Final Cut Studio 2Looks like Final Cut Studio 2 is shipping. Let the May-June video geek feasting begin. All the buzz is over Color. That worries me. Handing DaVinci level tools to editing population at large and telling them now go and grade like the pros is like handing chainsaws to toddlers and saying now go and juggle. Some will succeed, most will be difficult to look at. For the record, count me as one of those more likely to butcher than sculpt.

Someday I’ll probably get pretty good at it. If not for After Effects I would not have learned motion graphic design. So give me a couple of years, and I just might become an acceptable colorist.

I love it when people call it this “democratization” of production. They make it sound like a movement. It’s not. It’s the natural evolution of the market. Specialized tools become commoditized as technology lowers the barriers to entry. I’ll spare you the Porter’s Five Forces tutorial, but credit capitalism and ingenuity, not altruism for the bounty of wonderful and affordable tools.

Delay of game

RED cameraSpeaking of wonderful and affordable tools. RED‘s been delayed a bit. The announcement’s ominously austere. The cool thing about companies founded by billioniares is you know they’re not in it to play the float on your $1,000 deposit. It will ship soon.

Having been the biggest RED skeptic of 2006, one might suspect me of playing the I-told-you-so game, but I’m not. What’s a few weeks in the grand scheme of things? When I was being skeptical I meant never, not a few weeks late. Even if they miss their target by a month, it’s still a remarkable feat that such a tool was developed so quickly. If anyone is sick of waiting wants to give up his or her place on line, I’ll take it. Having seen the footage at NAB, I’m a believer.