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Wednesday, September 03, 2008

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“First Cuts”...  Are We Ready For Another Paradigm Shift?

Terence Curren | 09/03

Can the job of creating a story via editing be automated, or would that just prove the infinite monkey theorem?

Imagine having the first cut of your story done for you in less than a minute… by a computer! That is what First Cuts claims to do. Wait a minute, before you discount this concept I have to tell you, it appears to work.

When I first saw a rough version of this software a few years ago, I thought someone was smoking crack. Then it finally shipped this week, and Philip Hodgetts and Dr. Gregory Clarke of Serendipity software have been vindicated. Now they have a bigger problem to face. Public shunning.

What the software does is string out a full edit with sound bites, B-roll and even the proper lower thirds in place. Taking advantage of Apple’s use of XML, First Cuts apply basic editing rules to well logged media to achieve this result. No one would classify these edited pieces as finished. (Except maybe a few news stations I can think of). But they are far enough along that days, weeks or months can be saved in these first rough stringouts, freeing the editor to concentrate on fine tuning. Or so goes the theory of this software.

The other side of the coin is represented by editors who feel their very livelihood threatened. Though First Cuts actually chips more into the story editor or assistant editor’s job, there is validity to the problem of removing the editor from getting familiar with all of the footage available. If the editor walks in with everything that First Cuts deems essential already cut into the timeline, how does he know what gold nugget may have been missed?

I have witnessed some very upset people on a few editing lists already on notification of this product, and the debate promises to continue for quite a while. But that is what happens with paradigm shifts. Are we about to experience another one?

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As far as I understand, this product requires comprehensive logging and entering of large amounts of meta data, so the idea that it’s for lazy editors who can’t be bothered to log their footage is completely erroneous. I saw an interview with Philip Hodgetts (on http://www.macvideo.tv I think) where he said, if you’re making a documentary and he said “If you don’t log, you’re screwed in so many ways already, even if your not using this product.”

I doubt local news organisations would benefit from it as they rarely have time for proper logging and transcribing, it’s just in and out as quick as possible.

Posted by Dylan Pank  on  09/05  at  05:13 AM

Amazing. I was thinking, just a couple of days ago, that most of my initial editing decisions are the same for each story I do, so why couldn’t it be dome with a piece of software? and here it is.

Posted by DanConklin  on  09/05  at  09:44 AM

Hi Dylan,

I wouldn’t use the words “comprehensive logging”. First Cuts requires a certain level of minimum logging but I think it’s less than, or about the same as what a documentary editor would do anyway. That was part of our design goal. We figured that no-one would want to use it if First Cuts required more work than they were doing already. The need for even that minimal amount of work is why we target documentary filmmakers: they already do the logging and understand the benefit. We just make it even more valuable for them.

We’ve never claimed, nor would we, that First Cuts was a solution for lazy editors who don’t log. They’re mostly unemployed former editors if they work on documentaries smile

Finisher will use all the log notes that First Cuts does, but for quick and easy projects, can use little or no metadata and still get a great result.

Cheers and thanks for the interest.

Philip Hodgetts
Co-developer First Cuts and Finisher for FCP

Posted by Philip Hodgetts  on  09/05  at  06:20 PM

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