Avid Uncut: Workflows, Tips, and Techniques from Hollywood Pros

Well written, useful book. I have a dog-eared copy. Thank you Steve Hullfish!

Steve's writing style is conversational, as if he was seated right next to you going over Avid's many features in an easy-to-understand manner. If you're anything like I was and found Avid Media Composer a bit daunting at first, this book breaks it down and will help demystify the essentials. And there are many tips to help speed up your process if you've already started editing with Avid.

The Bible. Has everything I took years to learn after making mistakes and asking others-- and a WHOLE LOT MORE. Recommended to newbies and seasoned vets alike. Read this book if you suddenly wake up and decide good isn't good enough. It can get better.

I'm a longtime professional Avid Editor. This book is a great reference for Avid users of all levels. Mr. Hullfish has covered all the bases here.

Still using the Kindle version. There is a new edition out.

Fantastic book! So useful!

Found this review from editor Jonny Elwyn to be very comprehensive.Avid Uncut:Workflows, Tips and Techniques from Hollywood Pros by Steve Hullfish is a similar book to Mike Matzdorff’s Final Cut Pro X: Pro Workflow although a lot longer and with a much wider remit than just one film’s workflow. At 390 pages it’s by far the longest book in this round up and the most detailed. Other than Matzdorff’s book it’s also the most up to date, being published in 2014.What’s also great about the book is that it comes with an extremely useful companion website which is stocked with tutorials, keyboard settings and downloadable R3D and Alexa footage to practice with. This makes it not just a bonus but a vital part of getting the most out of the book, as so often with editing it’s much easier to see things than read about them.Not only does the book give you the inside track on decades of editor Steve Hullfish’s experience in the edit suite, but that of a plethora of other experienced editors from assistants on The Big Bang Theory to award winning documentary editors like Steve Audette and feature editors like Wayne Wahrman (I am Legend, All the Kings Men, Charlie’s Angels I and II) offering sage advice throughout. Steve’s other book The Art and Technique of Digital Color Correction also benefits from this kind of expert input.Avid Uncut is an essential read for any assistant editor (or anyone whose just blagged themselves a gig as one and now needs to scramble to be ready!) looking to prepare themselves for work on film and TV productions. The book would also be really helpful for experienced editors moving to Avid from other NLE’s to understand how to get work done effectively in it’s unique environment.Every topic the book covers gets an in-depth explanation from metadata to camera specific workflows, bin organisation, Avid specific visual effects, and onlining. Steve’s writing is practical and results oriented which helps to make the whole thing meaty and not fluffy. For example, there is a whole chapter dedicated to customising your Avid Media Composer settings which goes into a lot of very detailed and practical knowledge, by the time we get to chapter 3 we’re already 183 pages in.There’s a critical mass to for a film and you have to whittle it down till you get to that point. Pacing really has to know it’s place inside the film… It has to do with the scene itself. What’s the scene trying to do? What’s it’s purpose? Story comes first, then performance. – Wayne WahrmanReading Steve’s book almost makes me want to get back into editing with Avid Media Composer again, and if you’re new to Avid it will be offering a massive amount of really useful information. If you’re an experienced hand, you’ll undoubtably learn something new too. But mostly it made me wish someone like Tyler Nelson (Fincher’s editor’s 1st Assistant) would write a similar book for Adobe Premiere Pro.

I am a self taught Avid editor/ documentary filmmaker and have have long yearned to sit beside an experienced Avid Editor to learn efficient workflows, advanced techniques and safe media management/archival techniques. I have learned a lot through the Avid forums but the focus of that learning has always been - "I am stuck, now how do I resolve my issue?". It has never been a thorough end-to-end learning to develop the techniques and discipline to become a better editor. I was even willing to spend the money to hire a editor as a consultant but I couldn't find anyone where I live that I considered that experienced.This amazing book does exactly what I wanted! I have just made my way through Chapter 1 and I have already learned so much and also incorporated the learnings into my editing workflow. It starts with ingesting the footage and takes you all the way, through the vantage point of many advanced Avid editors, including Steve Hullfish.I will post another review with more specific comments as I make my way through the book. However, for now, I am so thrilled to have found this book! Steve Hullfish has made a great contribution by writing this book! I am going to be referring to this book for a long time!

I am a senior edit assistant and know Avid very well. But I've learned quite a few things and I will go back to it again and again!

Lots of tips and tricks picked up whilst ready this.

just bought this book .. Very interesting book for AVIDers .. it really takes you soo deep into Avid and how is the editing in feature films.

I've been using various iterations of Media Composer for 17 years now and I still found little tips and tricks that have saved me some time. It doesn't read like a manual, but more like Steve is seated with you and walking you through it. I found it easy to digest and I have the book parked next to my home system so I can flip through it during renders! Great book!

Out of all the different books I've bought whilst trying to learn Avid. This has been the only one so far that is both up to date with version 7 if edit Composer and follows a logical sequence of order in terms if the book layout and chapters and doesn't assume I know everything and explains why Avid works that way. It also gives great tips on typical industry standard workflows to and that's made a huge difference to my editing skills. For that reason alone I give it five stars!