What Apple's approach towards Final Cut and its legacy users means for its future.

S

SPZ

Veteran
With the end of products like Shake, Soundtrack, Color and with this new FInal Cut "Pro" it seems there's a somewhat clear picture of were Apple wants to go- mass market and ditch the high end professional. However, there's a huge flaw in this approach in my opinion, and that is the lack of prestige and assurance given by having the professional and the power user on board.

In other industries, lets say the car industry, for example, every single market leading company has a " prestige" model, a " professional" model, shall we say, and even professional Divisions, like their racing divisions.

Apple nowadays is much more than a " computer" brand, its a brand of prestige, of cool and cutting edge innovation. It got to this place because of the support of opinion leaders, of Professionals, people that relied on Apple technology to get to leading postitions in society.

With the "abandon" of Apple towards these professionals, Apple will create an image, in this highly glamorous and prestigious industry (film and TV) of a Joke, of a "sold out" and inconsiderate company. What will happen is that all the free advertising they were getting from industry professionals, may they be editors, directors, actors, screenwritters, etc. will be gone. More so, there will be a certain animosity towards apple products. I'm sure if Apple doesn't address this blunder, we will see less and less Apple computers in TV shows, Iphones, etc (unless they pay).

Personally, I'm not someone "important" at the global scheme of things, but FCP was the main reason I switched from PC to Mac. With FCPX being what it is and no clear path of its development, there seems to be no reason for me to stay mac centric. A PC is way much more affordable as well as provides more cutting edge graphics cards solutions, for example. This could eventually mean a switch back to PC computing for me. I'm sure many are contemplating the same.

Maybe this seems small, but I believe the Ipod phenomenon was a big success due to people coming from the entertainment business embracing it. If this same industry starts to move away from Apple products, it should have a big impact in Apple's future...
 
Apple has always been a consumer brand striving for mass appeal. I think you are mistaking the "think different" marketing, its artsy designs, and its cult, elitist following for what it is not. It is not and never was about the "pro" and catering to the high end. Apple wouldn't be where it is if it was only about pros and power users. It would be where Adobe is.
 
VMT said:
Apple has always been a consumer brand striving for mass appeal. I think you are mistaking the "think different" marketing, its artsy designs, and its cult, elitist following for what it is not. It is not and never was about the "pro" and catering to the high end. Apple wouldn't be where it is if it was only about pros and power users. It would be where Adobe is.
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Adobe doesn't make computers or other electronics. Adobe was and is a Software company- a very successful one at that, with household names like photoshop and flash. Apple started as a computer company, and also made software. Nowadays is an electronics company. People currently buy Apple products because they are cool and have an aura of quality and reliability- which come from opinion leaders, because we all know macs do fail and have their problems. Its no coincidence that Apple markets their notebooks- at least a vast majority of them- "Pro's" because they know they have this prestigious connection with the creative industry. Now if this industry turns their back on Apple, and start favoring a clever alternative company- lets say Sony for example, or HP doing a partnership with Avid with excellent, affordable workstations- That Apple cool and "prestigious" aura will fade away. Ferrari never quited F1 because they know its what makes them who they are, for example.
 
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On the cutting edge is almost always a difficult place to be. Apple understands this. They may not have been prepared for the enormity of the enthusiastic onslaught of negative comments about FCP X, but I'm sure they knew it was coming on some scale.

There will be those who are not blinded by disappointment or afraid of change and will embrace the new paradigm, play to its strengths, and work around its shortcomings. They will be the ones who show what FCP X is capable of - not the legacy users who can only see what they know, or in many cases, imagine they've lost.

I've read countless posts by folks who are outraged by "missing" features which are actually there, but either under a different name, in an unfamiliar place, or simply replaced by an entirely different paradigm. At this early stage, many simply haven't had either the time or patience to find these features or understand the new paradigms.

I'm not saying there aren't changes that make it impossible for some workflows to adopt the current version as it is today. There obviously are. And that's unfortunate. Many of those decrying the shortcomings of FCP X are intelligent, experienced people who know what they need right now and are understandably disappointed. But, in terms of the future, I think this is the beginning of a new way of doing things and Apple will, once again, lead the way. Nobody is saying anyone has to follow. And at $299 I'm not sure it really matters. There will be droves of enthusiasts with plenty of ingenuity who will drive this forward regardless of the currently perceived abandonment by legacy users. Change is hard and almost always comes with sacrifice. Some will see it as worth it and many won't.

I think there will be enough FCP users willing to give this a chance that things will move forward and a lot of legacy users will find it to not only be a viable tool, but a nice improvement to how they used to do things. However, let's say that every single current Final Cut user decides this is a real stinker and abandons ship. Think about how many things have started at a semi-professional level and have ended up being modified in subsequent versions and supplemented by 3rd party add-ons to the point they're eventually adopted by the "pros." It would be kind of ironic if things went full circle like that. Even if Apple takes an intermediate hit, I don't see how they can lose here in the long run. And that's what it's all about - the future.
 
The problem here is not the essence of the software, but what Apple has neglected. This software introduces many new things. That's true. Some of them I really do like: I like the integration of optical flow, for example, in the retime area, as well as the easy conform of different frame rate clips, I like the new text tool and also the much improved FCP CC tool, with masks and keyframes. I also like the integration of logic sound effects and sound filters. There are also some nice new effects, like light masks and bokeh simulation which can save $ in additional libraries for similar masks. But the problem here is the omissions and the total lack of communication and disregard for the professional user. We do not know IF Apple will support XML, EDL, etc. in the future. We do not know if we are going to get something like a "Save as" feature. You can undo but you can't save versions of it to my understanding. You only get 1 viewer monitor, which you can opt to transfer to a secondary one, but that's it. And rendering actually takes longer than in FCP7- I'm talking from my own experience in the laptop.

You can say some of these are due to it being a 1.0 release. Some of them I agree, but others, like not including ways to communicate with other editors like XML, EDL are really a slap on the face for professional users. I don't know how Plugins and effects are going to be developed for this, but I find it troubling that a company like Red GIant SOftware only got the software on its release 2 days ago. This goes to say the commitment they have with 3rd parties.

Obviously there's Lion coming with new Open CL and other improvements, but we do not know how this will work with FCPX. We don't know anything but random posters stating their faith in Apple going to "address the issues". Its not about being a legacy user and stuck on the past, here, but about planning the future. In a professional environment you need to have a basic roadmap. With FCPX coming out after 2 years with so many basic and essential features not present, its hard not to think that those were omitted on purpose due to a shift in the target market. And its hard to swallow this shift, specially after a show stopping presentation at NAB were it was stated that the broadcast and professional market was important for them.
 
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tflak said:
On the cutting edge is almost always a difficult place to be. Apple understands this. They may not have been prepared for the enormity of the enthusiastic onslaught of negative comments about FCP X, but I'm sure they knew it was coming on some scale.
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Didn't want to copy all the text but this is a nice, leveled post amid the enormous sea of outrage.

My feeling is that the whole XML, EDL issue will be replaced with something different, and hopefully better. I think back in amusement at what a cluster f*** OMF was when trying to transfer files between Avid and Pro Tools. Everybody bitched and moaned that it didn't work, but somehow we survived and even prospered.

So here's to a more hopeful future and that Apple does the right thing.
 
tflak said:
There will be those who are not blinded by disappointment or afraid of change and will embrace the new paradigm, play to its strengths, and work around its shortcomings. They will be the ones who show what FCP X is capable of - not the legacy users who can only see what they know, or in many cases, imagine they've lost.
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I don't know if it is just about old users not seeing some new paradigm. Apple has made software, which is more accessible. There is nothing wrong with making that kind of product. However for those of us who currently work in higher end pro market--or those of us who want to get there--Final Cut no longer seems like a realistic option. It makes sense to know and use a tool that is marketable in a professional environment in order to get jobs now or in the future.

Apple might even pick up a new type of professional market. A lot of new agencies are getting into new media and online videos. An affordable and closed system like Final Cut X might be a good option there. New media will certainly be a larger market than traditional film.

I don't have time for Apple to add basic features that would allow me to finish my work in another program like ProTools. I am moving on. Final Cut very well might have more users now than ever before; the point is only that the old user base seems likely move on to other systems that are designed for their profession.
 
So you're saying that because of one software release from one of the most successful companies in the world that doesn't cater to a relatively small market the way that market wants it to we might as well ring the death knell?

Yeah. Apple is going to make millions off this release, just not from the same people they made millions off of with the previous FCPs. For better or for worse.
 
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stoneinapond said:
My feeling is that the whole XML, EDL issue will be replaced with something different, and hopefully better.
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Apple can replace it with something different all they want, but if the apps you need it to go do won't accept the new format, that doesn't help matters, now does it?
 
If you look at Apple as a whole, it all makes a lot more sense. This has been telegraphed for years.

The idea that Apple somehow "needs" the image or aura of FCP and the NLE industry is, I think, not consistent with who Apple is and what Apple wants to be. Apple is not a computer company. They changed their name; their name used to be "Apple Computer, Inc." and they ditched "Computer" out of it. Apple's name is "Apple, Inc."

Apple does not identify themselves with the computer. Apple has declared that they are a "Mobile Products Company". Apple is about the "i" line. iPhone, iPod, iMac, iLife, iWork, iTunes, iPad. That is where the focus is. That's where their profits come from. That's where their growth is, that's where their future is.

To say that today's Apple needs, or even cares about, the top-end tiny-niche professional video market, is about equivalent to saying that Sony needs and cares about the BetaSP user. Sure, that's the girlfriend they had that that got them to the big dance, but now that they're at the big dance, they've traded in Camilla for Diana. (yes, I know Charles did the opposite... but face it, Apple has a new trophy wife. )

Like I said, this has been telegraphed for years and years. The switch to Intel was the first major shift -- it removed Apple from the image of being a proprietary, innovating computer manufacturer, and changed their focus to software. A Mac is just a Windows box now, but running Mac OS instead of Windows. The dumbing down of the Mac Pro was the next major shift, and the castration of the MacBook Pro was the completion of it.

Apple will very clearly tell you exactly who they are, and what direction they're going in. All you have to do is listen. FCP X is not a "mistake" or a misstep, it's a thoroughly calculated, intentional, purposely-thought-out product introduction. It does exactly what they wanted it to do. They are proud of it. They think it's jaw-dropping, and they have trumpeted it everywhere. It is *exactly* what they wanted it to be. It isn't a mistake, it isn't a "half-baked 1.0 release", it is what they wanted to make. For who they wanted to make it for. This was a complete, from-the-ground-up re-invention of what they think editing is and what it should be, and it is made for who they believe their customer is. Steve Jobs says it is "awesome". They mean it.

And it clearly, very clearly, signals exactly what direction Apple is headed in, regarding the future of the high-end pro video industry.

If you don't like that direction, you simply must get off the train right now. They have told you where they're going. If that's not where you want to go, get off the train. It doesn't matter if you really love the luxurious seats on the train, or if you have great memories of prior trips on that train, or even if you've already bought your tickets. If the train is going the opposite direction you want to go, don't get on the train.

I have no doubt that once the dust settles, they will sell millions and millions of copies of this FCP X (even if it is "iMovie Pro"). In fact, that's probably exactly what they intended -- they intended it to be iMovie Pro. For the mobile products company. For producing video through the iCloud, and distributed through iTunes, and viewed on iPads and iPhones. That's who Apple is, and that's the future they embrace.

If that's not what you do, then it is time to look at Avid and Premiere and EDIUS and Vegas and whatever else is out there.

On the other hand, if that is what you anticipate doing, I bet FCP X will do that job quite nicely.
 
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Barry_Green said:
I have no doubt that once the dust settles, they will sell millions and millions of copies of this FCP X (even if it is "iMovie Pro").
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I agree, regardless of how many less-than-stellar reviews are or are not on the App Store page.

In fact, that's probably exactly what they intended -- they intended it to be iMovie Pro. For the mobile products company. For producing video through the iCloud, and distributed through iTunes, and viewed on iPads and iPhones. That's who Apple is, and that's the future they embrace.
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Exactly. If you can see yourself editing video projects on an iPad in the coming years, then FCP X is going to be an excellent product for you.
 
Barry_Green said:
If you look at Apple as a whole, it all makes a lot more sense. This has been telegraphed for years.
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I was thinking this a few years ago... but then I saw the updates in FCP 7 at NAB and thought I was wrong... guess I shouldn't second guess myself... I joked with my friend... maybe they should change they're name to i"whatever...
 
Very well said Barry! The choice for me is a tough one. I do shoot and edit video for a living but I mostly do corporate type shoots and a lot of stock video shooting which dose not require a lot of editing. I am a one man band and have never had to share my work with
another editor. Now do I go with FCPX and enjoy the ride or do I invest my time to learn Premiere Pro the reason being is what dose the future hold. Let's say my work slows way down in a couple of years and I am really good with FCPX. I need a job and can find
one as an editor but they want Premiere Pro experience not FCPX. If FCPX loses its "Pro" status in the industry then I only hurt myself by learning it. I would have been better off learning Avid or Premiere just for the sake of job security. You see I am not a hobbiest
because if I don't produce my family doesn't eat! Yes Apple has made editing easy but easy is not always better. Fact is I hate the iMovie way of editing and when they changed iMovie I stopped using it. I like having tracts and more control of my footage. Yes, we all
have choices to make here but I must keep an eye on future support and where the market is headed.
 
Great post Barry, and I agree with most you say.

Another problem, following JJneff's post, is concerning the "editing language" one is learning with FCPX . FCP7, Premiere and Avid all share, somehow, a fairly similar editing "language". A new editor, if he learns editing trough FCPX, will be considered "illiterate" in the professional editing field. Its like FCPX editors speak german, and the Premiere and Avid editors speak spanish and portuguese (which are different, but similar in a way they can be understandable).

It will be much harder for FCPX editors to enter the Pro editing field in the future, further creating the gap between X users and the professional crowd.
 
SPZ said:
Great post Barry, and I agree with most you say.

Another problem, following JJneff's post, is concerning the "editing language" one is learning with FCPX . FCP7, Premiere and Avid all share, somehow, a fairly similar editing "language". A new editor, if he learns editing trough FCPX, will be considered "illiterate" in the professional editing field. Its like FCPX editors speak german, and the Premiere and Avid editors speak spanish and portuguese (which are different, but similar in a way they can be understandable).

It will be much harder for FCPX editors to enter the Pro editing field in the future, further creating the gap between X users and the professional crowd.
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There are people who are always going to insist that "the old way" is always the best way. These are the people who were hand-stripping negatives when Desktop Publishing came along, and looked at me and my Postscript files like I was from another planet. I can't tell you how many times professionals told me that the "new workflow" was doomed, because it was so incompatible with all of the standards of the publishing industry.

I knew nothing of the "language" of traditional publishing. Take me to any publishing house, and I was dead. I was speaking a different language. FCP X may or may not succeed, but I think it's high time someone tried, and given the legions of iMovie users who Apple can bring to more advanced editing with this, users of a different paradigm could (I said "could") find themselves in a minority quickly, and the market forces that follow volume could bring all sorts of higher-end products along for the ride. - Tim
 
Apple figured out that there is more money in the consumer market, so off they went. Instead of competing with Adobe and Avid, now they have a monopoly in the new 'Prosumer' NLE market. I do wonder if FCPX will work out for them financially. Would consumers buy them? Especially since every reviewer out there has given't it a bad name 2 days after its release? From a marketing stand point, Apple has decided to use the Final Cut Pro good name to 'sell' FCPX. They decided that consumers would not want to buy iMovie Pro because they used to get it for free. But by calling it Final Cut Pro, and hanging a middle of the road price tag to it, consumers would be more willing to spend the cash just so they can call themselves Final Cut users. Would it work? I think Apple might've 1, burned the bridge too soon with, like Barry said, the folks who brought them to the dance, and 2, forgotten the power of social media, the modern version of word of mouth advertising. The very same people that supported the Final Cut franchise all these years can very well put it to the ground after they feel that they have been betrayed.
 
SPZ said:
Great post Barry, and I agree with most you say.

Another problem, following JJneff's post, is concerning the "editing language" one is learning with FCPX . FCP7, Premiere and Avid all share, somehow, a fairly similar editing "language". A new editor, if he learns editing trough FCPX, will be considered "illiterate" in the professional editing field. Its like FCPX editors speak german, and the Premiere and Avid editors speak spanish and portuguese (which are different, but similar in a way they can be understandable).

It will be much harder for FCPX editors to enter the Pro editing field in the future, further creating the gap between X users and the professional crowd.
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When I started video editing I was trained on one of these:

SONY PVE 500.jpg


Avid had already been out for a couple of years, and the guy that was training me on the Sony PV VT was grumbling about Avid incessantly saying that the new editors had no understanding of how to work with video, and couldn't speak the TV language as he knew it. I understood him though, because the guy who trained him cut film with a blade and sellotape.

Anyway, now a number of years later suddenly people are saying that Avid is somehow Gospel, and the new editors wont be able to speak that language.

Avid hasn't been around that long, and nothing is gospel.

I sometime wonder what happened to those old Sony VT editors. There used to be so many of them around, and at the time no one thought they would ever be replaced.
 
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