Premiere as a tool in the job market?

L

Lynos

Well-known member
Hi all

I'm not sure if this fits better here or at the Premiere board, but I'll try it here first because I'm interested in general opinions from all kinds of editors as well.

I want to get into some freelance editing work and thinking of switching to Premiere Pro (through their Creative Cloud).
I currently use Sony Vegas with my short films and small projects and sadly it is a virtually non-existent entity in the editors' job market. My impression after doing research is that it seems the market such as it is is mostly geared towards Mac users and FCP, which I am not, with a smaller share for Avid and even smaller for Premiere.

But I could be totally wrong.

So my question is do people here think Premiere is a tool that can get you paid jobs and worth investing in as far as time and money and mastering it or if like Vegas it's mostly good for your own independent in-house projects, and you better get a Mac if you wanna work as a paid editor on someone else's stuff.

I would of course love to hear from Premiere users who make a living as editors and hear some tips on how to approach this.

Thank you.
 
In my area (mid atlantic), most production companies are either keeping hold of the old war horse FCP7 or have already switched entirely over to Adobe.

The only post production that uses Avid here that also hires freelancers is Discovery.

They have over 85 seats of Avid.

If I were you, I would learn CS6 and Avid, then find out if there are enough post houses that still have FCP7 to make it worth your while. If so, then learn that to.

A good editor can edit on any platform.
 
I have been looking on and off for video editing jobs and it looks like many companies are requiring FCP. Sucks for me as I've always edited on Premiere Pro.
 
If you freelance, best to maximize your marketability and learn all the pro NLEs. Don't play the fanboy game and think one is better than the others.
 
that fcp thing seems a dead end unless x takes off and becomes popular. fcp 7 is end of life and eventually technology and codecs will come out that it wont be able to handle. then everyone whos using it now will be forced to switch. i wouldnt get a mac simply for that software. if you like the mac platform itself then you can also get adobe, avid, maybe a few others. i would think otherwise pc would suit you fine.
 
Thanks for the replies, guys.

I think I'll take the plunge and learn to work with Premiere while still keeping my Vegas for smaller projects. I wish it was realistic for me to learn ALL the platforms and it's something I might do very gradually in the future but certainly not simultaneously. It's just too much money and time and energy.

Hopefully the tide will turn and there will be more work opportunities for PC users then there is now.

Any other opinions are welcome.
 
I wouldnt sweat too much over learning FCP7, the similarities with Premiere are large, just go with premiere that side. Most "NLE's" arent so terrible to learn actually, it's workflows for each you really need to be solid on from a technical standpoint.
 
Samir Patel said:
I have been looking on and off for video editing jobs and it looks like many companies are requiring FCP. Sucks for me as I've always edited on Premiere Pro.
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If you know Premiere Pro then it shouldn't be very hard for you. After the FCP X thing, I decided
to keep FCP 7 but also to learn FCP X and Premiere Pro CS 6. FCP 7 and CS 6 are remarkably similar.
 
What NLEs are production companies posting jobs for in your area? That's what you need to learn. Here in NYC, it's typically either FCP7 or Avid, not Premiere or Vegas.
 
arniepix said:
What NLEs are production companies posting jobs for in your area? That's what you need to learn. Here in NYC, it's typically either FCP7 or Avid, not Premiere or Vegas.
Click to expand...

not sure how true this is, i personally know several editors in the NY area who have dumped FCP7 and have jumped to the Adobe products - once they realize that transcoding is a thing of the past (and some claim this to be a suprise) and how FCP7 interface is now very similar to the Premiere interface...plus Blue Ray.
 
tazza said:
not sure how true this is, i personally know several editors in the NY area who have dumped FCP7 and have jumped to the Adobe products - once they realize that transcoding is a thing of the past (and some claim this to be a suprise) and how FCP7 interface is now very similar to the Premiere interface...plus Blue Ray.
Click to expand...

None of my broadcast or corporate clients are currently using Premiere, even though many of them have it installed as part of the Creative Suite. They're all still using either Avid or FCP7. That doesn't mean that they won't start using Premiere (or anything else) in the (near) future, none of my clients are currently looking for Premiere editors.

I do know some people that have switched to Premiere and some who've switched to FCP X, and they seem satisfied. These are people that are not working on site with clients and don't need to exchange or conform projects with their clients, though.
 
alaskacameradude said:
If you know Premiere Pro then it shouldn't be very hard for you. After the FCP X thing, I decided
to keep FCP 7 but also to learn FCP X and Premiere Pro CS 6. FCP 7 and CS 6 are remarkably similar.
Click to expand...

You would think. But I live in Miami and it seems like everyone wants someone who is bilingual Spanish and I don't speak Spanish even though I've lived here for over 20 years. Never had a problem in daily life without Spanish but I guess you have to know it to get a job in video editing. jeez
 
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