A Brief History of Final Cut Pro

Last time, we took a look at how edition has changed in the past 40 years. We now know what linear-edition systems are, how they worked, which was the first real non-linear edition system, and who are the big boys in the edition software game.

This time, we'll take a shot at Final Cut Pro, Mac's edition software. You've probably seen the results of using this fine piece of computer programming, although you probably don't know you have. Let me give you a hint: if you've seen Napoleon Dynamite, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, The Ring, Cold Mountain, Happy Feet, Corpse Bride, No Country for Old Men, or 300, you've watched only a few of the many movies post-produced with Final Cut Pro. It's a nice bunch, if you ask me...

Now for some History Class:

It all starts with Adobe Premiere. The year: 1992. The man: Randy Ubillos. Randy had created the first three versions of premiere before being given a team. Just before Premier V.5 was released, Ubillos was hired away by Macromedia to creat KeyGrip, which was to become an even snazzier video-editing software based on Apple QuickTime. Yet, Macromedia could not release the product without harming Truevision, as KeyGrip was also based in part on MS technology licensed to Truevision, and then borrowed to Macromedia. The license agreement stated that it was not to be used in conjunction with QuickTime. So Macromedia was forced to keep the product off the market until a solution was found. Afterwards, around 1998, Macromedia started focusing more and more on web applications, and they started looking for buyers for their non-web apps, including KeyGrip, which by this time had been renamed Final Cut.

Final Cut would be presented in private room demonstrations at 1998's NAB. During the demonstration, Windows and Mac versions were shown. The Mac version was working with a Truevision RTX dual stream real time card with limited real time effects.

When no purchaser could be found, Apple decided to buy the software as a defensive move. But then, Apple could not find anyone willing to buy the program, so they continued developing the software. In 1999's NAB, Apple presented Final Cut Pro, with added Firewire/DV support.

With the introduction of Final Cut Pro, Adobe remained strong on Windows, but began to lose users on Mac. since its older codebase was more difficult to maintain and enhance. In 2003, Apple announced a program for Premiere users to trade in their discs for a free copy of Final Cut Express or a $500 discount on Final Cut Pro. Later that year, Adobe introduced the successor to Premiere, Premiere Pro, a Windows-only product with a modern codebase.

Next time, I'll teach you Final Cut Pro's features, as well as file formats and introduction to start editing your videos...

See ya!!

Video and Television postproduction editing in Mexico