With FCPX is Apple just making it easier for everyone to be able to produce great looking video? No need for many non-profit organisations to waste precious recources on hiring a "specialist".
Is FCPX the start of the demystification of the film-making process? Same thing happened with photography (to the dismay of "gatekeeper-pros") when the dslr and photoshop came along.
Does Apple see a very different future, where the kind of work that was handled by editing facilities now passed onto small shops and individuals? In the graphic/web design world this is already happening, large design houses crumbling due to the high costs. Small shops/freelancers more flexible, lower overheads seem to be doing very well.
Are the "upset-pros" actually the technicians, mac-monkeys, button pushers who realise they are becoming largely irrelevant? What do these "pro's" edit anyways that has any worth to society, most of the movies coming out are horrible and everything on tv is a waste of time. Youtube/Vimeo is far more entertaining these days.
Just some random thoughts, "upset-pros" feel free to downrate if it makes you feel better.
Thanks for taking the time to create a thoughtful post
I tend to think that this shot by Apple has more to do with limiting quality content and the capability of those exact same small guys that you think that Apple's technology is going to empower. With the low cost of hi-quality video-cameras, and the low cost of editing software, the "pros" have already been threatened this past decade. The real threat is online distribution. Now that has been worked out with the movie studios, it is Apple's time to keep the little guy out. There is no better way than providing him with a product that can't compete with what the big guys (studios) use. It is a total reversal of what Apple has done up until this point. Remember editing software used to run in excess of $100,000-$200,000. For $1000 you could compete edit wise FCP. Now that some $3000 DSLRs are shooting footage that compares to a $500,000 camera we have a problem. Remember you could be the best editor, have a perfect script, along with great acting, but it still wouldn't amount to **** because the video looked like ****. So now you have full function editors, cheap cameras that produce $500,000 quality video that don't require expensive film, and then throw in social networking and free casts, coupled along with free online distribution and what do you get? You get a semi-nervous studio executive, and an average Joe Blow with the ability to make entertainment.
The issue at hand is that when Apple makes a decision to act, they go about the change full speed ahead without looking back. This irks a lot of their users. Point example: Blu-Ray and the total lack of support for it. As a consumer we lose because of Steve JOBS' one path minded goal to limit content to Apple server farms i.e. the cloud. This same tactic is now being pushed onto the movie editors.
The issue editors have is that with FCPX they are losing CONTROL, freedom, and the ability to operate in a viable work space. It is not that they can't use FCP7 anymore to get their job done, its the problem that awaits them in the future once FCP7 is no longer supported. They see the handwriting on the wall, and what is written is that you can use a new editor with less features, and less control. Less features and control from an editing standpoint and less control for how you can distribute your media do present major problems for these people.
Users are angry. Imagine buying a version of new Microsoft Word, and Word no longer having the spell check tool, and also not allowing you to double space. How can you turn in your term paper single spaced? Word then becomes worthless to you because you can't get the job done with it. That is what users of FCPX are now facing.
What all of this goes back to is CONTROL. From a monetary standpoint, Apple wants to be the gatekeeper. As long as open markets exists and there is no government intervention, i.e. consumers still have viable choices, they are going to fail miserably. Apple forgets that consumers, especially in technology sectors can give up their alliances easily to superior products. Apple seems to have forgotten this and fallen victim to their own mantra ************.
While Apple pursues its avenue of CONTROL, which results in limiting opportunities or freedoms of usage, it open opportunities in the market for other companies to compete. While APPLE ignores its consumers, somebody steps in and pays attention to them. That is what the market economy and competition is about. It is the extreme arrogance of the Apple management using their heavy hand to force their will on the consumer.
Apple was the go to guy first for publishing, then movie editing. These were the core cultists. They PUBLISH, they PRODUCE, they MAKE. They are were the DOERS. They were the original MOUTHPIECES. The DEVOTED. Now Apple's core products serve passive consumers. Passive consumers are not diehards. Passive consumers graze on one field to the next. Apple's new strategy is to tend to their flock and that flock consists of iPods and iPads. Nothing else matters, hence, FCPX. That is your reward for being a blowhard all of these years. The cult is dead.
)
