Splice Now

There’s been quite a bit of talk about Premiere Pro lately. In a comment here, Martin Baker mentions that the BBC is moving toward making it a standard for PC editing. In Hollywood, penetration seems to be just about zero, and Adobe has not done much to push it into long-form environments. Nevertheless, it’s an interesting application. Based on info from Adobe’s site, here’s a very basic first impression.

Advantages:

• Real time timeline. Cursor stays centered or jumps forward, as desired, while sequence plays.
• Fast, project-wide search.
• Project Manager helps you archive a project.
• Nested sequences.
• Possible to color-correct source clips so corrections ripple through sequences.
• High quality, integrated title tool.
• 5.1 audio.
• Sample-level editing.
• Bezier keyframes for audio and video.
• Can count in feet and frames.
• 16×9 preview on 4×3 monitors (real-time letter-boxing).
• Multiple audio filters on clips without rendering.
• Direct to disk recording from camera.
• Tools to help create material for mobile devices (phones).

Problems:

• No film information in the system.
• Very crude trimming.
• Ugly interface — as geeky and ‘windows-y’ as it gets.
• In bins, clips must be arranged in rigid grid layout.
• No AAF export on Mac systems (ouch — talk about DOA!)

The lack of film information and the inability to export in AAF or OMF makes the system a non-starter for any project I might do. But many other features are intriguing, and Adobe seems invested in aggressively improving the program. It’s now available as a free beta on Mac-Intel.

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