THE FCP GENERATION… ALL GROWN UP
An article I wrote for Supermag back in 2009. Which makes this already super vintage... Please enjoy:)
THE FCP GENERATION… ALL GROWN UP
It’s safe to say that for the last ten years FCP has been making steady inroads into the world professional editing. Supposedly, around 49 percent of the editing market use FCP today, which makes it the main contender to the industry giant, AVID.
The focus of this article explores the rites of passage of the editors who came to be with the birth of FCP. Let us call them generationFCP; those editors that for many years were looked down upon by the more established, professional AVID editor. Not that it’s difficult to understand, even for a generation FCP kid like myself.
Because FCP started as a less expensive semi-professional editing package for the average guy. It opened up the opportunity for the average guy to learn the skill of editing. For the avid editor, it must have felt like giving out free membership cards to their formerly so-exclusive country club. Maybe because this new generation of editors were an odd bunch.
Most of us, especially those of us that started editing simultaneously with the birth of FCP, landed there by accident. Perhaps we wanted to achieve something different. We wanted our rock band to have a music video and, in order not to break the bank, we decided to figure out how to edit ourselves. We had ideas for TV show pilots, or a clever idea for a short film – directors and visionaries in the making, with grand plans for a career in film.
We figured out that it was far easier and more effective to invest in a Mac with FCP than our old VHS to VHS trick. And then some of us got completely hooked in that process. We discovered the editor brewing inside of us. The editor we didn’t know existed. And our favorite hobby in the world slowly became our vocation, by sheer happy accident.
Ten years of experience later, you can find us in production houses and freelancing our way around the globe. And our companies are rubbing shoulders with the best of them. FCP has since it’s birth become more sophisticated, professional and competitive. And so have we.
When legendary Walter Murch challenged the traditional film world by deciding to edit the late Minghella’s Cold Mountain on FCP, way before Apple felt it was ready, the FCP generation cheered. For us it was one giant step towards becoming mainstream, not just an editing package used by smaller advertising companies and amateur filmmakers. Walter Murch gave us the golden ticket to go play with the big boys.
The FCP generation became experts on the technical side of making TV, commercials and movies. If we didn’t already work with After Effects and other graphics or animation packages, Motion and Color have enabled us to become one-man post-production houses. And some of us have become ‘bilingual’, mastering AVID along the way. We just want to edit, and the software we use doesn’t really matter. We’re also very much a big part of the digital generation. We subscribe to Google updates on the latest technologies, including the RED One camera. We think in pixels and 1 and 0. We must be annoying.
It’s no longer the case that editors need to spend years in school and years observing other editors as assistants, before we get to cut ourselves. We sort of work backwards – we start cutting first. And for those that actually have a talent for it, they will eventually gain enough experience, praise and recognition to get to a level of high professionalism. And indeed we have arrived.
But it hasn’t been without struggle. There are drawbacks to easily accessible technology. There are always ‘fakers’ out there, like it’s always been, I guess. The people who think that because they know the shortcuts and the technology, they have the right to call themselves editors. We compete against them in the market. And companies hiring us to cut their commercials and TV series struggle to weed out the cowboys.
Unfortunately, with the FCP editor stamp there’s always going to be a moment of doubt from our potential clients. But the older FCPgets, the stronger we will be. And with time, word of mouth and great track record, we’re getting there. But, then again, the FCPgeneration has learned along the way, so I guess at one point we’ve all been fakers – “Until you make it, fake it”
This generation has changed the industry, like it or not. From the way budgets and companies are set up, to the role an editor has. But apart from budget considerations and the way we came to be, have things changed all that much? Editors help and nourish the director’s vision into something spectacular. The directors are usually, by the time they reach post, half the man or women they used to be before production. We nourish them back to health. We stay diplomatic, patient, professional, and with the debating talents of a true politician, we cut and trim and polish until the director finally sees the light at the end of the tunnel.
When it comes down to it, true editors are all the same. We used to experiment with VHS tapes, with 8mm cameras, mini DVs and homemade setups…we cut in our sleep. We watch films through an editor’s eyes. We cut the film versions of the books we read, of the stories we hear around a bonfire. In fact, we’d like to edit our very life if we could. In the end, with skillful hands, we’re cutting together a vision. That’s all we’re doing, be it AVID or FCP.
For other great articles on editing, by editors, check out http://supermeet.com/supermag/
romaincrisis
ellievsbear
pixelskylines
titsay
janainaart
2087