Hi,

I've just started getting know how to use Avid Xpress pro.

After some try, I've also got a question that, "is there any famous film ever edited by Avid?"

I hope that there are some. :]

Can anybody tell me about it?

 It's more like "What Hollywood film is NOT edited on an Avid?"  But if you need an example, one of many, the James Bond film "Die Another Day".

Hi, I appreciate your answer.

Let me have one more question.

What Hollywood film is NOT edited on an Avid?"  means..

are many Hollywood films (maybe almost) edited on Avid products?

 ah, and, could you tell me more examples? :]

 The majority of Hollywood films are edited on Avid. Dark Knight is another example.

 http://www.avid.com/showcase/index.asp

My question to you would be "how did you come to learn about Avid editing products?"

In my experience, most people have heard of Avid because they are immersed in the industry or know someone immersed in the industry and most of those people know that Avid is and has been the industry standard editing platform for Hollywood films since at least 1995 or so.

If you're just getting started with Avid, then you had to hear of it somehow... afterall, you didn't just pop out of the ground.

The vast majority of Hollywood films are edited on Avid.  You'll notice in most DVD commentaries, they'll say something like, "and then we took it into the Avid and saw we needed to reshoot this part." 

They say "the Avid" because Avid originally cornered the market making custom built work stations that could edit film and video.  By edit film I mean create an EDL list to send back to the actual cutting station though now most people are just scanning 35mm film in at 2k or 4k resolutions and using this as a digital intermediate to print back to 35mm or just do digital projection.

Anyway, so these Avid's which had specialized hardware and software soon becamse a standard throughout the industry.  Then others, like Pinnacle and Premiere, started releasing pure software editors for stuff like DV and Avid eventually came out with Avid Xpress Pro which was kind of a downgraded version of the software running on there big stations (I'm probably getting a lot of facts and history wrong right now since I only have a very loose understanding of how all this developed). 

The point is that the big Hollywood guys aren't editing stuff on Avid Xpress Pro but rather big, super Avid machines like Symphony, Nitris, Adrenaline, DX, and a whole bunch of other code-names that cost tens of thousands and I've only been allowed to touch when I'm touring a studio or when I was in film school.  That said, the nice thing about something like Xpress Pro is that it still comes from that family and one could actually edit a film on Xpress Pro then take it over to one of the giant bad-boys and take advantage of some of the more hard-core features they offer.

Avid gets used by the industry for a couple of reasons.  First off is that they're the only one really who has these uber-expensive stations.  They also offer media management better than anyone else.  Finally they've been an institution for a long time and the editor was designed for hardcore film people who were used to cutting on film (hence calling things "bins" instead of "folders").   

So, getting to the point (which I realize takes me forever), it's kind of silly to ask someone to name a major film edited with an Avid system because they pretty much all are.  It would be like asking if we can name a famous graphic artist who uses Photoshop.  Alot of independent films use Final Cut Pro because it's becoming more and more competative and is cheaper than the lower-grade Avids.  There's also been one or two features that have used FCP (Cold Mountain).  Save for that though, all feature that cut digitally are using an Avid.  Watch any making of documentaries and, if they're interviewing an editor in one of the featurettes, you'll see an Avid workstation behind him.

 You may find it interesting that the ancestor of Avid Media Composer was a pre-ILM George Lucas developed system known as EditDroid.

After some try, I've also got a question that, "is there any famous film ever edited by Avid?"

.- 85% (conservatively) of all Hollywood movies are edited on a Avid.

And almost every movie sound design is made on a Protools System, which is also an Avid product.

MalachiX:

Watch any making of documentaries and, if they're interviewing an editor in one of the featurettes, you'll see an Avid workstation behind him.

That's quite true, and more often than not, they're older, Meridien based systems in the shot (some of them as old as Version 5!) because most of those interviews are done during the rough cut stages. The finishing work is usually completed on higher end systems and then conformed to film.

Larry Rubin:

known as EditDroid

"and more often than not, they're older, Meridien based systems ..."

Totally true.  In fact, up until the new DX products became available, the most stable film editing solution was an OS9-based MC running on Meridien v11.2.7 on a Unity.  The OSX versions running 12.1.5 were next ... although, ahem, OSX on Unity kinda sucks.  However, we have many, many of these configurations around our faciitiy.

"By edit film I mean create an EDL list to send back to the actual cutting station  ..."

Small calrification.  The output provided to the Negative Cuter, is a "Cut List".  The EDL would typically go to the audio sweetening department.

Randall L Rike:

"By edit film I mean create an EDL list to send back to the actual cutting station  ..."

Small calrification.  The output provided to the Negative Cuter, is a "Cut List".  The EDL would typically go to the audio sweetening department.

Really?  Do you mean to tell me that my film school lied to me?  I was taught that we sent the EDL to the cutter.  Granted I, and pretty much no one in my class, actually opted for a film-out.  Rather, we just got our 16mm footage on Beta SP and edited that for projection in the film-fest.  Most were so irrate at the cost of buying and developing footage that they'd never consider actually making a 16mm version of their edit and, those that could afford it, wouldn't have had a place to show it anyway since we didn't have any working film projectors.

"Do you mean to tell me that my film school lied to me?"

Lie?  Might be a little harsh.  I was not there, and do not know the context of the explanation that was given.  However, the two lists contain different information, and for different purposes.  Specifically, a Cut List contains Key Numbers, which are essential to Negative Cutting.  the EDL does not contain that data.

At the risk of tooting my own horn, I've done quite a few editor interviews for Videography. Most are available on my blog (digitalfilms.wordpress.com). Just search the categories under films, editing, Avid and Final Cut Pro and you can see what a lot of the top feature editors have to say about either system.

Sincerely,

Oliver