FCP Changing Direction
[Updated]
In a somewhat stunning announcement, FCP teacher and trainer Larry Jordan told a group of users at the LA FCP Users group meeting in April that “Final Cut Pro X 1.0 will not be ready for professional use.” While that statement might be accepted in the context of a completely new application, for the huge installed base of professional users who have invested much time and money to build an FCP based infrastructure, this confirmation won’t come as welcome news.
As many have speculated and as I wrote about last July in my article about the future of FCP: “Is Apple Ceding the High End Video Market?”, it’s becoming more clear the company has made the decision the real market for FCP is not in the pro video and digital film creation space, but rather in the infinitely larger and rapidly growing “social video” market.
At last count 48 hours of video were being uploaded to YouTube every minute of every day and it would take something like several lifetimes to view only a fraction of it. Social video is exploding and we’re only at the very beginning of a new era where everyone will be more comfortable and adept at communicating using video.
So having not gained, (with few exceptions) acceptance in the high-end film and television industry they initially aimed for, Apple will go after everybody else. Sure, they piss off a relatively small (but vocal) group of users who have become dependent on the product, but they capture the attention of an entire new movement.
I feel for those who face difficult decisions in the coming months about whether to continue to run their businesses based on what is essentially an end of life product (FCP 7). But I think Apple’s decision to make video editing and content creation accessible to even more people incredibly business savvy. Will it backfire? Possibly. If FCP X is too complicated for those making a move from iMovie, and eliminates the various features required to accommodate the needs of legacy users, they could have a problem. From what I’ve seen of the product, I think they’ll be OK. Let’s face it, they didn’t get to be one of the largest global corporations by not taking risks. FCP X is a risk, but like all risks, the upside potential can be huge.
Additional good information and resources about this article can be found at:
FCP.co “FCP X 1.0 “It will not be ready for professional use” says Larry Jordan”
VideoGuy’s Blog: “Options for FCP Editors”
MacRumors: “Apple Has a Poor Track Record … On Dot Zero Releases”
Update: I’ve received several comments and emails letting me know that Mr. Jordan has since amended his statement on the viability of FCP X for professional use. You can read his entire post about this at his blog. Also, thanks to commenter Andy, for pointing out that these comments were made at a LA FCP User Group meeting back in April, not last night as originally posted.
So, Final Cut X won’t be ready for pro use… it isn’t like final cut 7 (which IS ready for pro use) is going to stop working the second the new version comes out.
Pros already have an existing FCP infrastructure.. if it ain’t broke, no need to fix it.
Sure, but as in any end of life product, support will dwindle and eventually cease completely and FCP 7 will become less and less interoperable with complimentary tools. I think the fear for many is not that they will be forced to learn new ways of working, but the underlying design of the program falls short of what is required to work in a production environment.
Thanks for the thoughts.
LJ
define how long “eventually” is… “eventually” my iPhone 4 won’t be supported fully.. but I can still use it with the features with the tools it has.
“Eventually” FCP X might be ready for pro use, and then it will be time to make the transition.
You must have coverage with Verizon. I traded in my iPhone 4 after one too many dropped calls on AT&T.
Two reasons why FCPX is not ready for professional use:
1. It requires pros to learn a new paradigm. Thus pros ARE NOT READY TO USE FCPX yet. They have no training for it.
2. It is new. Thus, bugs have to be worked out so it can be trusted for mission critical work.
DUH. Of course.
But FCPX is an exciting move to the future of Film Editing.
While I appreciate the sentiment, I don’t think your statement rings true. First, it requires EVERYONE to learn a new paradigm not just professional editors. Second, from what we have been told it lacks certain features that let people move elements through the workflow.
The future of Film Editing? Where’s the film? Where’s even the support for matching back to film? Film Editing where?
You can ignore this fact or not but In the “hubs” where the majority of professional films and television productions are made, (Los Angeles, NY, London, Sydney, etc…) FCP has not been widely adopted and it’s not because “pros” can’t learn new software. (Lot’s of old timers learned the Avid and Lightworks right?) It’s because FCP is not the optimal tool for long-form, narrative editing.
Thanks for the comment!
LJ
Think of it as the Video version of Aperture. It’ll be more of a prosumer app versus a high-end niche product. It isn’t priced accordingly and it isn’t cross-platform.
I would think that they are going after the gap left by Media 100. FCP and FCExpress are too closely related to make much of a difference (with the exception of the extended packages in FC Suite). However, with FC Express, Logic Express, and content you can get pretty close to pro quality at a fraction of the price. The Express suites will probably go away along with the Pro suites and be replaced by a prosumer Aperture-like product priced between $99 and $299. iLife will still be the entry-level app.
FCP isn’t that tough to learn if all you need to do is import video and edit. Prosumers will probably be doing that kind of work 90% of the time as well as internal corporate media departments. The features that these folks are looking for are not as aggressive or demanding as the Pro market, so there is less pressure and more margin to be made.
Although it’ll be a sad day when FCP is EOL’d, it makes business sense for Apple. It’s been two years since the last release, so I expect the App is being recoded from the ground up with a prosumer focus.
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Think you might have misunderstood. That video was recorded back in April, not last night, and Larry has since more clearly clarified his position / intent when making that statement :
http://www.larryjordan.biz/app_bin/wordpress/archives/1498
Thanks for pointing this out. I’ve added and update to the article.
Regards,
LJ