Re: The Magnetic Timeline – What’s The Paradigm?

"This is basically saying "I've built my routines around the the way the software has worked up until now, and the new software is incompatible with them". That's fine, but it's not actually anything wrong with the new software. Routines built up around the new approach could very well be better, for all anyone knows."

I wasn't talking about routines built upon previous experience with specific tools, I was referring to my way of conceptually approaching media. This is true for my work whether on an upright moviola or in a digital NLE.

The first and hardest thing for me to teach a young editor is to unlearn the apparent connections that you think exist - this sync audio is NOT married to this image, the beginning of this shot does not have to go before the end of this shot - every element that you have is totally free from all connections except those you, the editor, impose on it. And most importantly never think of anything you have done as permanent and connected until it's out of your hands, and for me even when I see it projected I generally wish I could refine the connections I made.

This does not seem to be compatible with the design philosophy you just detailed for FCPX. I'm not being judgmental about wrong or right, I'm just explaining my own problems with it conceptually.

"And this sort of thing is presumably why FCP X offers the 'Position' tool."

I'm glad FCPX adds tools that go counter to the fundamentals of the design, but it seems odd that one would have to use a special tool to do that which was natural to an editing systems before. I guess what I'm saying is that other NLE's have never needed a position tool, and there's the difference.

Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions