Editing platforms
The first editing platform I came familiar with was Final Cut Pro. The year was 2005 and the whole industry seemed to have adapted the software although Avid was still widely used as well. I am a self-taught Photoshop and After Effects user and Final Cut came with some training in college. However, most tricks I figured out whilst working as an assistant editor when the reality hit me. These people had taken me in as an intern/hired me, so I needed to be able to work to their standards without asking unnecessary silly questions. Perhaps this is one of the reasons I did the last month of my internship within few weeks. It was loads and loads of long hours, Google, emails to friends (those times before Facebook, how did we survive?!), and, of course, unpaid hours to get to the point where I was comfortable enough to fully trust myself with the software.
While the industry standard might still have been, and might still be, Avid, I have to say that I am definitely team FCP. Could be the fact that I am so used to using it and spent so much time on it, could be the fact that I never really liked the way Avid worked, it could be any and many reasons. I am willing to expand my knowledge to Avid as well, but until now I have been satisfied with FCP. This is a topic that could be discussed forever, as there are always people who prefer different things in software so I am not going to go into too much detail. Instead, I will start a list of some award winning movies that were edited on my beloved FCP.
The Social Network, David Fincher (2010)
Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter won an Oscar for editing The Social Network. One thing they really like about the software is the possibility to create multiple timelines. ‘For example the opening scene of ‘The Social Network” is an eight-page scene, and David shot about 60 takes of the six-minute scene. We ended up breaking the takes into smaller pieces of five or six sections, and once we are at that level, we start to work through and decide what sections from the multiple master-takes work the best.’ Wall explains
Also, I would highly recommend checking this video out on Adobe website; How Final Cut Pro works with After Affects?
Wall, Agnus. Editing The Social Network In Final Cut Pro With Agnus Wall And Kirk Baxter. 2012.
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, David Fincher (2011)
The team behind this masterpiece’s editorial department is the same than on Fincher’s other film, ‘The Social Network’. Whilst working on the ‘Facebook Film’ Assistant editor Tyler Nelson came up with the idea to get FCP’s offline edit work seamlessly with After Effects and Premiere Pro. The same technique was used in the Millennium trilogy’s first part. The film won an Oscar for ‘Best achievement in Film Editing’. All in all the film had 81 nominations of which it won 26.
Nelson, Tyler, Conforming and compositing ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’. 2012
“The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo”. IMDb. N.p., 2011. Web. 15 Mar. 2016.
