[Winston A. cely]

Maybe I’m missing something, but I feel like Apple has covered all its bases in terms of hardware for professional editing. If you’re a smaller business or an individual pro-editor, need horsepower and some minor upgradeability via Thunderbolt, you have the iMac Pro. If you’re a large business or have a big need for upgradeability, want something that is engineered to be modular right down to how you want to mount your monitor or whatever other largescale process required of your business, you now have the Mac Pro. Sure, the Nvidia thing is a poke in the eye for some folks, but many of the companies that make software that utilizes those cards, seem to be excited about the Mac Pro and are moving towards making their software take advantage of its built-in capabilities. That seems to be lessening that sting just a bit.

Of course, this is all just blathering about nothing at this point. We won’t really know until the darn thing gets released and used in the real world.

Winston A. Cely
ACTC Media Broadcasting Video Instructor
Apple Certified Editor FCPX 3

\”If you can talk brilliantly enough about a subject, you can create the consoling illusion it has been mastered.\” – Stanley Kubrick

[Winston A. cely]

I don’t totally agree with this for some of the same reasons people still don’t use X; i.e. its lack of specific features needed for the demanding collaborative workflows of TV and Hollywood films. However, as those features either become unnecessary or get addressed in a useful way by Apple, I think the transition could happen. That is if the cost of investing in brand new software makes sense to the bottom line. Then again, from what I’ve read from others here, there’s very much an, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it attitude in Hollywood. If it’s not going to save them a massive amount of money, they won’t make the transition.

Winston A. Cely
ACTC Media Broadcasting Video Instructor
Apple Certified Editor FCPX 3

\”If you can talk brilliantly enough about a subject, you can create the consoling illusion it has been mastered.\” – Stanley Kubrick

[Winston A. cely]

I teach a high school filmmaking class (sophomores through seniors). I choose to teach FCPX because I am comfortable with X having made the transition from 7 to X at the beginning and because I knew all the local universities were already teaching PPro (and/or Avid). I appreciate the idea of students having a larger area of expertise when it comes to software and didn’t want them to have to sit through the same “learn the software” class twice. Also, most of my students are going to be self-employed, small ecosystem at the start anyway, which allows them to use the software they want to use.

And speaking of ecosystems, many of the students who actually want to go on in this career started in Apple’s ecosystem of iPhone, iMovie and now FCPX. It all makes sense and gives them everything they need without thinking about it. Many of them have come back to me after graduating saying how much they hate having to use PPro for their school work and end up using X for their personal stuff. These guys are the future of independent filmmaking and regardless of their opinions of software are getting exposure to at least two pieces of software that allow them to tell the stories they want to tell.

Having said this, I tell everyone one of my students, MOST especially the students who do want to go to Hollywood (which is a tiny number here in South Carolina) that if they want to cut “professional Hollywood” films right now, they MUST learn Avid. But I also tell them that Hollywood is a super tiny section of the post-production market. It’s small and hugely competitive. My student’s bread and butter work will more likely come from PPro work that’s not Hollywood, which is great that have the universities teach Adobe’s software to match this dynamic.

Frankly, I love the idea of diversity in software at all levels. Give high schools the easy software with X, so students can concentrate on learning how to tell a good, solid story, and let the colleges and universities teach the more complicated software and workflows associated with PPro and Avid so they can be more hirable to current companies.

Eventually, it will matter much less. When the students I have now are in charge in 20 or so years, they’ll wonder why these older, more archaic methodologies, applications, and workflows are still used, employing more people than are needed, and costing more money in the long run than they need to. They’ll demand workflows that we haven’t imagined yet, but are influenced by the memory of how easy it was to make their first YouTube video with their iPhone.

Winston A. Cely
ACTC Media Broadcasting Video Instructor
Apple Certified Editor FCPX 3

\”If you can talk brilliantly enough about a subject, you can create the consoling illusion it has been mastered.\” – Stanley Kubrick

[Winston A. cely]

I totally agree with everything Mark says, and to specify myself a bit more, I would only give them this if it were a client you don’t anticipate working with in the near future. If it’s someone you work with on a regular or semi-regular basis, I would still back it up to a “client drive,” just not give it back unless requested by the client again for all the reasons Mark mentioned above.

Winston A. Cely
ACTC Media Broadcasting Video Instructor
Apple Certified Editor FCPX 3

\”If you can talk brilliantly enough about a subject, you can create the consoling illusion it has been mastered.\” – Stanley Kubrick

[Winston A. cely]

It sounds like your asking about basics for workflow. This is something I struggle with as a teacher with my students. We’re doing tiny, tiny projects, so the workflow should be simple, but then I think that I’m not doing my job as a teacher showing them all the ins-and-outs of FCPX workflow. So, I read a ton on this and it seems like it’s different for each type of job and each editor. I think that’s awesome, but it’s also confusing in as much as there’s not some standard for everything no matter what you do. I could be wrong, but that’s what it seems like. That being said, if you’ve been using FCPX for a while, and you’re not experiencing anything horrible with your workflow, you’re probably doing everything you need to. However, I think Ripple Training is a great resource. They have both paid (via their website), and free tutorials (via YouTube) that I find invaluable. Not to mention their instructors are top notch and working professionals.

As for long term storage of client material, I would build in the cost of buying an external SSD for each client, when the job is done, I would copy everything to the SSD and give it back to them for keeping track of it. They bought it anyway, and it makes more sense for them to hold on to it. Plus, an SSD should be a little more stable for longterm, storage and in active use. (I remember one of the things about HHDs was that if they sit for too long without running they can lock up).

I could be wrong about all of this… Just my experience.

Winston A. Cely
ACTC Media Broadcasting Video Instructor
Apple Certified Editor FCPX 3

\”If you can talk brilliantly enough about a subject, you can create the consoling illusion it has been mastered.\” – Stanley Kubrick

[Winston A. cely]

I’m not trying to hijack this thread, but I would like to add my annoying problem! ????

I love FCPX, and I’ve been using it since day one, but I hate keyframes in FCPX!!! There is nothing more annoying that placing my playhead at a certain frame, adjusting my video/image, clicking to place a few keyframes, moving the playhead to a new position, adjusting the video/image, and then clicking to add a new keyframe and watching the playhead jump to some random place further ahead or well behind where it’s supposed to be. Does anyone else get this crazy, random playhead jump when trying to add keyframes? It’s happened on multiple machines, from laptops to desktops, multiple versions of the software (I don’t remember it very early on, maybe from update 10.2 or .3 to the most current). It drives me nuts when it’s just a simple move where I need more control than, say the Ken Burns effect, but shouldn’t have to go all the way into Motion to create it. Ugh.

Winston A. Cely
ACTC Media Broadcasting Video Instructor
Apple Certified Editor FCPX 3

\”If you can talk brilliantly enough about a subject, you can create the consoling illusion it has been mastered.\” – Stanley Kubrick

[Winston A. cely]

I’m going!

I would love for some sort of better-integrated, multi-user/editor sharing. As a teacher who uses FCPX and editstock.com to teach some fundamentals of editing, it’d be awesome if we could all work of the same library on a shared network storage.

Winston A. Cely
Editor/Owner | Della St. Media, LLC

17″ MacBook Pro | 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7
4 GB RAM | Final Cut Studio 3 | FCPX | Motion 5 | Compressor 4

“If you can talk brilliantly enough about a subject, you can create the consoling illusion it has been mastered.” – Stanley Kubrick

[Winston A. cely]

[Neil Goodman] “Seems like the smaller boutique places stay more up to date – most places have Imacs now.”

I had a feeling that was what it might be in real-world practice. It does make sense to some extent, too. Easier to replace a few than an entire building.

I also see not wanting to upgrade for all the problems that seem to happen every time there is a software or hardware update. If the system is operating the way you need it to, why upgrade if there’s a better than a small chance you’re going to encounter some kind of problem, right?

Winston A. Cely
Editor/Owner | Della St. Media, LLC

17″ MacBook Pro | 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7
4 GB RAM | Final Cut Studio 3 | FCPX | Motion 5 | Compressor 4

“If you can talk brilliantly enough about a subject, you can create the consoling illusion it has been mastered.” – Stanley Kubrick

[Winston A. cely]

Gotcha. I hadn’t thought about that. My only comeback would be to sell the system you’re replacing, but that would also mean money loss due to hours spent trying to sell the old hardware.

Winston A. Cely
Editor/Owner | Della St. Media, LLC

17″ MacBook Pro | 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7
4 GB RAM | Final Cut Studio 3 | FCPX | Motion 5 | Compressor 4

“If you can talk brilliantly enough about a subject, you can create the consoling illusion it has been mastered.” – Stanley Kubrick

[Winston A. cely]

All the courses at our school that use Macs are on a 3-year rotation, which means we get the best we can afford usually very close to maxed out iMacs every three years. As an instructor, I love this!

But isn’t this a common practice in some high-end facilities? Upgrading hardware and computers on some sort of x-year schedule? I seem to remember reading on this forum that some people do this. I guess my point is that if you have a schedule, do you really need the upgrade on any specific internal components option?

Winston A. Cely
Editor/Owner | Della St. Media, LLC

17″ MacBook Pro | 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7
4 GB RAM | Final Cut Studio 3 | FCPX | Motion 5 | Compressor 4

“If you can talk brilliantly enough about a subject, you can create the consoling illusion it has been mastered.” – Stanley Kubrick