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.
– – –
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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Cris Daniels says:
July 27, 2011 at 9:54 pm
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justin says:
July 27, 2011 at 10:30 pm
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John X. Joyce says:
July 28, 2011 at 1:19 am
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russtafa says:
July 28, 2011 at 3:52 am
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Dan Rochlis says:
July 28, 2011 at 9:04 am
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Matthew Reynolds says:
July 28, 2011 at 9:32 am
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Dan Rochlis says:
July 28, 2011 at 11:06 am
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Evan Krueger says:
July 28, 2011 at 11:52 am
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Evan Krueger says:
July 28, 2011 at 11:53 am
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Nivardo Cavalcante says:
July 28, 2011 at 12:07 pm
← Older Comments Newer Comments →What is so cutting edge? What is SO revolutionary? I am completely missing it. What are you people even talking about? Is it the People detection? auto-color correction? No scary names like V1, Bins, or Sequences?
The music paradigm change no question, but Pro Tools 9 looks EXACTLY LIKE A MIXING BOARD. It behaves like a mixer, just like every recording engineer and producer expects. They dont want to be told that since we dont use outboard effects, that there is no need for side chaining or fx sends/returns. I mean why not change every paradigm to dumb it down and then call it “the way of the future”. Talk about drinking the Apple Juice (can’t call it cool-aid).
For SOME REASON there is this thinking that since it had to be re-written 64 bit native, that it couldn’t possibly operate like FCP 7. As if we HAD to expect a radical change, and removal of 50% of the features. As if tape died overnight. As if I could loose compatibility with FCP7 next week. AS IF APPLE HADN’T PULLED FCP 7 OFF THE MARKET after releasing a product that isn’t even slightly backwards compatible. No worries, Adobe Premiere Pro can open my FCP7 files, even if Apple can’t…. XML, EDL, multi-cam, log and transfer, custom frame sizes, all gone…..As if Apple thinks we can all just switch gears on fibre channel networks at the drop of a hat. Dump Final Cut server, dont worry… Dump Color, one of the best apps Apple had. Dump Xserve, dont worry, you can buy a plastic Mac Mini that looks like a tupperware box and run mission critical metadata servers on it.
As if Adobe didn’t sweep right up from 32bit to 64bit without missing a beat, and making every subsequent version of Premiere Pro better and better. As if AVID isn’t around the corner with 64 bit MC6, and I bet they haven’t stripped it an called it an upgrade. If they do dumb it down, THEY TO will hear it.
I also dont understand the “resistance to change” argument, who is saying we don’t want progress? I don’t consider one step forward and two steps back as progress. I don’t consider my thoughts that digitizing tape is still very relevant as “clinging to the horse and buggy”.
“Seems that there are issues involving work ethics and respect for complicated systems that are way too fragile to handle changing paradigms. Still these companies are looking to keep an edge improving workflows which is part of the new FCPX”
And what companies are jumping on FCP X as the solution to their needs for getting rid of the “complicated systems”? Companies like BBC that went Adobe last year (who saw the writing on the wall). If FCP 7 was too complicated for an editor that person has to be an idiot, and certainly can’t tell a compelling story if they can’t operate FCP. And I work on large scale projects, companies in this era don’t simply jump into a new product that doesn’t work with anything else they are doing now. Companies are terrified of “starting over”, or being the guinea pigs, not in this economy.
“Apples strength may be that they don’t need the professionals to pay there bills so they can risk something like this to make real improvements.”
Well you had half of it right I will agree, Apple doesn’t need professionals and they are very clear about it. Which is why they pulled FCP 7 off the market, which was a typical Apple bulldozer behavior.
I am keeping my FCP X, Motion 5 (which is great!), and Compressor 4. But I am easily in the majority, this whole thing stinks and most users are greatly disappointed. And there is no given that Apple will, or even cares to work off any of the negative feedback and make significant changes to the product in any reasonable amount of time. No amount of internet blather about how its going to be fixed is going to pacify anybody…..until its fixed.
And if they don’t fix it, well FCP, we had a great run together. Thats all, amicable divorce. We will fill that gap with another product and move on with our lives.
This is a complete pile of crap. I have a studio with 4 FCP suite working pretty much 24/7 and I can now no longer (as I tried yesterday) to buy a copy of FCP STUDIO 7 to handle extra work that pays my employees wages and my mortgage because APPLE have decided the future is 16 year olds using iMovie.
The future is tomorrow, my bills arrive today. If apple think my clients from the world of corporate are going to crowd around my ipad to see my final edits all in one sequence without use of multicam and whatever else won’t be used in the future, they are completed wrong. My clients pay my bills, my tax and and employees, they want their stuff to WATCHED on a mobile, but they sure as hell won’t pay to have it MADE on an mobile.
Thanks for appreciating my contribution by buying the many copies of FCP I’ve bought over the last decade.
I suggest that in a few years time FCPX will be described by some business writer as Apple’s “Great Leap Forward”, after Chairman Mao’s wonderful initiative that gutted the Chinese economy in 1957-61.
Chairman Mao, also a third-rate thinker, was an early admirer of miniaturization. As Wikipedia drily observes of the Great Leap Forward:
“With no personal knowledge of metallurgy, Mao encouraged the establishment of small backyard steel furnaces in every commune and in each urban neighborhood”.
Needless to say, the output was unusable.
It would seem that in a similar way the executives of Apple, with no personal knowledge of editing (or the industry for that matter), have decided to prescribe its future.
Soon we can expect crafted examples of the miracle of FCPX. This campaign, again following Mao, will be known by later business historians as “Let a thousand flowers bloom”.
Of course Chairman Mao failed appallingly while enjoying an advantage that Apple does not.
He owned China’s steel industry.
John,
Thanks for the analogy with Chairman Mao.
Be interested to hear your experiences with “Communist China” during that era, but I will bore you with mine for a moment.
Back during the “Mao era” the Chinese started on the track they are relentlessly pursuing today. So back in the early 70’s (even earlier possibly) the Chinese had the bright idea of starting to buy in American technology.
So my Dad who was involved with Technicolor was one of the small group of people who setup the “new film labs” in Peking using the “dye transfer process”
http://www.mkpe.com/publications/d-cinema/misc/technicolor.php
At the time I was just finishing my degree soon off to RCA a “once-great-American-Company”. So I had the great pleasure of meeting the small but highly intelligent group of Chinese who attended Technicolor, Bath Road (nr Heathrow Airport). Okay they all had their same,standard tunics little hats etc sort of a clone thing going on. But one chord that resonates with me greatly even today is this… I was dealing with one of the younger members who was an Electronics graduate…WOW!!!This guy cooked on high octane fuel really really really good. If that was a by product of the Chairman Mao era then okay some of the ideology may have been twisted but he was hitting the bullseye way-back-then.
Okay enough of that stuff, but the maxim to this tale is that Apple is a high octane company sometimes getting it wrong..mostly getting it right.
With Final Cut 10 they may have botched some aspects but if you actually look at this from a more philosophical view they are actually on the right path, moving down a bumpy but a road that keeps them on the motorway (express way) If you are a “pro-editor” then I DO suggest you go transition to AVID immediately.
So for all the Anericans reading this-Apple “bashers” great, keep up the good work (sic)!!!
But people like Steve Jobs and co might be your last hope holding the incoming tidal wave at bay. Yes..they might get stuff wrong but their overall thinking is in the right direction.
Otherwise you get this….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYKAbRK_wKA
The Chinese here in the UK are doing a very good job and buying up what they can, when they can, as much as they can.
Actually John, you are totally wrong, Chairman Mao set the tone for a society which in essence has not changed that much. Okay they may have dropped the “clone look” but even back then they held the values of excellent education, self discipline, politeness dear to their hearts and that is paying dividends these days! Possibly may have tramped down the eugenics route who knows, but at least they have the right idea on birth control.
All this Apple-Steve Jobs bashing is pathetic and a lot of people writing this stuff would not be capable of “holding-their-own” in the same room as Steve. Truly one of the diminishing “few” who make America great and you should hold your heads high in respect for people like him.
Forgive me Chris, and Justin.
Yes it stinks.
Crap ,I explained my self poorly in a forum of editors some dealing with stores and scripts !
I really wanted to point you to the link and see what you thought of it .
I really should not have made an opinion in this context. as I don’t have a payroll like you guys.
Seems I talk too much too much.
I am just a musician not an editor but I am interested and wanted your opinions on the link.
Oh, I detest that move on apples part. Completely unnecessaryas larry said.Apple could have used another name and release a pro version with track(at lead as a view)in the future)
Chris Kennys link. It seem relevant to this log.
http://blog.nicedissolve.com/2011/07/why-apple-is-worth-defending/
Well, again I am genuinely sorry, I hope it might help but it just added to your frustration .
–Dan
One thing that I haven’t heard a lot of people comment on. I’ve heard a lot of people saying about people going from iMovie to FCPX and maybe this is the new paradigm were everyone can video edit. But my thinking is that maybe the target market isn’t just iMovie users like people think.
What about the idea of media convergence? It seems like what it is becoming a bigger thing is the amount of creative professionals that are having to learn more ways of using that creativity. They are professionals and think creatively but are just able to use a different medium.
I see that as a lot better for our industry. I am a video editor, but recently a majority of my work has been with a city/regional magazine. There, the broader skillset is more wanted. Everything from web development, to graphic design, to photography.
With the entrance of the DSLR, all of the sudden there is a convergence in the creative industry. And it seems like FCPX is made just for that. I think the difference is that instead of just 12-year old iMovie users, you have photographers, magazine publishers, and graphic designers with years and years of creative experience able to learn a new medium. And so far it seems like it has benefited the video industry tremendously!
I wanted to get your thoughts on this idea. It’s not something that I’ve heard thrown out there. Most of what I’ve heard are just Final Cut editors that are pissed off that people that use iMovie will be using “their” software, and pissed off that Apple left feature X out. Being a traditional editor and producer I too feel like things are missing, but I love being able to help train photographers with 3 times my experience and seeing some amazing results.
Are there any special benefits you see that FCPX has for those that are coming from other creative mediums?
Again, thanks so much for your insight!
one last thing ,
Cris, your asked
“What is so cutting edge? What is SO revolutionary? I am completely missing it”
Well Background rendering must be interesting to you.
That said and after apologizing for the way I explained my self ,
I wanted you to know I believe the program could have been marketed as something else “final draft” or what ever, saving the disappointment.
Then in the future “take z” with the xlms , and some form to import the FCP projects. what else a classic interface with the generic looking sliders and a GUI that put them under the hood for slower people like myself.
But it wasn’t and I still feel there are good things about this program and that it could be useful to have for some work.
-Dan
I could not agree more with the article posted above. I began using iMovie (’06) in middle school on my father’s iMac, and in 8th grade I began learning Final Cut. The first version I had was 4.5, which I had to modify to fun on my Intel Macbook Pro. In High School, a friend lent me a copy of FCP 6, and I was finally able to begin producing – 4.5 on non-AGP Macs ran terribly. When I was finally able to purchase Final Cut Studio 3 for myself I began looking for real work. In my senior year of High School I shot and edited a documentary/educational film that was certified for distribution by the American Parkinson’s Disease Association. I am currently 19, and I attend the Rochester Institute of Technology. However, I have not stopped freelancing (I currently work for Brown University). 100% of my income comes the projects I shoot myself and edit in Final Cut. While I don’t work in a high-end studio with expensive and powerful workstations (not that I wouldn’t love to), I believe what I do qualifies me to claim a level of semi-professionalism.
The purpose of my relating this narrative to you isn’t to tout my own accomplishments, but to show that we “Imovie Editors” aren’t just kids fumbling around with a overly simplified editing programs – although we may have begun that way. I am in the process of learning FCPX with Larry’s training videos, and I am finding it to be superior in many ways to the aging FCP7. Not that 7 is by any means incapable or out of date; I’ve been using it for 5 years. As I said before, I don’t work in a production studio, and therefore, I don’t have use for XML, EDL etc. For those who do and rely on those features, some of these negative feelings about the new program are justified, especially since Apple removed Studio 3 from stores. However, some features are on the way – I cannot understand the constant kvetching about the lack of multicam editing. It is coming, and there is no reason ANYONE should be migrating or planning to migrate projects halfway through to a 1.0 software. That is an unreasonable expectation, because even if this were FCP8, a application is rarely ready for full-time use until several updates are applied.
As one of those “iMovie Editors” to which the author is referring, I too see the future as becoming increasingly simplified, but not mobile – yet. iMovie for the iPhone and iPad are toys, but that is not to suggest they cannot supplement the experience. My [business] partner is constantly using his iPad to augment his work in Photoshop with the apps from Adobe.
In the end, however, it is also my belief that while we may not replace the current editing paradigm completely or soon, “professionals” should pay more attention to the “kids” editing on the go with a camera and a Macbook Pro. We are that to which the author is referring, and I would caution anyone to question the “professionalism” of myself or people like me. FCPX was built for the current generation editors in some ways, but with a major nod to people like myself, and I look forward to the future of editing having seen a glimpse of it with FCPX.
I can already see a few typographical errors in my post for which I apologize in advance.
Suddenly, 100 years of experience have been discarded, thrown away, why? Because Apple wants it that way? Why the future? Walter Murch and many others are dinosaurs?