Let's Get Real About Adobe Creative Cloud
Happy Thursday!
I’m so excited for y’all to get to know our brilliant storyteller, editor, and film guru that we are lucky enough to have on the OBA team…everyone give it up for
!In between working on his exciting creative projects and keeping up with his day job, Charles wrote this article to encourage those of you who are trying to work as a professional in the field of your dreams but feel stuck because you don’t have access to the most ideal tools. Even if you’re not a video editor, you can benefit from these pro tips for making do with what you have and staying up to snuff with the professionals in your craft. As Charles writes:
“Do not accept the idea that if you can’t have the industry standard, then you cannot [be a professional]. The real skill that makes the craft is still in your own hands.”
May you all be encouraged by Charles’ experience!
Cheers,
Ceylan (Editor-In-Chief for OBA Studios)
Let’s Get Real About Adobe Creative Cloud
Full Disclosure:
In my experience, Adobe Creative Cloud is the best way to edit videos that I know of. As an undergrad, I worked as my university’s videographer, which came with a big Apple monitor and all the bells and whistles of Adobe Creative Cloud. Adobe Premiere Pro, Audition, and the Photoshop support programs helped me strengthen my video editing. When I saw a production photo of Star Wars: The Last Jedi that showed an editor working in the same program I was using, I got excited knowing I was, essentially, playing with the big boys. In short, if you have the money and technology, I definitely recommend Adobe Creative Cloud for video editing as the system is industry standard for a reason.
HOWEVER
Let’s not kid ourselves and buy into the Adobe propaganda machine. You do not need Adobe Creative Cloud to edit videos, period.
Like I said, the program package is great, and Premiere Pro is the sharpest ax there is in editing, but you don’t need the sharpest ax to chop firewood–just a functional one. From a good friend of mine learning how to make videos to a filmmaker buddy well-versed with Adobe, I have seen many who have struggled to maintain and operate Creative Cloud. Yet, the company has an unprecedented monopoly in the realm of video editing programs, and, in my experience, pushes a subtle creed the universe has bought into: if you want to be taken seriously as a video editor, you need to have Adobe Premiere Pro, and, of course, that glorious Creative Cloud package at an extra cost.
Simply put, you don’t.
What is Video Editing, Anyway?
In the olden days, all of cinema was done in analogue practices. Film editors would take literal pieces of celluloid film footage, cut the sequences, and piece them together into film reels. Sound editing was similar, later added into the reel strips just above the actual frames. Titles could be filmed or animated and placed into their proper frames. Color grading was a chemical process (even as late as 2002 with Minority Report, which used a bleach-bypassed effect). Layering these components together into a single shot was what made any film work.
Then along came computers, and almost everything in the editing practice went digital. Now, editors worked with digital film, placed into editing software, with a million different program options for a single cut. But here’s the point: the heart of what I described as the editing process hasn’t changed.
Editors still have to look through footage, cut and piece together sequences, and make a final print. Instead of physical film, they place individual shots onto a “timeline,” representing a film strip. They place sound on a separate row in the timeline, beneath the film footage, with titles in a higher row. Color grading is done in a program instead of in a photographer’s darkroom. Layering these elements is still key.
Ultimately, like any art form, what really matters is one’s skill. Sure, if you don’t know how to operate a technology then your work will suffer, but once ignorance becomes knowledge, all that you are left with is what is inside you. Which means that while the practice of film editing may have changed, the art hasn’t.
But Don’t Tell Adobe That Fact
Once upon a time, say the mid-2000s, computers came with those charmingly free Windows Movie Maker editing programs. I myself edited my first goofy little videos on those rudimentary programs, which still followed that timeline principle: piece a whole project together, shot by shot, onto the timeline workspace. In high school, I was able to buy my own editing program compatible with my old Toshiba and make my first short films. The program was an improvement over Windows, but the process was still the same. Cut a sequence together, shot-by-shot, on the timeline.
An important note to keep in mind: No one I know, including myself, has ever worked on an editing program and NOT wanted to choke the life out of it. The malfunctions and low quality can create painstakingly slow processes, contradicting inputs, and even total project shutdowns. These programs can feel less like you’re working on a machine and more like you're fighting with a gremlin in your computer. Adobe Premiere Pro, especially with its vast array of choices and lack of directions, is no different.
When I got into college, suddenly, the days of purchasing video editing software vanished. Now, I had to pay a subscription for a tool, and it had to be from the Big Daddy of all editing programs, like Adobe was Mr. Monopoly himself. But I got along well enough with Premiere Pro because, at the end of the day, all I really needed to do was cut shots and layer elements together on a timeline…just like every other editing program.
Listen: Adobe Isn’t Special (Mostly)
If you’re a freelance video editor, again, I still recommend getting into bed with Adobe Creative Cloud. Premiere Pro is the industry standard editing software, Audition is stunning, and the additional programs let you do so much with your videos that other programs cannot, like adding fancy titles and precise color grading. If you can master the program, you can achieve wonders.
But a subscription to Creative Cloud does not a good video editor make.
Yes, clients will want you to know how to put those finer touches–those pretty, attention-grabbing effects–onto projects. Cheap tricks make the money-world go round. Adobe is best for giving your projects those finer details. Yet the ultimate fact is that the main, artistic function of editing has not changed in over 100 years. Every single tool you need to do the most basic video editing can be found on almost every piece of editing software.
Not every program is the same, trust me. The more you pay, the higher quality and greater artistic opportunities you get. But a real editor knows:
Timing
Pacing
Perspective
Tension
Release
Emotions
Clarity
Subtlety
Humor
Fun
Atmosphere
These come together to make for great videos both simple and cinematic. Which means all you really need is good footage, good sound, and a timeline. This is precisely how AMV competitors make money at fan conventions every year.
You don’t need Adobe to have the basics to get the job done. Heck, lately, those simple software programs come with a lot more bells and whistles. Good thing, too, because…
Adobe Ain’t Cheap
…many people can’t afford Adobe Creative Cloud. During my editing job, I worked on Premiere Pro because my university paid for Creative Cloud. Someone I know can afford the program because they can use a teacher discount. But if you cannot afford their subscription prices nor a computer that can run their programs effectively, then you are out of luck.
Check out Adobe’s website and see how much you personally would spend for a monthly or year subscription to Creative Cloud. If you just want Premiere Pro, you will not have access to the program’s full resources–you’ll still have to buy the Cloud. There are a ton of little eccentricities in their contracts, too, which makes working with the monopolizing company a giant hassle. Well, at least the United States government thinks so.
Add up technology necessities and whatever money that may be spent on your video project during the actual principal photography, and the costs start piling up to remind the world the sad truth: filmmaking is a rich man’s game, and one you have to invest a lot of time learning. Except, it isn’t anymore, at least not in the way most think.
Hope At Last
Faced with technological limitations (i.e. my computer cannot operate Premiere Pro’s graphics card necessities), and financial burdens (i.e. I’m too poor to afford Adobe’s services), I wound up buying a one-payment, lifelong subscription to Movavi Video Editor for a whopping $70.
Go re-read that sentence.
Yes, Movavi isn’t perfect, and I struggle with it. If I could, I would swap over to Premiere Pro. But, honestly, not entirely: many features on Movavi are simpler and easier for me, personally, to use. All I need to make what I want and need is exactly what Movavi gives me. For example, I made this video, a tribute to the legendary Akira Toriyama just after his sudden passing, entirely in Movavi. The artistic quality is debatable, but the fact that a far cheaper program can do exactly what Adobe can isn’t.
Don’t like Movavi? Try Davinci Resolve. There are several good programs out there; find the cheapest option that works best for you and your needs. Regardless of what you may have heard, Adobe is not the be-all-end-all of video editing for everyone. If you can’t afford Adobe or comprehend the program, there are many other options you can use.
One more thing: There is nothing you cannot learn with internet tutorials and practice. No tuition required.
What’s the Takeaway?
If Adobe is not for you, either financially or artistically, then you can find other editing programs that will work for you. There are other options, and oftentimes they will give you exactly what you need at a much cheaper price. Adobe may be the great bastion of video editing software, but it's not the only one. Do not accept the idea that if you can’t have the industry standard, then you cannot edit professional videos. You can edit on whatever gets the job done. The real skill that makes the craft is still in your own hands.
 | A guest post by
|