Switcher Stories: Mike Matheson

I have been working in the post production industry for 11 years, three of those as an Avid assistant editor and eight years as an Avid editor. Around 2001, I started hearing about Final Cut Pro. Another editor showed me the software but I wasn’t that impressed. As the years went by, I started hearing more about it and by 2003, it was clear that it wasn’t going to disappear. As a freelancer, I started realizing that I was shying away from jobs that required FCP and I knew that eventually it was going to catch up with me. I can be rather change-averse, so to really make the decision to dive in and learn it properly was a big one. I had about a month off in between projects so I resolved to spend every day working at least a few hours on FCP. Since I am mostly an offline editor, my work is story-based with few effects so the key was to find a way to easily navigate the software in a way that was useful and comfortable for me.

The Transition

The first thing I did was to get the Visual QuickPro Guide by Lisa Brenneis. I found this book to be easy to read and totally informative. I would often browse through it while watching TV and found that reading a few tips every night helped me along really quickly. The other key decision I made was to map the keyboard to match my Avid settings. I use keyboard shortcuts often and you can certainly get into a rhythm while you are editing so I wanted that to be as close to my Avid experience as possible. I started just by working with some footage that I had around, and began trying things out, thinking of real world situations in editing and trying to recreate them on my own. When FCP would do something that I didn’t understand, I would try to recreate my error until I figured out what I was doing to cause it. Before long I was really enjoying myself, remembering how stimulating it was to learn Avid 10 years ago, even with the frustrating times because that’s what drives you to learn even more.

Having More Fun

What I like most about FCP is definitely the lack of “modes” that you find in Avid. There is no segment mode and no effects mode. Trimming is possible without going into “trim mode”. Just having constant access to these things that in Avid require separate modes made me realize how important integration is and I find it a far more efficient way to work. My favorite tool would have to be the double forward arrow, allowing me to simply click and drag and make “filler” space. Also the concept of “always in sync”, where you really have to WANT to get out of sync…this is a huge asset. I remember the frustration of finding myself hopelessly out of sync when I was learning Avid and the FCP sync model makes it a lot easier. I also often have to compress QuickTime movies for the web and having a simple export to Compressor is great.

The basic motion effects and wireframe tools are a delight to work with. I’m often asked to do simple picture-in-picture effects and with the ease of this tool I can spend less time switching in and out of effects mode and more time dragging boxes around and getting that instant gratification of seeing what is working and what isn’t. I recently worked on a segment that had 22 cameras, and the producer was looking for a “Thomas Crown Affair” look. In Avid that would have taken me forever. In FCP, I found I was able to try different things with ease and spend more time on the creative aspect of the work rather than making sure it was working technically. Simply put, I was having more fun.

Finally there is also the joy of working on a Mac. I believe that eventually FCP will be the Mac standard and Avid the PC standard, if it isn’t that way already. I find that Mac OS just works better as well as generally being a more elegant platform. What people say about Apple is true to me…“It Just Works”. The only real feature I’ve been missing from Avid so far is that I find working with motion effects and subclips a little less clunky on Avids and my little pet peeve is that I can’t batch select/deselect track lights (audio and video at once) with a Cmd-A or Shift-Cmd-A. Other than that, so far I’ve found very little to complain about.

It’s the Editor

The bottom line is that you have to be open to some aspects of change, there are many similarities between Avid and FCP but many differences as well. An editor friend once told me that if he could combine the two, then he’d really have something but as many editors will tell you, it’s not the software, it’s the editor. I know I will continue to use Avid, because as a freelancer who can afford to say “never again”? It just doesn’t work that way in my world. Knowing both programs just adds to your own versatility and will only serve to make you a more flexible (not to mention more in demand) editor. However, I will say this: from now on, given the choice it will be FCP for me.

Bottom line: It just works. And no dongle, either!