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You have seen the Mac vs PC ad’s saying that you should switch from PC to Mac, and they give a good supporting argument as to why…well, now the same is true for professional editing. Now, for the first time, Final Cut Pro users have a real “reason” to want to switch from Final Cut to Premiere, and hey guess what – you can still use MacOS if you wish since Premiere Pro is available for both Windows and MacOS.
Up until now (pre-CS4), it is just been a matter of preference, and whatever you were used to was the preferrable method of editing; kind of like o Mac and PC wre until 2006, when Mac overtook PC’s by leaps and bounds with the saturation of Intelbased machines into the Market. The reason there was “If Mac’s can do both, then why not get a Mac?” This statement is in reference to being able to dual-boot Windows Xp/Vista and MacOS on the same computer natively. No more need for emulation now with Intel based Macs. Well, the same reasoning follows with the new Adobe CS4 production software. Now that Adobe can do everything Final Cut can do (and more), then why not use it? Sidenote: At a pricetage almost half that of Apple’s software, there i sno more reason than now to switch.
Anyway, to get to my point about the one feature that would convince Fincal Cut Pro users to switch, the ability to edit multiple format timelines/sequences within the same project. Now, this might not sink-in immeidately to FCP users, because since the dawn of Final Cut, users have had to make sure hat ALL their source video matched their project settings. If you wanted to edit a project from multiple sources, you had to first convert them all to one common format, like QT/MOV DV (on mac) and THEN you could edit your video, only after you had converted it. Well, in Premiere Pro CS4, not only can you drop in multiple file formats from all over the spectrum of devices out there, but you can even create multiple timelines within a project that have totally different settings. One timeline can be HD 720p with 5.1 Surround sound, another sequence can be SD with PCM audio, while yet another can be P2 DVCPROHD with 7-channel audio. All of these can be editing within the same project, without the need for pre-conversion or separated projects like in Final Cut Pro.
Now, if this doesn’t convince FCP users to switch, then they carry the same traits as the people using PCs who don’t want to switch: Stubborn and comfortable. You see, people who dont switch editing platforms are the same…they are comfortable with what they already know, so they do not want to take a couple hours to relear new commands, keyboard shortcuts, etc. They are also stubborn or in denial, thinking that FCP is still superior in some way to Premiere Pro. This is a wrong assumption, and something that unfortunately cannot be swayed in the mind of the FCP user; thus the word “stubborn.” I actually have a friend who is a wiz at FCP. He and I pretty much knwo the same amount of information with FCP and Premiere Pro, respectively. So, he comes over with all his mutiple files formats, and says “Just put those into compressor, let them convert, since we have to do that before we edit anyway, and we can go kill a couple hours eacting lunch or something while they convert.” I just smiled as I plugged in the harddrive and began to drang and drop them directly into Premiere Pro. He saw what I was doing and repeated himself, “You have to convert them before you start editi…,” he stopped his sentence short and he just watched Premiere Pro absorb the files without the need for conversion and within about one minute we were ready to edit. He stood there, jaw open, wondering how on earth it did that. He then decided we should go have lunch anyway at that point so I could talk to him about all the cool things Premiere Pro can do. What I discovered in our conversation pretty much confirmed my suspicions. He, a typical FCP user, had never even tried/touched Premiere Pro because of all the anti/negative comments he had heard during his entire time as a FCP user.
And that, my friends, is the key. If you can get an FCP user to sit still, and shut up for 30 seconds and have them watch you while you play around with Premiere Pro, you will find them fixated on the screen. The only reason that FCP users don’t use Premiere Pro is sheer stubbornness and close-minded ness. My friend, that I just told you about now uses both. He is actually beginning new projects in Premire Pro and finishing old ones/changes in Final Cut Pro. The arrogance of the Apple/FCP community is just astounding, and like I said, if you can get one of them to stop badmouthing Adobe for 10 seconds and actually LISTEN, they will be way more interested and have much more fun than they used to, just like people who switch from PC to Mac.
