Media 100's vision and implementation
The vision
What is "vision"? Vision is the ability to see what isn't there and make it happen. It can be considered a 'goal' but what makes vision different from a simple goal, is that vision sees opportunities, markets and innovations that have not already been done.
Vision, and visionaries, are important people because we need them to move forward, to innovate. If it were not for the visionaries we would still be editing film on flatbeds and video in linear suites. It was the visionaries that saw how they could move the editorial decision-making onto computers. Avid very successfully implemented editorial decision making software on a computer that very much, to this day, suits the needs of professional editors making "off-line" decisions for conforming elsewhere.
John Molinari, then heading the Multimedia division of Data Translation, had another vision - the democratization of video.
In fact, I quote from John Molinari's 1994 "Blood Secrets" article, originally published in Videography magazine and still available at CreativeCOW.net. http://www.creativecow.net/articles/molinari_john/blood_secrets.html
"Our mission is to make video personal. Nonlinear systems emerged in the Eighties to simplify working with video - however, these systems mainly benefit trained editors creating edit lists, not finished videos - at dedicated post facilities. Like the tape systems they replace, these systems are costly and dedicating one to a single individual is usually impractical.
Our purpose is to build nonlinear systems that empower the individual to compose finished videos, largely on their own, with small overhead costs. We call these people new users and see the individualism of their work leading to new forums of interest for video and altering how programs are "broadcast" to a target audience.
By "new," we mean new authors of video programs with creative backgrounds or communications jobs, creating new kinds of video programs, using the computer as a media source, and using new delivery systems, such as CD ROM and digital transmission over the Internet. Not all new users are "new to video" or video inexperienced, but have found working with video to be difficult, limiting, and costly."
Media 100 never intended to provide a tool for 'classic editors'. Media 100 and ultimately iFinish was intended to be 'video editing for the rest'. Part of the inevitable transition of "video" from being a specialist, high overhead, guild craft to "just another form of literacy".
I have long argued that video will ultimately become another form of 'literacy' and that everyone will shoot and edit video in some form, at some stage of their life, as they do now with reading and writing literacy. As with written literacy only a few will actually make a living from producing video. Very few make a living reading and writing and even then, there are many different ways to be a 'writer'.
That is another article entirely but for now, there is no doubt in my mind that we have seen the Blood Secrets vision come to pass. Data Translation, and later Media 100 Inc, started the revolution and made high quality video available way beyond the original boundaries. It allowed me to fulfill a long term desire to take my "video" into all the possibilities software processing offered.
What was probably not foreseeable in 1994 was the rise and rise of the DV formats with their reduced need for MJPEG based hardware. What was also not foreseeable was the evolution of a key partner - Apple - into a direct competitor.
Media 100's have stayed 'on course'
As we have already discovered, the original Media 100 was not intended to be an 'editor's tool'.
The name is in fact a hint at the heritage. Then consultant to the Media 100 project at Data Translation Inc, Craig Birkmaier, suggested the name based on the success of the GVG 100 - a small, high quality, simple but effective vision mixer targeted to small live production and edit suites. The GVG 100 was not a "Master Controllers" vision switcher but an editor's or producer's switcher.
Media 100 was the first system to promote finishing video on the desktop. That they could do that on a Quadra 840 is a tribute to the engineers who designed the hardware. The ability to finish broadcast quality video created tension for Media 100.
I remember clearly the look of shock, if not horror, that came over John Molinari's face when he was addressing the International Media 100 User Group breakfast at NAB 1999 when he asked how many people there worked for "traditional" post production houses. When about half raised their hand it totally surprised him, as this was not their target market.
Such success in an untargeted market creates tension. There is strong temptation to spend research and engineering dollars on meeting the needs of non-core customers to the detriment of the majority.
Media 100 has stayed on course with Media 100 and then Media 100i and iFinish.
The editing software retains its greatest asset - the simple, easy to use, intuitive interface. It is possible to teach the basics of Media 100 in half a day.
Media 100i Version 7.5 and its iFinish counterpart are the strongest releases yet. The integration with the Internet with EventStream was part of the original vision and remains so even with the sale of Cleaner and Cleaner Live!
The implementation of AppleScript into the Macintosh product and the scriptability of Cleaner on both major platforms allow innovative program creation under automatic control. These are visionary innovations that have been under-valued by the traditionalists in the user base.
Confidence in Management
There are a few very loud voices that seem to believe that Media 100's management do not "listen to customers" because their needs are not being met. And yet, when you consider the diversity and range of Media 100 customers, and the number of systems that have sold, the numbers of dissenting voices are few, if loud.
Many of those dissenting voices bought Media 100's wanting them to be something they were not at the time. I have relatively little sympathy for anyone that purchases a product for what it might become.
The reality is that the vast majority of Media 100 customers are satisfied with the product, happy with the feature set and those that need it are relatively satisfied with the Platinum support programs.
It was abundantly obvious at the recent After Effects West conference that there were many satisfied Media 100 users among the presenters. These were largely graphics shops that were using Media 100 for input, final assembly and output. There were some very high-end 'shops' producing Network 'branding packages' most major networks and in the hundreds of spots a month that were described as "truly humbling to us mere mortals" by one conference attendee. The next generation product seems to be aimed directly at this core market.
In other words, those people for whom Media 100 was intended are happy with it; those who bought it expecting it to become something else are not.
©2001 Philip Hodgetts