latestfinalcutprox-blog

[latestfinalcutprox-blog]

The Secrets To Final Cut Pro Vs Avid - An Ode To The Moviola

After many years of focusing on the Avid Media Composer, and a long period of working professionally in Final Cut Pro, I've come to in conclusion that the Media Composer is the digital equivalent of the Moviola, the primary tool of professional editors for a lot more than 70 years. Final Cut Pro can't get this to claim and here I'll explain one of many reasons why.

Invented in 1924, the Moviola was an editing device used to cut celluloid film. It was originally designed to be a home movie projector, nevertheless when sales didn't remove, it was redesigned specifically to edit motion pictures. You threaded the film on the big, black (and later green) machine and you might run shots and sequences back and forth, pretty much before sprockets wore out (and they did). 

The Moviola was a clackety, loud apparatus and if you weren't careful, you might catch your finger in the threading mechanism. Having done this personally on several occasions I can assure you it wasn't pleasant. My point being that editing on a Moviola was a much more physical experience than editing on a computer. This, of course, is true of so lots of the work tasks digital technologies have replaced.

The physicality of cutting on a Moviola was also demonstrated by the truth that many editors stood at their Moviola. While reviewing the film, shot or sequence, the editor would mark the film with a grease pencil (a thick, greased-based marker, which you could wipe off the film) bring it out of the threading mechanism and physically make your cut. This technique worked well and the modest machine was the de facto standard of the editing craft for many, many years.

However, the true magic of focusing on the Moviola was finding your cut point. Equipped having an actual hand-brake, it enabled you to find your cut point, and stop the machine on the exact frame you desired. This was (and still is) critically important. Being an editor you feel physically in addition to mentally immersed in the material. 

Filmmakers discuss "feeling" the cut and I've known many editors who would sway with the rhythms of the action or dialog while cutting. It is nearly like a dancing, the film being your partner and when you're really in sync together with your partners rhythms, you're really in the zone.I am aware many readers are saying, just what exactly does this have related to Avid vs. Final Cut Pro? final cut pro x has always suffered from something called "latency ".Latency in digital editing simply means that when you try to mark or stop on a specific frame (i.e. Moviola's hand-brake) the application requires a moment to respond. It may also be observed whenever you play something in the timeline and it runs out of sync. This really is particularly true with a few of the newer compressed HD formats hitting industry and is a complete deal breaker for virtually all professional editors. The worst part about latency is that it has a tendency to break the flow or, yet again, the rhythm of the work.

This really is among several reasons that 99% of all major motion pictures continue being cut on the Avid. You are able to stop and mark on a cent with no latency. This really is true when in a cut sequence or simply trimming a clip. Avid editors have the added capability to mark in or out continuously, in rapid-fire succession when they choose without the application exhibiting as much as a flinch. It's held true since the initial day I labored on the Avid in 1992. Many FCP stalwarts argue that latency isn't a problem. I don't wish to burst their bubble, but I've been in the trenches with the application for the last a long period and it really ain't so. These people have either never cut anything rhythmically or don't understand what it is.FCPX plugins is a very good product, I particularly admire the truth that it has enabled so many to gain a greater understanding of the editing craft. However, when it ever is going to grab a bigger share of the studio filmmaking pie, it will need to address the latency issue in addition to many non-intuitive functions that hinder its adoption by many professional editors.

Lawrence Jordan, A.C.E. is a pioneer in the field of fabricating dynamic media using many different digital tools. In 1991 he labored on the initial long-format project in Hollywood to be edited digitally utilizing the Avid Media Composer. After consulting with Macromedia and Apple on Final Cut Pro, in 1999 he created 2-pop - The Final Cut Pro & DV Information Site. He now runs JODADA, a digital media strategy and consulting firm and publishes Hollywood Reinvented The Network for Digital Filmmakers, and one of many first sites to webcast HD video as its primary content.