So what can you expect on the website?
The purpose of this website is to engage, enlighten, learn, laugh and discuss all things related to Final Cut Pro X, through blogging, vlogging, tutorials, discussions, reviews, news, tips, you name it!
In scope are also Motion and Compressor; Final Cut’s partner programs for motion graphics and encoding.
Wanna have fun?
Final Cut Pro X is about enjoying the editing process and letting your creativity ooze with a seriously powerful, well thought out and stable editing platform.
Do you fit in my audience?
This is not the only website you should access when searching for info on Final Cut Pro X. Hell no! This website could however be part of your possibilities. There are many other great free resources that you can consult – more on that in an upcoming blog. This website is my personal take on Final Cut Pro X and where it sits in the video editing world. It is mostly aimed at people already editing, perhaps using other software. But I have not ruled out content for complete beginners. And you are perfectly entitled to disagree with me, particularly if I say something controversial or offensive. It is actually not my intention to criticise other software – though this may happen, but rather highlight the strengths of Final Cut Pro X.
When did Final Cut Pro X actually get launched?
Hard to believe that this “new” generation of Final Cut was 8 years old this summer (2019). I can still vividly remember the release. It was all very “Apple-y”. I was already a long time user of Final Cut Pro 7, from the Final Cut Studio suite which included Motion, Soundtrack Pro and Compressor. Rumours were out that Apple was discontinuing Version 7 and that something new, may or may not be coming, like I said, very “Apple-y”. And so, in June 2011, Final Cut Pro X was born.
And the reaction?
Initial reaction from the video editing community was mostly very negative. People were dismayed with the new “magnetic timeline”. How dare Apple simplify our profession! Talk was of iMovie Plus, a major downgrade for the Version 7 users. At least that was the popular reaction. You might now call some of that reaction “Fake News” – unverifiable rants on the internet. Much of the reaction came from people who hadn’t even tried it out. One apparently very experienced freelance colleague (who since disappeared after helping a colleague defraud the firm we were working at) even said: “you can’t even overlay a lower-thirds. It’s really rubbish!”. Now that, if anything, inspired me even more to look into this new take on video editing, and give it a chance to see if it really was that bad.
So was it any good back then?
After loving all the usual slick Apple promotional material, it was time to get the hands dirty and see what this new baby could do. A fully functional 30-Day trial would do the trick. My initial reaction was: wow! They have looked at something that we do and have done, the same way, since the evolution of film, and said, hmmm, it’s high time we looked at this a little differently. Just because the timeline always had a number of video tracks on top of a number of audio tracks does not mean that it will always have to be that way. This brazen almost shameless attack on our profession scared many people straight away. However, if many of these people had invested the few days required to get going on Final Cut Pro X at that time, then things would look very different now in the industry. As it was, Apple maintained its silence but never lost belief in the new product and simply continued to develop and improve it over these past 8 years.
And now?
I remain shocked by some of the industry’s reaction to this great product. Most pros have at least opened up to the possibility that it might be an option. But there is a significant stubborn lot who still think that this product is not useable for professional video editors. Most have still not given it a try! So here is my take on Final Cut Pro X. Perhaps I can enlighten a few lost souls, who may well be getting their edits done, but not realising how much more fun and efficient their job could be.
And finally: X? or 10? How do we say it?
Say it how you like. My preference is to say “Final Cut Pro 10”, but write it with the roman numeral, “Final Cut Pro X”. So there.