“As the cost of video-editing equipment has come down and the capabilities of commodity server-based software, such as Apple’s Final Cut Pro, have increased layers of complex older technology, with machines costing hundreds of thousands, even millions of pounds, being rendered redundant. The people in the industry whose work and skills are based on this equipment face job destruction. They might as well be working in analogue camera film developing and printing. Just as digitisation swept away those jobs and trades so the same is happening in video production and editing,” Mellor reports.
“There was some concern about Apple’s dominant position, but most people present reckoned Apple had the better tools and that was that,” Mellor reports.
“The video editors present were largely positive about all this – and why not? What driver or transport manager wouldn’t like cheaper, faster vehicles that could do more and replace whole sets of specialised, more expensive vehicles? Just don’t expect the drivers and mechanics of the replaced vehicles to be ecstatic about the prospect,” Mellor reports. “Apple’s dominance for them is just one big threat and the final cut is likely to be their jobs.”
Full article here.
We don’t care whether Mellor is extolling the virtues of Apple’s impact on the world of nonlinear editing or if he’s just a Luddite. The fact is, it doesn’t matter; as with everything else, unstoppable progress marches on. Those who who are proficient and can adjust will continue to have their jobs and those who are deemed superfluous will not. As always.
do people still believe their jobs will last forever?
Change is inevitable, particularly with regard to technology. Mellor’s speech is ironically identical to a presentation I gave at a media/motion graphics company about a decade ago. I explained that their competition wouldn’t come from people using expensive Quantel equipment but from 13 year olds with iMacs. We used to buy specialized hardware costing in the million dollar range that only had a fraction of the capabilities of Final Cut.
Mellor has discovered what the industry has known already for a very long time.
In addition, this did not harm editors. Editors evolved. The state of the art improved dramatically, and opportunities opened up for all kinds of people to get into video editing and related creative expression. How often do we here of some new theatrical release having been edited entirely using Final Cut?
There is nothing ahead for editors except possibilities.
We should have never moved to the microprocessor. Think of all the jobs lost in the vacuum tube industry!
Welcome to the club. Almost everyone who produces sensory creative product has had to deal with a sea change in methodology brought on by both digitization and the internet. Keep up or get out, those are one’s only two choices.
When I started working in the newspaper industry 12 years ago, we had a team of 17 people in the Porduction Department. When I left the industry 2 years ago, the same department was a team of 5 producing more than double the amount of work at the team of 17.
The print industry has been going through this for years.
Good ol’ Emmet the Fix-It Guy in Mayberry, remember him ?
His father was a black-smith putting shoes on horses
And his father who was a sailor, a ‘real’ sailor on ships with sails
Da times they be a changin’ every day
Please, try to keep up
BC
Which is why education and a degree are so important. The degree is just a starting point, life is about adapting and overcoming one’s environment.
@Jim
I know it all to well. How many writers and editors still on board?
No matter what it still takes creativity.
@Jim
I know it all to well. How many writers and editors still on board?
No matter what it still takes creativity.
Love iMovie HD
Indifferent to iMovie 08
Luurve FCP and FCPExpress
End of story — why moan about times past? These tools simply put a premium on creativity and talent over ordinary workers bees.
If it wasn’t Apple with Final Cut Pro, another company would have done it. But probably not as well as Apple (at least in supporting Mac users). Apple did not even originate the program. It was acquired and fully developed by Apple for use with Mac.
The fact is, it doesn’t matter; as with everything else, unstoppable progress marches on. Those who who are proficient and can adjust will continue to have their jobs and those who are deemed superfluous will not.
I’m going to write a new app that replaces news site editors.
After all, those who are proficient and can adjust will continue to have their jobs….
Um, I don’t want to burst anyone’s bubble, but…
FCP is not a toy in any sense of the word. To be a skillful user of FCP, Motion, and the whole Final Cut Studio software suite, takes training, and experience – and lots of both. I get that it costs a lot less to startup and use a FCP workstation than it does a Globe Caster editor/switcher, but the skill level required to use FCP professionally is not un-daunting. And if you’re using expanded tools like Apple’s Xsan (or anyone else’s san for that matter), as a part of your Final Cut Server workflow, then either you need serious training or you’ve already hired an employee(s) or outside contractor to do that work for you.
When I first came to the broadcast facility I work for there was a clear mentality of oversimplification – That just because it was running on a Mac anyone could come in, sit down, and within a day or two be cranking out feature-length, award-winning programs.
Over the last five or so years the production line has incorporated about 15 Macintosh workstations, and the IT dept. still gets away with providing no direct support to Macintosh users, meaning that the users support each other which in turn causes a slowdown in product delivery time, and money lost on work that’s supposed to be being done by workstation users rather than doing ITs work. Oversimplification.
I maintain that serious jobs require serious tools, and serious tools require training and practice to be used at a professional level with professional results. Apple directly reinforces this POV by offering real certification training for all of its professional products.
On the same note but different song, when is Apple going to get back to continuing the development of FCS in a real way. The interface needs a major upgrade, especially with regard to filters/effects and the UI of the filters and effects. When is FCP going to be 64 bit? Of course there has been the addition of Color (albeit in a very arcane state of existence), Motion is now 64 bit, and the expected bug fixes, but FCP has been looking pretty obsolete compared to other products that are coming to the Mac, or coming back to the Mac, as the case may be.
Great post, Mr. Peabody!
“Mellor has discovered what the industry has known already for a very long time.”
I’d say that’s an understatement..
I’m not in the film/video industry, although I’ve used most of Apple’s editing software and subscribed to a number of trade publications for years. Pros in this industry have already moved on. Where has this guy Mellor been?
This guy’s analogy doesn’t work and not because it’s another car analogy.
In a related story, buggy whip manufacturers bemoan the advent of the automobile.
-jcr
Just don’t expect the drivers and mechanics of the replaced vehicles to be ecstatic about the prospect,” Mellor reports. “Apple’s dominance for them is just one big threat and the final cut is likely to be their jobs.”
I agree with MDN: What else is new? Life has always been exactly like this. What, Amazon should close its doors so local bookstores don’t go out of business?
MDN was talking about the American Auto Industry, wasn’t he?
Shouldn’t this article have been written 8 years ago? All the people they are talking about have already been replaced, and they’ve taken their ponytails with them.
There is one most significant positive outcome of this breakdown of barriers to entry into any of these fields. Just as in video today, so was the case with music a decade or two ago, as well as design, print, etc.
Today, anyone can take GarageBand and produce studio-quality result. Anyone can take iMovie08 and create studio-quality HD result. What this means is, the difference in quality between various creative outputs will be talent. John Williams will still create significantly more appropriate movie score than Joe Schmoe, even if Mr. Williams chooses to use GarageBand (which he easily could, as it is an incredibly flexible tool). Same goes for iMovie. Conversely, if a Joe Schmoe actually has an incredible talent for moviemaking, he could spend $2500, get a Canon HF-100, a MacBook (no need for FireWire, HF100 is tapeless), bunch of friends and create his indie masterpiece.
The democratisation of the creative field allowed those who were creative but just weren’t in the right place and the right moment to make it in the mainstream industry to now be able to afford all the necessary tools to create comparable results.
Macs, Laser Printers and PageMaker replaced expensive, dedicated printing presses in the 1980’s. In the 1990’s, companies like SGI used to sell expensive, dedicated 3D rendering computers before they were replaced by inexpensive desktop computer clusters. It was only a matter of time before the revolution in desktop video rendered expensive, dedicated video hardware obsolete.
Good job is not depending on how damn expensive tools could be. Good job depends on good taste, artistic skills and still éots of work to be done… even if tools are “easier” to use… one still needs to know how to use them properly to get the wished results.
A good technician on heavy production will also be pretty good (excellent) on simplier machines and apps.
They realize this NOW? This has been reality since Apple introduced the FC, so we have known this for years and made investements accordingly. Sh*t they are late… way too late…
We instead enjoy having all the benefits that the FC can give us with the Apple hardware.
When people hire an editor they are hiring an artist who can manipulate images and sound and tell a story. The tools will always change. You pay for the person to bring something to the table. Just because every kid can teach themselves FCP doesn’t mean they can make a living from it. There will always be a need for experts.