David Lawrence
2
COW Coins
Forum Replies Created
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[Steve Connor] “Fair point, although most software we use is unintuitive to start with. Resolve, AE, Smoke etc”
Yes, absolutely true.
Some of the most powerful applications (the ones you mention, for example) are unintuitive almost by necessity. Power, control and complexity often go hand in hand. It’s not necessarily a bad thing if the benefits are worth it.
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David Lawrence
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[Steve Connor] “That really is stretching a point to fit your argument, even if Apple did allow multiple primaries, then they would still allow secondaries and my example stands”
No, because to be useful, multiple primaries would require a fixed external frame-of-reference for time in the project window. Relative time goes away and secondaries and clips could be connected wherever the editor wants. It would be the best of both the tracked and the magnetic world and would be much more flexible than the single primary allows.
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[Steve Connor] “Like anything that works in a different way than you are used to, FCPX is only unintuitive until you have learned it.”
intuitive |inˈt(y)oōitiv|
adjective
using or based on what one feels to be true even without conscious reasoning; instinctive : I had an intuitive conviction that there was something unsound in him.
• (chiefly of computer software) easy to use and understand.The iPhone was completely different than any phone that ever came before it. But regular people could pick it up and start using it with virtually no training. In the computer world, that’s we mean when we say intuitive.
On the other hand:
[Steve Connor] “as I keep saying, you can only understand this if you actually spend a considerable amount of time learning the software.”
If this is true, then it’s unintuitive by definition.
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[Walter Soyka] “If Apple allowed multiple primaries, then relative time would really go away.”
Exactly!
[Walter Soyka] “My late-night zen view: if you want to move a river, you don’t move the water. You move the earth it flows through.”
Excellent. That’s one for the quote book.
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David Lawrence
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[Steve Connor] “This is all true and as I keep saying, you can only understand this if you actually spend a considerable amount of time learning the software. The workflow issues others are describing are not actual issues when you have experience with FCPX.
I think Editors by nature are a conservative bunch, so I understand why a large amount wouldn’t want to make the effort when there is no obvious benefit to them.”
I don’t think it’s about editors being conservative as much as it is (as you correctly point out) unintuitive and in many cases, its limitations outweigh any potential benefits.
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David Lawrence
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[Steve Connor] “So did he relate what these systems are?”
Not in specific detail, but he did mention the importance of flexible custom bin structures, sequences and transcripts. I got the impression that the methods Oliver discusses here and in his blog post come into play as well. On top of that, he was a beta tester for GET before it became Soundbite and I know it’s become a key component in his workflow. I’ll ask him if he wants to poke his head in this discussion and say more. Or better yet, if Timmy W. is interested, maybe he could be coaxed into doing an article. He’s a good writer and has written for the COW magazine in the past. I would love to learn more about how he and his teams work.
[Steve Connor] “In reality this isn’t true at all, but I can understand how it might be the perception of people who haven’t used the software”
That may be right, but unfortunately it seems to be the perception in the feature documentary scene in LA. There’s no incentive for people like my friend to try it. They have too may other options and they’re too busy making movies to start everything from scratch.
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[Oliver Peters] “It’s these jobs – where the editor is “the writer” and you are trying to find the story arc through the juxtaposition of clips – that require a ton of sequences. The fact that it’s hard to have many, many “projects” tied to one production and that the UI gives you minimal custom text entry and feedback, make FCP X a hard NLE to use if this is your style.”
Exactly. Ironic, isn’t it? Especially with the way Apple markets FCPX as letting you “focus on your story”.
[Oliver Peters] “For example, FCP X would work much better if there were a simple list view alternative of the project library with a notes field. Or sequence-based markers.”
Great idea. Hope you’ve made it a feature request.
[Oliver Peters] “And no, putting projects/sequences/timelines into an event is simply messing up the design of the NLE, not to mention bloat.”
I’m often impressed at the work arounds people come up with to get the app to do what they need. But yeah, the design likes things to be a certain way and you can only push so hard against it before things get ugly.
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[Oliver Peters] “I discussed that in my blog here:
https://digitalfilms.wordpress.com/2010/07/22/one-bite-at-a-time/“
Oliver, I missed this article when it was originally posted. The sieve approach pretty much describes how I’ve been working for years. I tend to work on shorter pieces so I often go from select/organization sequences to the build sequence in fewer steps, but the basic methodology is the same. A good read, thanks for the link.
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[Mark Dobson] “I work in the documentary field myself and don’t find FCPX any more restricting than other NLEs I have used. Any system will allow you to first get a handle on what you have got and then provide timelines to throw ideas down onto. “
So speaking of documentaries…
I spent last weekend hanging out with a buddy and his wife who were in town screening their doc, which has been on a national tour with The United Film Festival. It was great to see their film and catch up with them.
A bit of background – my friend is an award-winning doc editor based in LA. His work regularly screens at Sundance and he’s well connected with everyone in the LA feature documentary scene. Final Cut Pro legacy has been his main NLE for years. Naturally, I was curious what he thought of FCPX and what his plans for the future were. Here’s what he told me:
He isn’t the least bit interested in FCPX. In fact, he said he doesn’t know anyone in the entire LA doc scene with any interest in it whatsoever. No surprise there. What I found interesting were his reasons why.
For him (and apparently the feature doc makers he works with), the biggest problem isn’t just the magnetic timeline, it’s Apple’s unconventional and proprietary organization and asset management model.
Simply put, he said the whole notion of keywords as an organization tool are essentially useless for the way he and his colleagues break down footage and organize a film. The point he stressed is that he and his teams already have organization systems in place that work really really well. They want flexible tools that accommodate their custom organization infrastructures. They see zero value trying to force their needs into Apple’s new organization model. They’re just not interested. They’d rather find a new vendor who’s products will work with them, rather than change the way they work for Apple.
I think this is true for enterprise as well, and is why you’ll likely see more case studies like AP’s recently announced move to Premiere Pro in the future.
I was surprised because the keyword organization features in FCPX are one of the things I actually like. My friend said he though it would be great for short pieces and as a whole, it seemed to him that FCPX was designed for shorts and one-man-band type operations, or small shops that keep everything in house. I couldn’t argue with that.
BTW, my friend was at the NAB Supermeet in 2011 and was texting me from the floor as FCPX was previewed. He was totally excited about it and after talking to him, so was I. In our minds, we filled in all the gaps in the demo — we couldn’t wait to have it. Then we got our hands on it on June 21 and the rest is history…
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David Lawrence
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[Bill Davis] “In fact I said: This thread is about “commercial advantages.” I think mobility (whatever software you use to achieve it) is an increasingly big one.”
[Bret Williams] “We’ve been able to shoot and edit broadcast video on laptops and small cameras for 12 or 13 years. “
I think Bret’s point is that we’ve been able to shoot and edit broadcast video on laptops and small cameras for 12 or 13 years. In other words, mobility isn’t new. What is new is the level of quality possible for relatively low cost.
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David Lawrence
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