In total darkness, under intense pressure, and heat with noxious plumes erupting from thermal vents, many explorers of the deep sea wrote the area off. Could anything live down there? The answer seemed obvious. That is, until future expeditions, with great splendor, made their initial opinon moot. With a lack of multicam support, the inability to import previous Final Cut Pro versions, and a radical interface design that resembles the upstart consumer iMovie rather than the mature professional Final Cut Pro 7, there are a vocal number who ask, “Is Final Cut Pro X really a professional editing tool? Can it be a true successor to Final Cut Pro 7?" After peering into the depths, I think we will find the answer to that question isn’t as obvious as some have initially concluded.
When the software was demoed at NAB in the Spring of 2011, the features within were lauded by many professionals. It was fast, introduced new and efficient ways to edit and organize content, what was not to like? Indeed, Final Cut Pro X was highlighted as a revolutionary product and not an evolutionary one. Let me repeat that: Final Cut Pro X was introduced as a revolutionary product and not an evolutionary one. All users of the software would be remiss if they did not consider that fact.
Final Cut Pro X not only dumps it’s 32-bit roots, but more dramatically for the users, fearlessly slashes away decades of old video editing protocol and nomenclature. It is similar to how Mac OS X did away with many Mac OS 7-9 conventions and technologies. "X" in the name seems to represents a platform shift. Technical naming speculation aside, the real question is: Is this abrupt adjustment so wrong? Is not our method of capturing and handling video changing? As it always has? The industry transitioned from film to tape, linear to non-linear editing, analog to digital video and in conjunction, standard definition to high defintion. Not to mention the addition of various devices (traditional and non-traditional) we use to capture and store this new media. In harmony with the times, and in true Apple style, Final Cut Pro X is a whole new canvass with very avant-garde brushes. Apple is one of the few tech giants who unabashedly dares to do something different. Regularly. It is what they do! Furthermore, as a respected editor mentioned at a London Supermeet, “No one is forcing an upgrade”. Many pros stay with their "old trusty" until something impels them otherwise anyway. Only a few look to what is beyond the ledge and Apple has often appealed to those customers. Final Cut Pro X is not for the established and ossified. No, this is for the rebels, remember?
Company ideology aside, I do sympathize with a blogger whom criticized Apple's handling of the release of this new product. It is a PR issue that Apple, of late, usually handles with finesse. He argued that both old and new should be allowed to live side-by-side, until the new feature set of FCPro X matures. It really is a shame that anyone who wants to acquire what many are currently using in editing shops is, for the most part, prohibited from doing so. However, if Apple did support buying both FCStudio and FCPro X, then Apple would be fostering a mindset that has dogged the tech industry for decades: "If it ain't broke, never fix it." Why, some people would still be running XP or even OS/2 Warp if you let them! That is not the way Apple grows.
Regardless of the status quo, many have felt they must do what they believe is right. Apple, when it is successful, operates in this way. No one thought the iPod would catch on (not even I when I heard of it). Now, it is in MOMA and synonymous with digital music. There are other popular computing advances we take for granted today that were pioneered and or strongly promoted by this company. This is the same firm who pushed CD-ROMs, dedicated graphic cards, included audio cards when their competitors didn't, USB, ushered the demise of the floppy drive; today Thunderbolt and thin SSD notebooks. Would desktop publishing, consumer digital video and music be as big without Apple pushing it, forcing competitors to “step-it-up” in the 80's, late 90's and early 2000's? With that track record, if Apple didn't release a product like this, who would?
It is interesting that the VW group makes the unbelievably fast but impractical Bugatti Veryon at a loss. Why? To prove they have the best engineers and designers on the planet. Apple, philosophically, seems to be run by designers. If it weren't, it would be another Sun, SGI, Blackberry or Microsoft. Apple is not operating any differently than it ever has (under Steve's watch). It has an idea, a vision, and it intends to see it through. Whether we like it or not. As Steve said on All Things D (paraphrasing), "we are going to make a product we are excited about, but you don't have to buy it." That way of thinking has produced failures, but many more successes.
With that view in mind, at times, I feel Apple's true goal is not so much to be a computer company but rather an industrial design & media art house; a pragmatic artist of the Information Age with computing as their medium of expression. It customers are its patrons. With that mindset, again, if Apple didn't release a product like this, who would?
With that view in mind, at times, I feel Apple's true goal is not so much to be a computer company but rather an industrial design & media art house; a pragmatic artist of the Information Age with computing as their medium of expression. It customers are its patrons. With that mindset, again, if Apple didn't release a product like this, who would?
There will be those whom are dismissive and mock because the contestant is a lot darker than appreciated and speaks a tongue foreign to them. However, for all those whom are willing to give all takers a chance for glory, they may soon find 4 gold medals in the hands of the one they least expect it. While borrowing from history may be a stretch, we must not forget the paradigm shift this product truly represents. Final Cut Pro X could be likened to a Pollack, Picasso, Van Der Zee, Basquiat, Duchamp, a work by Nam June Paik or for the really offended, even a Monet. The software is new and alien, a product of the times; a beautiful nightmare that will challenge our view behind the lens. It is not for the faint of heart. Then again, what life altering experience ever is?
