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Final Cut Pro X question

FCPX, bad news for Apple, good news for Avid and Adobe?


Can some one in the film/television industry provide any information on if FCPX is being used in Post Houses/Facilities or Studios? (I can't imagine it is).


I keep hearing that Final Cut Pro is slowly being discarded (because there are no more updates for FCP 7 and FCPX seems to lack the "Pro") and Avid and Premiere are replacing it. A lot of films schools are not even teaching Final Cut Pro anymore.

Final Cut Pro X, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Feb 20, 2013 9:44 PM

Reply
26 replies

Feb 20, 2013 10:23 PM in response to parker612

Are you saying the only professional editors are in post houses and studios?


Regardless, the vast majority of video production is created by preditors or camera/editors or writer/editors or some other combination of digital creator that have nothing to do with big iron production houses.


That said there are a number of TV shows in the US and Europe produced with FCP. The vast majority of primetime broadcasting is produced on Avid, but primetime broadcasting is a minute portion of all video production.


When you're charging $300 for a product you want to sell a lot of seats, selling to production houses and studios and the 10,000 film editors around the world is not going to cut it. Avid might squeeze by doing that, but only by charging very high prices. Or and it's a ***** to use and really slow for most production.

Feb 21, 2013 1:19 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

From hearing from instructors at my school, many editors have not switched to using FCPX. I was asking if this was correct.


I am just trying to get input from other people on the subject. Everything I have heard is from instructors and a few other people I have talked to currently working in the industry as editors.


And how is Avid a ***** to use and slow for most production?

Feb 21, 2013 1:35 PM in response to parker612

Almost no editors doing broadcast have switched to FCPX, but the vast majority of production is not done for primetime broadcast. If you want to cut features or work on narrative fiction for broadcast, you should learn Avid.


Avid is great if you have a ton of media and have to do intricate edits and send your audio to ProTools and your color to Resolve and you have weeks or even months to build your show. But if you need to put together a program today, not so much. It works great for news as well because of Unity, but it's not as quick to use.

Feb 21, 2013 1:38 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

Oh okay, gotchya.


Personally, I think that once you have some knowledge of Avid, it can be a very quick program to use on small projects. I have my keyboard mapped to my specific needs so that I can look through media, edit clips into my timeline, trim, etc. very easily and quickly. Avid media management is also very helpful and keeps everything organized and you can easily find what you are looking for with custom sifting. It has some great tools, such as trim mode, that can help you put together a program quickly.


But there is a steep learning curve when it comes to Avid.

Feb 21, 2013 2:09 PM in response to parker612

FCPx is the most misunderstood app on the planet.


1) Folks who are 100 years old want it to be the app they used... And it is NOT.

(If I am not too wrong.... in 5 years from now - NO ONE would EVER wanna edit on nothing LESS than what FCPx is today) --- It is already making adobe re-think their event handling... Trust me, in 5 years all the NLEs will have event handling a la FCPx. If they dont... Then NO ONE with intuition will ever wanna edit with them. Times are changing and FCPx is the front runner...


2) If one cant get it done in FCPx - chances are; one cant get it done at all.


3) FCPx has its issues but they ARE being worked out.


If folks would get to KNOW FCPx and while they do so, ERASE their past & relic NLE memories, they would find a wonderful wonderful app with features so powerful and strong that it would make their jaws drop. Mine did, at least. And I know my way around PPRO, AE, AME etc etc etc... Until FPCx they were all tools... FCPx is more than that - IMO...


Call me a fan boy. Though, The first day I tested it, I wanted my money back. But I didnt wanna bother myself with the App Store Process of doing so.. Then at night time... I'd open it and try to forget the "Relic Ways" and with each evening spent with this new baby... I began to understand the depth of app... I wish others would too ;-)


As said... It has QUIRKs... But I would still swap it for NOTHIGN ;-)

Feb 21, 2013 2:16 PM in response to Studio Engineer

It is already making adobe re-think their event handling... Trust me, in 5 years all the NLEs will have event handling a la FCPx.

Can you explain why all NLEs will have event handling like FCPX?


Another question, what do you use FCPX for (personal projects, projects for clients, etc.) and what type of projects do you typically work on (short films, commercials, features, music videos, docs, etc.)?

Feb 21, 2013 2:52 PM in response to parker612

When Apple was developing FCP X they probably looked at their current users and found the majority of them had pretty simple needs; they mainly worked alone and kept there projects within the FCP system.


FCP X caters to those needs pretty well once you get use to the interface changes and not having any tracks.

However, the problem came with the people who edited for broadcast and cinema. When FCP first came into the picture, the broadcast and film market had been largely dominated by very expensive Avid systems. FCP captured a large portion of that market fairly quickly.


When FCP X came out it seemed to many TV and film editors as if there were two players in the market, Avid and Apple, so for Apple to effectively pull out of the market by release a product that was not as flexible and adaptable as what they were used to was unfathomable. While Apple represented, arguably, about 50% of the professional broadcast and film NLE market, those users represented a tiny proportion of the total FCP userbase.


Even with the updates, I don’t think FCP X will ever meet the needs of some of those professionals – but that’s okay for them and for Apple, there are other applications for the editors and many new potential clients for Apple. Apples main objective for this software was to appeal to a larger audience.

Feb 21, 2013 3:18 PM in response to parker612

parker612 wrote:


It is already making adobe re-think their event handling... Trust me, in 5 years all the NLEs will have event handling a la FCPx.

Can you explain why all NLEs will have event handling like FCPX?


Truth be told = I CANT...

As I started using FCPx I was NOT capable of understanding how fantastic the eventlibrary is.

Because I had never thought such possible.

And you, obviously coming from ordinary NLEs' way of handling media, would also not be able to understand. Some things HAVE to be experienced. NOT TOLD. And the event lib. is just like that. (Please dont understand this as rude... Not at all meant like that)


Someone (Professional) who says "OK, NOW I am REALLY going to give FCPx a shot... Would still need a few weeks of heavy duty with the event lib. before finally understanding WHY there is absolutely NO way of going back after having understood it. So a few phrases of mine would not be able to explain it.


parker612 wrote:


Another question, what do you use FCPX for (personal projects, projects for clients, etc.) and what type of projects do you typically work on (short films, commercials, features, music videos, docs, etc.)?

I work on Films, Music-Videos, Image Campaigns, docs.etc and it is one of my primary sources of income.

I actually think FCPx is fantastic for films. Or should I say anything with a strict "plan"... To me sorting my sources is EVERYTHING.... (Cannot stress that enough) --- And there again here the event library comes into play(Key-wording, "Favorizing", Compositing. Simply amazing. I would say that editing in FCPx is great and very intuitive... But 95% of FCPx's greatness comes from its event library. Trim, slide, roll whatever you wanna call it.. Can be done in all editors. But where the real speed-increase lies... Is within HOW FAST can you get to your source material and PUT it into context.. Event Library is KING... Undisputed ;-)


And THAT is why I boldly sate that in 5 years any NLE without an Event Library a la FCPx is not going to be able to survive !

Feb 21, 2013 3:35 PM in response to parker612

parker612 wrote:


Even with the updates, I don’t think FCP X will ever meet the needs of some of those professionals – but that’s okay for them and for Apple, there are other applications for the editors and many new potential clients for Apple. Apples main objective for this software was to appeal to a larger audience.


NO NLE meets all the needs of anyone. In PPRO you need to enter After Effects to get Pixel Motion on Slowdowns... In FCPx you have Optical Flow which IMO is the best darn "Slow-Downer" ever emerged.


FCPx's integration with Motion (If you know what you are doing Motion IS a plug-in for FPCx) is making FCPx THE NLE with the least need for roundtripping...


But no matter WHAT - no APP in professional and creative process will EVER be able to replace several apps's worh of technology. A thing like Color Grading.... I used to leave AME or PPRO to get to either Davinci Resolve or AE for doing that. FCPx is so darn powerful at that, that I do ALL my color grading there. And might I add without ANY downsides. I personally think FCPx is a better environment to grade inside of than i.e. Resolve. There is literally NOTHING I cannot do due to Motion Template Integration. In grading again, the event library comes into play.. I have an event libray with Looks and Grades. All I need to do is to copy ONE adjustment layer and paste it as a connected clip... And there I am with a look that took hours to conceive applied in a second. Sure, you have that in Resolve... But its tools are so limited. And seriously non-appealing that I doubt that the next generation would wanna use it for anything... Speedgrade from adobe is vastly superior when it comes to RAW handling.. So I personally think that Resolve will die with the last facilty buying its overpriced plastic remote control ;-)


To reduce FCPx as an app appealing only to a crowd of laymen is about the grandest mistake one could ever make... And would be based on Relic-Hype, rather than experience !!!


FCPx shortage is NOT in its features... Its in making those features perform 100% - 100% of the time.

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