So for a while now, Avid Technology was the unchallenged leader in creative cinema production. Along came Final Cut Pro and a lot of folks, especially independent producers, found that the less expensive software and open hardware packages available. I've even heard of educators making a generalization about FCP being the future of film post production.
In my humble opinion, this is a total miss and dangerous for the next generation of filmmakers.
First of all, in the last several years, Avid has made major leaps in innovation from the original Avid Media Composer system. The development of the software only editions of Media Composer combined with a massive price drop has helped continue to make Avid the best solution for nearly all production models. In addition, Avid comes with "script sync" and a back-end media management model that has been tested and developed for over 20 years. Avid AMA continues to expand to use new tapeless formats natively, like P2, XDCam, and I've even done some stuff with the new Canon cameras. They're awesome.
The good news is that this year Avid was the major tool of choice for the success of a large portion of films being featured at festivals. The high end jobs are still on Avid worldwide wide, meaning that art high schools and Universities need to take note. The original trim tool still trumps FCP, innovations on collaboration including Avid Unity, and the rock solid platform gives independent editors and producers an edge through a great product.
And, if you look at the recent speed of the innovation and new quality feature releases coming from the company (Xpress Pro, MC 2.5, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0), Avid is no doubt the future of post production at this rate.
So how does an independent production get their hands on an Avid?
It's easy, here's some tips
First, map your workflow. I literally draw it in word or pages with boxes and sometimes web links which later can appear in PDFs for producers. You can connect charts to databases with financial data to help figure out the budget. With indies, every penny counts and you need to be able to build the workflow perfectly.
Second, you get into the least expensive system the software can handle. This can be as small as a certified laptop, iMac or a PC. In fact, I've edited multiple features running Avid on a Mac Book Pro laptop. It's fast, it's cake to use, it's not expensive. Many producers are surprised when I tell them that Avid can run on a laptop. It's doesn't just run, it screams. You can easily hook up a second monitor and some basic speakers and boom you're editing on location.
Third, you get into the software which only runs around $2500 and a special note for students/educators, you can be running the software right now for only $299. It's a great way to learn before your first professional project. Now the bean counters out there are reading this saying, but Final Cut is less than a grand. The deal is, that between time spent on managing metadata on thousands of clips, vfx, and audio file, interfacing with your mix house (which most likely is Pro-Tools, an Avid company), handling i/o for your visual effects, and perfectly clean edls with your DI (if you send out), Avid will save you massive amounts of money in the long run through labor and efficiency. It's worth every penny, especially on features. You can also rent, but these days, most editors have the latest and greatest at their finger tips and will cut you a deal, or you can buy a workstation for yourself and rent it to them. Another note: Avid is available to help; in my experience over the last several years, they have been very supportive of Independent Filmmaking and keep an open line of communication with their customers which makes life a lot easier. They're all over their forums and get back to you when you need support or advice.
Fourth, one of the biggest concerns for producers is the ingest workflow. Time is money and so deck rentals, tape costs, dubs, and new technology can be scary. A lot of FCP uses will say, "I can get a AJA card for super cheap". I say, if you're dealing with expensive HD-SR decks on set where you need an AJA board to manage your media, grab a low cost XDCam or P2 recorder and attach it into your workflow. Your ingest workflow will go tapeless and be faster then digitizing in realtime, and since Avid loves working with P2 and XDCam, you'll find you save a great deal of and money by cutting time ingesting and spending more time editing. The cost saving can go to color correction where the audience experiences it on the screen. You can also downconvert on set to a firewire compatible less expensive NTSC device and save money by not needing any extra hardware.
Fifth, combine Avid with new technology for digital dailies, web-based cut reviews, and digital delivery. The reason is that it'll save you on hardware costs, dvds, and tape stock. The more that reviews are done in a green way, the more money you'll save. This should be a part of your workflow when you chart it. Ultimately, you're using the Avid to make creative decisions and collaborate. There are awesome low-cost services like dropbox.com or xprove.com that help with this collaboration. You can program an Avid to export the appropriate media for your clients/producers/distributors and automate updates for them to pull the materials directly onto their computers for review. It's an amazing way to work and allows you to spend more time on location, spend more time editing with precision, and less time rendering or ingesting.
Other great independent tricks and benefits...
World-wide collaboration with industry's most acclaimed editors- I've had editors approach me from international locations needing help on their project and vise-versa. We mailed a copy of the dailies or sent files over the net, then we emailed Avid bins back and forth to help get their edit done. Since Avid bins live independently from your project, it's easier to manage in this sort of collaboration. If someone recorded a temp line, Avid's Media Management made finding the files easy, and iChat, Dropbox, or FTP did the trick. Files can be sent at the speed of light around the globe. I even did one project with a friend while I was traveling. You can make a change at an airport and the collaborator has the revision almost immediately.
Clean EDL's - Speed changes, pull-down and cadence, precision edits always come out perfect via Avid. I did a project where specific frames were selected for an action sequence and edited one frame at a time. There is no doubt that sending a clean edit decision list to a conform facilities comes in handy and when you're editing, you want to know that the frames you chose are the same one's the audience sees, every time. Avid has been doing this for 20+ years and plays well with others.
Use Quicktime Reference for faster delivery - Avid has a function called "export Quicktime reference". Basically you export the quicktime reference at the native resolution which links to your Avid media or linked files from AMA. It's real fast. From their you can use quicktime pro or another app to re-compress for the web, digital delivery, or use the file to burn a DVD. On a Mac, those processes can happen in the background while you continue your work editing. It's a huge time and money saver.
Well that's all for now. Look forward to hearing your thoughts. And please let me know if I can help any of you on your projects. Always helps to have someone to bounce workflow ideas off.
-D
