One of the problems of being in the middle is that I can see both sides. I don’t necessarily agree with them, but I can appreciate their point of view.
My blog this morning – Who’s Accountable – touched a nerve because, in addition to the people that commented directly on the blog, I’ve also had several private conversations with Apple and people who are very, very upset with Apple.
What’s become obvious over the last week, is that the way the Final Cut Pro X launch was handled has totally overshadowed the features of Final Cut Pro X.
Over the last several days, I’ve been consumed with trying to decide what to do – stay with Final Cut or move to another platform. If I switch, what do I switch to? What advice should I give to others trying to make the same choice?
As my office will attest, all this internal debating has not made me a pleasant person to be around.
Let me share my thinking with you — then, you can decide for yourself whether you agree or disagree.
First, let me say that I think the launch of Final Cut Pro X was very badly handled. As I’ve written, I don’t think Apple needed to cancel Final Cut Studio (3) as abruptly and coldly as they did. They should have given us more time to make an orderly transition. They were thinking as a technology company, not as editors managing a decade of assets.
Canceling Final Cut Server, even though it was incompatible with Final Cut Pro X, has unnecessarily jeopardized companies building a business on that platform.
Apple never does things accidentally, so they will disagree with me. Probably strongly disagree… I remember a remark one of the people at Apple told me before the launch, in that they were expecting a lot of controversy over the new version of Final Cut Pro.
Well, we can certainly agree about that.
I also think that Apple seriously erred in not providing a conversion utility between Final Cut Pro 7 and FCP X. The one-two punch of canceling FCS (3) and an inability to convert old projects dominated the discussion far more than the merits of FCP X.
Apple will disagree, but the launch did not take the feelings and passion of editors properly into account. And damage was done.
On the other hand, there are some very cool new features in Final Cut Pro X. Some editors are writing and telling me how much they are enjoying the new program. (Just as other editors are writing to tell me, at length, why they are moving to Avid or Adobe.)
There’s a lot of passion on both sides. And both sides have some truth behind them.
But, let’s look at a few more points:
* Apple said in their presentation at NAB that FCP X redefines video editing for the next ten years. There is lots of additional development planned.
* Apple told me that because FCP X is distributed via the App Store, they can update the program much more frequently than when it was sold as a package on DVD.
* Apple wrote in their FAQ that they are already working on adding new features, such as XML and multicam, to the product and releasing updates quickly.
* Apple has stressed that FCP X is designed to provide a feature set for professionals, and not just as an upgrade for iMovie. (I am not saying they MET the needs of professionals, but a look at the architecture of FCP X reveals features that no iMovie user would ever need.)
* However, it is also self-evident that Apple needed to provide a clear and consistent upgrade path to iMovie users who were totally lost trying to understand how Final Cut Express works. Apple feels that it is possible for one product to meet both needs.
As I wrote in an earlier blog – Moving Forward – the first rule of business is to stay in business. All of us should keep an eye on our options. Check out what Avid, Adobe, and Media 100 are offering. If you feel you can’t wait, then switch.
But I would also suggest that many of us would benefit by taking a deep breath and giving Apple a chance to live up to their promises for the program.
Final Cut Studio (3) still works.
It took Avid, Adobe, and Apple many years to evolve their programs to their current feature set. I’m willing to give Apple a few months to get their act together and fix what’s broken with FCP X.
I’m going to stay with Final Cut Pro for a while. Work at learning the new version. Give feedback to Apple on what they need to do to improve things. And share what I learn with you.
Final Cut Pro X has a lot of exciting potential – but, for many of us, that potential is not yet realized.
The burden is on Apple to deliver on their promises, update the program quickly, and repair the damage they did during the launch. The proof is in the program.
If they succeed, great. If not, Avid and Adobe will still be around in six months.
Larry
89 Responses to What Will Larry Do?
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Mark Henkins says:
July 11, 2011 at 5:42 pm
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Larry says:
July 11, 2011 at 5:50 pm
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July 11, 2011 at 6:19 pm
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July 11, 2011 at 8:20 pm
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July 12, 2011 at 12:00 am
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russtafa says:
July 12, 2011 at 7:15 am
← Older Comments Newer Comments →Hi Larry, I’ve been a long time fan of your FCP/Motion training. I’ve been using FCP for around 6 years and like many others I really had high hopes for FCPX. After trying it for a week I asked for a full refund. I won’t even bother to go over the what’s missing aspect of it since that’s been said quite a few times all over the net. What surprises me more is, no one is talking about how buggy the program is. I have a Mac Pro with 12 gigs of Ram and FCPX crashed at least once every 10 min. This reminds of the first 2 versions of Motion. Motion was unusable until version 3. I’d also like to mention another FCPX bug I discovered which was FCPX deletes files by itself. I thought I was going crazy until I googled it and found out many others were having similar issues with source files being deleted by FCPX. I’m sure with a few updates FCPX will eventually become the great app it once was. The problem is I don’t have time to wait for that one day to come. I am looking into crossing over to AVID/ Premiere Pro and wanted to know if you had any advice onto which one is better. I would also love to see some AVid/Premiere training from my favourite instructor to help make the transition smoother 🙂
I’m still debating whether to provide cross-over training and will know more after my FCP X seminar tomorrow. As for whether Avid or Adobe is better, bar fights have been started by a question like that – at a high-level, they both do the same thing. However, it is in the details that each application differs, and only you can decide which of the two makes the most sense for the work that you do.
Larry
I wonder if Apple is really trying to distance themselves from pro apps and the products they used to be know for and put all of their effort into products that appeal to a larger group of people future profits.
Professional video editors are a relatively small number of consumers compared to iPhone and iPad users. Maybe their new direction is only about money and has less to do with what Apple used to be know for (integrity and ingenuity).
The first big change was from Apple computers to Apple inc. Now it is from pro apps to mass appeal apps.
Thankfully Adobe is still a software company that sells pro apps.
Mark,
Apologies to BUNIM-MURRAY Productions, I got my information from about 3 different AE’s from 3 different faculties, I am guessing it was just a rumor. Did not mean to misrepresent BUNIM-MURRAY in anyway, in fact I am glad to hear you are not switching and will relay the message to those who gave me the false info. Again sorry for the mix up.
Larry –
I agree with our comments. My world and workflow did not change on 6/21. I am learning FCPX to cover my butt, but FCS3 still works, and will work for the foreseeable future, for my clients. Everyone needs to take a deep breath and relax.
While FCPX has some cool features, the two things that make a no go for me, until some major upgrade of some sort, is, first, the loss of Color and, second, no Viewer.
I love Color and spent a lot of money learning it. It was an awesome program! Now I’ll have to shell out another Grand for DaVinci plus training? Thanks for nothing, Apple.
And I can’t work without the Viewer. I do a lot of interviews and sometimes I receive 1/2 hour + clips. Scrubbing in those little previews clips is awful trying to find and exact word. Maybe if FCPX upgrades with a feature like Phrase Find in Avid.
Larry,
I surely will keep my studio suite running that I purchased back in 2009. The rumors around the release of a new version have kept me on Final Cut as my main editor. All the Apple secrecy began to stink for me some time ago, when people stop communicating it makes me feel like they have something to hide and by the looks of things that they did in fact have a good reason to keep their secrets. Apple from the circles of editors that I work around have always complained that Apple has always done what they wanted and was not receptive to the needs of the pro editor. I have heard from many that I should be patient with Apple and they will fix and improve this currently deficient application. I have to ask if they never listened to professional trainers and highly respected users in the past what makes you think they are now or in the future. I suspect there will be some improvements coming shortly but again it will likely not be to the expectation of most the professional users.
Larry I hope you come to your senses before too much time goes by and you begin to diversify some of the consulting and training to other professional products as I would hate to see Apple being your dead horse. I truly would hate to see such a great talent as you being discredited in the same manner as Apple by association. I have owned the Adobe software since Premier Pro 5 and currently on CS5.5 so it is not a huge leap for me personally but I know it will be for others crossing over to Adobe or Avid. The pro users are already diversified in using several different software products and hardware so I don’t think you would be scaring anybody away and possibly increasing your audience by offering a broader range of training and consulting.
David
As a HS broadcast teacher and FCP trainer, for students I have avidly read these responses hoping to find a light at the end of the tunnel. As a teacher I need to prepare my kids for the next 5 years out, and I have always been a proponent of FCP as a strong tool to be prepared for college and beyond. Now I’m not so sure…..I want to do my best for my students for THEIR futures, but now their teacher has second thoughts about this new direction FCP has taken. Do I continue to teach the old FCP 7? FCPX? Or do I switch gears entirely and get my kids ready for Avid or Adobe? Luckily in the end its the STORY that matters, and all the editing platforms in the world are just tools to tell the story, inn the end that is one aspect of teaching I never have to question, how to tell the story.
Larry,
As a side note, we are a progressive School District in Eastern Kansas, so determined to help our students that we flew one of our other trainers to attend your seminar on FCPX on short notice so we can see first hand if FCPX will be a great new tool for our students. I look forward to seeing what he says after your training.
At the risk of starting that bar fight, and believe me, I am quite big, I can only ever recommend Avid for feature film work. I’ve cut four features, two on FCP and two on Avid and in my opinion there was no competition. Avid disappears from the process and allows yo to get on with telling the story, whereas FCP constantly needs nursing in a very unproductive way (and I don’t carry team of Apple professionals to keep things moving)
There’s a very interesting read by editor Eddie Hamilton here about his experiences. It may be a little dated now, but most of it holds true.
http://www.eddiehamilton.co.uk/avidvsfcp.htm
I was really hopeful that FCP X would address those issues, but for features editing I fear it has gone in completely the wrong direction for that.
Apart from all the other comments about FCPX, here are a couple of issues that i have with it that I would like to see resolved –
1 – the colour correction tools don’t offer anything much more than FCP7’s three way colour corrector – there is a lot you can do with it, but it’s a blunt instrument compared to the colour correction in After Effects or even Premiere (Premiere has a confusing colour corrector, but at least it has a Luma Curve filter). What it needs as a minimum is better control over the luminance. (Or bring back Color.)
2 – The magnetic timeline drive me up the wall. Maybe I’ll get used to it, maybe it’s just that it’s unfamiliar – but I really want to be able to place a clip where ever I damn well please, which might not be on the primary storyline or connected to some other unrelated clip. It’s a very linear way of working. If there was a “de-magnetiser” it wold be possible to lay audio out in a way that would allow groups of clips to be muted to provide things such as music&effects stems.
Reg,
I chased down your reference then went to..
http://www.onerivermedia.com/blog/?p=322
Quote…..
Soundtrack pro has been reported that it might be integrated into Apple’s Logic Studio. But beware, although Logic is still alive, this too was an app originally bought out by Emagic, and it too, like FCPX, has been simplified down to a degree
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Okay I agree with a lot of points, most of them common sense about Final Cut 10, but what I DO dislike intensely is BAD INFORMATION!!
Okay lets look at Logic Studio…
With Komplete 7 and 8 on its way
Oxygen 25 keyboard (supplied by AVID haha)
Rewire in Ableton and Reason and lo and behold I know a LOT of music professionals using this package, and famous ones too.
Also it is used comprehensively in Sound design.
So please people information is good when correct and bad when incorrect.
If Apple do turn this in to Logic X then boy will there be repercussions!!
Thought in this instance I would just point out fact not fiction.