Is FCPX Too Easy to Use?

Great article, Ed. I was just having this same conversation with someone the other day in regards to cameras.

I was at the NAB FCP Supermeet and saw the sneak preview. It looked like a very sophisticated editing platform that is scalable to the users needs and this was only the beginning. I suspect that there will an update to Motion and other parts of the suite. I agree with you that things have changed for the best in equipment, user interface and cost. My only pause was that this is another editing program to learn on top of Avid and Premier.

Great article, especially the last paragraph!

Totally agree Ed. Apple is continuing their position as a industry disrupter with Final Cut pricing being below the cost of popular plug in products. Our analysis at Key Code Media from the “canned” presentation at SuperMeet is that Final Cut is a powerful tool that utilizes the computer to be a better system. We are less concerned about what was not shown in the demo or commented on. A lower price which automates many of the editorial functions gives editors access to doing more. After NAB 2011 we feel that CS5, Avid MediaComposer and FinalCut X, along with Smoke on a Mac 2012, all have carved out a niche within the production workflow. At the end of the day, it now costs more just too learn any of these solutions, than to purchase the software.

What a good article. I was one whose thinking was “here come the amateur editors” especially with the lower pricing, but your last paragraph sums it all up. I am booked because people have the confidence on what me and my team can produce, not what tools I use. It’s easy to look at tools, but it more difficult to look at ourselves.nnI often tell interns, as long as you know the principles of editing, a piece of software should never be a barrier.

You can give anyone a guitar. Doesnt mean music comes out.nThere are so much ‘pros’ creating crap and so much amatures creating brilliant art.nStop blaming the tools!!

fast and easy is only ever wrong if it as the expense of quality and accuracy. some might also say that difficulties you face force you to be more creative?

Actually, most of the pros don’t care about that.

Sorry, comment posted before I finished.nnThat doesn’t seem to be the root of the concern amongst the pros with the FCPx upgrade. If Apple rips out features that are critical to pros, like tape-based workflows or the ability to round trip with finishing apps, Final Cut becomes useless to them. It’s an incredible amount of hostility to Apple for seemingly abandoning their core supporters for the sake of going after a larger consumer audience.

Great article Ed!nI will reserve judgement until I know more about FCPX and what happens with the rest of FC Suite.nMy concern is that in the middle of the decade FCP was growing and striving to become a richer more elegant application.nNow it feels as though they’re trying to be a cheap “template based” program for the masses.nEasier to use is great, however if the program doesn’t include the tools I need to finesse a show or spot, color correct and send it for audio sweetening I have to find one that will.

Well said. There really do seem to be some short memories out there. I agree wholeheartedly that the economic barriers to entry were very real and daunting. I work as a trainer because I don’t believe that access to knowledge and skills should be the limiting factor either. However in that respect I do think that it’s important editors understand why they’re likely to find organisational strategies, such as bins and meaningful naming conventions useful. If your aim is to work outside of traditional funding, or simply make do with less, understanding how the tools work and how to manage the end-to-end workflow can, in my experience, make all the difference to getting the job done on time and within budget.nnBased on the features demonstrated during the u201cSneak Peaku201d FCPX would appear to offer new ways to catalogue and access your footage. This may require some editors rethink their working methods. How to do this most effectively may ultimately present the steepest learning curve.nnI’m not sure what you mean when you refer to the removal of u201cqualityu201d? Are you referring specifically to broadcast standards? Only I think one of the remarkable aspects of the revolution you’ve identified is that the new, inexpensive tools have not required us to sacrifice quality. In fact the trend would seem to suggest the reverse u2014u00a0we can now have the opportunity to do far more for much less.

Well stated. Couldn’t agree more!

I think the rub here comes as the focus of Apple’s intentions. Are they aiming their development resources and marketing at pro users or consumers/amateurs? It used to be called Final cut PRO – now the pro nomenclature has been removed, does this tell us who the software is aimed at? Apple did not invent computer based editing. They created a tool that professionals would want to work with and lowered the bar on pricing. Until the release, we won’t know exactly what features are there are what are not. But if familiar metaphors and workflow are removed, it seems Apple that will have decided that they need to tell us how to edit, organize, bring in media (or not) as opposed to responding to the needs of professional editors. nnLet’s take just one simple feature as a litmus test. The timecode window. This was a great new feature of FCP7 that allowed a producer from across the room to log footage, select takes, etc. If that’s gone, then then Apple has abandoned the needs of professional users in real world situations in favor of hype, style and bloat. If the time code window is there, and all these new features are enhancements and options for workflow, then we have nothing to complain about and everything to rejoice.nnI am very respectful of making content creation easier for non professionals. I loved the concept that someone could start a project in Imovie and then open that same project in FCP for finishing by a professional editor. nnNot jumping off too far into the deep end, let me leave everyone with this. FCPX offers auto color correction on import. Not sure if this is destructive or not, but this is the ultimate consumer feature. How many professional would ever use this feature? So if FCPX is missing some major industry proven and time respected workflows, we will surely know where the development dollars were spent, and the level of respect Apple views it professional editing customers.nn

Well said.

I completely agree. Being able to use a piece of software is not the same as being able to use it effectively to achieve a desired result. If people are concerned about the shrinking barriers to entry of our industry, that ship has sailed. I don’t think my ability to navigate an edit system is the only thing that keeps my clients coming back. It’s been part of it, but there is a whole package of experience and communication and professionalism and many other things that keep them satisfied. I welcome changing technologies and hope they make my life better. So…I will be an optimist until given reason to believe otherwise.

How do you feel about QuickTime pro 7 vs QuickTime 10? Maybe the same difference here.

I like less expensive. I like streamlined and powerful. I found the basics of Media Composer and FCP easy to learn and the advanced features fairly intuitive. I found the early iMovie versions useful for simple projects as well. But iMovie “advanced” to the point of being incapable of accomplishing anything the “wizards” (PC term) did not intend you to do. If this is the progress we’ll obtain in FCPX, it is a sad miscalculation. I’ll buy it and decide for myself.

Having had the same experience with the very very reactionary nature of video professional in the past, I left the industry and became a new media specialist.nYour editorial is very much on point, and back in the early 90s the exact same whining was heard when Avid took over from grass valley, and again when fcp took over from Avid.nThe cries was always what about our investment in training and education. About lower barriers of entry adding more garbage; About more accessibility lowering the need for trained professionals.nnIts always the same when it comes to technology and change, but the ProVid world is particularly affected by entrenched thinking and philosophy.nnI can’t wait for FCP7 and other similar tools to fall in the hands of 100s of teenagers all across the world; they will bring new ideas and new values that will positively push the craft further into the future, and in directions that although not so comfortable for the old guard, will create new markets and new avenues for profit for those who take the bull by the horns.nnGrow up whiny naysayers, if you don’t like it there are now more tools available that follow your old philosophy anyways!nn

Totally agree. I’ve never used Final Cut Pro before and don’t claim to know the nitty gritty features that professionals use all the time, but I’m cautiously optimistic that Apple does not intend to reduce FCPX to a consumer grade editing suite, but instead to make professionals’ lives a LOT easier. Just because it has some elements of iMovie does *not* mean it’s going to be limited. For one, FCPX is apparently now much more codec friendly. This is one great thing about Premiere Pro. I throw it an AVCHD M2TS file and it doesn’t flinch. Try doing the same in FCP7!

The issue is not whether Apple has given us an “easier” editing suite, it’s what they’ve removed: Soundtrack (and most of those tools), Color (and most of those tools), burning a DVD with chapters (though you can export DVD files and then use a third party program to add chapters, I suppose).nu00a0nFCS 3 was the system that gave us No Country for Old Men and Cold Mountain. Now, it couldn’t – the tools aren’t there anymore. I’m waiting to see what editors like Walter Murch or the Coen brothers think about what’s been done to their favorite software.nu00a0nThe Color tool in particular, has saved my bacon with some particularly difficult-to-match clips, and they’re dumbing it down? The powers of Color to enhance a film were limitless, and nowu00a0Apple hasu00a0decided to limit them.nu00a0nIt’s not a matter of “give a guy a guitar, and if he can’t learn to play it, it’s because he has no talent”. How about giving Andres Segovia a guitar with one string, after he’s learned with six. Undoubtedly, he’ll be able to make beautiful music, but you can imagine how he’d feel if that’s the only choice he had to play with. (we’ll be adding strings later, but we can’t tell you when)nu00a0nCertainly, I know there are other tools I could use (though the expense of both upgrading to them,u00a0and the time to learn new tools is a factor, as well). But I’ve invested thousnds in my system, my software, and my understanding of how best to get whatu00a0I want from it. Starting from scratch because Apple has decided it doesn’t care about me, seems kind of stupid on their part.

Here is my prediction: FCP will be left for the prosumers and amateurs wanting to make great movies out of their home videos. Eventually, Apple will release their great NEW editing software for “Pros”, and of course we will have to pay “professional” prices for a whole new studio package. This FCPX is a marketing strategy. u00a0

People’s reaction to FCPX covers the whole spectrum, and within that mix there are always going to be those who feel threatened with change. u00a0For some, they don’t like the fact that their learning curve took a lot of effort, and now new people get to skip that and don’t need to “pay their dues” like they did. u00a0nnIt’s like PC users don’t like hearing that the typical PC user uses 3 programs and the typical Mac user uses 10+.nnBut simplification is essential so that we can do more with less effort. u00a0When the interface gets out of our way then we can get on with what we’re creating and spend more time on THAT with the limited amount of time we have available. u00a0If it takes someone so much effort to do one crappy movie because learning the interface was so difficult before sidelining the whole thing and giving up, then the person who can do 10 times more will progress more rapidly through their “crappy” phase and actually get to learning what makes a good movie, because the tool moves out of the way more and more.nnIt’s so obvious to many of us, but not to some, unfortunately.

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