I gave it a second look in what editorial is concerned and it's not that bad indeed once one gets into it. It gets the job done.
I don't see it for massive/creative editorial because there are better and more specialized platforms for that (after all it is primary a color app), but...I admit that it works well as an all-in-one.
This thread is covering a lot of territory, from cameras, to color to editorial suites.
My thoughts on all of this it’s personal.
But to give my bottom line on my long (sorry for that) reply is I can edit well in Resolve.
I know people new to editorial love FCPX, In fact I know people that went straight from fcp to X, fought through the learning curve and love it. People new to editorial have no muscle memory and the long learning curve on other NLE’s. People coming from traditional NLE’s and the functions, naming, workflow seem to have more problems with X.
I do like X’s browser, but the rest makes me spend more time thinking of the system rather than the story and we all know editorial is the final rewrite of the story, or better put it is the story.
I still love FCP 7 because of my experience with it, tried like crazy to be comfortable with X, can make it work, but it drives me crazy. Premier works ok, it’s not my favorite mostly because I don’t find it 100% stable in my Macs and secondly I don’t like subscription models.
Last week, I had a 1 hour conversation with a company that specialized in building custom computers for post production and they are configuring one for me now. Apple or PC I would strongly suggest going to a company that specializes in video systems. They might be a little higher than buying from a direct source, but they know what professional post production is, the issues of delivering 4k and the company I deal with didn’t try to sell me up, in fact they sold me down, to get the system I needed, not the one I originally wanted. Same with internal and external drives, especially in reliability and speed.
They said when FCPX came out along with Adobe’s pay as you go system, they had customers downgrade their operating system, so they could run Premier 5 (maybe 6 don’t remember), so the editors could own the software in their computer(s).
I’ve always worked in Resolve for colour but now with v12.5 and v14, I find Resolve to be a good editorial system, much better than I thought even a few weeks ago.
For anyone new to resolve, I suggest taking 5 clips, do a quick edit and test ALL of the settings on ingest, editing, colour, gamma then output. Also use the fastest ssds you can and as much video ram as possible.
I know in editorial we’re suppose to think of the edit first, regardless of colour and looks, but we are all visual people and dropping almost any file into resolve and it’s colour engine, out of the box gives you the prettiest look of anything I’ve used.
It’s also nice to stay in the same system and do a quick one light color adjustment, even on the first edit, because with a lot of client’s you can tell them to look at the story and we’ll go to finish once the edit is locked. They always say “sure” but always make a comment on colour so I make sure even at the first edit, the colour is good.*
I have a lot of respect for Black Magic and more than anyone seems to put a lot of effort into offering a complete front to back eco system at very good prices.
Now with cameras, I have a lot of them, too many, love my R1’s though on this recent project used a 1dxII and the RED’s. Canon doesn’t get much love on these forums, but the colour and depth of the 1dx II files are way beyond what any 4:2:2 8 bit camera should produce.
Most dp/operators don’t like the dslr form factor, but doing a combo project with motion and stills I can’t think of a better camera and Canon colour is really good. In fact most of the dp’s I know that reluctantly have moved from film to digital, prefer the Arri and I must admit for cinema work the color, the lack of casting, the whole system is extrodinary.
The downside is huge files that will burn through C-fastII cards quickly and the files are huge, but it’s a workhorse for this type of project.
I don’t want to get ahead of myself and jink this, but we’re up for a good budgeted, great scripted movie. The best visual script I’ve read in 10 years. Once the green light is set, I’m going to test Alexa, My RED MX, a RED dragon and helium, and for grins throw in a Canon C300 or 500. I have a feeling that the Alexa will produce the look we’re aiming for, but I’m positive my MX REDs will be on set.
Once again it’s all personal, what I’m shooting, who I’m working for and I try to always keep in mind the most important have fun start to finish, that and stay hydrated.
If you’re a small shop, a do it yourself type of person, you learn quick that pre and post are so important and if done right the shoot day seems easy in comparison. I’m lucky that I work with my wife who is the producer, sometimes the stylist/prop master and though she has little time on set, does the best makeup I’ve ever seen, but the cool part is if I shoot something she likes she doesn’t say much, but I can feel it, same with something she doesn’t like. Then she never says a word, but I can feel in a minute if she doesn’t and she’s always been right.
IMO
BC
*We just finished a commercial, working with a CD that was new to video (motion). This person was fixated on things I didn’t think was important when I viewed the piece in whole, but listening to the comments I realized the CD who was use to still photography, was looking at each cut frame by frame, like it was a still shoot.
In the recut, I selected sections that could be viewed that way, frame by frame and it was approved in an hour.
