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Answered like true pro. Thanks Karen! Yes to all of this.
When I was just learning FCPv1 and transitioning from Adobe Premiere and learning MCExpress while attending Art Institute Seattle, I thought how great it was that I had access to all this software to be able to familiarize myself with the most popular and newest applications at the time. As FCP grew in popularity and the support of Premiere died as well as support for AVID on the Mac (this is late 90’s) and with the rise of independent video filmmaking, owning an AVID system obviously was too expensive for most people. Apple entered the game at a really good time and it’s relatively inexpensive filmmaking tools helped a lot of people, me included, to establish themselves. Having to or needing to know these different tools in order to stay in the game seemed to disappear and FCP was THE application of choice for most people –independent, amateur and professional. Web video has become ridiculously popular in the last decade and the use of affordable software like FCP, FCExpress, Song Vegas, Pinnacle Studio, iMovie, and other more obscure applications had become the norm. People used whatever means possible to express themselves because it was so easy. I am in no way an expert in any of these programs. I am most proficient at using Final Cut Pro. Which is my point of this entry…
Why did Apple, after building this huge success and reputation in video editing, slowly seem to forget about this application (I would even go as far as say, forget it’s professional community). I mean for the past 2 years they barely updated it’s suite of video production tools. I don’t know and I don’t think that I care that much. It has irked me for the past 5 years or so and I’m pretty much tired of ranting and moaning about how crappy the software has become. Which brings me back to Karen’s responses….
For me it feels like the coming of FCPX and the return of AVID to the mac in the past years (to the mac laptop! of all places) and the return of Adobe Premiere is kind of a reset, some kind lull or pause to take inventory of my tools and look back. I agree with Karen. I think it would be foolish, as a professional editor who’s job is to digest content in zillions of different formats and mediums, to not learn all I can about the newest toolsets. I can understand some of the FCP user’s frustration with the new FCPX, what I don’t understand is why they won’t give it a chance. Right now I feel the app sucks but it will get better (or we all just get use to it) as time progresses. And all the people jumping ship to Premiere Pro or AVID I have a question for you… How do you know that those tools won’t change or disappear? Premiere did once already. AVID, well, it disappeared from the Mac for a while and came back and is hecka expensive. So why jump ship? Why not learn it all? I mean this argument is the same as what codec or camera or format is best. There isn’t one best camera or lens or this or that. It all depends on your skills as a filmmaker really.
Can you create no matter what your resources are? Do you let the market control when and how you create? Do you really enjoy talking endlessly about how this or that is better than this or that? I get the feeling most folks aren’t actually shopping for the right tools and really just complaining about how small their dicks are.
