The 2012 Trend F.A.Q. for Post 02/07/12

 
This week’s guest blog post is from Apple / Adobe certified trainer Clay Asbury. Clay’s been working in the industry since 1990 and teaching classes since 1994.
 
He kicks off the first installment of our Trend F.A.Q. for Post, where we’ll try to answer some of the most common questions about where our industry is heading.
 
 

What is Open IO?

“I keep hearing that term on the internet and in industry publications.”
 
 
Open I/O allows third-party manufacturers to develop their own plug-in for their hardware to function with various editing apps.
 
The new trend is cross platform I/O devices that work with multiple applications.
 
AVID made headlines when they announced support of multiple I/O cards with Media Composer 6 (AJA, BlackMagic, Matrox, BlueFish, MOTU).
 
This is big news for editors who already own hardware, or work in various apps depending on the project. For example I have a AJA Lhi card, so if I need to use Premiere Pro for one client and Media Composer for another, no problem.
 
Expect more devices like BlackMagic UltraStudio 3D & AJA IO XT that are portable and support 3d Workflows (the current rage). They both support Thunderbolt which leads us to #2.
 
 

What’s all the hype over Thunderbolt

“I have Firewire 800/esata and they work fine.”
 
 
Thunderbolt is an interface for connecting peripheral devices to a computer via an expansion bus.
 
It comes on new Macs, and is starting to appear on PCs.
 
It is more than twelve times faster than FireWire 800 & twenty times faster than USB 2.
 
Thunderbolt HD started to appear last year with Promise Pegasus & G-Tech both offering RAIDS. Western Digital recently showed their My Book Thunderbolt Duo at Macworld Expo. Peripherals are also appearing such as the Apple Thunderbolt Display and the Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock.
 
If you don’t need the additional speed this minute, I would wait as they are: 1) currently expensive, 2) not many options for bus powered drives, and 3) uses copper cables (10Gbps) (but faster optical fibers versions are on the horizon).
 
Expect this to be a Hot Topic at NAB this year.
 
VideoGuys Thunderbolt Guide
 
List of Current Thunderbolt Devices
 
 

What editing software should I learn now?

“With FCP X replacing FCP 7, I’m not sure what to do. Should I learn Premiere Pro or Media Composer?”
 
 
The rebirth of Final Cut Pro 7 last year as Final Cut Pro X was big news.
 
Some Editors felt betrayed as their previous projects wouldn’t open in FCP X, and that pro features (multicam, broadcast monitoring) were missing.
 
Overall, the industry seemed to love it or hate it. FCP’s competitors (Premiere Pro, Media Composer, Edius) took advantage of the situation, offering discounted cross-grades for FCP users.
 
As of this week FCP 10.0.3 is out, and the missing pieces have been put back. This puts FCP X, Premiere Pro & Media Composer on a fairly even playing field.
 
Here is my personal take on this.
 
For $300, FCP X is a powerful, accessible, and affordable tool that will get a lot of folks new to editing and those who don’t need all the features/pricetag/complexity of Media Composer or Premiere Pro.
 
There is a website dedicated to it and new plugins are appearing weekly.
 
Premiere Pro integrates amazingly well with Photoshop, Illustrator, & After Effects through built-in Dynamic Link if you have the Production Premium Bundle.
 
This is a very tempting way to go for graphic heavy projects.
 
Media Composer was the standard for years, and it is a robust and extremely customizable app that can be overwhelming at first because of all the flexibility it allows.
 
It probably the highest learning curve of the 3, but if you are editing narrative projects it’s trimming is unmatched.
 
Now Automatic Duck Pro Import AE 5.0 is free (they were assimilated by Adobe), and you can move your timeline into AE without rendering out a movie.
 
Choose whatever software is best for your project, meaning that knowing all 3 can’t hurt and will increase your marketability as an editor.
 
 

Are smartphones/tablets useful for filmmakers?

 
 
These devices have developed into tools for the filmmaker, with developers building affordable apps that extend these devices, much like plugins for editing apps.
 
Need to figure out how much disk space an hour of Apple Pro Res HQ or AVID DNxHD 36 takes up?
 
No problem, both Technicolor & AJA have a free app for that.
 
Want to make notes during a screening and have these available when you edit? No problem, there is Movie Slate.
 
There is a site called Hand Held Hollywood that is dedicated to iPhone/iOS and even Android apps. The site even has a directory of apps.
 
(**** BREAKING **** – Check out the HHH post on the just released Avid Studio for iPad).
 
 

What is Cloud Editing?

 
“I hear the term Cloud Editing thrown around, what is that?”
 
 
Cloud Editing is basically accessing video files,assets, and services on an internet based server.
 
Avid was the first to integrate this into a video editing app via the Avid Marketplace.
 
Currently it allows you to access a large library of stock footage from inside the app.
 
This is possible through their partnership with Thought Equity Motion with the assumption that more features will be added in the future.
 
Adobe’s current offering is CS Review & integration with Adobe Story which “create scripts or outlines that serve as blueprints for your video projects”.
 
They showed Adobe Prelude last week at the San Francisco SuperMeet so possibly more Cloud features will appear in Creative Suite 6.
 
FCP X – Not as of 10.0.3 but there could be possible iCloud integration in the future.
 
On the High-end there is Quantel QTube – Hard to find much info on it, but looks powerful and expensive and a work in progress.
 
On the the more consumer end there is WeVideo, and the in-progress Novacut has potential.
 
I expect Cloud Editing to be a big topic at NAB.
 
 
So, what other questions should we add to the Trend F.A.Q.?