Scott Witthaus
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Apple Final Cut Pro X Coins
3
COW Coins
Forum Replies Created
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[Oliver Peters] “Software skills are unimportan”
Exactly. The technology needs to “get out of the way” of telling a visual story. I have seen FCPX “out of the way” much more than other software, and thus less problems for students. They can focus more on story and less on technology.
[Oliver Peters] ” The yardstick is whether they complete the assigned tasks and/or how far they got in the time allotted. Given that time measurement, I haven’t seen much difference in what various classes have been able to achieve from one year to the next.”
Having taught FCP (edit: legacy) for 6 years, I can say that I have already seen a difference. However, one class is as small a sample as can be drawn, so I will need to wait a few semesters. I teach 45 more students next semester and will be interested to see if the same things happen.
[Oliver Peters] “The downside to teaching X for these students is that as yet, they don’t get software skills that translate well to employment situations.”
Yet. I teach graduate level advertising students, so they are not going out there to be editors. Interestingly enough, a very large agency in my market has asked me to come in teach all their creatives FCPX over the next 6 months or so. So, my students coming out with X skills actually may have a “skill leg-up” on other creatives who don’t know X.
Scott Witthaus
Senior Editor/Post Production Supervisor
1708 Inc./Editorial
Professor, VCU Brandcenter -
[Oliver Peters] “I also teach film students editing in an intensive workshop once a year. Last year I taught X. In previous years, I’ve taught Avid, Premiere and FCP “legacy”. My experience with last year’s class differs from others. I did not see any faster or slower progress with X than with any other NLE. “
Oliver – I have to disagree here. I switched my 21 seat lab over to X this fall from FCP7. I have never seen a group of students (45 in all, only four or five with previous editing experience) take to a software quicker and with less problems. Whatever Apple was thinking in the re-design of FCP, they seem to have got it right. Apple could care less about us “old pros”; it’s this new crop of editors they really want. They can wait us out, no matter how much we complain (or not. I am really liking X as another tool in the tool box).
MHO of course.
Scott Witthaus
Senior Editor/Post Production Supervisor
1708 Inc./Editorial
Professor, VCU Brandcenter -
From my observation where I teach (grad school for advertising), the best editing experience to have when learning X is none. We switched our lab over to X this year (20 seats) and I have been amazed at how quickly novice (read: no experience) are up and running on the software. WAY faster and with less problems than FCP7. I popped in the lab the other day as a student wanted me to look at his work. First thing I noticed was he had the music track on the top of everything else. My immediate thought was “well, this is really wrong” but corrected myself by thinking that it was absolutely right from his “experience” on X. He never knew about tracks and such so throwing the music track above the video track was completely natural for him. And its totally correct…for him. Apple has got something very right with this software and the thought process behind it.
As I transition my professional work for clients to X, I am constantly reminding myself to stop trying to make X work like FCP7 and just work how the product was designed (I still put audio below video, however). More and more, I am hitting those times where the I am working the way X is supposed to work (at least I THINK I am), and it is a very fun process.
My humble opine, of course….
Scott Witthaus
Senior Editor/Post Production Supervisor
1708 Inc./Editorial
Professor, VCU Brandcenter -
[Oliver Peters] “When you only have 1 1/2 engineers working on it anymore, the lid is pretty tight ;-)”
and they stole the half one from Avid last week! Now they have none! 😉
Scott Witthaus
Senior Editor/Post Production Supervisor
1708 Inc./Editorial
Professor, VCU Brandcenter -
I have been using Ripple Training’s FCPX tutorial and the Advanced Editing tutorial. Great stuff. I learn some new little trick with every module.
https://www.rippletraining.com
Scott Witthaus
Senior Editor/Post Production Supervisor
1708 Inc./Editorial
Professor, VCU Brandcenter -
Any freelance editor (myself included) should be learning FCPX, if for nothing else than to give you another marketable skill. If I were a staff editor, I would be learning FCPX, PP, etc., because in today’s economy you never know when you will be out-sourced to the street.
Coming from FCP7, MC and (long ago) DS, and using the Ripple Training series for X, I am really starting to see how wickedly powerful this software is. In some ways, it makes going back to MC or FCP7 feel like you are editing with rocks and pointed sticks. And of course in others FCPX can infuriate you!
and so it goes….
Scott Witthaus
Senior Editor/Post Production Supervisor
1708 Inc./Editorial
Professor, VCU Brandcenter -
Why would Adobe poach from an FCPX team? FCPX is so different than anything else. More than likely they are hitting Avid hard, since MC and PP are very similar in structure and layout. It is a good sign IMHO, however, that they are adding engineers to enhance the editing experience
Scott Witthaus
Senior Editor/Post Production Supervisor
1708 Inc./Editorial
Professor, VCU Brandcenter -
Media Composer and Symphony are basically the same product, save color correction and a couple other features. Many of us have long been pounding the drum that there is no need for 2 separate products, marketing campaigns, etc. While there are not a lot of details to go on (at least for the next 12 hours), this seems like a very positive step in that direction. Of course, pricing will be an issue as Avid has yet to realize that the world has changed so much since the early 2000’s in what bang you can get for your buck these days (FCPX being a perfect example at $299), and MC7 will need to bring its Symph CC up to current standards. Should be very interesting. Great time to be in this business!
Scott Witthaus
Senior Editor/Post Production Supervisor
1708 Inc./Editorial
Professor, VCU Brandcenter -
Must have been a slip-up because the link now takes you to a MC 6.5 upgrade offer. Maybe someone jumped the gun. NAB is here, so we will find out soon enough.
Scott Witthaus
Senior Editor/Post Production Supervisor
1708 Inc./Editorial
Professor, VCU Brandcenter -
Thanks Paul –
Since a lot of post houses are heading towards PP (like the one I am cutting in now), its a good thing for a freelancer to have as many tools in the box as possible!
Scott
Scott Witthaus
Senior Editor/Post Production Supervisor
1708 Inc./Editorial
Professor, VCU Brandcenter