[Frameworks] query for those who teach filmmaking

Thu Apr 17 23:44:11 UTC 2014

I still use FCP myself but advised the faculty to move everything to FCPX 2 or 3 years ago. FCP just couldn’t keep up with Apple’s persistent OSX changes (Lion, Mountain Lion now Maverick) which left video editing way back in the pre-Raphaelite doldrums. FCPX is a clunker, consumer grade nonsense that tries to redefine operating mannerisms that has many believing that ‘dumb’ has been given fresh credibility (as it’s now called ‘intuitive’). It’s just dumb, no two ways about it.

The loss has been compounded by losing that slick inter-relationship with SoundtrackPro, DVD Studio Pro, Motion, Live Type (etc). Most of my students elect to work with Premiere as a result – if anything FCPX has forced everyone to become more literate with other vocabularies in order to avoid it. But the work has suffered enormously – creative promise certainly hasn’t benefitted by Apple’s dumbing down of everything.

So, to answer your question – my department shifted to FCPX but provides Premiere as well in the student labs. Both are capable of making dumb, unadventurous constructions and the students seem to be happy making dumb things easily and with little complaint. Great upload capacity to YouTube, smooth as silk.

Apple’s decision must rate as one of technology’s worst. Kind of reflects the state of art nowadays and (I guess) the state of the world. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining – everyone seems real happy doing stupid things in a dumb way.

Peter
(Perth)

From: Chris Freeman <christopherbriggsfreeman at gmail.com<mailto:christopherbriggsfreeman at gmail.com>>
Reply-To: Experimental Film Discussion List <frameworks at jonasmekasfilms.com<mailto:frameworks at jonasmekasfilms.com>>
To: Experimental Film Discussion List <frameworks at jonasmekasfilms.com<mailto:frameworks at jonasmekasfilms.com>>
Subject: Re: [Frameworks] query for those who teach filmmaking

I disagree with $4000.  A 21" iMac - what a school would likely be running Final Cut on - starts at $1299.  I assume there are bulk discounts for schools, but they likely already have the computers.

I'm not a teacher, but I graduated four years ago and kept in touch with teachers at my old school.  They bit the bullet and upgraded to FCPX in 2012.  The teachers I've kept in touch with say it's easier to deal with and to teach it compared to old Final Cut.  For example, if you've got 20 students using 20 different cameras, plus appropriated footage from the web, FCPX is more likely to be able to deal with all of those file types - so there's less MPEG Streamclip or Compressor converting and fewer fires to put out in class.  I've also heard the interface is more intuitive to students coming from iMovie or who have no video editing experience.

On Thu, Apr 17, 2014 at 2:18 PM, Aaron F. Ross <aaron at digitalartsguild.com<mailto:aaron at digitalartsguild.com>> wrote:
My advice is to abandon FCP entirely. This is the rational response due to the fact that Apple has essentially abandoned the educational and professional markets. Nowadays for a decent OS X system you have to drop nearly $4000, not including software. Take a look at their alleged educational discounts, it's a joke. And the whole FCP X debacle caused many users to switch to Premiere.

Premiere used to suck, but that was ten years ago. Now it's totally viable, and I would recommend going that route. It's not perfect, but it's far better than FCP X. Plus, it's cross-platform, if you're into that sort of thing. Please don't flame me because I alluded to Windows. ;)

Aaron

At 4/17/2014, you wrote:
Dear Frameworks,

This isn't strictly an experimental film query, but I know many people who teach read this listerve. My department has delayed for years the decision about what to do about the transition away from teaching Final Cut Pro 7, and result has been increasingly chaotic and unsustainable (we've developed a messy do-whatever-you-want solution where individual faculty members choose which editing platform to teach, so some of our students only know FCPX, some are still using FCP7, a handful are learning Premiere on their own, and it's all a bit of a mess). I'd love to hear from as many instructors as possible about what your program has done about teaching editing post-FCP7, how you reached your decision, what your reasons were for teaching or not teaching FCPX, and how things have been working out.

Please reply off-list if it seems more appropriate: this may or not be a public discussion topic of interest to others and is maybe a bit off-Frameworks-topic but it would be very helpful for me to compile some information about what others are doing.

Thanks so much in advance for your help.

Best,

............................

Irene Lusztig
Assistant Professor, Film and Digital Media
University of California, Santa Cruz

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      Aaron F. Ross, artist and educator
      http://dr-yo.com
      http://digitalartsguild.com

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