I frequently find myself evolving my position on technology as new information comes to light. As my email sig line used to say “Above all, I reserve the right to be wrong”. As new information comes to light, or reaching a certain point in thinking allows another perspective to open up, my positions frequently evolve.
One example would be the use of 4K, another is the development of Lumberjack System.
One of my non-metadata interests is in food, so I read a lot of food related articles, including this one where Anthony Bourdain talks about the foodie revolution. What stood out was this comment after discussing the traditional way a talented young chef might make their way through the kitchen hierarchy over decades, vs the modern “democratized” approach where a talented young chef just ups  – maybe via a food truck – and gets their career started.
“A lot of old-school guys complain about this—you’re not paying your dues. That’s the downside. The upside is interesting people with something to say and a unique worldview can actually get their name out there and open a place with relative ease compared to the way it used to be.â€
This reminds me of modern production: it’s been democratized to the point where, if you have an idea, you can make it happen.
Lumberjack System, the muscular, real-time logging and pre-edit tool for Final Cut Pro X, expands to take advantage of new features in the latest release of Apple’s Final Cut Pro X to enable a new Story mode that creates string-outs based on already logged footage. This opens up the pre-edit string-out features of Lumberjack Lumberyard to projects with a long timescale.
This morning Apple released a new version of Final Cut Pro X with a long list of new features and performance improvements. Top of the list for me is a new, unified Library XML that unlocks the power of Story Mode for Lumberjack System. But there are great new features for everyone in this release.
In this episode Terence and Philip discuss NAB 2014: Avid’s direction, AJA’s new camera, drones and cars that drive themselves, the new Dolby monitor, NAB excitement levels, and Lumberjack System.
According to interviews quoted in Entrepreneur magazine, former Apple CEO Steve Jobs hated two words “brand” and “marketing,” which is odd considering people consider Apple one of the best marketing companies in the world. However, this quote explaining the Apple approach to marketing resonated.
Around two years ago I was preparing for a trip to Florida to start a journey producing a reality TV series on a solar powered boat trip. There were some challenges: specifically the lack of time to log footage and then edit (and still get some sleep). I need my sleep so I had the idea of logging real-time as we shot. Finally, the outcome of that challenge is available to everyone: Lumberjack System is live.
One of the most interesting NAB announcements was the addition of some 70 additional editorial tools to DaVinci Resolve 11. This makes Resolve a very competent on-set DIT tool, a full featured NLE, and a world-class finishing tool. Mostly for FREE. What is interesting here is how this is likely to play out in the long term.
It always seems that NAB is about the nights when the social activities start. Sure, NAB is an important professional event, but if I’m honest my primary motivation is to see friends I only see at NAB. Because I tend to research industry trends continually through the year and because I’m still on many people’s announcement lists from my BuZZ days, it’s only the surprise announcements that are new to me.
This year I’ll be at the FCPWORKS demo room at the Wynn with some new features for Lumberjack System and our workflow apps. Other than that I’ll be on the show floor Wednesday and at some social engagements during the week.
This week Adobe announced the next version of their Creative Cloud video apps with a solid feature release that should alleviate concern that the pace of change would reduce under the subscription model. It seems – with 1.8 million subscribers – that subscription is working for Adobe and their customers. Adobe detail the improvements to Premiere Pro on their blog, but I want to focus on another part of their announcements.