Walter Murch, Final Cut Pro and the Digital Revolution in Film Editing
If you are free this Thursday night, here is an invitation to a must-see event:
The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television
MASTER CLASS SERIES
cordially invites you to a special evening with
Walter Murch and Charles Koppelman
in conversation on feature film editingThursday, January 6, 2005
7:30pm
James Bridges Theater, Melnitz Hall*** Open to the public, entry is free, first come, first seated ***
A key figure in film for over thirty years, Walter Murch is widely recognized as “the film editor’s editor.” For this special event, Murch joins in conversation with Charles Koppelman, author of “Behind the Seen,” the recently published insider’s account about how Murch edited the movie “Cold Mountain” using Apple’s Final Cut Pro editing software. The legendary film and sound editor Walter Murch has won numerous international awards, including Oscars for his work on “Apocalypse Now” and “The English Patient.” Book signing follows.
Sure the event is designed to promote the book but that doesn’t mean it won’t be interesting.
Ever since Apple introduced Final Cut Pro in 1999, Hollywood has been in a tailspin. It took nearly three decades for studios to adopt flat-bed technology for film editing. It took another 20 for them to dump film and move into the digital arena with Avid technology. However, today anyone with a thousand dollars and a firewire cable can now edit just like the big boys.
It has been five years now since the intro of Final Cut Pro. There was nothing remarkable about digital editing, Avid has done that for years. What was remarkable was that FCP did not require any specialized hardware: all you need is a desktop Mac. This saves you tens of thousands of dollars and simplifies your post production.
Five years ago everyone told me that FCP would never catch on. Avid was too entrenched. Avid was better. Sure it was more expensive but you got what you paid for. Now, FCP is responsible for nearly every reality TV show, student/low-budget film, and increasingly feature films. If you want to know where film and post-production are heading in the new “Digital Revolution” it is wise to listen to Murch.
A visit to LAFCPUG (the Los Angeles Final Cut Pro Users Group) is also greatly informative.
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