chrisfenwick One On One by Steve Miller

Last Saturday afternoon, I and several other professional editors spent the day clustered around an iMac. We weren’t there to create the next great American film, or even for a juicy, double-golden-time-weekend gig of any sort. We were there to try and figure out if Final Cut Pro X was truly as bad as we, and seemingly everybody else, seemed to think it was.  

We spent 30-45 minutes attempting to create a bin and put selected clips into it. 

We never succeeded.

If 6 of the most in-demand professional editors in the Bay Area can’t figure out something as simple as creating a folder, you really have to question the validity of the app you’ve created.   

Every single one of us in attendance, (and many of the good citizens of the internet that have commented on FCP X on the many, MANY venues available) are unapologetic Apple fanboys. We all had iPhones, iPads, and a multitude of other Apple products on our person, and in our purchase histories. If there was ever a sympathetic audience for a new Apple product, we were it. And yet, after several hours of frustration, we were all filled with a mix of anger, disappointment and resignation that it was once again time to learn a new edit system. And, it would NOT the Apple branded one.   

You see, all the Kool-Aid chugging in the world can’t change the fact that we make our living with this software. It’s a tool, just like a carpenter relies on his hammer and a doctor relies on her scalpel. The brand name printed on the side means nothing if your tool of choice fails to do what you need it to do. And Final Cut Pro X is kind of like using the cutesy, Fisher-Price equivalent of a real tool.   read more...