1990s jbb video editing
1990s jbb video editing

When video editing went digital and became a thing you could do on virtually any commercial personal computer I was excited by the possibilities. I was lucky enough to have experimented with 8mm film in the 1970s and attempted to do some editing using two VCRs and a video camera in the 1990s. Going digital, even when using large magnetic-tape-based cameras, was still a far better experience than my prior analog efforts1. This was back in the day when I was building cheap Windows PCs and didn’t think I could afford a Mac. In the late 1990s I bought an internal computer-interface-card so that I could connect my video camera and edit on my PC. The proprietary Windows software was clunky and video resolution was very low. I used this setup to created a music video using Jane Child’s “Welcome to the Real World” as the soundtrack, had nine of my sixth grade students do voice-overs reading their thoughts on what the words “The Real World” meant to them and had downtown Long Beach after midnight as the visual backdrop. 

Welcome 2 The Real World

After those early experiences video editing on my Windows PC, I made sure that I had access to a Macintosh to do my future video editing projects. Every where I went I was shooting still or videos, so it was only natural to think that I needed to find ways to edit said still photos and videos. I realize all these years later that my consumption by photography and videography isn’t “normal” for someone whose profession isn’t or hasn’t been in the media. But I wasn’t thinking about any of that and just wanted to do it better and that seemed to lead to video editing on a Mac. I could see how much better the whole process was: the interface, the reliability and the ease of use. Before we became a Magnet School, each classroom at Furgeson Elementary (ABCUSD) where I taught sixth grade, had a Power Macintosh G3 All-in-One with a copy of Avid Cinema video editing software. That’s the machine and software I started my Apple video editing journey on. Here’s a promo video about our Federal Magnet Program: Furgeson Academy of Communication & Technology (FACT) that I shot and edited using Avid Cinema in 1997: 

FACT Introduction 1998-1999

Eventually I had to buy my own Mac (a 933MHz PowerPC G4 tower computer) and AVID Cinema had been replaced by iMovie. Twenty-one years and nine Macs later, I’m still using iMovie. I got my first copy of Final Cut Pro Studio in 2008 when I moved to Florida and started teaching media at Full Sail University. It was time to step up my game, but I knew it was a bit of a learning curve and I was getting everything I needed done with whatever version of iMovie was out there. So, I didn’t bother learning how to use Final Cut and stayed with iMovie. As time rolled on I knew that anyone remotely serious about video editing was using Final Cut Pro2, but I stuck it out with iMovie. I added ScreenFlow by Telestream for videos that required that I record my desktop to do application tutorials. The combination seemed to be getting the job done, so why change? 

But over the last year I’ve noticed that iMovie’s features seem to be getting “simplified.” It seemed like, as the iPads have been getting more powerful, that the applications (and OSs) were being aligned so that they work and look the same on both Macs and iPad devices. For example I thought with prior versions of iMovie I could put my titles anywhere onscreen, but it feels like there are fewer options. It feels like they’re dumbing down the application so that it works everywhere the same. I was beginning to feel the limitations in iMovie and started thinking more seriously about switching to Final Cut Pro, or one of the many video editing alternatives. Also, there really are features in Final Cut Pro that I needed to explore. 

Before I moved to Las Vegas in 2017 I bought a video camera, Ricoh Theta S, that shot 360° videos and I’ve done very little with videos that I’ve shot. Then I discovered that these video can be edited in Final Cut. It’s also becoming clear that there might be an advantage if I take some of my videos, particularly from JBB’s Final Thoughts podcast, and create shortened vertical video versions to post on FB Reels and YouTube’s Shorts, where short vertical videos are part of the discoverability equation. So, again, it’s time for me to step up my game. I really need to update the look of my videos. I was listening to a podcasts talking about the shrinkage of “readers” and a friend talking about how few people are going to read something online that isn’t just a headline, but if it’s a video…. I know that there are other alternative video editors that I can choose from such as Divinci Resolve from Blackmagic Design and Premier from Adobe that work on Macs and iPads and even PCs if I find myself so “equipped.” Alas, I did an inventory of all the computer hardware and software I’ve bought over the past 40-years and I seem to have bought copies of Final Cut Pro multiple times. It’s kind of embarrassing.  Seems like I really should start with FCP if I’m going to move on from iMovie. I’ve got 8-hours of Final Cut Pro Essential Training cued up in LinkedIn. Wish me luck. 

2023-09-05 desk setup with jbb-01
2023-09-05 desk setup with jbb-01

Sources:

  1. I still have a soft spot in my heart for my analog videos. Come Against the Rain was originally shot in 8mm in 1972/1973, then edited using the VCR-to-VCR analog method in 1994 and then re-edited using iMovie in 2015. Here’s an example of one of the VCR-to-VCR videos, switching between machines left a visual and auditory smearing… Religion in the Classroom (1993).[↩]
  2. with a big exodus of professionals to Adobe Premier when FCP X was released…[↩]