I often wonder….
Where are we going? Does the future of editing really have to be this complicated?
For years I edited on a Casablanca. It was easy and felt very simple. There were no preview or timeline monitors. As a matter of fact, the timeline was the monitor. Years later I moved on to more professional level editing software programs. The new technologies were confusing at first. However due to the passion I had for editing I was often able to convince myself to stick with the new programs until they felt intuitive as well. Which is what brings me to today’s post–is there a NLE that feels the most intuitive or is it all subjective? Why do we as editors or possibly even as people need to feel as if something is working for us when we are working on it? It goes the same for lawnmowers, right? Cars, computers, recipes even. They need to feel easy or else we avoid them. Who knows why? That is what I want to know.
It seems as if we as consumers are only trying to make things easier to operate. Yet we as users are only trying to find what we are used to. Why is there a struggle here? Ten free high fives go directly to the person who can answer this!
Good Luck
September 18th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
i have a guess as to why things need to feel easy: No one wants to go through the initial figuring-it-out/troubleshooting stage. No matter what NLE you are using, from iMovie to Avid, it’s easy once you figure it out and can troubleshoot.
September 18th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
…everyone wants instant results without having to bite the bullet
September 18th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
…ya know, the world moves at such a fast pace these days. We get instant results everywhere. Fast food, email, IM, learn on the web really fast, etc etc. Everything is fast and easy, and everyone wants to make their video fast. Well, it doesn’t work that way. Not if you want a quality video.
September 19th, 2009 at 8:29 am
“Paience is a virtue, find it where you can.
Never in a woman, seldom in a man!”
September 21st, 2009 at 7:21 am
yes the world does move fast, however applying these concepts to video does take a direct hit on the creativity scheme sometimes. But I do think that it is possible to make editing easy and understandable without having to go through a bunch of bells and whistles to figure things out. But, on the other hand….. There is still no reason to shy from simple work flows just because people are impatient and need their solutions. People in general, are lazy. So I see the need for simple editing, however I hate the idea that an app on a phone will one day be able to do what took me years to learn in After Effects with the simple push of button
September 21st, 2009 at 7:22 am
oh, and you might just be the winner of 10 free high fives!
September 21st, 2009 at 10:43 am
Well you already are satisfied but here is my reply- “The future of editing is in its past”
http://pov.weblogs.us/archives/109
September 21st, 2009 at 11:53 am
#1 As a reward for effort, pain is not an acceptable alternative. #2 We are a society which thrives on instant gratification.
I remember watching some old-timer sound editors fumble around with the earlier multi-track recorder-based sound editing systems. They were used to grabbing a piece of mag-stripe 35mm film and physically manipulating it in order to accomplish their goal; and so, trying to figure out how to accomplish the same goal ” electronically ” was a world few adapted to.
As computers became more powerful and programmers began to gain some experience in actually performing required tasks, NLE’s have moved well beyond the basics and now the computer folks are trying to provide software which will be all things to all prople. It would help if functions were created and named in accordance with time-honored definitions instead of some ” geekese “!
And then therz the individual problem of wanting to be able to edit without learning how to in the first place, assuming that knowing how to operate the gear automatically makes one an editor!
Each aspect of video production ( writing, lighting, shooting, editing, finishing ) requires technical skill heavily weighted with artistic sensibilities. Few master even ONE of these disciplines . . . It’s beyond comprehension how a person could think they could master all!
R Crampton
September 21st, 2009 at 12:36 pm
This is very true, it seems people want everything and now! But that just isn’t possible when it comes to video production. I believe the common idea is: creating video should be like fast food. Which it will never be. Or at least I hope it will never reach that stage. I like the idea of user friendly products, but I hate the idea of simply making a highly skilled process brainless. If there is an art to it, chances are it can only be simplified so much….
September 21st, 2009 at 4:15 pm
People being able to edit on their iPhone is a good thing. As Crampton points out, being able to use a tool is not the same as having a skill. This part of the discussion goes back to when some writers were feeling threatened by word processors. What we got were a lot of ransom notes.
The reality of one box does all is as true now as when the moviola was the state of the art- how much money does your producer have to get the results? If you are on a team, you do your role better, since you do it every day. Whether you are the assistant, the picture editor, the sound editor, the effects artist, colorist, negative cutter, etc. the jack of all trades isn’t as good as you are. Now can there be great results from a one person doing everything? Yes. But it happens slow.
We want quality , even from those who only have their cell phone to tell the world their story. And if we make our living in any craft, we want the tools to serve our skills, not the other way around. The market hasn’t favored vendors that focus on serving skills. Longer and longer feature bullet lists is what drives them. The example of word processing is illustration enough- there should be a killer app that makes “word” look like the bloated over optioned processor pig that it is. Yet here we are with buttons you hardly ever you look at much less use.
BTW_ what could I do with those high fives, if you are so gracious to award them freely?
September 22nd, 2009 at 8:19 am
That iPhone is going to be the star of the next terminator movie I swear it! It is very true that the reality of a one box does all state of mind seems to be dominant right now and you are correct in saying that it really boils down to specializing in one area. Yes a phone wouldn’t allow you to do that…. well not yet at least. However, I think you are missing the boat on quality. The general public doesn’t care anymore about quality. YouTube is the second most highly used search engine right now, and if people cared about quality that wouldn’t be the case. There are plenty of bad videos out there and they are still getting 1 million views so since user generated content has nothing to do with quality, I think people have begun to accept that as the norm.