And I’ve been working like a dog. Today I finished the 74th episode of television I have edited so far this year. 

13 x 48 minutes of Ayeye in FCP7

13 x 24 minutes of Tempy Pushas in FCPX

26 x 23 minutes of BnB in FCPX

13 x 48 minutes of It’s Complicated in FCPX

6 x 24 minutes of Transnet documentaries in FCPX

2 x 23 minutes of Turn Up and Dance in FCPX

2 X 90 minute feature films in Premiere Pro

1 x 24  minutes of Mo Magic in FCPX. (Ongoing)

And then there are the in-the-pipeline-already-confirmed-jobs that are still to be counted. 13 X 48 of Aluta. 13 X 24 of Dreamworld. 12 left in the magic show and jobs that have yet to start shooting which will only be ready end November such as the 26 X 24 of Mfolozi street and 26 X 24 of Mokopelo. The reason I share this crazy workload anecdote is that FCPX is my default NLE. I am not going to go anywhere else for a very long time. 

The history of my relationship with FCPX is well documented on these pages but now that I have truly spent thousands of hours working in the program I can tell you that hands down I would not have been able to complete this much work in any other NLE. The 2 feature films I cut in Premiere Pro took I reckon twice as long to cut than if I had cut them in FCPX. Particularly the most recent that required a massive amount of scene restructuring. The most important feature I missed working in Premiere? Yep you guessed it, the magnetic timeline. How on earth did I live without it. 

I think that this feature stands out way above anything else in FCPX in my opinion. Close second is the metadata functionality and being able to pre organize your material in finder even before bringing it into the NLE. 

Everyone I have worked with this year who has had absolutely no experience working in FCPX has moved over to it principally because of those 2 features.

And finally before I get accused of PremPro bashing. I like premiere pro it has a very special place in my heart. I grew up with right from the very early 90’s when it was unheard of in many places but unfortunately it’s not a patch on FCPX right now. 

So to the FCPX Haters Club (of which I was a staunch member) take another look at it. Give it a whirl. See what it can do and see what 3rd party apps have helped push it to. It’s sphenoid all piece of kit that just keeps getting better.

Oh well back to work, edit number 75 awaits. 

Jayce