Re: New blog post from Philip Hodgetts. Worth the read.

Being a local broadcast editor, I have learned to edit fast. I have gone a very non traditional route with editing systems. GVG Sabre linear editor, Lightworks nonlinear, and then Smoke. So I have never edited with Avid or FCP7 or X. I have tinkered with fcpx early on.
Lightworks had a great interface and controller. It made looking at sources, choosing shots, and finessing trims as fat as I could think. Smoke is equally fast at editorial. I can look at 50 source clps at a single glance and scrub though them to make selections.
Lightworks worked the same.

Broadcat time frames are in hours and not days. I can cut a stylized promo like this...Graphics and all...

http://vimeo.com/31300494

...in 6 hrs from import to export. Or I can rough cut a feature story 3-4mins in 8 hrs and completely color grade and audio mix in 12 hrs. I have made a career at editing fast and maintaing quality.

How fast your system works does matter. I don't think I can edit as fast or as detailed in
Premiere, the only other editor I have experience with. Right or wrong we all have had to do more with less....less money, less people and less time.

Fcpx is faster than fcp7.... How could it not be. I honestly think people should not compare the two. I think source material evaluation and rough editing are some of the strengths of fcpx. But anything more than that, it's weaknesses in trimming and finessing might become more apparent.
I know I could not use it for my purposes.

Brian Mulligan
Senior Editor - Autodesk Smoke
WTHR-TV Indianapolis,IN, USA
Twitter: @bkmeditor