Author: Philip

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Apple Pro Apps Business & Marketing

Why the Pro Apps – particularly Final Cut Pro X – are important to Apple

As part of the Sneak Peek of Final Cut Pro X at the NAB 2011 Supermeet, Apple updated their user stats to 2 million customs (with 94% satisfaction).

Now, my understanding is (with help from Oliver Peters) that this number includes Final Cut Express and the early individual sales of DVD Studio Pro and Motion. Some customers will be included having paid only $199, while others will have paid the $995 purchase price and one or more upgrades. For a customer who purchased FCP 1 for $995 and paid for every upgrade, then that customer has invested, over the 12 years since NAB 1999, around $3750.

But balance that with those who bought educational pricing, and other discounted opportunities plus those low priced buy-ins and I’ll assign an average income per user of $1000.  I think that’s conservative but the data to make a more accurate assessment isn’t available to me. (If you have it philip @ intelligentassistance.com without the spaces.) Besides, it makes the numbers easy to work with.

So, 2 million customers with an average revenue per customer of $1000 (over 12 years) and that gives a gross revenue of $2 billion dollars or roughly $168 million in revenue per year.

Continue reading “Why the Pro Apps – particularly Final Cut Pro X – are important to Apple”

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Apple Pro Apps Item of Interest Presentations

Preparing for Final Cut Pro X

Preparing for Final Cut Pro X http://tinyurl.com/3dwkorr My first (and only??) FCP X seminar. Get in quickly because it’s filling very fast.

Because it’s before Final Cut Pro X ships, I’ll be drawing from my last year of fairly accurate researching and writing about Final Cut Pro X and merging it with the recent preview to give you the best preparation for the upcoming release.

While you’re there, check out the rest of the other upcoming Final Cut Pro X webinars at Final Cut Pro X Webinar Central.

Working with Effects Inside Final Cut Pro X
Presented by Kevin McAuliffe

Media Management Inside Final Cut Pro X
Presented by Brent Altomare

Color Correcting Inside Final Cut Pro X
Presented by Ben Brownlee

Categories
Apple Pro Apps Item of Interest

Terence and Philip examine the new Final Cut Pro X “sneak peek”

Terence and Philip examine the FCP X preview. http://tinyurl.com/43skvaz Episode 25 of the Terence and Philip Show.

In this Episode – recorded while Philip was still in Las Vegas before the show ended – Terence and Philip share their thoughts on the preview of Final Cut Pro X. The good, the bad and the questions.

Categories
Apple Pro Apps

What are my thoughts on Final Cut Pro X?

I’ve been wracking my brain for synonyms for “Awesome” and “Jaw dropping” as Larry Jordan described it, but really, that will do.

With the caveat that we’ve seen only a fraction of a brand new app and what we saw raised as many questions as it answered. Walter Biscardi does a good job of enumerating the unanswered questions and I’m concerned about XML out of and back into Final Cut Pro X. We got a very brief overview of some key features – the headline stuff – but no real depth. Heck, we didn’t even see a single menu being pulled down!

For myself, Final Cut Pro X (nailed the name) was everything I hoped for and more. Last September I opined:

With time to consider, maybe that’s too forward looking, but my fondest hope is that Apple has taken the time to re-imagine Final Cut Pro and a NLE interface in general.

Continue reading “What are my thoughts on Final Cut Pro X?”

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Apple Pro Apps

What I think I know about Final Cut Pro X

Since the Feb 17 preview of Final Cut Pro X, I’ve got clues as to the new features (well some of them) so this is what I think I know ahead of the announcement. Written on Sunday afternoon but set to publish just before the Tuesday event so as not to ruin Apple’s surprise(s).

In no particular order:

  • Redesigned timeline
  • Integrated browsing and viewing/viewer (no separate viewer)
  • Native DSLR support (H.264 MOV)
  • Probably native MXF and R3D
  • Uses all processors and GPU – really fast
  • Native support for Quartz Compositions
  • Built on AV Foundation
  • 64 bit Cocoa
  • Improved metadata tracking in media files
  • Media management based on a database and metadata in files
  • Display of more metadata from files.
  • File-based workflows only. Log and Capture using utilities from AJA, Blackmagic Design and Matrox.
  • Very fluid interface
  • Render in background
  • Media locations stored with project file, not preferences
  • Support for images and sequences over 4K pixels
  • Better titling – over video I hope.
  • Improved color correction built in (hopefully close to the full Color app)
  • Project file is XML file removing need for XML Import and Export.

    I expect FXscript to be lost to history like Log and Capture and a dedicated Viewer window.

    My in depth analysis of what I’m about to see will be coming Wednesday afternoon April 13, because of the important need to party after the Supermeet, and I’m teaching 10am-1pm Wednesday.

    And I expect to be blown away with what more there is than that list. On the balance of probability it will be in the App store (only?) with a price similar to the last upgrade.

    As for the rest of the Studio. Motion will get an upgrade but I don’t know if we’ll see that shortly or have to wait; DVD SP will disappear, while Soundtrack Pro will also likely get an upgrade.

    Categories
    Apple Apple Pro Apps General

    What I’ve been saying about Final Cut Pro, AV Foundation and QuickTime

    The anticipation might soon be over. At next Tuesday night’s Supermeet in Las Vegas we may get a sneak peek at what Apple has been working on. For those who aren’t regular readers of my blog, here’s links to my evolving thoughts on why Apple needs to rewrite both Final Cut Pro and QuickTime into a modern codebase, and why they may take this opportunity to not just rewrite, but to rethink how modern NLE software works.

    The posts in bold are the key ones.

    No doubt there’s some things I’ve written that are just plain wrong. But I’m expecting that on Tuesday night we’ll see the 64 bit Cocoa Final Cut Pro (using AV Foundation) that I wasn’t initially expecting until 2012, with a complete rethink of the NLE interface for the future.

    Categories
    Apple Pro Apps Item of Interest

    On 9/27/10 I said “Apple, have the right tools to really rethink the interface…”

    On 9/27/10 I said “Apple, have the right tools to really rethink the interface and leapfrog the competition with a whole new application.“

    Come Wednesday I think I’m going to be quite happy with my predictive track record.

    Categories
    Item of Interest The Technology of Production Video Technology

    Doesn’t anyone shoot video on video cameras any more?

    The project is not mine, but that of a client where I was called in to see if the “crew” (mostly just one guy) was going to be able to shoot content that will integrate with the existing project.

    The thing is that  the rest of the project is HDV, XDCAM, DVCPRO HD, AVC-I, AVCCAM, some SD – so today we add DSLR!

    This is not an art project so there’s no big advantage of a “shallow depth of field”. Most of the b-roll is coming from achieve SD video of varying quality, but because it was shot over a long period, without anyone keeping track of formats we end up with this sort of mess. A young and reasonably competent “editor” was on the job but totally unaware of the complications of having every known frame rate and format in the project (except DSLR until today).

    Every different format complicates the project and adds additional processing time to bring everything to a common format before starting the edit, including mixing 23.98 and 29.97 frame rates.

    And while Premiere Pro and Media Composer (and probably Final Cut Pro X) can deal with all these formats natively, I hope no-one would recommend that as a workflow for a large documentary project. Certainly AMA for Media Composer is a great way to choose selects from the native format and then transcode to DNxHD for the edit.

    This is simply madness. Every one of us needs to educate producers and directors that mixing frame rates and formats is going to cost them a lot of money in post production. And then make sure the message communicates by charging what it costs.

    Categories
    Item of Interest The Business of Production

    Why Brands Are The New Labels (And Publishers, And Producers)

    Why Brands Are The New Labels (And Publishers, And Producers…) http://tinyurl.com/3knt8xf

    I have been a long time proponent of branded media because I find branded content to be much less intrusive than advertising. Branded media integrates with the program, hopefully in a relevant way, while advertising intrudes on a program with something likely to be irrelevant to me and my interests.

    So I think this is yet another step along the way toward replacing intrusive advertising to models that are less viewer antagonistic.

    Gone are the days of artists hoping and praying for that major studio deal  — which later they learn isn’t really that major. Instead they can take a paycheck from a brand and get pretty much the same thing as what they would get from your typical 360 deal offering.

    But it’s not only music that is benefiting from having a brand as its studio.

    Brands are positioning themselves as the new labels, no doubt, but they are also evolving into the content creators. There is, naturally, criticism of branded entertainment – it is necessarily the opposite of arms-length, unbiased reporting – but as the digital landscape has changed media integration, it has also increased consumer tolerance for brands looking for new ways to market. And if you want high quality content — whether that is music or print or video — someone needs to pay.  So, brands are stepping up as the new content publishers.

    More changes coming of course…

    At the March 2011 Shorty Awards, Foursquare Founder Dennis Crowley pointed out that he saw an ad on TV encouraging people to discover the song in the Old Navy ad using Shazam. The call-to-action is then obvious: Purchase on iTunes.  Old Navy, Apple, a digital startup and an emerging artist all working together as one? That’s some epic progress – over some pretty blurry lines.  Expect more of this going forward.

    Add in the extra news that Capital One is producing content and it’s a whole new world.

    Categories
    Distribution Item of Interest The Business of Production

    The Terence and Philip Show Episode 24: The Netflix Advantage

    Episode 24: The Netflix Advantage http://tinyurl.com/3urdxts

    Terence and Philip consider the changes to the financial dynamics caused by Netflix’s funding ofHouse of Cards. Is Netflix a new studio model?  Where’s the opportunity for innovation in programming if everything is data driven?

    Philip’ NAB session on “Growing and Monetizing an Audience” is mentioned. If you want to go and haven’t yet registered register at http://bit.ly/NABSM08 to get the discount automatically, or at http://www.nabshow/register using the code SM08.