Apple has lost footing in the film/tv industry with this release
I read through all of the postings here and while some good comments were made, there were too many comments made by people who clearly do not understand the impact this software has on the film/tv industry. Or rather...lack of impact. I have been using FCP since 2001, but since becoming a working professional in the film/tv industry, I have only been using Avid. I still use Final Cut for web based side projects...but not for professional use and FCPX won't make it easier...
For starters, Apple's Final Cut Pro has NEVER been a standard tool in the film/tv industry. It has been an OPTION, but the standard has and always will be Avid. Final Cut Pro has mostly been used for reality television, independent films, student films, industrials, and any other project on a shoe string budget. There are some tv shows and even films that have been cut on Final Cut Pro, but that might make up 1% of the productions that are made every year. That might be an exaggeration because I don't know for sure, but what I am saying is that Apple does a fantastic job with marketing a film that has been edited on FCP and there is such a large consumer base with Apple from the very beginner to the professional that everyone thinks that FCP is the only software used. When in actuality Avid is still the most used software used to date and is still the chosen tool for the editors in the film and tv industry. American Cinema Editors has also made it very clear that they are behind Avid and not Apple when it comes to their choice of editing software.
There were posts by people saying that the features that were taken out aren't a problem and that editors have to adapt and not be scared or something along those lines. There were posts about how this is great for the iMovie user because it offers so much more than iMovie. And that is the big issue with this release. It is completely geared toward the CONSUMER. People who are behind this release and say it is better than FCP7 have no clear understanding of a professional workflow when it comes to editing and communicating with vendors (and I'm not sure if the people who designed this software truly understand what the film editor needs).
For Apple to call this a PRO application is a direct slap in the face to everyone who truly is a professional. I don't care that updates will be made or third party software will be coming. There are basic features that SHOULD have been in this release to be able to call this a PRO application. The big features missing are:
Creating EDLs and OMFs: If you are asking yourself...well who cares? What is that anyway? Why did they need to keep that? Then you aren't a professional and really need to start understanding more. EDLs and OMFs are the only way to communicate with other vendors. In the film industry, the workflows NEED these basic features. EDLs are used to be sent to color correction facilities and DI facilities so they can rebuild the edit on their end and start manipulating the film. EDLs are also generated to hand over to the Sound houses so they can rebuild the sequences to start doing their sound magic. OMFs are used to essentially consolidate the audio into a ProTools file to be sent to the sound guys with the EDLs to help in rebuilding the sequence.
This is a very basic explanation, but by eliminating these features from FCPX, it has rendered the program USELESS in the professional world. 100% USELESS.
No multicam support: This is just plain idiotic. I am not a fan of reality television and while I know editors on those programs work their tail off and I have great respect for them, I have very little respect for the idea of reality tv. However, as stated earlier, FCP is primarily used in the reality tv world and FCPX just rendered itself USELESS for that world. Reality TV is, at the very least, shot with two cameras (sometimes as many as 4-6) and now Apple has taken multicam right out of the equation. I have worked on numerous well known film and tv shows and all were shot with two or three cameras. Multicam is the way of the world. Some shoots will do single camera, but more often than not, two cameras will be used. To remove this feature with the release of a PRO software was a huge mistake. Again, it doesn't matter that an update will eventually come. The fact of the matter is that Apple is selling this material as a PRO level software to compete with Avid and it can't even do the basic functions of what a professional needs to work.
What is also sad is that I don't even think Final Cut Pro 7 handled EDLs, OMFs, or Multicam very well in the first place. So now they have come out with a "brand new way of editing" and will most likely make things worse than they already were.
Lack of Log and Capture: Ok, this was just ridiculous. Sure, tapeless workflow is the wave of the future, but why would something like log and capture be taken out? Tapeless workflow is not fully implemented in the feature/tv world yet. Sure, the film might be shot tapeless, but the film I just worked on that shot on the Alexa had SR backups made on set. And we had to grab footage from those SR tapes because the Alexa had digital hits and artifacting that didn't transfer over to the tape. So the tape was clean and good to go.
I also work on a tv show (cut on Avid) that does everything in house. When we get our dailies (which is a multicam 3 camera shoot) we load in our tapes at the cutting room and start editing. Then when we are ready to turnover to the facility for color correction, we online the sequences ourselves. We do this because the budget for the show can't afford to use a telecine facility to do the digitizing and syncing.
Apple has now made that type of workflow impossible with FCPX and is essentially forcing a production to spend more money because Apple didn't want to implement a simple feature of log and capturing. Now in order to work with FCPX...you must shoot tapeless otherwise you could run into some very expensive costs to transfer your media to FCP format.
These are just a few of the features I felt were completely necessary to have in the release of a PROFESSIONAL software. Apple has failed their professional users. Maybe with updates they will be smart enough to implement some of what is missing, but I'm not sure how many editors will be quick to jump back on board. Not to mention learning a whole new system. Why fix something that isn't broken? Avid won't be changing their interface any time soon. All they are are tools anyway. Just because you can make a couple edits here and there doesn't make you a film or video editor. Can you tell a story without losing your audience? Can you keep your audience engaged? Can you help make sure the audience doesn't get ahead of the story? Those are just some of the things that makes an editor...not the software.
I'm a huge fan of Apple, but they are definitely losing sight of where they started and are in fact catering more toward the consumer. Obviously there is nothing wrong with that. They are still a company that wants to turn a profit. But please don't say something is geared toward the professional when in reality...this software is anything but that.
