Re: Final Cut Pro X: What's Missing for Some Pros

The Macintosh uses an experimental pointing device called a 'mouse'. There is no evidence that people want to use these things. -- John C. Dvorak, 1984

No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame. -- CmdrTaco talking about the iPod, Slashdot, 2001

All in all the worst product launch I've ever seen from Apple or pretty much any software manufacturer. -- Walter Biscardi, Creative Cow, 2011


In my mind, Final Cut Pro has always catered more to the novice who wants to make a film than to the professionals who need robust I/O and collaborative features. FCPX represents a huge shift in functionality, but I don't see any change in philosophy.

FCPX1 is not a practical replacetment for FCP7. It's Apple showing us nerds who like downloading v1 software what they've been working on for the past 2 years. I'd much rather they released this now than making us wait another 2 years while they finshed re-doing the multi-cam editor and all the other features still missing. If everything Apple has done doesn't excite you, that's fine, but there's no need to be negative about it, it's not going to stop the future. FCP7 still works just as well as it did yesterday.

Some of you are upset that FCPX is lacking features that facilitate the most mundane parts of editing. I can sympathize that you want software to do those things well, so that you don't have to worry about them, but this is how progress happens. Things are destroyed so that new things can be born. And in 2011, do you really want the best software company in the world to spend their time on tape I/O?

The era of "decks, xml, edl, broadcast monitors, and deliverables outside of youtube" is over. They're still important right this second from a business perspective, but the world is shifting. I can edit movies on my phone. Today, any middle class person with enough dedication has access to all the tools they need to make a film. Going forward, the role of an editor will no longer be someone who knows 100 hotkeys and how to use EDLs, but instead will be someone with good sense of timing, style, composition, etc.

I can see why all of this is scary to some of you. FCPX is a big milestone in the end of editing as a profession and the beginning of editing as a way of life, much the same way that the digital camera is affecting the photography profession. If your passions include telling stories and watching motion pictures, this should be welcome news.