The Suck
Doing the same old thing is easy, even when it makes things harder. Reusing those same neural pathways is easier than growing new ones; I don’t make up the rules, it’s just science. But that doesn’t mean we can’t all painfully, slowly push through until we’ve made lasting change. The problem is that the majority of us won’t. I don’t blame people; change sucks.
It took me two years to stop talking about how I was going to quit using Adobe Premiere and switch to Blackmagic’s Resolve. I did so thinking it was going to be painful, like when I started using Final Cut Pro again after the “iMovie Pro” recode to FCPX. FCPX, renaming standard terms like bin, clip, etc., to video-unrelated terms like “event” or “collections” as if a film was an art world event. It required not only learning a new interface but also adjusting my vernacular, my internal voice’s vocabulary, to something that didn’t fit logically with my decades-long conversation in all things video.
Switching to Resolve was not like this at all. If anything, it was like when I first switched to Mac from PC back in 2006. It was more a matter of letting go and finding an easier way to make things happen. Still a bit of an internal code switch, but not like the foreign intrusion of non-video terms found in FCPX. Using nodes is a logical way to connect and influence the video clip, like an idea or memory tied to and influenced by adjacent ideas. The only moments of “change sucks” are in the keyboard shortcuts or navigating the new menu bar and those different pages: Media, Cut, Edit, Fusion, Color, Fairlight, Deliver. Initially, it seems a bit much. Eventually, it serves as a nice mental break between different stages of production.
Unstuck
I’m now resolved in my previous year’s resolution. One year as a Resolve user. My desktop cluttered with a Speed Editor and a set of color wheels makes me certainly look like the expert, but never without a YouTube tutorial away from figuring out a new creative solution to fit my needs. The “suck” is long gone. The benefits of the hard work are reaped.
As for this year’s resolution; you’re reading it. I’ve never put much energy into writing. And as my brain moves towards its 50th year of slacking off, I can feel that it needs some working out. I’ll start with an easy goal. At least one blog post every two weeks. Siri, set a timer…
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