Simon Ubsdell
5
COW Coins
Forum Replies Created
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[Paul Dickin] “some of the concepts in FCP X’s GUI, and some of the basic functionality”
I’d have to question the use of the word “some” there. Putting the issues of the new engine aside, as an editing tool FCPX shares more than “some” of the features of iMovie, and there really doesn’t seem to be any argument about that if you look at the details (see my response to DRW above).
I sense a real anxiety among the fraternity in coming to terms with this. Why is that? I really don’t see it as anything to be worried about!
There’s a lot of big talk about welcoming the new paradigm but underlying that is a desperate hope that it’s not actually going to look like it appears to look (not like iMovie, perish the thought) but rather much more like the good old familiar editing paradigm we’ve become used to (of course, there’ll still be 3-point editing) where the Magnetic timeline can remain a bad dream of what the future might have looked like because we’ll be able to switch it off and forget it ever existed.
Simon Ubsdell
Director/Editor/Writer
http://www.tokyo-uk.com -
[Paul Dickin] “You’re missing the elephant in the room”
No, absolutely, I take your point and that’s deeply important (though I’m not sure quite what you point is about XML as with the best will in the world surely there are one or two unresolved question marks there?). But my point is that I’m a bit over having people painstakingly talk me through features that are meant to be brand new and invented just for FCPX and indicators of the radical new editing paradigm – but have been around for quite a while for all the world to see.
Even Phil, enormously though I respect him, does the exact same thing in the clip that David linked to. And even more to the point, we had Randy himself do it back in April! What’s the story there?
Simon Ubsdell
Director/Editor/Writer
http://www.tokyo-uk.com -
DRW: Because I was at the LAFCPUG meeting just last night as a “guest guru,”
Then I’m going to defer to your insider knowledge.
Though I have to say I don’t understand, and the clip of Phil’s you link to is a case in point, why we are meant to be getting excited all over again by features that have already been in iMovie for quite a while?
In fact, it’s very little exaggeration to say that everything mentioned in that clip is already there in iMovie and appears to work in exactly the same way. The metadata implementation and the Event library structure appear to me to be in all practical senses identical, not merely similar or related. The title tool, transition, effects and generator menus all appear identical (which is not to say they mightn’t differ in some particulars in the final product. Stabilization and shot content detection are also right there in iMovie on import as well as post-import (though not color balancing.) Not to mention the famous Magnetic timeline and the Precision Editor … All great stuff!
Don’t get me wrong, I think iMovie is great and welcome seeing it as the basis for the new FCP – it could well be the new paradigm we’re all hoping for. But let’s just acknowledge for one second that that is indeed what we’re talking about, not some unimaginably new creation. For goodness sake iMovie’s been around for enough years in its current form!
Unless of course you are party to secrets that radically change this picture …
By all means, let’s get excited about FCPX, but why do we have to pretend that it’s appeared ex nihilo, like Athena emerging from the head of Zeus?
Simon Ubsdell
Director/Editor/Writer
http://www.tokyo-uk.com -
[Chris Kenny] “There’s a huge difference between “Hey, it’s probably not a great idea to move critical production workflows to brand new 1.0 software” (what Jordan appears to be saying) and “Apple is deliberately abandoning professional users because they’re more interested in shiny toys” (the line the trolls are pushing).”
Hey, you know, lighten up a little maybe? It was meant to be a light-hearted reference to what has become Larry’s signature phrase since he first coined it.
Simon Ubsdell
Director/Editor/Writer
http://www.tokyo-uk.com -
[David Roth Weiss] “it will do most of the day to day things you’re doing now in far better ways than whatever you’re using today”
With respect, how can you possibly know that?
Simon Ubsdell
Director/Editor/Writer
http://www.tokyo-uk.com -
One of the genuinely interesting moments for me (apart from the “it’s not going to be ready for professional use” one!) was what happened when Larry was asked whether or not you could set In/Out points on the fly …
Seriously long pregnant pause followed by a very vague answer where he was clearly struggling with the limits of his NDA.
This may or may not constitute unwelcome news for those who have been holding out for traditional 3-point editing … though I might well be trying to read too much into too little (but I wouldn’t the the first around here to do that). That being said, there does seem on first principles a world of different that separates the event skimming model from the way most of us have got used to working, and I find it difficult to imagine where they might comfortably meet. For better or worse, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this isn’t a price we will have to pay to enjoy the “new paradigm”.
Simon Ubsdell
Director/Editor/Writer
http://www.tokyo-uk.com -
[Ben Holmes] “Larry Jordan DOESN’T speak about FCPX”
I wonder what part of NDA the LAFCPUG audience didn’t quite get!?
Simon Ubsdell
Director/Editor/Writer
http://www.tokyo-uk.com -
[Ben Holmes] “If you’re an editor NO ONE CARES what you use”
Mostly this is true – though I have to say in my business there is still quite a bit of snobbery attached to using Media Composer as against FCP.
And I was very amused to speak to one client only a couple of days after the SuperMeet who’d already heard that “the new FCP is a bit of a dud”.
Also I think we might find the iMovie “stigma” takes a while to shake off among those many clients who “sort of know a bit about editing” – and I’m sure we’ve all met our share of those.
Simon Ubsdell
Director/Editor/Writer
http://www.tokyo-uk.com -
[Ben Holmes] “Sounds like an extremely measured comment”
I’d have said this was more of an educated guess rather than a “revelation” (and it’s not going to change my opinion either way TBH), but it’s likely to stir up a fair amount of comment given the circumstances. Expect feathers to fly!
I take your point about not diving in straight away, but it will only be by trying it out on real jobs (albeit not mission critical ones!) that we’ll get to know its strengths and weaknesses – you can play around all you like but it’s only the real world situations that give you the feedback you really need.
Simon Ubsdell
Director/Editor/Writer
http://www.tokyo-uk.com -
The big news story (from the start of part 3) is the one headlined by those great guys at fcp.co, to quote:
FCPX 1.0 “It will not be ready for professional use” says Larry Jordan
Now that’s what I call a “jawdropper”!
Simon Ubsdell
Director/Editor/Writer
http://www.tokyo-uk.com