[Stephen Mark]

I’m getting these messages upon opening a 90 minute feature with HDCAM footage being cut into an Apple Pro Res 1080 sequence. No stills or filters but some keys and speed changes. If I keep clicking the OK button, the error warnings go away and I can work on the sequence. However I encounter these oddities — which may or may not be related to the codec error: 1. replace edit jumps the playhead about 20 seconds behind where I intend it to go i.e. the replacement function is essentially useless. 2. When ripple trimming clips in an area of the movie where several of the tracks are empty, I later discover that clips occupying those tracks minutes downstream from where I was working have been thrown out of sync. 3. Some trim functions that involve trimming by number — such as typing in a +x frames and hitting enter will in fact add again about 20 seconds to the clip. 4. Dragging quickly through the timeline will cause crashing.

I am not typically a final cut editor and came to this forum looking for answers about the codec error. But if anyone who knows what that means knows whether it may account for this dysfunctional behavior, I’d very much appreciate the feedback.

[Stephen Mark]

I’m old enough to add an historical note to the film editing question. I always used two moviolas. My preference for working with Kem was to gang two four plates. Avid was invented to operate as an analog to film editing so workflows would be familiar. As it has evolved, certainly pushed by FCP and advancements in digital technology, Avid has added features to make it more “computer like” but it usually retained the legacy features. Thus older users aren’t forced to change their Avid habits yet can take advantage of new features if they wish. The real problem — I think — is that the added complexity of the program has made it less stable (although truth is most instability I personally experience comes from networking) and that if you come to Avid fresh, without all that history, you are looking at legacy features, intermediate features, new features. It’s a lot to sort out and ultimately it isn’t necessary. Hard for a new user to realize that, however, so the program must seem heavy handed and daunting. In terms of debates over software, my sense is one can get into a first and even second edit pretty quickly with almost any editing program. The real world test comes when an editor is in a cutting room with a director whose film is in trouble and two producers and four executives are in the room calling out change ideas they want to try, compare, and incorporate by mixing parts of this concept with parts of that while you, the editor, is getting your own fresh ideas and trying to slip those in too. If your program allows you to handle that with maximum speed and minimum perspiration and apologies, you’re on to something.

[Stephen Mark]

I came across this amazing thread after downloading FCP X for the first time and importing a dialogue scene from an old tv show I wanted to try editing for practice. The first thing I need to do is synchronize the picture and track. Picture was originally on film. I’m not concerned with output quality as this is a teaching exercise. But — and recall I have never done a thing with FCP X (but am a highly experienced drama editor) — I can’t for the life of me figure out how to sync the raw dailies — which then need to be subclipped into scenes and takes. I came to Creative Cow hoping for a tutorial. The only info I can find anywhere assumes the camera already has sound associated with it. I just have visible slates and audio claps. Can anyone direct me to some instructions or tell me how I begin? Meanwhile, this discussion is fascinating. It is so far afield from anything I ever think about when it comes to editing — which is primarily how to make a scene compelling to an audience. But I guess people have to consider this stuff these days.

[Stephen Mark]

Thanks Neil. I found the installer. (Unfortunately also found that the module is buggy in that it thanks me for my serial number and then promptly forgets I’ve activated it. But I guess I have to take that up with Boris.) Are you the keeper of any other secrets? I’d also love to get my Red Giant plug ins that used to be available within Avid to reappear as well. Perhaps I’ll call the company.

[Stephen Mark]

The other big lie is that it’s necessary to master all that software. It is necessary to master the craft and art of engaging an audience. Software and hardware change all the time but creating compelling stories is still about pinging the same emotional responses humans have had since hunter gatherer days. That’s where you hit the steep learning curve. If you know what you want to achieve, figuring out a new piece of software shouldn’t take more than a few weeks. (And you don’t need to know everything a program can do before you start using it. Just learn what you need to do what you are doing today. Learn the rest tomorrow. If a potential employer wants to know if you can work with this or that program, the answer is always yes. Then run out and get a book or watch online tutorials.)

[Stephen Mark]

As perhaps you surmised, I agree with your dismay at some of the expectations being placed on some editors (at least in the lower budget world) both because they’re unrealistic and because they signal a willingness to accept lower quality work. It just isn’t possible for one to be a virtuoso on the violin and dash over to do the piccolo solos, too. There aren’t enough hours in a life to achieve that level of excellence. But to be clear, I wasn’t expressing an opinion about how I see FCP, I was outlining the historical events around the development of the two programs. But — and now this is my personal perception — much as I love Apple I have to say I believe the answer to your question about “when things started to shift” is pretty much the time Apple began selling FCP and especially FC Studio as the tool to allow one person to do all those things. (And next thing we knew folks were discovering that where FCP wasn’t really the whole answer, well then you’d better learn Adobe tools as well. If Nuke and Maya were less expensive, I imagine those would also be on the list.) Producers bought into that because Apple led them to believe they’d be saving money. I do think that when you keep the discussion to editing alone, FCP can get you there. (The first thing I ever cut with FCP — version 1, I think — was a nightmare for me, but it got an Academy Award nomination in the short doc category.) What I do see as “evil” is the original marketing pitch of FCP and to some extent the way it is taught. I recall that when FCP was first introduced, I came across an ad for it in Wired magazine that hyped “no more annoying editors.” I guess that was aimed at filmmakers who had swallowed the auteur theory hook, line, and sinker. I didn’t renew my Wired subscription.

[Stephen Mark]

I don’t know if it helps or not, but if you’re a history buff you might keep this in mind: Avid was designed for professional editors working in a traditional motion picture workflow at a time we were transitioning away from film editing. It is therefore an extraordinarily powerful editing tool. But at first none of its designers envisioned it as a finishing tool. VFX and titling modules were long seen as handy gimmicks for temp vfx mock-ups to be used as guides for dedicated visual effects artists to follow. The ability to mix more than one track was — if you were coming from a film background — a mind-boggling advance. But no one then ever thought the temporary sound effects you could rubber band into your cut were going to appear in the final mix. Final Cut Pro, of course, chipped into the professional market by pitching itself as a finishing tool. What you output from the computer was the done deal, color corrected, visual effected, and even — in what I thought was one of the silliest marketing pitches ever — music composed (with Soundtrack Pro). Perhaps that last exemplifies the different philosophies pointing to the real strengths and weaknesses of each program. Very few professional editors are also composers (although there are a couple). But even those who are hardly need their editing program to provide them with composing software. Yet this one-man-band marketing approach coupled with FCP’s amazingly low price point injected it into the editing world and pushed Avid to emulate some of FCP’s features. Yay for free market competition — except in the case of Avid, already quite a complex program, competition tended to make it buggier. I’ve yet to see a more reliable computer editing system than Avid’s Meridian version 5.5 operating on Mac OS 9 with a network server in the late 1990s. Since for me stability is the number one issue, I’ve welcomed all these new features with a bit of ambivalence. So my guess is that the more you EDIT with Avid, the more impressed you’ll be. The more you want to wear all the hats — be the colorist, vfx artist, sound designer, composer — each of which in my opinion is a lifetime career taking perhaps a lifetime’s practice — the more you may pine for FCP features. Avid is changing, however, so who knows…

[Stephen Mark]

Something for the back burner: as you become comfortable with Avid commands and icons, start exploring what happens when you combine them with the option key. You were discussing match frame, which I use frequently (and the suggestion to map it to a function key with “find bin” right next to it is an excellent one ). When you click the match frame icon it loads the source clip into the source monitor AND puts an in mark on the matched frame. There are, times, however, when I want to put my own in mark on the source clip and leave it there while still finding a matching frame in my cut. If you select match frame while holding down the option key, it matches without adding the in point. Existing in and out points are left in place. Perhaps you won’t see why that matters because there is nothing like this ability in FCP — and when I’ve used FCP I found that to be a source of frustration — but I use option match quite a bit. There are other option key secrets I use often but won’t overwhelm you right off the bat. I can say, however, that I’ve been using Avid for going on 20 years and on those occasions when I have used FCP I’ve often been stymied by what I no longer could do. So I know how you’re feeling. (And yes, FCP does a few things better than Avid.) BTW I understand in the newest release of Avid, locators have been given a new name. Apparently they are now called markers.

[Stephen Mark]

And I have the reverse question regarding Boris Red. I get the impression it does not integrate with Avid 6. Am I wrong? If so, where do I find the Boris FX effect within Avid 6? If I’m correct that it isn’t there, will it be at some point?

[Stephen Mark]

This comment is not much use if you have to make a purchasing decision for a school. I’ll make it anyway. I’ve been a professional editor for maybe 40 years — from film to Ediflex, Montage, D-Vision, etc — then (and still primarily) Avid, played with early FCP, using it for a short doc that got nominated for an Academy Award — did it in my bedroom in 2000, which was mind boggling at the time. And now I do some teaching. What I’ve learned when it comes to all these systems is that none of them will be around in the same form for very long. What I want students to know is the aesthetics of the craft. How do you confront a bunch of images and begin to decide, to feel, how to put them together? It takes years to hone craft and build one’s confidence in his or her own aesthetic sense. But a competent professional should be able to adapt to any NLE computer program in a couple of weeks or less. Teach craft. The machine you use to practice on is the least important element. I’m aware there are employers who think potential hires must already be proficient in this program or that and while I consider that a delusion, it’s a real obstacle. It also shows how little many employers know about what an editor does. The answer to any employer who places software knowledge over craft is, “Of course I know ______(fill in the blank with software),” and if that isn’t really the case, run out and get the new book or set of online tutorials designed to get you up to speed.
And now my real reason for following this thread: Does anyone know if Avid FX or Boris Fx (i.e. Boris Red integration) is or will ever be part of Avid 6?