One key issue that Avid and Apple are both facing is the synergy between different groups of editors. Based on the applications they sell, Apple thinks there are three groups: consumers, “prosumers” and professional editors (of all types) — iMovie, Final Cut Express and Final Cut Studio. There’s a clear migration path from FCE to FCS but iMovie is separate.
Avid also has a consumer product that’s completely separate from its other offerings — Pinnacle Studio. And with at least three families of professional editing applications and many subtle variants, Avid wants to view the pro world as heavily segmented. (I’ve argued before that all these offerings confuse and frustrate customers and hurt the brand.)
Most of the young editors arriving in Hollywood already know FCP. Generally, my advice to them is that if they want a career editing long-form, narrative films they need to learn Media Composer. There just aren’t many high-end projects that are cutting with FCP. You can argue that this is because us Hollywood types are old curmudgeons, but I’d counter that, for all its many strengths, FCP is just not as good as MC with narrative material.
Nevertheless, FCP has made editing sexy to young filmmakers and the fact that they all seem to know that application represents a tide that will inevitably have its effect at the higher end.
But consider the consumer market for a moment. Wouldn’t Apple and Avid want to see young people learning their preferred interface as early as possible? Apparently not. Both companies seem to think that whatever people are using at home, when they get serious they’ll be willing to learn something new — and hopefully something that isn’t made by the other guy. iMovie at least shares the look of Apple’s pro aps, which might engender some brand loyalty. But mostly, it’s a radical redesign. Pinnacle Studio has next to nothing in common with Media Composer.
Does this represent a failure of imagination? Or … is the new iMovie so fast and intuitive that kids who cut their teeth with it will expect something equally slick when they need more — something that nobody makes yet?
Technorati Tags: avid, final cut pro, iMovie
When Apple didn’t release an upgrade to the iLife suite at this year’s Macworld, some people speculated that an announcement would have stolen focus from the iPhone, or that perhaps the new version was only going to work with Leopard. But now that iLife ’08 has been released, I think the reason might have been that it just wasn’t ready. An awful lot of work has gone into these applications — a new level of interface slickness and integration.
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