Notes from using Premiere Pro in a real-world, client-in-the-room edit

Editblog on PVC by Scott Simmons

Premiere Pro has come a long way and is a real alternative for FCP users looking for a quick switch.

Adobe Premiere Pro has been back in the post-production public consciousness for quite a while. Now at version 5.5 it feels like Adobe began really pushing it when the Mercury Playback Engine was added in 5. I’ve been toying with it off and on for quite a while now but with the recent release of Final Cut Pro X I wanted to give it a real-world, client in the room test. In the end it was both very good, kinda bad … and a little bit ugly.

Before we discuss how Premiere Pro performed there’s a number of questions that I’ve been asked about finally using PPro in a “real world” edit.

First is the question I’ve been asked most often: Why now?

With the arrival of FCPX came the end of future development of Final Cut Pro 7. In my opinion and my workflows, FCPX isn’t ready. Besides missing “pro” features like I/O and 3rd party hardware support I think the basic editorial tools are a step backwards from Final Cut Pro (but that’s a different discussion for a different day). Many say “FCP7 didn’t stop working when FCPX arrived” but personally I don’t want to keep using a end-of-life NLE as I want my tools to continue to evolve and get better in both functionality and performance. Hearing that argument we’d be expected to continue to use FCP7 forever or at least until FCPX gained needed features. That may be years from now ... if ever as I doubt some of the basic editorial tools in FCPX will ever change. I want to give my time and energy to tools that I know have a future and sadly FCP7 doesn’t have a future beyond where it sits now.

The second most common question is why not edit with Avid Media Composer?

That’s an easy answer in that I do work in Avid ... all the time. But I like to have multiple editors available for different tasks. This job happened to be a more flashy promo-type piece that required some After Effects work as well as mixing of the audio. I often feel these types of things are easier achieved in a studio suite of applications like Adobe Creative Suite (or what would’ve been Final Cut Studio). Plus I’ve found it easier for me to do some of the more flashy stuff with the PPro/FCP way of working with effects. read more...