FCP Raises up a Generation of Button Pushers? at FreshDV

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FCP Raises up a Generation of Button Pushers?

Published by Matthew Jeppsen March 24th, 2008 in News, Post-Production

Freelance editor Scott Simmons has written a lengthy (and appropriately ranty) post on the subject of Final Cut Pro editors with little or no real knowledge of the basics of the post-production process. There’s a great discussion going on in the comments as well. Here’s a quick excerpt:

Why is this kind of thing so prevalent in a Final Cut Pro world? I think the biggest reason is that you have people who arenâ€™t really editors editing projects. Yes many people can push the buttons and yes many young directors want to cut their own projects but there is an overall scope to what the full edit of a project means that isnâ€™t understood and isnâ€™t being done. This is so much more prevalent with young editors who only know Final Cut Pro and have never set foot in a post-house. Most directors who edit their own projects arenâ€™t quite as clueless. I donâ€™t expect a director who has learned insert and overwrite in FCP to know the full checklist of editing but I do expect them to allow someone else into the edit to make the technical side work.

6 Responses to “FCP Raises up a Generation of Button Pushers?”

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1 martin edwards Mar 25th, 2008 at 9:26 pm

I still cut on film…
2 Helena Handbasket Mar 26th, 2008 at 9:55 am

I have to say, I was expecting a different theme for this blog-post. Frankly, to me, the guy who knows more tech about onlining is just another button pusher too. I thought you were going to address the ART of editing, and how knowing how to push Command+key doesn’t make one an editor, even though every kid in high school is going to grow up with some knowledge of non-linear editing programs. The technical knowledge you describe is the realm of engineers, and is really only applicable on a job-by-job basis. Honestly, you can learn everything you need to know about “onlining” in a week, if someone’s there to show you. But you can never learn how to become a truly good editor. It’s like learning to become a truly good writer. You’ve got it or you don’t. And actually the exponential growth in button-pushers is a good thing: when everyone can push the buttons, it will really reveal who can actually do the true job of editing (in an artistic sense). The cream will rise, so to speak.
3 Helena Handbasket Mar 26th, 2008 at 10:05 am

p.s. And when I say you can learn everything about onlining in a week, I mean for the specific job at hand (i.e., you have to online a specific job for a specific output). That isn’t to say that the entire realm of onlining and quality control can be learned in a week. That takes a lifetime. And there are highly paid button pushers who I rely on all the time to help me out. But on a job-by-job basis, most of the technical details can be contained to the task at hand and can be learned as needed. Just thought I should clarify what I meant.
4 Jay Dee Mar 26th, 2008 at 12:03 pm

I’m a director and I edit my stuff myself whenever possible. I’ve lost a few jobs to young “gamers” who got into the business of “low-price” editing (using mostly cracked programs and plugins) and I always smile when I see the result: no color correction, bad audio, illegal levels and a lack of appropriate rhythm. The client gets what he paid for.

I have to agree that editing is more than knowing which buttons to push, but these guys don’t even know what all the buttons do !

Even in the pro world, I sometimes have unpleasant surprises. While doing a project on a high-end Avid DS, I had to tell the editor to check the colour bars and tone before digitizing. The answer I got: “We’ll fix it at the end”. They have scopes and vu meters, but they never look at them. They tweak by eye !

Gimme a break !

The editor should take your vision to the next level, and for that, he needs more than a passing knowledge of a stolen software.

And Helena, if you’re reading this: learning as needed really doesn’t work most of the time. When you’re sitting next to an editor who can’t give you something you know can be done on his system, going to the internet for answers is really bad when you’re paying his outfit hundreds of dollars an hour to give you results.
5 Reid VanVoris Mar 26th, 2008 at 7:03 pm

Dear J.D.,

Maybe I misunderstand, but I think you might be confusing issues just a little. Helena is right about most times the tech being able to be applied on an as needed basis regarding format, online/offline, and deliverables.

The problems you are referring to are regarding a general lack of production/post production experience by your editors. Maybe you should look at the resumes of your hired guns a little more closely before hiring them. Talk with them. Ask a few questions. Look for a few gray hairs before booking that edit suite next time. Sounds like you’ve been working with some very inexperienced folks.

I understand how the low cost and ease of use of FCP can lead to cutting corners when it comes to know-how. I relate this to my students by talking about cameras. Back in the day (5-7 years ago), our school had all Sony Betacams. Nothing on them was “auto” anything. Manual filter setting, white balance, exposure (OK, auto iris was optional), and focus. When our school bought some Canon XL-1’s the students knocked each other out to get their hands on them, not just because they were smaller and lighter to carry and use, but because they had “auto” settings for everything that let students just point and shoot. It provided what I like to call “instant mediocrity”. I asked my students, did they think “auto” made students better or worse videographers? They all, of course said, “worse,” beacuse they understand that knowing how to do things technically and purposefully is always preferrable to not knowing. I find, they want that knowledge and control. The same goes for when they want to learn FCP.

If we only purchased and taught with video cameras (HDV, XDCAM, P2, whatever) rather than film cameras, should teachers stop teaching and and students stop learning exposure, focus, depth of field, lighting, shot composition, art direction, shot sequences, coverage, and storytelling? Should we just throw the cameras on auto and run and gun it because we can? Of course not.

What these tools allow for, as H.B. notes, is more opportunities to try and to learn. If that causes a few to jump out too early and mess up some professional jobs, well, buyer be ware. Check your sources before booking.

I agree with H.B. that, over time, the cream will rise to the top. It’s up to us, who know a little better, to help those that need it to learn what they need to know. It’s how production knowledge has always been passed on from one generation of workers to the next. Today, it’s just a little messier and a little less respectful (to the seasoned pro) than it used to be, but I think it’s better to look for ways to take advantage of the opportunities the current situation creates than to spend too much time complaining about it.
6 Allan W. Mar 27th, 2008 at 10:39 am

Great catch, Matthew. I posted a few comments in the thread there.

H.H. is right: the cream does rise to the top - sometimes without all the knowledge of the graybeards. Fortunately, I work for one (literally!), and so I’m getting to benefit from his 30 years of experience in the field.

I’ve never set foot in a post facility. Never needed to (not producing for broadcast). However, should I need to, for sure my projects are going to have proper levels, metadata, and be organized well enough for anyone to navigate. There’s so many ways to organize things now (flexible software), it’s hard to know the best approach without years of trial-and-error (c.f. the Avid vs. FCP workflow: rigid vs. flexible).