resolve. I hope you’ve all had a chance to see a world class grader work. It’s like watching a DJ, except that they never take their eyes off the screen. So it’s also kinda magical, too. Bringing this magic into the heart of editing, made possible with the reunified hardware-software interface, strikes me as a big deal.

This is, needless to say, another example of my enthusiasm getting the better of me. ???? This forum’s history is replete with them, as so many people here are so fond of reminding me of, going back to my prediction before it was even released that FCPX would have 10x the customers that FCP ever did by the end of its first year. And I stand by that prediction, dammit! ????

Anyway, thanks again, Mike! I appreciate your insights on using Resolve to edit, and am reminded by your description of your specific approach so similar to mine that it’s always going to be part of who I am. It’s easy to forget when we intentionally wrap ourselves around the axles of a million passing arguments that this stuff can actually matter in how we live our lives and express our creative intent.

[Tim Wilson]

Thanks for the kind words…but that was just a summary of my tweets, not my summary of the actual presentation. LOL That’s coming soon. I’m working on it tonight, but we’ll see if I can get it posted tonight or if it’ll wait until tomorrow…but soon! And thanks!

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t paying as much attention to software feature advances as I was to the rest, though. The hardware blew me away, both in features and price. I’m really looking to getting my hands on it, though. I think a lot of people who haven’t run their fingers across DaVinci’s balls don’t know how smooth and responsive they feel.

???? LOL

So, the combination of those prices with the promise of that solidity and finesse is highly intriguing to me. I love Grant’s point that some of DaVinci’s most refined features had always been designed to be accessed via the control surface, and used emotionally as much as anything else, without stopping the playback and without taking your eyes off the screen. Powerful stuff.

Beyond the basics, you guys are right. This is THOUGHT-PROVOKING stuff. Blackmagic are not just releasing products. They’re trying to change the game, every time. And generally, apparently, succeeding!

I already noted one of the other things that most caught my ear, Grant’s statement that more people are using Resolve to edit than to grade. On one hand, surely true. There are more editors than graders, right? Of course, it’s also conceivable to me that they simply HEAR from more editors. The grading toolset is mature, and most longtime colorists are pretty chill. ???? Kind of a job requirement.

Unlike editors. LOL The list of requests is long, adamant, and LOUD, and the number of people wanting to see this stuff in action NOW is obviously long. Not much chill in these parts. LOL

I know that almost all of you have it least taken Resolve for a spin. Any of you using it as an NLE for any heavy lifting?

[Tim Wilson]

I was just live-tweeting it, and there’s a ton of great info there if I say so myself. LOL https://twitter.com/CreativeCOW

I’m going to be writing some things up in detail, but a few things jumped out at me.

“More people are using Resolve to edit than to do color correction.” If Grant Petty says it, I believe it, but I thought that this would be a fun soundbite to throw to you sharks. ????

Pics from the YT feed, so kind of gnarly for now:

Micro Panel, USB-C powered, backlit, $995.

Mini Panel, designed especially for people who bounce back and forth between editing and grading. Upper buttons loaded with options, macros, etc. Easily portable, rack width (sez me: flypack!!!), $2995.

Back: power from mains, battery AND PoE.

The thing that really jumps out at me about this is that the emphasis is on a combination of power and subtlety. Grant observed that new graders tend to jump on the most obvious features, and try to make the footage look like it has been graded. LOL Guilty, your honor. The buttons provide fast access to features that are less obvious in the software UI (which has always had an awareness of what’s built into the hardware of course), with knobs that provide both speed and precision not available any other way. “The knobs will transform creativity for a lot of people” he says. Anybody who’s used a panel will agree.

Also noting: just as they have with the OG panel, they chose to keep the price high enough to deliver the quality that the world’s bests colorists have demanded over all these years, and this is what it took. As he put it another way, cheaper panels are designed to be cheap, rather than primarily to solve workflow problems. We came at this workflow first, says Grant, and, sez ME, I think they more than delivered on price. I’m very impressed.

Even more impressed by the new Ursa Mini Pro.

Grant observed that the whole point of their cameras is that they felt that more people could benefit from advanced color grading — hence making DaVinci Resolve software only and cheap OR FREE — but cameras in similar price points had neither the res or color depth to provide images worth grading.

FASCINATING idea. They created cameras to affordably feed an affordable Resolve!!!!

Also fascinating to me: this is a modular 3-in-1 camera (digital cinema, good ol’ broadcast video, TV studio), with high-res guts to do anything you need. Need 60fps 4.6K RAW, 15 stops? Done. Need tally and talkback for TV studio installation? Done. Cooke digital cinema anamorphic lens data feed? Broadcast camera data feed? Done and Done. It’s INSANE the range of options.

My favorite single feature is the interchangeable lens mounts. They’re simple enough to swap out (Torx wrench, a few screws) that Grant actually did it in the demo, with a few self-deprecating jokes about his tendency to injure himself. Standard with EF, with optional PL and B4, Nikon coming.

Other accessories similarly reasonably priced — $350 shoulder mount, $1795 studio viewfinder, etc.

Especially mind-boggling to me: $5995, NOW SHIPPING

More to come….

Sez Grant, “We just really enjoy making new products.” A genuine LOL moment from me.

btw, how’s THIS for another way that Blackmagic is changing the game? World class headline news, direct to you, no waiting in line at NAB.

AND changing Blackmagic’s game by Now Shipping. ????

Posts by CreativeCOW

[Tim Wilson]

[Tim Wilson] “So it’s inevitable that when upgrade cycles get longer, and new releases are more affordable, more reliable and easier to work with in ways that drive industry growth, that you’d see exactly the dynamics that we are in fact seeing: fewer new posts, but more new traffic.”

I was thinking about this some more, and came up with an example of what I’m talking about. Imagine what the TV commercial landscape would like if new car models were introduced once every 3-4 years. (It’s been 3 years since the last Mac Pro, 4 years since the last major HP Z series workstation upgrade.) No new car models means no new commercials about those models, but also no new JD Power surveys or commercials based on them.

But in fact, car models continue to do what computers USED to do, which is to predictably turn the crank at very measured intervals, with lots of rippling effects across multiple adjacent industries as a result, all the way out to folks like us who are making spots like those.

This has also led to a flattening of NAB. The show has meant less and less over the years as there’s less and less new stuff, which has meant for the vendors who ARE going, it’s harder to rise above the noise. Tradeshows like NAB have mastered the art of obscuring the difference between signal and noise of course LOL — it’s nearly all noise anymore, but we’re meant to believe that it’s nearly all signal — but the crowds keep appearing because the industry is growing so fast.

But the real energy has pushed out elsewhere. There were far more consequential announcements at IBC, largely driven by Adobe and the European camera (and even moreso, LENS) community, but smaller shows like CineGear in Los Angeles are also picking up as a number of camera companies in particular that had formerly bet big on NAB are now realizing that they can make a bigger impact by going to camera-specific shows like this one, and spending a lot less money to do it.

Even more interesting to me is what Blackmagic is doing. They had a YouTube livestreaming press conference last month to roll out their 2017 broadcast announcements, and one in a few minutes from when I write this to roll out their camera and DaVinci Resolve news. THAT’s how you roll in the new world: go direct with your message to people who either weren’t coming to the show anyway, or who’ll now be more motivated than ever to see this new stuff in person.

After all, even though they’re going direct to The People, BMD is still going to have the biggest booth at the show. Why do just one or the other when you can do both? ????

I think it has another effect which BMD might or might not have intended, which is to throw people with similar products into a bit of a tizzy. The bar has been set! There are guys who exhibit in the North Hall who have already spent the past month feeling their ulcers expand. Watching this unfold is absolutely enthralling to an old industry-watcher like me. Bring on the popcorn!

Anyway, things are changing, but people are looking for information. They have questions, even if they’re not personally typing them out, and are coming to the COW for answers. And from a business perspective, we remain gratified that they’re clicking on our ads and spending money with our sponsors.

Thanks again,
Tim

[Tim Wilson]

I’ve come up with a title graphic for the movie, Blade X: Clash of Metaphors.

This will also do for my submission for what the icon for the tool should be. Nothing more iconic than friggin Wesley Snipes in friggin Blade, y’all.

[Tim Wilson]

[Simon Ubsdell] ” was only planning on giving half a point for that. but since you’re always such a lovely guy I’ll award you a full point.”

????

I’d still love to hear more from your list of schoolboy design errors, Simon. Not having designed many schoolboys myself, I’m not sure where to begin looking.

As for the rest of you, surely you have SOME thoughts on what it would mean for Apple to “do more” for professionals. Here’s your chance to rave, rant, and stay on topic, all at the same time! The anticipation is almost too much to bear!

[Tim Wilson]

TRAFFIC is UP, and rather considerably up in fact, but yes, posting is down a bit. For now.

Like pretty much everything else in life, traffic to forums like the COW is driven by product upgrade cycles. New computers, new software versions, new cameras — all of them bring new problems. ? But in fact, those things are all coming farther and farther apart, so there’s not as much to talk about. We had a major uptick around Apple’s laptop event, and once NAB gets started, we’ll typically have five times as many people here a day as NAB will have all week.

(That is, they’re getting around 100,000 total attendees at the last few NABs, and we’ll do around 500,000 people a day at the COW.)

The dynamic driving TRAFFIC (people reading, even if they’re not posting) is that the industry as a whole is growing like crazy. Not so much in the model that so many of us like you and me, Rich, or the old guard here in our 50s and 60s came up through — traditional post, traditional owner-operator/small “do it all” shops — but a ton of work in-house. Agencies, corporate, broadcast, proAV, and yes, the FINALLY, at long last, long-ballyhoo’d but only now arriving explosion in growth in TV series production (455 scripted series in the US in 2016, expected to top 500 in 2017).

This has been great for business. I was up until 2AM last night loading up new ad campaigns in the COW, have been working on new ones all day today, have 4 RFPs that I’m replying to this week — I literally can’t keep up with the demand. It’s why I so rarely post anymore. There may be other parts of the web where ads aren’t working, but our customers are telling us that advertising in the COW is working just fine, thanks.

Of course, one other dimension affecting POSTING is that, my joking about new problems notwithstanding, most new stuff works a whole lot better than it used to. How many questions is anybody gonna have about the AJA FS-4 or the Blackmagic HyperDeck? Crazy advanced technology, super capable….and damn near bulletproof. Same with storage, software, cameras — pretty much everything used to be a crisis, but really, most cameras record in formats that most NLEs can read, that most storage can play just fine. This most definitely used to NOT be the case AT ALL.

So it’s inevitable that when upgrade cycles get longer, and new releases are more affordable, more reliable and easier to work with in ways that drive industry growth, that you’d see exactly the dynamics that we are in fact seeing: fewer new posts, but more new traffic.

I could go into some more detail, but that’s the picture in broad strokes.

Thanks for being around long enough to live through this transition, and caring enough to notice. ?

Best,

Tim

Tim Wilson
Editor-in-Chief/General Manager
Creative COW

[Tim Wilson]

[Scott Witthaus] “Well, they have great products in FCPX, Motion, Logic and Compressor. Now, who could they get to integrate all them? Wes? Hmmmm….”

Of course, this raises the specter of an Adobe-like sprawl of tabs and parameters, or Avid-like modes, or both. There’s also the issue that there really aren’t many people using more than one of them on a regular basis, surely no more than a handful of people who are using more than a couple of them on a regular basis — and by “regular basis”, I mean enough to warrant Apple undertaking a gargantuan effort that might not result in any benefits at all for 90-whatever-percent of the people who’ll use it before the sun goes nova.

Or heck, maybe just a new Send To button is all it’ll take. ????

So here’s my question to you all: what do you WANT Apple to do? What would it look like if Apple was doing more in the pro area?

For some folks, the question is rhetorical, if not clueless: “Apple is already doing everything they need to be doing, as you will see revealed in the fullness of time.” Presumably starting at the FCPWORKS suite at NAB. ????

For everyone else, I’d love some specifics. Features, products, hardware, software, customer communication, third-party partnerships, adoption of industry standards — name it. The sky’s the limit.