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What do the major companies use? (software)

J

Josh Kahane

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 29, 2006
439
1
Suffolk, UK
Hi

I am 15 and a proud owner of a mac. :D We have never had a PC in the house, and with my dad an illustrator and photographer it has kind of brought me into a creative position.

I know on mac osx Final Cut Studio is the big pro software many major film companies use in producing their films. I bought Final Cut Express shortly ago and I am currently getting to grips with it quite well. I am interested in maybe becoming a film editor in future.

I have always loved films, all the films I buy that come with special features I watch and see Macbook Pros and Apple Cinema Displays all over the place, they seem popular in this industry.

Although to get a taster whats some good programs I can use to get the grips of 3d animation, texture painting and compositing with? Also just for preference and interest, what software do the major companies use for those things?

Thanks, any help much appreciated.
 
Most major motion pictures are edited with a $2,500 program called Avid, it used to be like 20 grand. Although some TV shows and feature films are edited with Final Cut Pro, most of the big ones use Avid. Avid is available for Mac and PC and most films use Mac. Most film colleges offer teaching both and the interface is similar. They both have a canvas, viewer, clip bin, and timeline. Avid has a more technical and hard-to-use interface that professional editors no how to use. The main difference between the two is that Avid is more built for use with 35 mm film, not miniDV, HDV, etc.

Regards,
David
 
Other Software titles..

like Apple's Shake and Adobe After Effects are good programs to become familiar with, though they're more used for compositing than straight forward editing.

Shake is still used heavily in many motion pictures. It's a "node-based" compositing system that's different from timeline based applications in it's approach, but used regularly. Check the Apple website for more info and the price is actually not bad at $499. It used to be thousands of dollars. It's great for learning rotoscoping, tracking and green screen compositing. Apple has a good book called: Encyclopedia of Visual Effects, part of the Apple Pro Training Series. It's not a how-to as much as a general guide to the compositing techniques and procedures used in films.

Depending on what direction you want to go, 3D programs like Cinema 4D and Maya are good to be familiar with too.
 
Ahh cool, ok. Would you say FCE/FCP is a good place to start though for me? To learn the main stuff? Or at collage or wherever i go, are they likely to throw me right in with software like Avid?

Sorry if im not asking in the right place.
 
Josh Kahane said:
Ahh cool, ok. Would you say FCE/FCP is a good place to start though for me? To learn the main stuff? Or at collage or wherever i go, are they likely to throw me right in with software like Avid?

Sorry if im not asking in the right place.
Click to expand...

Some colleges teach avid, some final cut and some both. It also depends on if you want to edit TV shows, movies, etc. I think learning FCS is a great idea before college.

Regards,
David
 
MrLatte23 said:
like Apple's Shake and Adobe After Effects are good programs to become familiar with, though they're more used for compositing than straight forward editing.

Shake is still used heavily in many motion pictures. It's a "node-based" compositing system that's different from timeline based applications in it's approach, but used regularly. Check the Apple website for more info and the price is actually not bad at $499. It used to be thousands of dollars. It's great for learning rotoscoping, tracking and green screen compositing. Apple has a good book called: Encyclopedia of Visual Effects, part of the Apple Pro Training Series. It's not a how-to as much as a general guide to the compositing techniques and procedures used in films.

Depending on what direction you want to go, 3D programs like Cinema 4D and Maya are good to be familiar with too.
Click to expand...

Sorry, again not the best place to ask about my education, sorry, but I definitely want to get into film, wether it be editing or animation etc. And for someone (me) who wants to get a little knowledge about the software before getting to collage and what have you, but doesnt have thousands of pounds to spend. Whats the best thing to do?

Luckily FCE was only £130 I managed to save and get that without to much trouble, it gave me a real insight and has really got me interested in film and how they are made.
 
FCP.guru.guy said:
Most major motion pictures are edited with a $2,500 program called Avid, it used to be like 20 grand.
Click to expand...

While the actual software is now cheaper, the hardware components that are needed to take full advantage of said software bring the price up way beyond the $20K mark.
 
Internships...

Josh Kahane said:
for someone (me) who wants to get a little knowledge about the software before getting to collage and what have you, but doesnt have thousands of pounds to spend. Whats the best thing to do?
Click to expand...

There may be studios that have internships available to people not in college. Everyone loves free help. See if there are any in your area and find out what their using to edit. The price of Shake isn't that bad, but to buy to tinker is probably not worth your while.
 
If I was your age I would worry less about what software the pros use and more about practicing and learning about the craft(s) you are interested in. Does it matter that Walter Murch used FCP to edit Cold Mountain instead of Avid or a Moviola? Not really. What matters is why he made the edits he did. Why he crafted the story the way he did. Learning to edit or learning to animate isn't the same thing as learning how to operate editing or animation tools.

As another poster suggested, try and get an internship or a part time job at an post production or animation facility and learn from working professionals. You'll learn more faster, as well as professional standards and networking, gleaning knowledge from a professional than you will alone trying to figure it out on your own.


Lethal
 
As Lethal suggested, learning the craft and developing "the eye for editing" is very important and cannot be over practiced. Whether you are practicing on Avid, Final Cut Pro, or even iMovie, you will learn what looks good, how to time things and how to choose the best takes and angles. These are not things that you learn from books or teachers, it's something that you are born with and that's what make a great editor like Lee Smith (he edited The Dark Knight).

Regards,
David
 
I see exactly what you guys are saying, and thanks for bringing that up, i somehow didnt really think about that side of things.

In the mean time, while im without a job etc, are there any good places I can get bundles of uncut footage to practice with? Hope you know what i mean. Thanks again.
 
Josh Kahane said:
I see exactly what you guys are saying, and thanks for bringing that up, i somehow didnt really think about that side of things.

In the mean time, while im without a job etc, are there any good places I can get bundles of uncut footage to practice with? Hope you know what i mean. Thanks again.
Click to expand...

I would recommend getting a camera and start shooting shorts with your friends. Learn how to tell a story. Personal experience is far better than any info you can get out of a book or in a class. Don't worry about getting top of the line equipment, start small and learn how to use what you have to work with. Learning how to get good results on literally no budget will pay huge dividends later.

P-Worm
 
As many of the other members have already stated here it's not so much what nonlinear editing system you use but what you do with it. While it's true that great editors usually have an innate feel for the best shots and cuts there are a few books that can help you learn the "rules" of editing and are usually required reading for most college editing classes. I highly recommend reading In the Blink of an Eye by Walter Murch and On Film Editing by Edward Dmytryk. Another book you may be interested in is Nonlinear by Michael Rubin, the last revision I am aware of was in 2000 so some of the computer info is outdated but it is still an invaluable resource for understanding some of the more technical concepts in editing. There are tons of books written on the subject of editing but these 3 are ones that I find myself referring back to time and time again.

As far as getting raw footage to practice editing with I recommend you seek out other people that are interested in learning film making and work with them to create your own! Film making is a collaborative effort and working with friends to create your own shorts, music vids, etc. will ultimately be a more enjoyable and rewarding experience than just cutting together a bunch of footage.

Hope some of this info helps.

Damien
 
Josh Kahane said:
In the mean time, while im without a job etc, are there any good places I can get bundles of uncut footage to practice with? Hope you know what i mean. Thanks again.
Click to expand...

If you have FCP or Premiere CS4, then enter one of the Open Cut contests... you don't have to submit anything and they'll give you professionally shot RED footage to work with. I did the first Open Cut just to start getting practice with the RED workflow.
 
Thanks guys, this is super handy info. Im in a rather unfortunate position sadly, none of my close friends would ever be interested in making a shot film with me, and nor would anyone else i know. If you can me out with anything else i may need to know, or my previous questions it would be much appreciated.
 
If your friends won't do something with you, I would recommend just getting a cheap camera and playing with it anyways. Just going to the park, getting some interesting shots, and editing them together can be a good learning experience.

Open Cut is a good suggestion, but I think you need to pay to enter. If you have the money, that is a good option.

Another thing you can do to practice editing is going to archive.org. They have a lot of footage you can download (search the prelinger archives and the open source movies). You can download a bunch of clips and practice putting them together in interesting ways.

Good luck.

P-Worm
 
mostly avid

half the time you can find out what was used because they put it in the credits.

but a lot of movies are done with film, because digital is still not that great.
 
bigbossbmb said:
If you have FCP or Premiere CS4, then enter one of the Open Cut contests... you don't have to submit anything and they'll give you professionally shot RED footage to work with. I did the first Open Cut just to start getting practice with the RED workflow.
Click to expand...

I looked on the website and can't find where to get the sample footage. Can you link me? And what format is the RD footage in? I was hoping it would be in the REDCODE format that Final Cut offers.

Thanks,
David
 
FCP.guru.guy said:
I looked on the website and can't find where to get the sample footage. Can you link me? And what format is the RD footage in? I was hoping it would be in the REDCODE format that Final Cut offers.

Thanks,
David
Click to expand...
IIRC when you enter the Open Cut "competition" you send them an external HDD, they put the footage on it and send it back to you.


Lethal
 
FCP.guru.guy said:
I looked on the website and can't find where to get the sample footage. Can you link me? And what format is the RD footage in? I was hoping it would be in the REDCODE format that Final Cut offers.

Thanks,
David
Click to expand...


Lethal's correct... You pay the $25 entry fee and mail them your FW hard drive. They dump the footage+audio+storyboards (Open Cut v1 was approx 160-170GB) on the drive and mail it back to you.

The footage is all native .r3d (REDCODE) files.
 
That's really nice! I saw that the contest deadline is passed, will they still put the footage on my drive? When I use that footage in FCP I should use the REDCODE setting in Easy Setup, right? Are there any other sites that any body knows of that offer sample footage (a script and storyboards would be nice) I am especially looking to work with RED footage. I've googled around for quite a while and didn't come up with anything.

Thanks,
David
 
you said you wanted to be a film editor but then later asked about compositing and 3D. Two completely different industries. I would highly suggest you research both. Not only to educate yourself but so you know for sure what it is you want to do. Would make no sense going to film school to learn film editing, when you real passion lies with compositing or 3D


LethalWolfe said:
If I was your age I would worry less about what software the pros use and more about practicing and learning about the craft(s) you are interested in.
Click to expand...

I agree with this post. If you do decide to get into film editing, the best thing you can do is learn the craft of editing. This not only includes cutting everything you can get your hands on but it also requires learning from the great film editors of our times and learning edit theory. ft

ANYONE can learn any program out there. Whether it's FCP or Avid. Knowing FCP/AVID tells me nothing to what a great editor you can be and it won't get you closer to a job.

Remember film making is a very competitive business. You will compete directly with people who most likely know FCP/AVID better than you and probably can cut faster than you can. What it will boil down to is your vision as an editor and your craft. Your vision is what is going to separate you from the thousand of other editors competing for the same job not what programs you use or what platform you are on.

and when you think about it. most NLE's are overkill to what editors actually do. Most film editors can get by using imovie (or moviemaker on windows) to convey a story. The extras that are given to us by avid/fcp are nice and all. No doubt about that but what an editor ultimately does is tell the story in the best way possible. and that can be achieved with the cheapest of software.
 
Not sure about the UK, but here in the US many colleges/universities have summer programs for kids grade 6-10. They will take you through the various disciplines they offer, and give you an invaluable insight into what that school has to offer. Depending on the school and their approach to faculty, you can work with some of the best/brightest talent in the industry.

Costs vary from free, to moderate depending on your financial needs. Check with your school counselor for assistance.
 
sal said:
you said you wanted to be a film editor but then later asked about compositing and 3D. Two completely different industries. I would highly suggest you research both. Not only to educate yourself but so you know for sure what it is you want to do. Would make no sense going to film school to learn film editing, when you real passion lies with compositing or 3D
Click to expand...

I highly doubt that he know what exact field of post production he wants to be in at 15.;)

Regards,
David
 
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