DigitalFilm Tree

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DFT organizes meeting for the Motion Picture Editors Guild

On February 13th 2001, DigitalFilm Tree and Guild editor Daniel Fort organized an event called 'Final Cut Pro, FilmLogic and DVCAM in the hot seat.' The event was put together for members of the Motion Picture Editors Guild, and others who snuck in. Our synopsis for the meeting read, "There is lots of talk about Final Cut Pro and FilmLogic, some people love it, others hate it. Is it a viable alternative for film production or just wishful thinking among tight fisted producers? Members with Final Cut Pro experience will share their feelings with Guild members curious if they should start learning this new system. Final Cut Pro is being embraced by independents, documentary and television, but it is missing features for studio films. When will it be ready for the majors?"

"The meeting kicked off with Dan demonstrating FCP and FilmLogic on an iMac. He recounted his experiences working on SHOWTIME's 35mm feature movie 'Bojangles'. Dan was one of the principles responsible for spearheading SHOWTIME's transition from Avid to Final Cut Pro / FilmLogic to edit their film and HD features. Dan demonstrated Final Cut Pro / FilmLogic functionality including: editing at 29.97 fps for matchback, editing or at 24 fps, editing 24p HD media offline, creating negative cut lists, and creating EDL's for video and sound assembly. He covered a lot of ground in his fifty-minute presentation.

The event also brought together a stellar panel that included Randy Ubillos, architect of Final Cut Pro, Loran Kary, creator of FilmLogic, Craig Yanagi, Sony Broadcast and Professional National Marketing Manager for DVCAM, Larry Jordan, distinguished editor and founder of 2-pop.com, Shawn Paper, Guild editor who edited a 35mm feature on FCP / FilmLogic and Ramy Katrib, founder of DigitalFilm Tree. Other standout attendees included Steven Cohen, distinguished editor, Tim Serda, former Certification Engineer for FCP and CTO of DigitalFilm Tree, Walt Shires, then Product Manager for FCP, Ralph Fairweather, former FCP team member, and Michael Horton who leads the L.A. Final Cut Pro Users Group.

All panelists gave presentations that lead to an energetic 'town meeting' exchange between all. Throughout the meeting, many Guild members expressed concerns and resentment toward Avid, these included cost, upgrade, Mac vs. NT, and support issues. There was, however, consensus that Avid is still the most established and stable solution for high-end users and that Avid sits atop the professional digital editing pyramid. Some members expressed dissatisfaction with Final Cut Pro shortcomings in media management, trim mode and lack of change lists, yet there was consensus that Final Cut Pro is emerging and infiltrating the professional film and video community.

The Motion Picture Editors Guild wrote an article about the event that noted, "In a watershed event, all the key West Coast FCP (Final Cut Pro) people got together with 100 Guild members to share information and experiences." You can find the article at www.editorsguild.com.

Video Tape of Guild Event

DigitalFilm Tree (DFT) documented on video the entire event described above. Due to demand, DFT is making the video available to interested parties. We recorded the event on two canon XL1's and edited the four hour event into a coherent program. For more information, contact a DigitalFilm Tree counselor.

The Guild also had a cameraman who recorded the meeting. Guild members can contact the Guild for information on their video.