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A new car model may well have more speed, more horsepower, more stability, and more safety. But that doesn't mean the interior shouldn't also be more comfortable, the design more pleasing, and the controls more intuitive. Does the same philosophy apply to "Professional" editing software? This author believes the answer is -- or at least should be -- "Why the heck not?".

[ Larry's note: John sent this to me recently and I thought it had so many good points that I'm posting it here for your review.]

Maybe it's the inevitable Yin and Yang of developing an application like FinalCut. But there's an interesting dichotomy here (not to mention a resource-allocation dilemma) which I think is worth noting, whenever we talk about ways to make FinalCut "better". That dichotomy is the ongoing tension between making a Pro App FIERCER (more powerful, more versatile, more rock-solid stable) while also trying to make its interface FRIENDLIER (easier to learn, easier to customize, easier to navigate, etc.).

For the actual developers of course, I'm sure the reality is more like a spectrum, with lots of overlap. But for the sake of argument, let's divide all possible improvements into those two separate, and sometimes competing, categories: Fierceness vs. Friendliness.

And while we're at it, let's also observe that the users of a powerful yet affordable app like Final Cut are themselves often seen as split between two separate, and sometimes competing camps: One, the working-for-clients, using-Final-Cut-to-make-a-living PROS, and the other, the working-for-themselves, using-Final-Cut-to-expand-their-creativity ARTISTES (including what some strictly-for-hire professionals might regard as that growing horde of unwashed "Hobbyists").

Who Wants What?

It's not hard to see how, for those Final Cut Pros who've slogged their way up several years worth of the steep and sometimes jagged learning curves FinalCut presents, the FIERCENESS category is bound to be Priority One in terms of how Apple spends its development dollars -- while suggestions for boosting the Friendliness Factor will often be seen as less-than-essential, even frivolous. Their view might be akin to an elite group of accomplished mountain climbers, who now want their main equipment supplier to work on developing more accurate survey maps and stronger ropes, not on building a heated tram to escort NLE "tourists" to the same knowledge-summit they've achieved, but in far greater comfort.

But speaking as a kind of dual citizen, with experience in both User Camps, I think we all become something of a software tourist the first time we open up a new section of an app as deep as FinalCut, or launch another app in a suite as extensive as Final Cut Studio. I know that whenever I venture into a previously unexplored quadrant of the Final Cut galaxy (and that can include even just an Effects Tab folder I've never opened before), I definitely experience that Big Newbie Chill all over again. So I've always hoped, however naively, that FinalCut's development could pursue both goals simultaneously -- keep adding the cool new codecs; overhaul the Media Manager; all that good, under-the-hood stuff -- while at the same time keep making the FinalCut interface a more inviting, more flexible, "friendlier" place in which to work.

The Cons and Pros

When I think about the many FCS Feedback suggestions I've submitted over the years (also for Logic, both the Express then Studio editions), I can see how a lot of them -- not all, but quite a few -- would fall into that second, "User-Friendliness" category. The irony is that many of the feature requests I've submitted for the so-called Consumer apps -- ways to make iPhoto, say (or Address Book, or Pages, or whatever) more powerful, more capable -- would be considered part of the first category, the it-really-should-be-able-to-do-this-or-that, "beefing up the engine" one. And those suggestions, when discussed in their respective forums, have more than once drawn the criticism of "Hey c'mon -- it's just a Consumer App".

So whether it's making a Consumer app more proficient, or a Pro App more consumable, I guess there will always be lots to keep the development teams busy. But in the specific case of our much-beloved yet often-beleaguered Final Cut, I will continue to hope that its developers never stop trying to see its interface with fresh eyes -- in other words, dare I say it, through the eyes of a New User -- and that they keep listening to all the good ideas out there (whether from Version-1-Veterans or freshly-installed Newbies) to make that interface a more welcoming room in which to step. Not by creating bloatware-producing window dressing; not version revision simply for its own sake. Just an acknowledgement that perhaps not every facet of the current FCP interface has achieved the state of perfect grace and untouchable infallibility its overseers might be forgiven for sometimes imagining. Yet there are many new and overdue interface options, preferences, and choices (an extrapolation based on the fact I've sent in at least a few dozen myself) which would not force a single editor to work any differently, but which would allow thousands of other editors (even the "Pros") to learn faster, go further, and work more effectively -- and do it all in greater comfort.

To ignore those possibilities is precisely the kind of NOT-Changing-The-Interface which FinalCut does at its peril (to paraphrase Mr. Townhill's pre-FCS2 statement of developer caution.)

Harmony (In the Key of FC)?

Comfortable AND Capable. Agreeable AND Aggressive. Friendly AND Fierce. It's a balancing act. And a delicate one. But it's a balance that needs to be continually maintained and strengthened, and FinalCut is no exception. Personally, I'd argue that the Interface-Friendliness side of the FCP development equation has even been somewhat neglected over the past major upgrade or two. I'd say there's still lots of room for thoughtful, creative, Put-The-User-First option optimizations, preference improvements, and interface enhancements.

And it's my fervent hope that Apple's ever-over-burdened Final Cut development team never-theless has the resources, the desire -- and most of all the official mandate -- to do just that.

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John Bertram is a writer/director/editor who has made a number of short indie films (the kind that go to Festivals and get shown really late on TV), and has worked (in various capacities) for CBC, CTV, TV Ontario and others -- in Toronto, Los Angeles, and even Edmonton. He was a director and editor on the original Degrassi series for CBC & PBS. Now getting back into independent filmmaking, he is currently busy resenting having to learn everything he can about Codecs and Conversions, Renders and Resolutions, Formats and Frame Sizes, Gradients and Gamma Curves, Et Ceteras and Et Ceteras. He began Non-Linear Editing with Final Cut 4, and since then has been struggling to learn everything he can about, well... (see previous list). While waiting for renders to finish on his once-state-of-the-art, now sadly-ancient G5, he sometimes checks his e-mail at john@jbmg.ca.

Larry Jordan is a post-production consultant and an Apple-Certified Trainer in Digital Media with over 25 years experience as producer, director and editor with network, local and corporate credits. Based in Los Angeles, he's a member of both the Directors Guild of America and the Producers Guild of America.

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