What do the Recent Changes in Final Cut Pro Mean?

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Created on Thursday, 22 September 2011 08:38

The new features announced by Apple just days ago were a direct and very fast response to vociferous criticism of key missing features high-end professional editors would need to even consider making a move to the new version of Final Cut. This type of response from Apple is highly uncharacteristic, as is the new promise to add other key features early in 2012.

Apple is well known for being immune to the critiques of naysayers, and for keeping its plans for future software development and features close to the chest. It's hard to read this as anything other than meaning that when it comes to the perception of Final Cut as professional editing program – Apple cares. The speed and relative openness in their response to the crisis in confidence surrounding the launch of the new Final Cut Pro, even more than the details of the changes announced, should allay fears that Apple has abandoned. There will be those who continue to claim that the new version of FCP X is nothing but a half step up from iMovie, and perhaps there always will be, but as of this week it is clear that those voices will be ever fewer and less relevant with the passage of time.

As i pointed out in a previous post, while there is no question that Apple has turned its sights on a potential mass market with an easier to use non linear editing program, that does not mean they have to abandon the professional market. With FCP X they have an extraordinary piece of software which, while indeed easier to use, is just as powerful or more powerful than ever.

Final Cut Pro X essentially scales to the skill level of the user.

It makes an enormous amount of sense for Apple to do everything it can to keep professional editors within the fold, for no other reason than for marketing purposes. Maintaining a powerful foothold in the professional editing world conveys a status to Final Cut that makes it appealing to the masses -- and always has. Apple boasts two million users for the previous version of Final Cut. How many of those customers made their living using the software? A tenth? Of course it's a top priority for Apple to maintain the 'Pro' status of Final Cut. It's their greatest tool for selling it to the masses.

The idea that Apple is in a hurry to prove its commitment to the professional status of Final Cut couldn't be made clearer by the features that were just added -- and also by missing features that were ignored or left unfixed. For example, an iMovie editor is not going to care about XSAN Support (the ability of multiple editors to access the same media on a network while editing). Nor will they care about media stems (the ability, once roles are assigned to different media clips to export them as a group). These are important features for the professional editor and demonstrate Apple's commitment to them. Meanwhile everyone wishes we could put and in and out points in the timeline and export a segment (or, to use the new parlance, a range). A solution to the problem of not being able to apply audio transitions in the main storyline, other than manually by pulling audio edges left and right and adding fades manually, is another example of something that needs fixing and effects us all. There are easily a dozen more, all simple to implement by comparison to those that were just addressed: the lack of out-of-sync indicators in the timeline for detached audio, missing join-through-edit indicators, the lack of non-standard frame sizes, the inability to independently copy and paste audio and video effects between clips...

Apple skipped them all precisely because they were focused on proving to the professionals -- and to the world -- that Pro means Pro.

It's an ironic complaint to make, but let me be the first:

Now that we know Final Cut Pro is for professionals -- that multicam is coming, that external monitoring is coming -- I'm hoping that Apple will focus on the missing features that affect all of us -- and not just the professionals.

But I'm not really complaining. Not much. It's all just a matter of time.