So we’ve all now seen it, FCPx.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t at NAB, so my knowledge about the new Final Cut Pro is limited.  Philip Hodgetts and Walter Biscardi as well as a number of others, have great write ups about the new software and their feelings on it.  My take on it all is that our industry is changing and evolving into something new.  Something that most experienced professional haven’t been used to.

With Final Cut Pro, Apple was able to bring professional editing tools down to an accessible level for an individual video/film maker. With the progression of iMovie and other consumer level editing tools and then YouTube as a place for non-professionals to share their masterpieces, everyone can now create video and broadcast to the world.  Now look what Apple has gone and done, $300 for my pro software?  Every mom, kid, and grandparent who dabbles enough in video to have bought an express version of FCP will now have the same high end tools that I have.  Should you be worried?  Only if the only thing you do is edit, and market yourself that way.

With the age of the internet, the difference between the pros and the prosumers is experience and knowledge.  If the only thing you are going to do for your client is edit their video and hand them over a file you have lost already.  You need to be your client’s distribution partner. Ensuring they get the most out of the video they paid you big bucks to make. I don’t mean TV distribution either. Making sure they use the internet and social media channels properly to get the most of their hits and analytic data.  For example, posting the video to YouTube, then use that embed information to post it to all your other social and internet portals. That way every view they get from all the different sites is registered to that YouTube upload. You can then view the data on those views. I’m not saying you should become an SEO or marketing agency, but learn about it so you can at least guide your client the right way.

If you say that doesn’t apply to you and most your work is done for studios and agency that are already taking care of that, fantastic.  You are one of the lucky ones.  However, there are lots more small production companies and boutique shops that don’t have that kind of work and are working directly with a company or store who the project is for.  These are the pros who can show why they are pros, and give their clients reasons to come back.  In the age where everyone has a son or nephew that has Final Cut at home and makes “great” videos, we need to prove what makes our services worth the value.