I hate final cut pro

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cecil995

cecil995

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Not the program itself, but the countless ass-kissing that it receives. Just look at most of the job descriptions out there these days. No longer are you just a video or film edntor....you have to be a "final cut pro" editor. Avid, forget about it. Premiere Pro, nevermind. Vegas, not a chance. No, final cut pro has become such the "it" program that it is changing what people percieve about being an editor. Nevermind that Avid has been the industry standard for movies and television production for the last 10 years. Or the fact that final cut pro and adobe premiere pro are almost exactly the same program. Every job i look at has the phrase "must know final cut pro." How did this happen? Do these companies just go out and buy final cut pro because they think it will make them cool? I don't mind that they get final cut pro at their business, but it's not right to dismiss a good editor simply because they have not used final cut pro extensivly. The fact of the matter is that if you know how to edit, you can sit down and work with any software and produce a quality product. I can honestly say that if you sat me down in front of a new program, I could figure it out in at least ONE DAY. So they can't use the excuse that it would not be productive to hire someone unfamiliar with final cut pro. Yeah, I'm bitter and I don't care. I don't care that someone may say that final cut pro is vastly superior to avid media composer, adobe premiere pro, or sony vegas. The fact of the matter is that unless you are using apple imovie to edit, there are not a whole lot of differences that make one program 10 steps about another. I don't think its right to dismiss a qualified candidate because of software familiarity. I've been editing for 4 years now, and because of circumstance I have not worked alot with final cut pro. I guess that means that I am f***** out of any future job oportunites because final cut pro is the "chic" platform at the moment. How about the next time you post a job, you just call the position a "video editor." I've never seen so much bias in any industry. That's like someone hiring a taxi driver, but demand that they must have extensive experience driving fords. Its crazy. If you know how to drive it doesn't matter what kind of car you get into, and if you know how to edit, it doesn't matter what kind of software you sit in front of. Knowing final cut pro does not make you a superior editor over other editors. I hope that I am not the only one that feels this way.
 
I'd learn FCP and quit whining about it :) I've rode at least a dozen apps
into the ground as the parent companies went under or they were bought
and killed by a competing company.

If all of your potential employers are looking for 'turnkey' FCP folks, the
writing is pretty much on the wall...
 
The only consolation is that all of these apps are pretty affordable and it takes about two days to learn how to cut quickly on each of them. Apple's brilliant marketing has convinced people that Final Cut = Editing professional. I've lost all loyalty to any one software product.
 
I agree 100 %
Premiere pro 2.0 is The PC version of Finalcut, but everyone thinks its newbie.
 
Hmmmm. But I don't see you railing against Avid...which, btw, is what most of the editing houses use.
 
Greggl said:
I'd learn FCP and quit whining about it :) I've rode at least a dozen apps
into the ground as the parent companies went under or they were bought
and killed by a competing company.

If all of your potential employers are looking for 'turnkey' FCP folks, the
writing is pretty much on the wall...
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more.

I saw the writing on the wall a few years ago. I've been editing on Avid since '91, but FCPro has gained ALOT of ground on Avid's market share for a good reason.

I now get about half my work for FCPro jobs.

Hindsight is 20/20, but if you want to compete, you should be willing to consider other options. Just ask alot of those linear editors who didn't learn non-linear.

Same deal.
 
cecil995 said:
Not the program itself, but the countless ass-kissing that it receives. Just look at most of the job descriptions out there these days. No longer are you just a video or film edntor....you have to be a "final cut pro" editor. Avid, forget about it. Premiere Pro, nevermind. Vegas, not a chance. No, final cut pro has become such the "it" program that it is changing what people percieve about being an editor. Nevermind that Avid has been the industry standard for movies and television production for the last 10 years. Or the fact that final cut pro and adobe premiere pro are almost exactly the same program. Every job i look at has the phrase "must know final cut pro." How did this happen? Do these companies just go out and buy final cut pro because they think it will make them cool? I don't mind that they get final cut pro at their business, but it's not right to dismiss a good editor simply because they have not used final cut pro extensivly. The fact of the matter is that if you know how to edit, you can sit down and work with any software and produce a quality product. I can honestly say that if you sat me down in front of a new program, I could figure it out in at least ONE DAY. So they can't use the excuse that it would not be productive to hire someone unfamiliar with final cut pro. Yeah, I'm bitter and I don't care. I don't care that someone may say that final cut pro is vastly superior to avid media composer, adobe premiere pro, or sony vegas. The fact of the matter is that unless you are using apple imovie to edit, there are not a whole lot of differences that make one program 10 steps about another. I don't think its right to dismiss a qualified candidate because of software familiarity. I've been editing for 4 years now, and because of circumstance I have not worked alot with final cut pro. I guess that means that I am f***** out of any future job oportunites because final cut pro is the "chic" platform at the moment. How about the next time you post a job, you just call the position a "video editor." I've never seen so much bias in any industry. That's like someone hiring a taxi driver, but demand that they must have extensive experience driving fords. Its crazy. If you know how to drive it doesn't matter what kind of car you get into, and if you know how to edit, it doesn't matter what kind of software you sit in front of. Knowing final cut pro does not make you a superior editor over other editors. I hope that I am not the only one that feels this way.
Click to expand...


Right on.
 
I don't have a problem with final cut pro, and in fact i think that i would enjoy using it. My gripe is that employers look at you like "either your a final cut pro editor or you are not a professional editor." I think that Avid is still the main platform for hollywood studios, but final cut pro has taken over a majority of the private companies. i just know that looking for jobs, final cut is the name i keep seeing over and over and over.
 
The way I see it is this:

Unless you have the ability to change the landscape, don't whine about it - adapt. Those who adapt survive those who can't don't. Resisting change never works. Suck it up, learn FCP.

Yeah, it sucks how others aren't 'professional' but that's the way things are. Change them or work with them - the only two options!
 
Final Cut Pro is also a much better application in my opinion. It isn't based on a legacy of editing, and doesn't have to appease so many people with it's poor UI design choices.

When a company says they want a final cut pro editor, a great deal of the time is cause they are using apples production suite of apps. ie: they are using motion & shake.

Then again some people do use it to be trendy.

nothing wrong with a product being trendy and actually a killer app.

as a side note, it seems your statement is pointless. I am not an "editor" perse, in that I don't edit exclusively as my job, but I know both Avid & FCP. You don't see the irony here? Avid was dominating the NLE field before Final Cut Pro.. and you happily used it. So when all the "editing" jobs said "AVID EDITOR" you didn't think it was perhaps a bit bias? And is it bias to like a better program?

My gripe is that employers look at you like "either your a final cut pro editor or you are not a professional editor."
Click to expand...

Alas, this mindset is everywhere (especially in film school). People seem to forget that it is the person behind that NLE that is creating the brilliant work.. not the NLE...

realistically.. you could cut most non-fx feature films in iMovie and nobody would really know the difference (negating EDL's, multi track audio etc.. blah blah of course).
 
Hmm, many thoughts collide in this thread. Cause weather to change.:Drogar-Evil(DBG):


I've always thought the standard "logic" was:

Avid= Pro

FCP= Semi Pro

Vegas, Premiere= Don't Exist
Click to expand...

But if you were doing the hiring, wouldn't you want to hire Editors with experience on the same NLE? That would probably cut down the number of bungles. :huh:
 
i haven't been in the business long enough to experience the avid bias. I don't really put final cut pro in the same leauge with avid, esp media composer and above. Its kind of hard to compare a 10 grand system and 100 grand system. Although, i have used media composer and i now use adobe premiere pro and I can't say that there was a whole lot more i could do with media composer that i can't do with premiere now. The main thing i think comes to stability, and avid was solid as a rock. I can't say that about mac, since i did work with a mac in school and it crashed more than a nascar driver. Everyone loves to bash premiere, but the fact is that its the same platform as final cut pro, so what makes it not as good as final cut?


I agree with people here that you need to adapt and i am training myself on final cut. my argument is basically on the principal that final cut is the only nle out there for professionals.
 
Well obviously it's not the only nle out there, but it is the best advertised platform out there. Apple's marketing is dominant because they've tied their products to a lifestyle. Just gotta play the game.
 
Anyone remember Data Translations? They made a product called Media 100. In it's day (about 10 years ago) it had arguably the best codec around - including the Avid. In fact (correct me if I'm wrong) but I thought that they had offered to sell the codec to Avid prior to launching M100, but were told, "No thanks." Media 100 also boasted an extremely easy to use UI. I actually quite liked it... "but it was no AVID".

Eventually, bad management and not responding to the professional consumer base has bumped Media 100 into about 6th place from a popularity standpoint.


Things change. One day, FCP will get bumped too. Until then I quite like using it.




dmc
 
Apple and Final Cut are unique among all NLE and the reason being is because apple is the only company that acutally makes the computer and the OS that it's programs run. Now while this does offer an extra level of stability it also allows for a vicious marketing campaign. Final Cut stands alone among NLE's for one reason and that is that it can only run on a Mac. Apple has both sides of the coin.

If you buy a pc you don't have to pick one progam but if you buy a mac FCP is pretty much your only real option. So apple doesn't have to convince you that FCP is better AND the mac is better but only that one of these options is better than what you are using because it knows that in order to have one you need the other.
 
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cecil995 said:
Not the program itself, but the countless ass-kissing that it receives. Just look at most of the job descriptions out there these days. No longer are you just a video or film edntor....you have to be a "final cut pro" editor. Avid, forget about it. Premiere Pro, nevermind. Vegas, not a chance. No, final cut pro has become such the "it" program that it is changing what people percieve about being an editor. Nevermind that Avid has been the industry standard for movies and television production for the last 10 years. Or the fact that final cut pro and adobe premiere pro are almost exactly the same program. Every job i look at has the phrase "must know final cut pro." How did this happen? Do these companies just go out and buy final cut pro because they think it will make them cool? I don't mind that they get final cut pro at their business, but it's not right to dismiss a good editor simply because they have not used final cut pro extensivly. The fact of the matter is that if you know how to edit, you can sit down and work with any software and produce a quality product. I can honestly say that if you sat me down in front of a new program, I could figure it out in at least ONE DAY. So they can't use the excuse that it would not be productive to hire someone unfamiliar with final cut pro. Yeah, I'm bitter and I don't care. I don't care that someone may say that final cut pro is vastly superior to avid media composer, adobe premiere pro, or sony vegas. The fact of the matter is that unless you are using apple imovie to edit, there are not a whole lot of differences that make one program 10 steps about another. I don't think its right to dismiss a qualified candidate because of software familiarity. I've been editing for 4 years now, and because of circumstance I have not worked alot with final cut pro. I guess that means that I am f***** out of any future job oportunites because final cut pro is the "chic" platform at the moment. How about the next time you post a job, you just call the position a "video editor." I've never seen so much bias in any industry. That's like someone hiring a taxi driver, but demand that they must have extensive experience driving fords. Its crazy. If you know how to drive it doesn't matter what kind of car you get into, and if you know how to edit, it doesn't matter what kind of software you sit in front of. Knowing final cut pro does not make you a superior editor over other editors. I hope that I am not the only one that feels this way.
Click to expand...

yawn.. :) sit down at it for a couple of days learn it and don't worry about it. same goes for AVID. this platform/sofware jab is really old now. Jarred should charge $1 for every "i hate this or that thread"
 
If you read it more closely you would see that i was making the aurgument that all are the same, that final cut is not better than the other platforms.
 
I dont think it is a FCP or apple thing... two months ago I was hired by a very large agency because I was an "Avid" editor I spent about 15 minutes of my day in Avid the rest was all AE work... and they had both Avid's and FCP suites. I find that if you have avid experience or are an "Avid Editor" people assume you have been working much longer than if you are a FCP editor. My first staff editing job, I was really lucky and they hired me just based on my FCP knowledge, so I got paid to learn Avid... So learn everything you can it's the guys not learning new software and not working that have time to complain about "that other program" :)
 
I've said this before and I'll say it again. the main gripe the apple (mac) people had with PCs and Microsoft was that Microsoft was dominating the market with and making everyone conform to their standard. However, in reality it's the other way around. it's the apple/mac people who are conforming to the inflexible standard of Mac.

I've worked in TV for years and I've met two kins of people: Editors and FCP Editors. Editors can edit video on anything, FCP Editors can only use FCP and think that anyone who doesn't is an idiot. if you say that there is other software or other apps out there they outright dismiss you and laugh. As if being a Mac user automatically makes you a pro. I just laugh every time someone comes into my office and complains that the mac ate their project. it keeps happneing: the page file or whatever the mac calls it is erased by mistake or loaded/saved/stored incorrectly and all of a sudden three weeks of work is gone. would never happen with a pc or an avid system.

FCP might look supperior but is in fact the same as everything else: an editing platform. to claim that it's better or that you are not a pro unless you know how to use it is either a sign of ignorance or a disturbing tendency to product loyalty. it's like saying that any jean that's not a Levi's jean is not actually a jean but a knock off.

All I know is that most editors I know understand linear (tape) editing while the FCP guys can't do anything but FCP. And that the editors can migrate to FCP while the FCP guys are toast if put in front of any other app.

Apple/Mac taking over the video editing world is quite disturbing because once they've taken a big enough share there will be no variety and no choice anymore. and thos that think that mac will always be an innovative brand need to think again. that's not how things work.

Overspecialize and you breathe in weakness.

mor10
 
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