Final Cut Pro Interview: Ben Balser

MacProVideo.com by Rounik Sethi

For those working in the film industry that come across Final Cut issues, there's one man to call: Ben Balser. As well as being an experienced Certified Final Cut Trainer and having taught classes across the U.S. for editors from CNN, Discovery, Getty Images to State and Federal government institutions, Ben is also a Final Cut consultants' consultant!

We're thrilled to welcome Ben to macProVideo.com as a trainer, bringing his years of experience, knowledge and passion for Final Cut. It's a perfect fit! In this interview I caught up with the man from Louisiana to talk about his passion for video, his film-making background, Final Cut Pro X and its future, why media management matters and much more.

Rounik Sethi: Hi Ben it’s great to meet you!

Ben Balser: Good to talk to you.

RS: Tell us about your background and how you got into the video editing world.

BB: Well, I was about 14 years old and a huge Bruce Lee fan. We all were back then. I’m dating myself! (This was the early 70s). I have always been a visual person. I loved music and had been playing flute since I was in 3rd grade and at that age was getting into rock 'n’ roll and wanting to learn guitar...just being a typical teenager. But I always saw movies in my head when I heard music. Even then I was actually writing compositions and would always see a movie. It was always about a story for me.

Eventually, while digging around in an old closet, I found an old silent 8mm wind-up Brownie camera. The spools of film were something like 2-3 minutes long and when you would wind it up you’d only have a minute or so to shoot. It wasn’t much. So some friends and I did our own Kung-Fu movie. It was silent and trying to cut that stuff up and edit it together was a nightmare. We pretty much lost all that footage because you know, scotch tape only goes through the projector a couple of times before it degrades and burns up! read more...