One of the many color correction challenges is matching dissimilar cameras used within the same production. This tends to be the case in many web, streaming, and non-scripted projects, where budgets and availability often dictate the mix of cameras to be used. I frequently end up with RED, ARRI, Panasonic, Sony, DJI, and GoPro cameras all in the same show. Most NLEs do include basic, albeit imperfect, shot-matching features. However, now several software developers are taking that challenge head on.
One such developer is New Zealand’s FilmConvert, developers of the FilmConvert Nitrate film emulation plug-in. Their newest product is CineMatch, a camera-matching plug-in that’s currently available for DaVinci Resolve and Premiere Pro – and coming to Final Cut Pro X in the future. As with Nitrate, CineMatch is a cross-platform plug-in that may be purchased for a specific NLE host or as a bundle license to cover all products.
The CineMatch concept is very straightforward. Most productions have a main or “hero” camera – typically designated as the A-camera. Then there are other cameras for cutaways and alternate angles – B-camera, C-camera, etc. The principle is to match the look of the B- and C-cameras to that of the A-camera.
Dealing with color science
Each camera manufacturer uses different color science for their products. Sony will have a distinctly different look from Canon or Panasonic. FilmConvert builds its plug-ins based on camera packs, which are each customized for a specific manufacturer and model in order to properly match that camera’s color science.
If you have a production that mixes a Sony FX9, an ARRI Amira, and a Panasonic GH5, then each uses a different camera pack. CineMatch is designed to work with Log/RAW/BRAW formats, so there are fewer packs available on the CineMatch site than on the Nitrate site. That’s because many of the prosumer cameras supported by Nitrate do not record in log and, therefore, wouldn’t be appropriate for CineMatch. Since CineMatch uses fewer camera packs, all currently-supported camera packs are included in the installer at this point in time.
The basics of matching
To start, disable any embedded LUT or remove any that you may have added. Next, apply the CineMatch effect to the clips on the timeline in Premiere Pro or as nodes in Resolve. On A-camera clips, set the appropriate source camera profile, but no target profile. For B-cams, C-cams, and other clips, set their source camera profile; however, set their target profile to match the A-camera source.
In a situation with an ALEXA A-cam and a Panasonic EVA1 as the B-cam, the ALEXA would only use the ALEXA source profile. The EVA1 would be set to the EVA1 source, but ALEXA as the target profile. Essentially you are moving all cameras into a color space matching the ARRI ALEXA Log-C color science.
To properly view the CineMatch output, apply the REC 709 transform. However, since CineMatch has converted all of these clips into a common log space, such as ARRI’s Log-C, you can also opt to leave this transform off within the clip filter and apply a conversion LUT at a different point, such as in an adjustment layer in Premiere Pro or as a timeline grading node in Resolve. This way, CineMatch is not limited to REC 709/SDR projects.
Additional color correction tools
Ideally the camera crew should have maintained proper and consistent exposure and white balance among cameras used on a common set-up. Even better if color charts have also been recorded at the start. In a perfect world, you’d now be done. Unfortunately, that’s never the case. You’ve unified the color space, but this doesn’t automatically match one clip to the next. CineMatch includes a comprehensive color correction toolkit to further match and adjust clips. There are white balance and exposure controls for quick adjustments.
If you use the split screen comparison view in Premiere Pro or Resolve, CineMatch HSL curves can be used to refine the match between source and target clips. As with Nitrate, there’s a full set of secondary color controls, including wheels, curves, and levels. Not only can you better match cameras to each other, but you can also use CineMatch to cover most basic grading needs without ever touching Resolve’s grading controls or Premiere’s Lumetri panel.
Working with CineMatch
Although this plug-in is marketed for camera matching, you can use it completely apart from that task. That’s primarily because of the camera packs. For example, when you film with a Panasonic GH5 in a log profile, no NLE offers a stock LUT that is correct for that camera. Generally you end up just correcting it without a LUT or applying a generic Panasonic V-Log LUT. That was designed for the Varicam’s color science and is not a perfect match for every other Panasonic camera. Close, but not spot-on. CineMatch lets you apply a correction that is tailor-made for each individual camera profile, thanks to FilmConvert’s development of a wide range of professional and prosumer camera packs.
The second advantage is that you can impart the look of other cameras. For example, I’m a fan of ARRI’s color science and really prefer the look of an ALEXA over most other cameras. I can apply CineMatch to a GH5 clip, set the source profile to GH5 and the target to ALEXA and impart a bit of that ARRI color to the GH5 clip. While it’s not a replacement for shooting with an ALEXA and the color conversion might not be absolutely perfect, it’s a nice adjustment that gives me a better image than working with that clip on its own.
Finally, if you own both CineMatch and FilmConvert Nitrate, it is possible to use the two in conjunction with each other. Just be very careful of the processes and their order. In the GH5/ALEXA example, make the profile conversion in CineMatch. Make no color adjustments there and don’t apply the REC 709 transform. Then add FilmConvert Nitrate, set its profile to the ARRI settings and make your film emulation and color adjustments to taste.
Building on the heels of the previous post, I’d like to cover five simple steps to follow when performing basic color correction, aka “grading,” in Final Cut Pro X. Not every clip or project will use all of these, but apply the applicable steps when appropriate.
Step 1. LUTs (color look-up tables)
There are technical and creative LUTs. Here we are talking only about technical camera LUTs that are useful when your footage was recorded in a log color space. These LUTs convert the clip from log to a display color space (REC 709 or other) and turn the clip’s appearance from flat to colorful. Each manufacturer offers specific LUTs for the profile of their camera models.
Some technical LUTs are already included with the default FCPX installation and can be accessed through the settings menu in the inspector. Others must be downloaded from the manufacturer or other sources and stored elsewhere on your system. If you don’t see an appropriate option in the inspector, then apply the Custom LUT effect and navigate to a matching LUT stored on your system.
Step 2. Balance Color
Next, apply the Balance Color effect for each clip. This will slightly expand the contrast of the clip and create an averaged color balance. This is useful for many, but not all clips. For instance, a clip shot during “golden hour” will have a warm, yellow-ish glow. You don’t want that to be balanced neutral. You have no control over the settings of the Balance Color process, other than to pick between Automatic and White Balance. Test and see when and where this works to your advantage.
Note that this works best for standard footage without a LUT or when the LUT was applied through the inspector menu. If the LUT was applied as a Custom LUT effect, then Balance Color will be applied ahead of the Custom LUT and may yield undesirable results.
Step 3. Color correction – color board, curves, or color wheels
This is where you do most of the correction to alter the appearance of the clip. Any or all of FCPX’s color correction tools are fine and the tool choice often depends on your own preference. For most clips it’s mainly a matter of brightening, expanding contrast, increasing or decreasing saturation, and shifting the hue offsets of lows (shadow area), midrange, and highlights. What you do here is entirely subjective, unless you are aiming for shot-matching, like two cameras in an interview. For most projects, subtlety is the key.
Step 4. Luma vs Sat
It’s easy to get carried away in Step 3. This is your chance to reign it back in. Apply the Hue/Sat Curves tool and select the Luma vs Sat Curve. I described this process in the previous post. The objective is to roll off the saturation of the shadows and highlights, so that you retain pure blacks and whites at the extreme ends of the luminance range.
Step 5. Broadcast Safe
If you deliver for broadcast TV or a streaming channel, your video must be legal. Different outlets have differing standards – some looser or stricter than others. To be safe, limit your luminance and chrominance levels by applying a Broadcast Safe effect. This is best applied to an adjustment layer added as a connected clip at the topmost level above the entire sequence. Final Cut Pro X does not come with an adjustment layer Motion template title, but there are plenty available for download.
Apply the Broadcast Safe effect to that adjustment layer clip. Make sure it’s set to the color space that matches your project (sequence) setting (typically Rec 709 for HD and 4K SDR videos). At its default, video will be clipped at 0 and 100 on the scopes. Move the amount slider to the right for more clipping when you need to meet more restrictive specs.
These five steps are not the end-all/be-all of color correction/grading. They are merely a beginning guide to achieve quick and attractive grading using Final Cut Pro X. Test them out on your footage and see how to use them with your own workflows.
Color correction plug-ins are certainly fun to use, but Final Cut Pro X has plenty of horsepower on its own. There are also a number of features and techniques that often get overlooked. Here are five simple tricks you can use to enhance the look of your videos. (Click any image to see an enlarged view.)
Balance Color / Match Color
Final Cut has offered the ability to auto balance the color of a shot and to match two shots to each other since the early days. Balance color analyzes a shot and corrects it to a neutral tonality. This is typically a “best guess,” based on either an automatic overall adjustment or one focusing on white balance.
You can select all of the clips in your timeline and balance them in a single command. Most of the time, automatic will result in a pleasing enhancement of the image. The exception is when there’s no clear white reference in the shot, like a close-up on fire. In that case, you’d want to retain the orange/yellow qualities of the shot. The balance color results are not adjustable (other than to select between automatic or white balance), so consider it a first step to be further enhanced by the other color correction tools.
Match color is different in that it corrects the tonality of a selected clip to match another clip in the timeline. Park on the clip, select match color, skim to the clip used for the match, click on that frame for a preview, and then click Apply Match if you like the preview results. A common application might be to match A and B cameras to each other.
Match color can be used creatively, as well. For example, let’s say you want your clips to match the tonality of shots from a particular movie. A great resource for film reference frames is the Shotdeck website (free if you register as a beta user). Find and download a reference frame. Import the image file and edit it to the end of your timeline. Now use match color for a selected clip and skim to that reference film image on your timeline.
Obviously it won’t make a sunny daytime shot look exactly like a moody night shot from Bladerunner, but it will adopt the overall tonality as closely as possible. Once you’ve completed the match, delete the reference image from your timeline.
Blend modes
Timeline clips include blend mode attributes. The default is the normal mode, which can easily be changed to screen, overlay, soft light, and so on. Blend modes (also called composite and transfer modes) are commonly used by graphic artists and designers, but they are also useful in creating special looks for video.
To start, option-drag a clip above itself to create a duplicate as a connected clip. You now have two versions of that clip in perfect sync with each other. Adjust the blend mode of the connected clip. Let’s say you have a low-contrast clip. When you drag it above itself and change the top clip’s mode to soft light, it will instantly result in more contrast and saturation.
This same trick can be used to create stylish effects. For example, when you add a gaussian blur to the lower clip, the results are a dreamy image. Add a sharpening filter to the top clip and now you’ve added some localized contrast. Push it far enough and the results are almost cartoon-like.
You can use this trick on single clips or the entire sequence. Simply compound the sequence and then option-drag the compound up to create a duplicate, connected clip. Select the desired blend mode of the connected clip and tweak for your look.
Hue/Saturation Curves – Luma vs Sat
When you push color correction to an extreme, the black and white detail in the image becomes contaminated by the color shift introduced by your correction. You no longer have anything that’s true black or white in the frame. When a colorist is creatively adjusting a shot, they still want to end up with nearly pure black at the darkest part of the image and pure white at the brightest.
One way to achieve this is with the Luma vs Sat curve in the Hue/Saturation Curves tool. From left to right, the base line represents the brightness range from black to white. Pulling the curve up or down increases or decreases saturation at the brightness value corresponding to that point along the line. To reduce color saturation for black and white, add a control point inwards from each end of the line. Now drag the outer points down to decrease saturation. Drag the inner points more or less towards the center to adjust the roll-off from full saturation to zero saturation. The more gentle the slope of the curve, the smoother the roll-off with fewer potential artifacts. However, the trade-off is that you may lose too much saturation overall. So adjust to taste.
Orange and Teal
Filmmakers are enamored with the “orange-and-teal” look – skin tones tend to be warm (orange), while middle-range portions of the image take on a teal color cast. This is aided by proper lighting, costuming, and set design that is conducive to such a grade. For example, walls and furnishings that are neutral, black, gray, or dark in some way tend to be easier to swing towards the teal than a background of bright red walls.
Final Cut Pro X does include a color preset (Spring Sun) that mimics this look. You can also achieve it with any of Final Cut’s grading tools, such as the color wheels. First, use any color tool to establish a normal grade. Then apply color wheels for the look. The objective is to isolate skin tones from the rest of the image. Add an image mask for the wheels and use the HSL keyer. Use the color picker to select a skin tone. View the mask in black-and-white and adjust the HSL settings for a smooth key. It’s OK if the mask includes more than only the skin tones. The smoothness of the key is important.
Once you are happy with the key, go back to the image and grade inside of the mask. Push the midrange color wheel to the orange as needed. Or keep the skin tones neutral if you want to preserve a natural appearance. Change the mask toggle to outside and shift the midrange, shadows, and master towards teal. Finally, add the Luma vs Sat adjustment as described above to restore natural blacks and whites to the shadow and highlight areas.
LUTs
Color look-up tables – LUTs – are used to apply the proper color profile for cameras. Custom LUTs can also be used creatively to create and preserve preset looks such as stylized grades, film stock emulation, and more. Final Cut cannot export LUTs, however, it can import any LUT in the standard .cube format. The internet offers plenty of options to purchase custom, creative LUTs.
Let’s take a more DIY approach. Several third-party color correction plug-ins, including FilmConvert Nitrate and Color Finale 2 Pro, allow the user to export the grade done within that plug-in as a self-contained LUT. Maybe you want to preserve the grade for future use that doesn’t depend on having the plug-in. Or maybe you don’t own that plug-in, but can collaborate with an editor/colorist who does. In that example, send your selected shots or sequence to them for a grade. Then, instead of returning the files to you with the baked-in look, simply export the grades for these clips as LUTs.
Back on your system, apply the Custom LUT effect to each clip and import the corresponding LUT. Make sure the settings match your color space (Rec 709 across the board for Rec 709 libraries and projects). In the case of Color Finale 2 Pro and FilmConvert Nitrate, most aspects of the grade done within their panels will be reproduced. Certain non-grading features, such as film grain emulation will not be included in the LUT. Overall, if I’m looking for a perfect match (same shot to same shot), then I’ve had more accurate results using Color Finale 2 Pro. This method is a great way of creating and transferring custom looks in a non-destructive manner.
I hope these simple tips will give you some ideas on how you can get more out of Final Cut Pro X to create and apply your own special touches.
Avid Media Composer has been at the forefront of nonlinear, digital video editing for three decades. While most editors and audio mixers know Avid for Media Composer and Pro Tools, the company has grown considerably in that time. Whether by acquisition or internal development, Avid Technology encompasses such products as storage, live and post mixing consoles, newsroom software, broadcast graphics, asset management, and much more.
In spite of this diverse product line, Media Composer, as well as Pro Tools, continue to be the marquee products that define the brand. Use the term “Avid” and generally people understand that you are talking about Media Composer editing software. If you are an active Media Composer editor, then most of this article will be old news. But if you are new to Media Composer, read on.
The Media Composer heritage
Despite challenges from other NLEs, such as Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Pro X, Premiere Pro, and DaVinci Resolve, Media Composer continues to be the dominant NLE for television and feature film post around the world. Even in smaller broadcast markets and social media, it’s not a given that the other options are exclusively used. If you are new to the industry and intend to work in one of the major international media hubs, then knowing the Media Composer application is helpful and often required.
Media Composer software comes in four versions, ranging from Media Composer | First (free) up to Media Composer Enterprise. Most freelance editors will opt for one of the two middle options: Media Composer or Media Composer | Ultimate. Licenses may be “rented” via a subscription or bought as a perpetual license. The latter includes a year of support with a renewal at the end of that year. If you opt not to renew support, then your Media Composer software will be frozen at the last valid version issued within that year; but it will continue to work. No active internet connection or periodic sign-in is required to use Media Composer, so you could be off the grid for months and the software works just fine.
A Media Composer installation is full-featured, including effects, audio plug-ins, and background rendering software. Depending on the version, you may also receive loyalty offers (free) for additional software from third-party vendors, like Boris FX, NewBlueFX, iZotope, and Accusonus.
Avid only offers three add-on options for Media Composer itself: ScriptSync, PhraseFind, and Symphony. Media Composer already incorporates manual script-based editing. Plain text script documents can be imported into a special bin and clips aligned to sentences and paragraphs in that script. Synchronization has to be done manually to use this feature. The ScriptSync option saves time – automating the process by phonetically analyzing and syncing clips to the script text. Click on a script line and any corresponding takes can be played starting from that point within the scene.
The PhraseFind option is a phonetic search engine, based on the same technology as ScriptSync. It’s ideal for documentary and reality editors. PhraseFind automatically indexes the phonetics of the audio for your clips. Search by a word or phrase and all matching instances will appear, regardless of actual spelling. You can dial in the sensitivity to find only the most accurate hits, or broader in cases where dialogue is hard to hear or heavily accented.
Media Composer includes good color correction, featuring wheels and curves. In fact, Avid had this long before other NLEs. The Symphony option expands the internal color correction with more capabilities, as well as a full color correction workflow. Grade clips by source, timeline, or both. Add vector-based secondary color correction and more. Symphony is not as powerful as Baselight or Resolve, but you avoid any issues associated with roundtrips to other applications. That’s why it dominates markets where turnaround time is critical, like finishing for non-scripted (“reality”) TV shows. A sequence from a Symphony-equipped Media Composer system can still be opened on another Media Composer workstation that does not have the Symphony option. Clips play fine (no “media offline” or “missing plug-in” screen); however, the editor cannot access or alter any of the color correction settings specific to Symphony.
Overhauling Media Composer
When Jeff Rosica took over as CEO of Avid Technology in 2018, the company embraced an effort to modernize Media Composer. Needless to say, that’s a challenge. Any workflow or user interface changes affect familiarity and muscle memory. This is made tougher in an application with a loyal, influential, and vocal customer base. An additional complication for every software developer is keeping up with changes to the underlying operating system. Changes from Windows 7 to Windows 10, or from macOS High Sierra to Mojave to Catalina, all add their own peculiar speed bumps to the development roadmap.
For example, macOS Catalina is Apple’s first, full 64-bit operating system. Apple dropped any 32-bit QuickTime library components that were used by developers to support certain codecs. Of course, this change impacted Media Composer. Without Apple rewriting 64-bit versions of these legacy components, the alternative is for a developer to add their own support back into the application, which Avid has had to do. Unfortunately, this introduces some inevitable media compatibility issues between older and newer versions of Media Composer. Avid is not alone in this case.
Nevertheless, Media Composer changes aren’t just cosmetic, but also involve many “under the hood” improvements. These include a 32-bit float color pipeline, support for ACES projects, HDR support, dealing with new camera raw codecs, and the ability to read and write ProRes media on both macOS and Windows systems.
Avid Media Composer 2020.10
Avid bases its product version numbers by the year and month of release. Media Composer 2020.10 – the most recent version as of this writing – was just released. The versions prior to that were Media Composer 2020.9 and 2020.8, released in September and August respectively. But before that it was 2020.6 from June, skipping .7. (Some of the features that I will describe were introduced in earlier versions and are not necessarily new in 2020.10.)
Media Composer 2020.10 is fully compatible with macOS Catalina. Due to the need to shift to a 64-bit architecture, the AMA framework – used to access media using non-Avid codecs – has been revamped as UME (Universal Media Engine). Also the legacy Title Tool has been replaced with the 64-bit Titler+.
If you are a new Media Composer user or moving to a new computer, then several applications will be installed. In addition to the Media Composer application and its built-in plug-ins and codecs, the installer will add Avid Link to your computer. This is a software management tool to access your Avid account, update software, activate/deactivate licenses, search a marketplace, and interact with other users via a built-in social component.
The biggest difference for Premiere Pro, Resolve, or Final Cut Pro X users who are new to Media Composer is understanding the Avid approach to media. Yes, you can link to any compatible codec, add it to a bin, and edit directly with it – just like the others. But Avid is designed for and works best with optimized media.
This means transcoding the linked media to MXF-wrapped Avid DNxHD or HR media. This media can be OPatom (audio and video as separate files) or OP1a (interleaved audio/video files). It’s stored in an Avid MediaFiles folder located at the root level of the designated media volume. That’s essentially the exact same process adopted by Final Cut Pro X when media is transcoded and placed inside an FCPX Library file. The process for each enables a bullet-proof way to move project files and media around without breaking links to that media.
The second difference is that each Avid bin within the application is also a dedicated data file stored within the project folder on your hard drive. Bins can be individually locked (under application control). This facilitates multiple editors working in a collaborative environment. Adobe adopted an analog of this method in their new Adobe Productions feature.
The new user interface
Avid has always offered a highly customizable user interface. The new design, introduced in 2019, features bins, windows, and panels that can be docked, tabbed, or floated. Default workspaces have been streamlined, but you can also create your own. A unique feature compared to the competing NLEs is that open panes can be slid left or right to move them off of the active screen. They aren’t actually closed, but compacted into the side of the screen. Simply slide the edge inward again to reveal that pane.
One key to Avid’s success is that the keyboard layout, default workspaces, and timeline interactions tend to be better focused on the task of editing. You can get more done with fewer keystrokes. In all fairness, Final Cut Pro X also shares some of this, if you can get comfortable with their very different approach. My point is that the new Media Composer workspaces cover most of what I need and I don’t feel the need for a bunch of custom layouts. I also don’t feel the need to remap more levels of custom keyboard commands than what’s already there.
Media Composer for Premiere and Final Cut editors
My first recommendation is to invest in a custom Media Composer keyboard from LogicKeyboard or Editors Keys. Media Composer mapping is a bit different than the Final Cut “legacy” mapping that many NLEs offer. It’s worth learning the standard Media Composer layout. A keyboard with custom keycaps will be a big help.
My second recommendation is to learn all about Media Composer’s settings (found under Preferences and Settings). There are a LOT of them, which may seem daunting at first. Once you understand these settings, you can really customize the software just for you.
Getting started
Start by establishing a new project from the projects panel. Projects can be saved to any available drive and do not have to be in a folder at the root level. When you create a new project, you are setting the format for frame size, rate, and color space. All sequences created inside of this project will adhere to these settings. However, other sequences using different formats can be imported into any project.
Once you open a project, Media Composer follows a familiar layout of bins, timeline, and source/record windows. There are three normal bin views, plus script-based editing (if you use it): frame, column, and storyboard. In column view, you may create custom columns as needed. Clips can be sorted and filtered based on the criteria you pick. In the frame view, clips can be arranged in a freeform manner, which many film editors really like.
The layout works on single and dual-monitor set-ups. If you have two screens, it’s easy to spread out your bins on one screen in any manner you like. But if you only have one screen, you may want to switch to a single viewer mode, which then displays only the record side. Click a source clip from a bin and it open its own floating window. Mark in/out, make the edit, and close. I wish the viewer would toggle between source and record, but that’s not the case, yet
Sequences
Media Composer does not use stacked or tabbed sequences, but there is a history pulldown for quick access to recent sequences and/or source clips. Drag and load any sequence into the source window and toggle the timeline view between the source or the record side. This enables easy editing of portions from one sequence into another sequence.
Mono and stereo audio tracks are treated separately on the timeline. If you have a clip with left and right stereo audio on two separate channels (not interleaved), then these will cut to the timeline as two mono tracks with a default pan setting to the middle for each. You’ll need to pan these tracks back to left and right in the timeline. If you have a clip with interleaved, stereo audio, like a music cue, it will be edited to a new interleaved stereo track, with default stereo panning. You can’t mix interleaved stereo and mono content onto the same timeline track.
Effects
Unlike other NLEs, timeline clips are only modified when a specific effect is applied. When clips of a different format than the sequence format are cut to the timeline, a FrameFlex effect is automatically applied for transform and color space changes. There is no persistent Inspector or Effects Control panel. Instead you have to select a clip with an effect applied to it and open the effect mode editor. While this may seem more cumbersome, the advantage is that you won’t inadvertently change the settings of one clip thinking that another has been selected.
Media Composer installs a fair amount of video and audio plug-ins, but for more advanced effects, I recommend augmenting with BorisFX’s Continuum Complete or Sapphire. What is often overlooked is that Media Composer does include paint, masking, and tracking tools. And, if you work on stereo 3D projects, Avid was one of the first companies to integrate a stereoscopic toolkit into Media Composer
The audio plug-ins provide a useful collection of filters for video editors. These plug-ins come from the Pro Tools side of the company. Media Composer and Pro Tools use the AAX plug-in format; therefore, no AU or VST audio plug-ins will show up inside Media Composer.
Due to the 64-bit transition, Avid dropped the legacy Title Tool and Marquee titler, and rewrote a new Titler+. Honestly, it’s not as intuitive as it should be and took some time for me to warm up to it. Once you play with it, though, the controls are straight-forward. It includes roll and crawl options, along with keyframed moves and tracking. Unfortunately, there are no built-in graphics templates.
Trimming
When feature film editors are asked why they like Media Composer, the trim mode is frequently at the top of the list. The other NLEs offer advanced trimming modes, but none seems as intuitive to use as Avid’s. Granted, you don’t have to stick with the mouse to use them, but I definitely find it easier to trim by mouse in Premiere or Final Cut.
Trimming in Media Composer is geared towards fluid keyboard operation. I find that when I’m building up a sequence, my flow is completely different in Media Composer. Some will obviously prefer the others’ tools and, in fact, Media Composer’s smart keys enable mouse-based trimming, too. It’s certainly preference, but once you get comfortable with the flow and speed of Media Composer’s trim mode, it’s hard to go to something else.
Avid’s journey to modernize Media Composer has gone surprisingly well. If anything, the pace of feature enhancements might be too incremental for users wishing to see more radical changes. For now, there hasn’t been too much resistance from the old guard and new editors are indeed taking a fresh look. Whether you are cutting spots, social media, or indie features, you owe it to yourself to take an objective look at Media Composer as a viable editing option.
digitalfilms 