Who is Final Cut Pro X Really For?

Filmmaking Webinars by Marcelo Lewin

I could start this blog article, like most of the blog articles I’ve read so far about FCP X, by bitching about the features that are not there, how the UI is completely different, how I can’t use a professional monitor to color correct my sequence, how I can’t edit multi-cam, how I can’t export an EDL or OMF file, plus the many other missing features.

Is Final Cut Pro X as good as or better then FCP 7 for professional broadcast editors? Indeed it’s not. Final Cut Pro 7 is a mature NLE that has everything (well, almost everything) a broadcast and feature film editor requires.

So why did Apple pretty much create the app from scratch, with a new UI and stripped away many of the features professional broadcasters need? Because I think Apple is no longer going after broadcast editors. The fact that you can’t ingest tape media or output to tape, export EDL, OMF or AAF, monitor your video on an external monitor, or the many other features a professional broadcast editor needs leads me to believe that Apple’s market and focus has changed.

So why call it Final Cut Pro? And who are these “Pro’s” Apple is going after, if not feature filmmakers and broadcasters? Well, I propose there is another set of filmmaking professionals not in broadcast. Those of us working day in and day out in new media. I include myself in this group since I don’t do broadcast or feature film, but tons of web videos. Those of us creating podcasts, web, iPad and iPhone videos, we are professionals too, but with a different set of requirements than broadcasters have. read more...