Relaxed?

On day 1, this isn’t a rant about how great or not so great FCP X is. I’m in a very unique position to be impartial. Gratefully and luckily, I work with virtually everything within the walls of Post. Thus, I’ve attacked the issue of FCP X and have decided to examine the ramifications to this creature with many heads we call workflow.

I think we all need to put these 3 truths on a sticky next to our palette monitor. I believe:

1. The good of the many outweighs the good of the few (or one, if you like movie quotes)
2. Post Production? We are the few. We are the exception to the rule. There are many more dad’s cutting together their kids t-ball highlights than editing a primetime television show or feature film.  That’s the rule.
3. This is version 1.0. Learn to accept that.

Quite frankly, if you plan on pulling stuff in from your digital camera, doing an edit with some color and effects, then outputting a digital file, I think you’ll love FCP X. It’s sleek, it’s shiny, it’s all in one – no muss no fuss. In fact, jeebus, it flies. On a new 12 Core Mac Pro with a Quadro 4000, I had 6 streams of Canon 5D material playing PLUS a Cineform 3D file. All with a size change (PiP). 77% CPU utilization. All of this – unrendered. Not one dropped frame. 1 stream of 5D can cause FCP7 to choke. That’s bad-ass.

But for those who sit in a darkened edit bay with stale client snacks and mini cans of soda – brace for impact.

My world here in Hollyweird has been abuzz about the very simple topic “Is FCP X for Pros?” My friend Philip Hodgetts delved into that very point here. For this blog post however, I am referring to TV, Film, and more elaborate professional workflow’d productions.  Professionals whose workflows require more than a 1 stop shop.  Multi-disciplined workflows.  This blog post is for you.  I thus ask that when I use the term “Professional” with a capital “P”, you get the picture.  Capiche?

I’m usually forgiving when it comes to 1.0 releases.  As a good friend reminded me, if software releases were delayed until everything got weaseled in, well, it would never make it to market (plus, you need to have something to charge for later). However, there are glaring omissions.  Either by choice or by time constraints, they are definitely wrapped up around interoperability. Aside from it’s own sandbox of Motion and Compressor, FCP X is an island.

1. No Native OMF Import or Export.
2. No Native EDL Import or Export.
3. No Native AAF Import or Export.
4. No Native XML Import or Export.

This means that you start in FCP X eco-system and end in FCP X eco-system. This is not a professional workflow. I believe a professional workflow (let alone application) requires some flexibility to play with others. Professional post people need to work with other apps. Rarely, if ever, do any Professionals begin and end inside the same application. And I fault Apple for believing that a v1.0 product would be up to the task of being an all in one. Maybe someday. But not now.

I am a huge fan of Wes and of Automatic Duck. His products, by far, are the most useful out there. But I believe it’s downright dumb to have Duck as the only solution. Would a car manufacturer not build doors, and let a 3^rd party do it aftermarket? FCP innovated the open philosophy with XML almost a decade ago. Where did *that* go?

This only underscores the absolutely, massively poor omission of the ability to open legacy projects.  ‘Complete Rewrite‘ or not, the loss of at least a rudimentary ability to update your projects – is a travesty.

The Log and Capture debate has raged for months, and I don’t fault Apple for omitting the rewrite of it from it’s roadmap. AJA, Blackmagic, and several others have their own proprietary capture application to plug this hole. Telestream’s Pipeline is a fantastic alternative, as is the AJA Ki Pro family or the Cinedeck. On the flip side, a great feature I tout about Avid Media Composer is that there is one interface for every capture. Now that’s easy. I don’t fault Apple, but it does make this guys job difficult. Tape isn’t dead, but it’s dying. This same philosophy can be said for disc, so I understand DVD Studio Pro being deep six’d.

The key to any edit bay is the viewable output. Whether it be for color timing (not correction, you youngin’s) or simply to pacify the director and producer talking on their cell phones behind you, we need to see it. As of day 1 – only AJA has a solution. I love AJA; I’ve been a product champion for years. That being said, the Kona “extended desktop as a second monitor” is a shoehorn at best. It is virtually useless in a critical or output environment. This – even if everything else I’ve mentioned is rectified – is a professional deal killer. You simply cannot accurately color grade on a computer monitor, and just pushing a computer image to a video monitor doesn’t do it. Period. I anticipate Thunderbolt remedying this. Holy Grail, even.

Multicam? Yeah, I know. Yet another feature that only the “few” use. But those that do – it’s their livelihood. I do, however, understand it not being in 1.0. I imagine it’s in the pipeline.

I suppose this is where I can really let loose.  As a techie, and as a loyal servant of a VAR (Value Added Reseller), my rear is quite chaffed. As Apple VARs – ones that advertise your product, ones that learn to support your product, ones that defend your product when it’s on the client’s chopping block, it appears that we are no longer worth your respect and attention. With no way to re-sell and no way to easily deploy, we are being phased out. An App Store purchase is easier than a VAR, isn’t it Apple? While it may not make a dent in your bottom line, it’s a solid backhand to those of us who pumped, sold, and built facilities based off  FCP 1. FCP2. FC3. FCP 3.04. We helped make Final Cut Pro what it is. We didn’t even get put in a retirement home, we went straight to the morgue.

Quantity does not equate Quality, but VARs can bridge this gap.

Speaking of VARs, this may be of interest. See if you can follow my logic here:

Currently, FCP X runs on 10.6.7.

FCP 7 runs on 10.6.7.

FCP 7 has been EOL’d (end of life’d).

10.7 is right around the corner, as are the new gen of Mac Pros.

Will FCP 7 be updated to run on 10.7? If not…

Will the new Macs be back-revable to have 10.6 installed on them? If not…

You’re in a world of hurt. You can’t upgrade your CPU (that’s a chunk of change you’d lose, Apple) or you’ll lose FCP 7. If you stay on a slower CPU, you don’t get the features that are most certainly coming in FCP X.1, X.2, etc. Is a user really going to keep 2 Macs for daily work?  Reminds me of the whole Avid Meridien debacle back in 10.2 with the G4s.

Betcha didn’t think of that one. VARs, my dear reader. Tip of the iceberg.

You’ll notice I didn’t focus on the editing features much.  I actually dig the fact that Apple is moving forward.  We need to learn, we need to evolve.  Remember the now famous Henry Ford quote, popularized by Steve Jobs: ‘If I’d have asked my customers what they wanted, they would have told me “A faster horse.’” If Apple has developed something easier, faster, and more efficient, I’m all for trying it.  Really.  It’s the elimination of mission critical components with no viable or comparable alternative that doesn’t sit well with me.

While at the Vegas Supermeet, I was lucky enough to sit with some pretty level headed folk.  Every round of applause was peppered with “but what about…” or “well, how would you…” Most post people are good like that.  They look before they leap.  And that’s exactly what anyone making enough money to keep beers in front of the friends should do: look before you leap.

UPDATE – 6/23: Apple has addressed some issues on the “pro” aspect of FCP X.  I post it here as yet another angle with which digest: http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/23/professional-video-editors-weigh-in-on-final-cut-pro-x/

UPDATE – 6/27: These are just funny.

New Coke and FCP X

FCP X runs on just about everything...

WTF is that?

Quite humbly, I’ve been told “Hey!  You do what I wanna do!” or “I want to know as much as you!” following a presentation.  This alone makes my day, if not my month.  But I don’t think many people really grasp what I (we) do.  Probably because the job title is a tad esoteric;  it’s usage is generally relegated to the tech industry, and partly because the façade of a demo artist is one of confidence and domain expertise, when in reality, that’s nearly impossible at the reseller level.  That may be why there are probably only a few hundred of us in the country, and the burn-out rate is pretty high.

I figure I should have a concise definition for what I do when grilled at a party, high school reunion, or the all important meeting of the girlfriend’s father.  The nearest I can come up with is this base definition:

A Demo Artist in the M&E (Media & Entertainment) space should be able to verbally and physically convey the virtues of a set of products to a potential customer while being able to apply the product into the client’s environment.

Sounds like an ad on Monster.com, doesn’t it?  It’s not.

This one sentence is the heart of what I do.  But it is, in fact, only a small portion of what the position entails.  I need to go beyond the product slick and not just parrot the specs.  I need to know how the product interops with several dozen (if not hundreds) of complementary devices.  Why?  Because when I’m in front of a client, I am the expert.  That’s the image conveyed to the client by the parent company.  Otherwise, why would a client go with said company?

Let’s say you, dear reader, are gainfully employed, and you consider yourself an expert on the products and services your company offers.  As a Demo Artist, I figure I must know at least 1/5 of that (ballpark, taking into account knowing more about some, and less about others.  I believe it to be more, but I’ll discuss that later.)  to sound at least knowledgeable about the product.  An M&E reseller (I’ve worked for 3) typically carries 100+ manufacturers.  That alone is 20X the amount of product knowledge.  This does not include fringe products or more important products that are the core of your company’s business.  That concept, in and of itself, is daunting.

There are some things which make that number bearable.  Experience yields a foundation of knowledge of product lines & familiarity with older manufacturers, which give you a base from which to build.  Like manufacturers (say, Storage) all have some basic criteria that is universal.  So, it’s a bit easier to digest.

On the flip side, the days of expensive Big Iron are over.  Now is the time of software and semi automation.  This yields more competitive products, more scenarios, and more avenues for a client to pursue.  In addition, keeping up with all of the nuances and what’s new is a monumental task.  Many of my conversations are centered around “What’s new?” since they last looked at a product.

So, why might I need to know more than 1/5?  Demand demands expertise.

If 25% of your business comes from 1 product, then you better be able to field questions – both pre and post sales – and handle demos much more adeptly than a commodity product.  If that’s your bread and butter, you better know a fair amount about it.

Many people (myself included) in this role also have creative backgrounds in Post, which lends itself towards a natural inclination for some facets of Post.  I happen to be heavily into Editorial, Stereoscopy, Post Audio, and Encoding.  So, yeah, I’m gonna keep those skills sharp for my sheer interest in it.

Clients also want evaluations of product.  This not only entails configuring the machines but knowing how to “drive” the box, and provide support during evaluation.  While the manufacturer can be involved at this point, we still run into the manufacturer being unfamiliar with the client or perhaps the rest of their gear or workflow, in addition, what added value does a reseller bring to the table if all pre-sales questions go to the manufacturer?

Lastly the folks holding the purse strings want sign-off from their users or technical people in their facility, before spending a dime.   This again requires more knowledge than simply product spec to instill product and reseller post-sales support confidence.

“So, what [else] exactly do you do…do?”

Other responsibilities can also include product training (difficult, given the aforementioned attention to so many products). In my case, I am also expected to develop content for seminars, events and the like, to further showcase any number of the 100+ product lines, and how they can complement our sales push. This is not only on the topical presentation level, but hardware and gear needed for the event.  This can be for a handful of people, several dozen, or a hundred plus.  This is the portion I crave; I love being in front of people and pontificating on technology or workflows.  That kind of geek stuff gets me jazzed and the passion I tend to exude while speaking, that’s not a façade, I really, really dig it.

On a good day, we can try and have a manufacturer come in and “do the demo”, but more often than not this isn’t the case.  Sometimes they are not available (scheduling can be a nightmare) and while they are certainly experts in their respective fields, this can become a conflict of interest when the client is looking at multiple solutions.  Bias plays a big role, and as a “noodlehead” I need to keep bias to a minimum to ensure we are guiding the client to the right product – not just the product one company sells.  Solution Agnosticism.

I absolutely love what I do.  I happened to fall into this position through a series of fortunate circumstances.  It suits my attention whore personality just fine.  Some evenings I drive home ecstatic over nailing a client meeting or having all questions that day fall into my wheelhouse.  Other nights, I’m simply astounded at what I don’t know.  How can you be comfortable with only knowing (on average) 20% of what you want to know?  It’s kind of demoralizing: You cannot possibly know everything people expect you to know.   At least for my personality, that is a truth I have not yet grasped.

I’m actually in a very unique position. I have the privilege of meeting editors and seeing facilities which run the gamut in terms of post production. TV, film, and new media; both back in the Midwest and here in Southern California. I was able to work as both a Creative and as a companion to the Creatives. And through all of these projects, meet and greets, consultations and chats over a beer, I’ve compiled a list of things I think everyone breaking into the industry should know.

I know many of these observations come as second nature to some people, others may be things we’ve been told, but never absorbed consciously. Perhaps repeating them here may help “hit it home”.

1. Be on time or early. I am absolutely amazed at how little this is followed. Yes, I know there is traffic. Yes I know there is rain. But that means nothing to the person who has 5 meetings after the one with you. Show respect to them and their project. Be on time or early.

2. Speak so you are understood. I still fall victim to this. Slow down, contain your excitement and/or eagerness to blurt out your notions on the Universe. Speak in a clear and concise voice. Not to loud, not to soft or a mumble. Until you know where you stand with the person, do not give the whole sorid story – only give the black and white facts.

3. Double check your work. You may finish a task sooner than anticipated. That probably means you’ve messed something up or forgotten something – hence the reason you were given more time.

4. We know you’re using some cracked software. Don’t mention it. It’s not cool when facilities have to pay tens of thousands of dollars for software to be legal, and you got it via a torrent. Oh yeah, and don’t take or use their stuff without asking.

5. Do not – I repeat – do NOT use your first foot in the door as a way to get “discovered”. Do not push your demo reel or band’s demo CD onto a client.

Found on post facility coffee tables everywhere.

6. Turn your damn cell phone off.

7. Carry a notepad. Or a voice recorder. Something to remember the instructions you were given. A co-worker once told me (and still tells me to this day) “The one thing I hate most is having to repeat myself.” If you have a record of the chat, there is no repeating.

8. George Santayana once wrote “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” For over 100 years, people have been working in post. Study how they worked, the problems they overcame, and learn from that. I cannot tell you how much it has helped to understand how things “used to” work when relating to my peers or staples in the industry. It gives you credibility and a respect for the medium.

9. Don’t drop names. There really isn’t a good way to do it unless you yourself are a name.

10. You do not know more than the people who are hiring you. If you did, you would not need a job. Technical proficiency or the latest plug-in or keyboard shortcut, in post, does not yield higher intelligence. Personality, personability, experience, and seeing post as whole process yield post intelligence.

11. Speaking of, understand the processes outside of your concentration. What you work with is a direct result of what the previous department did; just as the next step in the post process relies on you doing things correctly. Someone will mess a step up – and you need to be able to track it down.

12. You will do stuff you think is beneath you. Whether it’s a coffee run, or logging hours of clips, we all had to do it. All of that prepares you for the Big Time. These menial tasks not only demonstrate your ability to listen and follow through, but your effectiveness down the stretch. Think of it as the minor leagues – only in this game, you have to be the waterboy first. Save your hotshot techniques for your indie projects off of craigslist.

13. You often learn as much from the people around the creative space as you do the creatives themselves. For example, the engineer can teach you signal flow. The receptionist can tell you about the clients personalities.

14. You are in a unique position, as well: you bring a fresh view on things to the table. While it may be uninformed, it does have something the jaded people at the facility may not have: fresh eyes. When (and if!) you feel comfortable (and in private), bring these up. But do it in such a way that you are attempting to help the company. Do not point out fault or blame. You haven’t earned that ability yet. This is extraordinarily difficult, and it may take several months – if at all – to have the respect of the company to accept what you have to say as helpful, and not the ramblings of some snot nosed intern.

15. I know you’re a creative at heart. And you work in a creative space. And you feel your dress should reflect that. But, for god sakes, pull up your pants. Take a shower. Look like you care about how you are perceived, even if you really don’t. Why? Because you are being judged. It’s a fact of life – especially in the entertainment industry. Be outwardly unique on your own time.