I received the following email today from someone who needs to remain anonymous. However, I trust them and their opinion and wanted to share their thoughts with you here as a way to continue our discussion.
While I don’t agree with all of this, it does spark an interesting chain of thought.
Larry
P.S. I did not write this, nor did I ask it to be written. I have obtained permission to share it with you.
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Apple says that FCP X is about the future of NLE. After thinking about it, I think they are right.
It’s not just about the GUI or features per se… but the fact that our culture is going mobile and our work along with it. A new generation is growing up and moving them from iMovie to FCPX will be easy. Also the new generation will invent their own workflows and their own content and their own way of doing things. Apple may have jumped the gun in a way that made it impossible for a percentage of the current editing community to go along, but those folks are not the future. Not in the same way a 16-year-old iMovie whiz is.
Look at the big picture. Sales of standard PCs have fallen while portable products have been flying off the shelves. This is no fad, it’s the future.
Watch as the system requirements for NLE on the Apple side look more and more lean. Apple owns both hardware and OS, my bet is that they will leverage that to guarantee they are ahead of the curve in performance requiring smaller and smaller hardware overhead. It’s in this way, as the new generation of editors comes up, FCP will take back it’s place as the de facto platform for any level of project. I’m absolutely convinced (as is Apple) that sooner than you think, a teenager today will be working on an episode of “Extreme _____ Makeover” using an iPad__ with lots of storage on board. I already saw someone using an iPad as a 2nd display for FCP X and how some functions were already touch screen enabled. Those pissed off edit suite owners may be pissed off at what Apple has done, but just wait till all those up-and-coming digital kids start to see those very expensive edit suites as dinosaur grave yards.
That’s where Apple is headed and a powerful, sleek FCP that uses iCloud technology along with all the other new technologies is where the future really is. Does anyone remember those $250,000 edit suites that got replaced by a $1,300.00 Final Cut Studio, back in the day? Well, Apple is doing it again with one major change, this time they are obsoleting themselves before someone else does.
It really is the future, or at least it’s headed in that direction.
109 Responses to The Future of Non-Linear Editing?
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Markus says:
July 27, 2011 at 12:02 am
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Micheil Reid says:
July 27, 2011 at 1:33 am
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Clayton says:
July 27, 2011 at 1:54 am
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John Denato says:
July 27, 2011 at 2:06 am
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Graham White says:
July 27, 2011 at 2:30 am
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Floris says:
July 27, 2011 at 4:52 am
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Ken Bourne says:
July 27, 2011 at 6:36 am
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Leo Hans says:
July 27, 2011 at 8:08 am
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Cris Daniels says:
July 27, 2011 at 8:55 am
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Nivardo Cavalcante says:
July 27, 2011 at 10:01 am
← Older Comments Newer Comments →@Hans,
you hit the nail on the head.
“Real pro’s” to not jump ship the moment a radically new product is announced.
And you were asking – how many shops were still running FCP6?
Well, we’re still running FCP 5.1 (!) and we have more than ten bays. If something is working well, you don’t just rip everything apart or upgrade just because something new comes along. Our (high-end) clients don’t care what we edit on, as long as we come up with great ideas and deliver on time.
But we do own upgrades to FCP7 which we will (at one point) install and use until FCP X takes shape or not. Absolutely no reason to switch to Adobe or AVID at this point in time.
I can well imagine a time when iPads and other slate type devices will have large format flash memory drives and movie makers will use them for part of their project construction. I could see a time when the iPad will run Lion or an OS like it. I could see FCPX or it’s successors being used in the field for a sort of pre production tool or filming shots that don’t require special lenses or filters and transferred to a desktop computer at a later date. While I see editing with FCPX in an iPad as a bit of a problem at present, I’m sure that future versions will include updates to over come some of those problems. With 1TB flash memory drives on an iPad of the future and plenty of RAM, I can see editing improving on these devices. It might even have facilities for plugging in pro cameras and HD prosumer camcorders to shoot and edit while working! Hopefully too, 3rd party developers will be able to place new FCPX apps in the app store (or maybe a FCPX specific app store) for people to download from (or to, with new apps) So there are up sides I suppose! Don’t get me wrong folks, I’d have liked FCPX to have at least some more comprehensive “add ons” as FCP7 had in the box, now that would have made the low price something to really shout about eh?
I find it interesting how personal people are taking this. If it does not suite you, move on. If your walking way from Apple, well then, walk away. Don’t like the show, turn the channel. It is what it is. Its business.
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—– “I know what I want, not Steve Jobs.” <- He won't miss you.
Come on guys put down that big glass of Kool Aid and wake up. I just can’t understand why some of you are still so loyal to a company that just doesn’t care about you. The smart ones are and have been switching over to other platforms because they got the message. It can’t be anymore obvious that what it already is. Apple just doesn’t care about the pro market anymore. FCPX was aimed at Imovie users who were looking for more features but didn’t want to learn FCP. There were 2 million FCP users vs 50 million Imovie users, it’s not hard to see why they went after the Imovie crowd.
@Marcus…“Real pro’s” to not jump ship the moment a radically new product is announced.” Of course they do, If you’re going to have to learn a new piece of software, wouldn’t you rather go with a company that relies on software to survive (Avid, Adobe)? This is the best time to switch over to another platform. You don’t even have to switch over to a PC because the other 2 software packages work fine on Macs. I’d also switch alone on the mere fact that a company that is constantly killing off it’s own software is not a company that you should be relying on for your livelihood. “Shake, Colour, Soundtrack Pro. Dvd Studio Pro, Cinema Tools.
@Floris “who cares about optical media?” Actually quite a lot of people do. Optical media whether it’s DVD or Blu-ray is the simplest way to deliver a final movie. As an event videographer it’s the easiest and most efficient way to give a client a product. I can’t tell my clients i’ll upload your video to Itunes and you can pay Apple to download it. I do agree that in another 5-10 years optical media will fade away like any other format, that’s just common sense. Also you’re comment about Apple killing off the floppy is not relevant here. The cd was on it’s way in as a viable replacement. Everyone knows Apple doesn’t want to support Blu-ray because it takes away from it’s Itunes Movie sales.
@Leo Hans…”There were a base of 2M users of FCP. Do you really think that 2M people think like you and people switching?” Of course not all 2 million will switch but a lot will. I personally know around a dozen or so editors that jumped shipped in the last few weeks. These are just the ones that I personally know of and they tell me the same scenario is happening within their circle of editor friends. I’d also like to mention that most are making their switch without making a big fuss about it online.
I myself recently jumped over to Premiere Pro. I have to admit I’m very happy with my decision. PPRO is what FCPX should of been. It’s fast and furious. Best of all it looks and acts like FCP7.
What i’m hoping a lot of you get from my post is, like a lot of you I too waited the last few years hoping that the new FCPX would of been the awesome app it was promised/supposed to be. A lot of you are saying well lets wait a little longer for a few updates that might restore it back to what it once was. My point is why wait? There are 2 other great platforms that bury FCPX in terms of performance and features already on the mac. I could understand your fear if you had to switch back to Windows but you don’t.
The party is over guys and has been for a long time. FCPX went home with another man…or should I say aspiring teenage editor 😉
p.s. here’s really funny link below to explain the FCPC launch disaster, enjoy.
http://raberco.tumblr.com/post/6867835385/apple-fcp-final-cut-pro
@ J.Vogel – so at 25 I’m a grumpy old man??
Look, I don’t mean to sound like a fossil, but my workflow requires certain features – like the ability to work with other people who have specific skills and abilities. ie. audio mixing, colour grading, special effects/graphics etc.
Currently FCPX offers nothing in the way of the ability to collaborate using established workflows. Maybe it will eventually get the features that will enable this, but I can’t help feeling that we were sold a lie. We were told that the next version of FCP would be “great”, not that – “Your established workflows mean nothing to us and frankly, we’re not interested in supporting them because we’re going in a different direction where we want you to do everything in the one program”
I’m disturbed by the dumbing down of the interface of FCPX – when certain things can no longer be achieved without kludges and workarounds, that’s a problem.
I think FCP X needs to grow up fast. It may satisfy the casual iMovie user who is looking for more, or someone who exports to the web, but anyone with more complicated needs will find themselves butting their head up against its limitations in no time flat.
@John
I’am a longtime Final Cut Pro user and have been using Premiere Pro since version CS2. It’s NOT equal to Final Cut Pro 7. Many important features are missing, the usability is far below that (many important shortcuts are missing, I need more clicks to achieve the same), the interface design is lacking (bad icons, low contrast etc.) and I have more crashes. There are many great things in CS5.5… I love how it handles native media, and how it integrates with Dynamic Link… but if you look at pure editing, it is slower and more cumbersome than Final Cut Pro 7. But again: it is a great tool in your arsenal and I am happy to use it.
I just don’t believe that it is better. CS5.5 has been out since may, CS5 for almost 2 years… why did nobody switch back then if those apps were better? Why was everyone so ‘jawdropping’ happy after the NAB SuperMeet presentation? Apparently, a lot of people liked what they saw. I understand that people are upset, feel betrayed… but I think most people are overly emotional and act before they think. Larry posted the same a while back… wait a month or 6 and see what Apple has in store for us, if you don’t like it switch. Use FCP till that time. Avid and Adobe are profiting now but hey, in a few months MC6 comes out and it won’t cost $999… it will cost $2.499 (unless they change their pricing).
Furthermore… it has been proven that Final Cut Pro X was not build on the iMovie codebase. We also know the advanced Motion integration (no sent to yet but that must come with the XML support). Alex4D explored the complete code of the application and found many references to things to come: shared projects (I presume via iCloud), multicam (I think it works like this: Auditions are now a number of clips lay-out horizontally and you pick the best and can switch dynamically, if you make the audition vertical… you have great multicam functionality), next-gen XML support, more tools, screen lay-outs… so many of the things I really need are already there in the code… only not active yet. Furthermore, I am sure Apple will fix most bugs within the next six months.
I posted this before: you can basically do two things with a rewrite:
1. Tear down the house, hire a new architect, rebuild the house (foundation), and redecorate (FCPX 10.01,10.02,10.1,10.2)
2. Tear down the house, create a 1:1 replica, redecorate it 1:1
Microsoft has been doing the latter for ages now and that shows. OS X is a much better operating system. There is a reason most creative people use a Mac. If I look at applications like Office, Windows 7 (performance is good, but usability sucks… try find settings at logical places), they are bloated because of all the legacy… because they are afraid to disappoint. Apple doesn’t work like that. They pissed everyone off with the OS X rewrite but look wat it brought us… a great and stable OS that performs and I would pick it over any Linux or Windows build any day. Imagine that they would have been building on top of the OS 9 fork.
Apple will fix Final Cut Pro X people. It is very lean and mean now, and based on feedback and vision, Apple will add back the most demanded features, but at the same time, they get rid of a terrible amount of legacy code which greatly improves speed, stability and usability. Apple clearly stated that it was build for the next 10 years… so no short-term commitment here…. they never said that about Shake or Color. I am going to play the wait and see game… do specific projects in FCPX and keep using CS5.5 and FCP7 in the meantime.
BTW love the discussion here… very insightful.
I find it interesting that the release of FCPX has struck such a nerve amongst editing professionals and facilities. We run a number of edit bays with FCP 6 and have not upgraded the OS or edit software since day one as these bays are tools to do a job, we will not be upgrading to Lion or snow leopard until a NECESSARY feature presents itself. In my experience upgrading edit bays is a slow and careful process as these machines are the tools that must be relied on day-in-day out.
We have run Avid and Premiere systems in the past and the cost of Avid hardware and reliability issues with Premiere have put us off in the past.
With regards to our test copy of FCPX, it is used to gauge any new features that maybe of use in future projects. We have already setup a Blackmagic Multibridge Pro on our test system to record or layoff footage to tape using Media Express 3.0, and eagerly await FCPX drivers to allow us to send video to a broadcast monitor during an edit.
I think the key to the future of FCP-X will be the plug-ins developed in the near future. I use plug-ins every day in edits to access Boris effects, FxFactory etc, it seems to me that third party software developers will step up to fill in the gaps left by Apple.
Having used all of the systems listed above I think we have never been in a better position with regards to editing software as Apple, Avid and Adobe will fight it out to provide the features the professional user requires. And unlike days of old we can actually run the alternatives to FCPX on a Mac, reducing the overhead when replacing edit bays.
John,
You are overreacting. Your statements are personal opinions and mine too.
FCPX is blazing fast. Even faster than Premiere.
FCPX is a very good NLE. Time will tell.
Why are you still around FCPX forums if you are so sure to jump into another NLE and you are so confident with your decision.
That’s something I can’t understand. People talking about already witched but still reading and posting in FCPX forums. I do because I find Apple doing good things (with mistakes of course), but I am confident it’s a transition in the way we use software.
People,
FCPX is DATA BASE driven, XSAN is built in Lion, Lion Server is an Add On…
Which part of FCPX is going to have a server solution soon you don’t see? With FCPX data driven structure is play simple to do a server way more efficient than Avid Unity with a way more flexible permissions rules that allow people to change things simultaneously. Perhaps that’s why clips in Event Browser don’t save in and outs, because they are designed to be shared.
With Core Foundation, APIs and a new XML, it’s perfectly possible to have 3rd parties solutions for closed captioning, subtitles, multi cam, EDL, OMF… ask what you want. Some of that may come from Apple, some don’t. But FCPX is way more open than Avid and Premiere. It’s just NEW.
Open you mind. Keep working with your current tools until time speaks for itself.
To all defending FCPX, good luck. We now get more sophisticated garbage full of jump cuts, shot on a crappy iPhone camera.
We are professional users, I don’t have time to dance with 1.0 software. I would have paid $1200-1500 for FCP 8, as would 90% of other serious editors.
I don’t want to work like a teenage idiot. Why would I want to work with the tools of someone learning the trade? They should be working with MY tools, so that they can actually work on a real production some day.
Whats next? Maybe the program can actually build the edit without me and I can just drop the footage in a watch folder and go home.
Why does Apple think we need a new editing paradigm? The hubris the company displays towards ideas they don’t like is absolutely disturbing.
To those who believe FCPX will “all be fixed”, congratulations, you wait. I’ve got clients to deal with today. You beta test. You sit through the development. I know that Apple either cannot or will not add in all of the “missing features”, that gibberish is designed to pacify your disappointment.
Even an idiot can see they have left the pro market. They killed off Xserve, Xserve RAID, Final Cut Server, Shake, Color, etc.. Soon to kill off Logic Pro I bet. We weren’t really sold a lie, Apple HAS been leaving the pro market, they just never SAID it. Even the Apple board of directors were angered about the Xserve kill-off. But its all about selling everyone on earth a new iDevice every 4 months. You know… the cell phones that take great pictures but drop half your calls. What was Apples response to the design flaw? STOP holding the phone the wrong way! YOU are the problem.
I work in broadcast IT, nobody is comfortable with where Apple is going, or confident that they will support product xyz in a year. You have Adobe and AVID giving you roadmaps ( its called making a business plan for the teenagers reading this) and assurance that they are committed to building and supporting professional tools, and you expect me to trust Apple who already laid a dozen eggs?
The new XSAN is built into Lion, which of course is the ONLY XSAN that works with FCPX. And now Lion XSAN cannot work with any other previous version of XSAN. So upgrade every machine in your facility, or no XSAN for FCPX. Which means switching over all of your boxes to a .0 release of Lion to use FCPX with an XSAN.
No broadcast monitor support in the true sense, oh but those are for old stupid people who refuse to see the new way.
If teenagers somehow going to dictate the development direction of a product, I want nothing to do with it. You cant even get half of them to show up to work much less extract ANY meaningful wisdom from them.
So from the same company that told you how to hold your phone so it wouldn’t drop calls, you are now being told this is the NLE of choice and you need to embrace the future. And if you cant see the brilliance in dumbing down the industry to the lowest common denominator, then you are “so 2010”.
As with many others here, I share great disappointment with the direction of Apple and this particular product. So while I may come off as an Apple hater, I love their products, and it is heartbreaking to see it come to this.
@Cris
“We are professional users, I don’t have time to dance with 1.0 software. I would have paid $1200-1500 for FCP 8, as would 90% of other serious editors.”
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Apple was dumb. If there are users of FCP 2,5 millions registered, and were willing to pay from $1,200 to $1,500 by an FCP 8, FCP X it launches for $ 299. This should not have been very interesting for them.