[J Hussar]

I think the thing is that some people have the project in their head and want to arrange it the way they want. I don’t mind meta data organization. But I want the option to turn it off.

[J Hussar]

Hi Chad, or is that Randy?

Chad Nickle
Member Since:
June 27th 2011

[J Hussar]

When this mess with FCPX happened I tried to figure out who is the problem. Was it Steve Jobs? Tim Cook? Apple culture in general?

Eventually after searching the net you find this one guy, Randy Ubillos. He was the ‘mastermind’ behind screwing up iMovie 08 – a fiasco similar to this one. It reads like a script for what just happened to us. Only with iMovie 08 it wasn’t people whose livings depended on the software.

At one time, long ago, he did work on interfaces for editing software. Now he didn’t invent the paradigm, there were other systems in existence. He just translated what was out their into some basic front ends. The analogy is he came up with another word processor after word processors existed, he followed the same rules – he did not do anything that special.

But Randy is lauded as this pioneer. I think it has gone to his head and I think he has powerful friends in Apple. And his ego made FCPX – a disaster for most of us. It was his ego that made this awful new paradigm, just so he could have some milestone – well no one asked for the new paradigm – I certainly never heard anyone say timelines sucked, ever.

If you find him on the net, he is all interested in how to get his vacation footage onto a mac for editing. Seriously, that’s what the articles state. Not that he wanted to make a very complex documentary, or a feature film, or a TV show. Nope – he wanted to get his vacation videos onto the Mac in a better way. WTF?

So this is the guy who decided that FCPX was a better way to edit his vacation videos. It’s mind boggling.

The sad part is that this madman can damage so many productive lives.

[J Hussar]

I want tracks back. I need to control the whole she-bang. I don’t want the app assisting me in this.

It’s like having an A.D.D. assistant who just graduated from film school hovering over me trying to tell me what to do. Irritating, distracting and useless.

Just have 2 modes, one with multiple tracks, V & A, linear and laid out – and the other nonsense for those who like it.

[J Hussar]

Same reaction, also made me nauseous! Very powerful piece.

Notice that the new icon no longer has timecode. There’s a message there. This is the dumbing down of editing.

[J Hussar]

That is genius – a very good analogy.

The fact that major feature films have been edited with FCP is great marketing. It’s the idea that if you wanted to edit a feature you could, that the software won’t be hold you back. Most never will, but it’s about striving, not about settling.

Meanwhile, Randy’s new home video editing paradigm is appealing to very few. It’s a marketing disaster at best.

[J Hussar]

Thanks Eli, very interesting! Again, if they would just fix some of the limitations, expand the paradigm, I think most of us here wouldn’t have a problem. Let us have some extra sequences, better control of bins, multiple monitors, let us control our files how we see fit. It’s not much to ask for actually.

And tell us that they definitely are going to fix it – they would get a lot less grumbling!

I saw the feature demo and was very excited actually – I really was. It was just when I discovered the limitations, well, that’s when I got cranky.

[J Hussar]

I posted it before and I’ll post it again – this may happen as soon as this week – I just hope Steve is up to it.

One interesting story is about Steve Jobs’ reaction to the poor MobileMe rollout in 2008 which was marred with slow services and downtime.

In Fortune’s story, Lashinsky says Steve Jobs summoned the entire MobileMe team for a meeting at the company’s on-campus Town Hall, accusing everyone of “tarnishing Apple’s reputation.” He told the members of the team they “should hate each other for having let each other down”, and went on to name new executives on the spot to run the MobileMe team. A few excerpts from the article.

“Can anyone tell me what MobileMe is supposed to do?” Having received a satisfactory answer, he continues, “So why the f*** doesn’t it do that?”

[J Hussar]

My issue is the assembly process. My first sequence is always an assembly. Then ‘cut 1,’ ‘cut 2’ etc. If I have to refer back to a particular cut I can, and pull something I cut together better before – it might only be 5 clips edited together out hundreds – I don’t want to go back to an old cut – I just may want a tiny part of an old cut.

Back to the assembly, I dump a bunch clips in the time line. Then I try and sort them into what makes sense. I keep a bunch sloughed off to the end. I use the space in between each section to keep them nicely separated from one another until I decide how they are going to mesh together. It’s like a nice blank slate that I control (i.e. I edit it). I populate the timeline as I wish, where I wish.

I also keep at least one or more old projects open from similar jobs so I can pull some pre-made clip groups that are in them. I like having the other separate projects available, and I don’t want them interfering with my current job, I want them in their own project.

Am I going to be screwed over? Will I have a bunch of empty video tracks and empty audio tracks to work with? It doesn’t look like that is the case. And that really is a major issue, besides all the others noted here.

[J Hussar]

I really don’t think that Apple thought it would get this big of a reaction. I think they expected some grumbling and then acceptance.

I think they were surprised it caused this much of a problem.