Some of you may have heard that a few days ago, Apple announced ProRes RAW – the next generation of the ProRes codec family. For many years ProRes has been this The industry standard capture and editing format, followed by Avid’s DNxHD.
When ProRes first appeared about ten years ago, it was big news. Post-production houses used to dealing with cumbersome uncompressed HD archives are now able to use a format that is visually the same but offers smaller file sizes and more efficient editing. Of course, the codec eventually found its way into countless cameras, software platforms, and external video recorders.
Things have changed over the years, however, and RAW recording—once a luxury reserved only for the most high-end productions—is now commonplace even on prosumer-level equipment. Cameras like the Blackmagic Pocket or Canon C200 have put RAW in the hands of lower budget/indie filmmakers, which is incredible but has also created workflow challenges for many filmmakers and editors.
RAW presents many of the same problems as uncompressed HD years ago, namely large archives and clunky post-production workflows.
This is where Apple ProRes RAW comes in.
The basic idea behind the format is to allow filmmakers to keep file sizes small without having to sacrifice the ability to use RAW for color grading. It’s truly a win-win, as many filmmakers are returning to shooting in compressed formats on many projects, as RAW is often overkill for smaller jobs. But ProRes RAW will allow filmmakers to keep their workflows exactly the same as when shooting with compression, but will open the door to the extremely flexible color grading that RAW is known for.
When you look at the image below, which shows the relative file sizes next to uncompressed 12-bit and classic ProRes styles, things start to look pretty impressive –
For those who don’t want to know more about how ProRes RAW works, check out Apple’s white paper here.
There have been many other compressed RAW formats over the years, such as RED’s variable .r3d file compression and 4:1 Cinema DNG on Blackmagic cameras, but ProRes RAW is likely to have a bigger impact. The reason is that Apple has the ability (and I think the intention) to standardize ProRes RAW across many cameras and editing platforms. For obvious reasons, we don’t see this from companies like RED, as it’s in their interest to keep the technology proprietary.
So if ProRes RAW takes off in the same way that the original ProRes series did, it will have a huge impact on production and post in the industry. For one, it could eventually bring RAW recording to digital SLRs and other compact cameras, something that many filmmakers will be angry about. Imagine shooting RAW on a GH5 instead of H264…that’s probably where we’re going.
But I’m more curious about how this will affect the post-production landscape. A few years ago, when Apple abandoned FCP 7 in favor of FCP
Yet after all these years, no one has truly stood out. Sure, there are tons of Premiere users out there, but many (myself included) are turned off the subscription model and generally don’t like the direction Adobe is going with Premiere… there’s always a lot of shiny features, but no It seems to work very well. At least in my opinion…
As expected, high-end pros returned to Avid, and then Blackmagic and DaVinci Resolve came out for free, which made things even more shocking. Ultimately, this makes the market very fragmented.
Nowadays, most editors I know use multiple platforms, and independent productions certainly no longer have an “industry standard” option like FCP 7 Days. That said, Apple ProRes RAW may change that.
From my perspective, more and more filmmakers have joined the FCP X team over the years, usually after getting frustrated with Premiere Pro. Many of them ended up sticking with FCP X after spending some time and seeing how powerful, stable, and efficient Final Cut actually became. I wouldn’t say that a vast majority of people have joined the party now, but FCP X is definitely gaining traction again.
But really, if there’s a reason for filmmakers to turn to FCP X, it’s ProRes RAW. Keep in mind that I’m well aware that Apple may plan to open this up to Adobe, Blackmagic, etc. to integrate it into their software. But FCP X could still benefit significantly for two reasons:
First, let’s start with the philosophical reasons: It shows that Apple cares again. For years, people were afraid to touch Apple with a ten-foot pole because it felt like they had abandoned the professional market and were just chasing iPhone sales. While that may be true, I don’t think that was Apple’s intention, at least not in the way others believe. I think Apple just has a different vision for where the professional market is going (smaller productions, less traditional post studios) and wants to make things more accessible.
With that in mind, I personally don’t think Apple would be fully focused on developments like ProRes RAW if they didn’t care at all. I believe this will be a sign – along with all the incredible FCP X updates over the past year or two – that they are serious. The upcoming new Mac Pro doesn’t hurt either.
But another variable to consider is that, from a technical perspective, ProRes RAW gives Apple the upper hand. Sure, ProRes RAW may be available on all major editing platforms, but anyone who’s ever used RAW knows that each software handles RAW files differently. The speed at which I play the same .r3d file will vary between FCP X, Premiere and Resolve, so naturally ProRes RAW favors FCP X.
How could it not be? FCP X is indeed built for ProRes, and ProRes is built for FCP X. I’d be shocked if Final Cut didn’t offer the best editing performance for ProRes RAW. But I bet DaVinci Resolve will be at the top as well.
In fact, this could spell trouble for Adobe. Over the past few years, Premiere had a chance to completely dominate the post-production editing market, but that wasn’t the case. Yes, it attracted a lot of ex-FCP 7 users, but it never quite took over for the reasons stated earlier.
Maybe this will never happen again. We may never again see a single editing platform dominate the market like Final Cut Classic. But if anything can change the status quo, it’s ProRes RAW. Not because it’s the flashiest tool, or the most exciting tool for the average filmmaker at this moment… but because it’s going to be ingrained in everything we do, from acquisition to editing to final deliver.
What do you think? Let me know your first impressions of ProRes RAW in the comments below.
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