Monday, December 14, 2015 was the first ever Nashville Filmmakers Guild NLE Debate. As we talked about on a previous post here this was a fun evening with 3 local filmmakers taking the stage and each representing their NLE of choice: Adobe Premiere Pro CC, Apple Final Cut Pro X and Avid Media Composer. Our friends at Blackhawk Cinema live streamed the event and it’s embedded below.

Monday, December 14, 2015 was the first ever Nashville Filmmakers Guild NLE Debate. As we talked about on a previous post here this was a fun evening with 3 local filmmakers taking the stage and each representing their NLE of choice: Adobe Premiere Pro CC, Apple Final Cut Pro X and Avid Media Composer. Our friends at Blackhawk Cinema live streamed the event and it’s embedded below.

Thanks @trewaudio and @BlackhawkCinema and Studio 615 for streaming and hosting the @NashFilmGuild #NLEdebate pic.twitter.com/pxoJMehHji

— Scott Simmons (@editblog) December 15, 2015

As the moderator of the event one thing that I pointed out was that our participants were brave folks putting themselves out there live and in person and debating their favorite NLE over the others. The internet comment forum can be a brutal place and sadly often those comments are personal, mean spirited and just plain wrong. Of course it’s that anonymity that many internet commentors hide behind. The participants were not company representatives but rather editors and filmmakers local to Nashville. We didn’t have DaVinci Resolve on the stage but we have a rebuttal from a Resolve user.

Big thanks to @podholland and @mattpf and @joelevansvideo for putting themselves out there for the #NLEdebate pic.twitter.com/agv4Pf8YpV

— Scott Simmons (@editblog) December 15, 2015

The format of the debate had a number of questions being answered by each candidate as well as some NLE specific questions directed to a specific NLE. We also took questions from the internet as well as the audience. There were also comments that the tool discussion is irrelevant and story is the only important topic. Ultimately that is true but it’s the tool of the NLE that helps us tell the story and some people can tell a better story and finish it faster with one tool over the other. More than anything we hoped this could be a learning event where both new and experienced editors might learn something about a tool or technique they did not know. From chatting with some of the attendees after the event, I think we succeeded.

But ultimately, this tweet sums up the NLE debate best of all.

@editblog “Can you import video…edit it, and export it to meet your client’s needs?” “Yes.” Debate over. #NLEdebate

— 5hane Ross (@comebackshane) December 15, 2015

Below is the live stream. Everyone involved in the live stream donated their time and services. We thank Blackhawk Cinema for setting up and producing the live stream. We thank Trew Audio for providing audio support and Studio 615 for their venue and bandwidth. We thank Blackmagic Design, Sony, Shutterstock and AbelCine for donating prizes for the raffle. We went live with the stream about a half hour before the event began so you may have to click about 30 minutes into the stream to the beginning of the debate.