FCP-X at NAB 2014

[Bill Davis]

As everyone knows, Apple doesn't "do" trade shows any more. I suppose it makes little sense when they can simply call a press conference in Cupertino and have 100 times more global eyeballs on a demo than they could ever achieve at any trade show.

Combine that with the fact that at NAB 2014, Adobe was a top tier sponsor, and paid huge bucks for co-branding and the marketing opportunities that come with it and it's easy to feel like Apple is off the playing field, but if you know the right folks and get to the right off-show hotel suites, there was plenty of FCP-X joy at NAB 2014.

For example, in the press room where I spent a good part of my show, by my informal count, about 50% of the worldwide press churning video out was doing so on Apple laptops running FCP-X. I had never seen that before.

There were plenty of booths on the show floor touring FCP-X compatibility as a strong part of their sales pitch.

There were also private suites in the surrounding hotels where "invitation only" gatherings took place.

One I attended on the first night of NAB sponsored by FCPWorks in LA was literally standing room only (and way under air conditioned!) with a dozen vendors showing FCP-X specific solutions for high end workflows. This was targeted at training professionals teaching the software and it was fun to meet so many pros from all over the world using X in major operations.

Apple also has added a brand new Certification Level program called Professional Post Production that goes more deeply into managing the new Libraries and pro workflows that FCP-X is incorporating. Everyone who attended was given electronic copies of the course book by Brendan Boykin to assist them in achieving the new certification status.

I also was informed by very reliable sources that Apple hit 1 million registered FCP-X users nearly six months ago, and that the adoption pace is strong.

So FCP-X appears to be doing just fine.

One source of continuing disappointment for me is that on forums and in places like NAB - X seems to have a lot more traction worldwide than it does in the US. The big Apple billboard use cases come from Formula 1 racing in Europe - Huge scale television network production in Mexico and other global scale operations.

Apple is obviously a global company so global adoption is a huge priority for them - but they're also an American company - and I hope this isn't a sign that the US is falling behind in yet another industry - allowing movies and television production to drift behind the worlds competitive standards the way of our automotive and steel production industries have struggled with - passing up serious investment in innovation to preserve compatibility in "how we've always done it."

For all of us, the skills we develop in the coming years, in my opinion at least, have to broaden out from editing as a "timeline operation" to editing as a process that includes a broader workflow including metadata management and digital deployment - areas where X is particularly strong.

Still, NAB was a lot of fun this year. And I can't wait for next year.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

I think the traditional editors have a big problem unlearning some of their past methods and have an issue. And people who have used FCP X have realised how fast it is and how good it is. I keep on discovering new facets of FCP X.... Just today I discovered that I can copy key frames from one clip and paste in another.

I was shooting an interview of a global senior VP of a major MNC. He was very particular about the messaging. He told me that he wanted to OK it before evening. So I opened FCP X in my macbook pro and did a rough cut and showed it to him. He wanted a reshoot. So did it. Then I sat with him side by side and edited it while he was on a concall. After his one hour concall was over, I had nearly done the editing. I was playing around with the looks and he happened to see an interesting monochrome look that I was fiddling with. He wanted that. To cut it short, the piece was edited, vetted and then he transferred the file to another time zone. After that I have already got one more corporate job. So happy is the client.

All this is because the FCPX is pretty neat and fast. I am sure you old dogs can crunch it much faster and better.

Apple is a global company. So invented in US--> adopted by the world --> US gets inspired to adopt. Nothing to be ashamed of it. It happens in life. For example, M K Gandhi (from India) inspired Martin Luther King and then another generation of people in the east got inspired by Martin Luther King.
PS: by the way, I am based in India and the client is a US MNC. :)

[Bill Davis]

So true, Sabyasachi.

My contact list has more "out of the US" professionals than ever before. And in fact, I do more work for out-of-state customers these days than companies in my local area!

Physical borders are dropping in this hyper-connected era.

We work with who we trust and who we enjoy communicating with - not so much who's in our local zip code anymore.