10.2.2 Prerelease discussion

10 weeks is nothing...

Now, if Apple could get that top quality authorized training to keep up with the app updates, that would be very welcomed indeed.

What is needed is an overhaul of the entire exam system, the present system only tests book smarts, and a 5 year could pass it 1st time around.

What is needed is a 2 stage testing system, both of book smarts, and of doing an actual project to test, why this is not the case stuns me, and is the reason I was posting so much about show reels and the not fit for purpose they are. Enough of that, I made my point, much to the annoyance of everyone.

How we match editors with work, those that have experience, with the certification and without, that is what is needed. I do not for 1 second believe there is no work, there is always more work than editors, maybe for some, the work is not viable, for others this would be just the level they need to grow skills, to build on what they know!

Justine you're so far off base. First, you can't test for creativity, only for technical knowledge. That is very clear. Second, that test is tough. I've watched hundreds of folks take it over the past decade, and most fail it the first time. It is in no way easy, unless you have an above average memory for details.

If you have the experience to be of a higher level editing skill set, the Apple certification is NOT recommended for you. It is for beginners and people who work at institutions that require some certificate on your wall.

Again, you can't test for creativity like that.

The Apple Pro Certification Exam I passed in early April 2015 was by no means hard, and I am the very worst of students, with a faulty memory, you had to be a clear idiot to not know the answers. Most of the questions were based on what was on the screen, if you lacked the skill of reading, then maybe, but this exam, so easy.

Yes you can test for creativity, of course you can, we do it all the time, we see bad edits in movies/tv all the time. The test as I see it much like the Brendan Boykin book, or the previous FCP6 book, which had a series of topics you worked through.

You have a brief, a script, and a time to edit it in, this tests hands on skills, under pressure of some kind, to simulate real word, OK IT IS NOT REAL WORLD, NOR ARE FLIGHT SIMS, but pilots needs a certain number of hours in the sim to fly.

This way the certificate tests both book smarts, what button does what, and how you use that in a real example, no one knows which of a range of 12 or so projects you get to edit. This would really help in proving what people are saying about themselves.

This is really for another forum, not 10.2.2

I also had 100s of people take Apple Certified tests @ an Apple Certified Trainer Centre in Central Europe. One guy got 100% once. After the test this guy rated his Trainer in a multiple choice form. i.e. he rated me. He gave me the worst possible mark. I can not remember how it was but the marks were from 1-5 and either 5 was the best or 1 was the best. It has been a while now Any way he gave me the worst possible mark.

I always wondered why he did that (He was actually a really nice guy.) I can only guess that he could do the test perfectly but did not understand how the trainer marking system worked. Often people are good at some things and bad at others. I really do not think that there is any idiot proof formula! :whistle:

Justine, when you say we judge edits in TV and movies, that's simply personal opinion, not a test. Apple is not in the business of teaching editing skills, just the technical aspects of their software. If you passed the test that easily, you're above average for sure in your ability to learn, no doubt. I'm speaking from over a decade of experience in this.

What I am is a highly skilled tv news video editing specialist. I am speaking from over 15 years as a tv news video editor, and for the life of me, I cannot think of a better environment to teach critical thinking skills, than tv news video editing.

What makes tv news video editing unique is that it is the only aspect of media production that has no storyboard, no pre production script, it is fly by the seat of your pants editing, making critical editorial and technical judgements at 25 frames a second, deadline is deadline, you live and die by the clock, and if you fail to make deadline, you are finished...

Editing adverts or long form, may look great on TimeLine Tuesday, it is also tedious and boring, maybe why I rejected this as a way to edit, I find being tied to storyboards and 1 hour editing frustrating, the freedom to express myself visually I found in tv news editing, as the duty editor I made the rules as I edited, based on legal requirements, and of course technical requirements.

I worked alone, made the decisions on my own, lived by my decisions, I was not bound to IKEA my way to something on screen, ie be slaved to a storyboard or shooting/editing script.

Honestly I have not the mindset to deal with dull boring rote shot assembly.

What I am more than all that is a perfectionist, I have to make it right or not bother doing it, you want it perfect, I am who you need, I work alone, without fear or favour...

Justine, please leave your ramblings out of this thread! If it is not related to 10.2.2 Prerelease, please post it somewhere else!

MsJustine wrote:
What makes tv news video editing unique is that it is the only aspect of media production that has no storyboard, no pre production script, it is fly by the seat of your pants editing, making critical editorial and technical judgements at 25 frames a second, deadline is deadline, you live and die by the clock, and if you fail to make deadline, you are finished...

Editing adverts or long form, may look great on TimeLine Tuesday, it is also tedious and boring, maybe why I rejected this as a way to edit, I find being tied to storyboards and 1 hour editing frustrating, the freedom to express myself visually I found in tv news editing, as the duty editor I made the rules as I edited, based on legal requirements, and of course technical requirements.

I worked alone, made the decisions on my own, lived by my decisions, I was not bound to IKEA my way to something on screen, ie be slaved to a storyboard or shooting/editing script.

Honestly I have not the mindset to deal with dull boring rote shot assembly.

Ms Justine,

Feel like I shouldn't drag myself into this because its off topic; but here goes.
I also edited news for TV on VT machines on tight deadlines.
But I also moved onto long form editing as you call it.

I don't think I ever worked with a storyboard (thats more for production, not for post production in my experience).

Its usually more of a collaboration; usually you sit down with the director or the producer and work on it together. As the editor you make technical and artistic suggestions. A lot of these are accepted, some are not. The final movie is often very different from the original storyboards. There are many famous examples of this: Steven Spielberg's Jaws and George Lucas's Star Wars are two that spring to mind. The editor made large changes that made the films better.

These days I often edit documentaries completely by myself: the director tells me the general outline and I update them daily. They are never in the room though...

Another feature I would like to see added to FCP X is a default project upload for specific Libraries that have been created. I often find myself opening and closing Libraries. It would be nice if a library that has multiple projects would load the most relevant project you want to work on (loads up automatically). This is a nit pick of preferences I guess.

I have been using roles more lately than in the past and it occurred to me that it would be nice if there was a "select all clips in role" option.

Also, someone else recently suggested collapse multicam. I'd like to 1+ that. Either that, or find a way to make multicam clips behave like regular clips in every way (including with plugins like SliceX).

Daniel Rutledge wrote: I have been using roles more lately than in the past and it occurred to me that it would be nice if there was a "select all clips in role" option.

In Timeline Index you can search and select the clips by Role.

You can even add Roles to the column.

Right you are. I just looked in the roles tab of the index and assumed you would need to do it from there. This will come in handy.

Fine then, all swap this request for a FCPX version of morph cut. Blackmagic managed to make a knockoff in a few weeks time. Why not FCPX.

Daniel,

The "morph cut" has been a feature in Avid since many years now. It took Adobe a few years to copy it (the first publicly released test was in 2012) and I suppose BM has been working on it for quite some time as well. Nothing in complex coding is done in "a few weeks".

Wether this will come to FCP X or not will entirely depend on how many people really request that feature. It's not of any priority to me, but I agree it could be useful for others. I only hope that, if this ever gets into FCP X, it will work MUCH better than Adobe's and Resolve's implementation. Until today, only Avid with their Fluid Morph seem to have found a solution that works reasonably well. FCP X should do it even better. If not, I'm not interested.

- Ronny

Have to say that I am ethically opposed to morph cuts in most instances. To shorten time in some action is one thing, but to use it, as I've often seen, as a way to edit speech and mask cuts is just wrong in my view.

For what reason? This isn't hard news or documentary here. I do profile pieces and corporate stuff. A lot of the time, when you have non professionals on camera, they tend to stammer, stutter, misspeak, and ramble. So the end result is that I am trying to make people look more articulate, succinct, and I'm trying to get a point across without losing the attention of the viewer. Is it unethical to cut to b roll or a reaction shot to mask a cut? That happens in documentary and news interviews all the time. Unless I am trying to wrongly convince other people that an individual said something that they did not in a slanderous way, I don't see the problem. I mean really, all we do is manipulate the viewer's experience. If we didn't, then everything we watched would be like C-Span or presented as a play.

Top requests for me as of today.

1. Batch sync via timecode
2. Batch export with src, and rec timcode, clip name, and a custom text field and at a custom Resolution and Codec.
3. ability to add ones own lut/CC grade in the browser, but not ripple any changes into the timelines unless I say so.
4. when editing, I would like the option to have the inspector extend the whole way (like it does in davinci 12)
5. Colour coded roles, that gravitate towards those similar to themselves in the timeline.

That is all... thanks.

I like #5. I haven't heard that one before. I've seen the request for color coded roles, but I like the idea of them sticking together.

Color coded Roles would indeed be a welcome addition. OTOH, having clips with the same Role "stick together" on the timeline might conflict with the trackless paradigm. And it's not really a necessity if selecting a Role in the Timeline Index would automatically group-select all clips belonging to that Role in the timeline. But I agree it's an interesting idea.

- Ronny