Introduction 1
About This Book 1
How to Use This Book 3
Foolish Assumptions 3
How This Book Is Organized 4
Part I: First Things First 4
Part II: Importing and Organizing Your Media 4
Part III: Editing Your Media 5
Part IV: Adding Pizzazz 5
Part V: Outputting Your Masterpiece 6
Part VI: The Part of Tens 6
Icons Used in This Book 6
Contacting the Author 7
Part I: First Things First 9
Chapter 1: Introducing Final Cut Pro 11
Understanding the Purpose of Editing 11
Exploring the Capabilities of Final Cut Pro 12
Appreciating nondestructive editing 13
Final Cut Pro versus the competition 13
New in Final Cut Pro HD (and the earlier version 4) 14
Going with the Final Cut (Work) Flow 16
Taking a Grand Tour of the Interface 17
The Browser 18
The Viewer 19
The Timeline 20
The Tool palette 21
The Canvas 21
Chapter 2: Getting Started 23
Hardware Requirements 23
Selecting and Configuring a Mac 24
CPU speed 26
Memory (RAM) 26
Disk storage for DV video 27
Monitors and LCDs 28
Doing DV? You need a FireWire port 29
DV videocameras and playback decks 30
Other optional hardware 30
Getting Started 32
Connecting and preparing all your hardware 32
Launching Final Cut Pro 34
Choosing an initial setup 35
Working with Projects and Sequences 37
Saving and autosaving projects 38
Setting up the Autosave feature 39
Managing projects 40
Adjusting Your Project and Sequence Settings 42
Choosing a different Easy Setup 44
Choosing a different preset 44
Creating new presets 44
Chapter 3: All About HD (High Definition) 47
What Is HD? 48
Supersharp image quality 48
Wide-screen aspect ratio 49
The many flavors of HD 49
How Final Cut Works with HD 51
The way things were 51
Final Cut Pro HD makes HD easy 51
Creating DVCPRO HD Video 53
Affordable HD Cameras — the Good and the Bad News 53
Part II: Importing and Organizing Your Media 57
Chapter 4: Capturing Media from Tape 59
Connecting a DV Camera or Deck 60
Understanding Timecode 61
Capturing in the Log and Capture Window 61
Navigating through a DV tape 62
Describing and capturing video — the long way 64
Logging clips 66
Changing your logging bin 67
Capturing the video — the short way 68
Locating captured clips 70
Letting Final Cut Pro Find Scenes for You 72
Capturing over Timecode Breaks 73
Batch-Capturing Clips 75
Chapter 5: Importing Media That’s Already on Your Mac 77
Your Media Files Are Welcome Here 77
Some Media May Need Rendering 78
Importing Your Media into Final Cut Pro 79
Importing one or more files at a time 80
Importing a folder full of files (or other folders) 81
Importing files by dragging them from the Finder 82
Importing music tracks directly from a CD 83
Importing Photoshop files (layers and all) 84
Converting MP3 (and Other Kinds of Audio) with QuickTime Pro 86
Chapter 6: Organizing Your Media 91
Working in the Browser 91
Using bins 93
Viewing clips as icons or in lists 93
Figuring Out the Browser Icons 95
Using Browser Columns 96
Understanding the column headings 97
Sorting clips by column 98
Working with column headings 98
Changing names and settings in a column 99
Making Copies of Clips 100
Adding Transitions and Effects to the Favorites Bin 101
Finding Clips Fast 102
Searching by clip name 102
More-powerful searches 103
Dealing with Offline Media 104
Recapturing deleted clips 106
Reconnecting an offline clip 106
Part III: Editing Your Media 109
Chapter 7: Editing Basics 111
Understanding the Editing Process 111
Getting to know the Timeline 113
Playing back video: The Viewer and Canvas windows 114
Looking at timecode data in the Viewer and Canvas 116
Moving Clips to the Timeline 117
Inserting and overwriting 117
Choosing the right track on the Timeline 119
Using a shortcut to insert and overwrite 120
Setting a clip’s In and Out points in the Viewer 120
Recycling a clip by changing its In and Out points 122
Selecting Clips on the Timeline 122
Moving a Clip That’s Already on the Timeline 125
Overwriting a moved clip 125
Swapping a moved clip 125
Inserting or overwriting a copied clip 126
Speeding Editing with Snapping 127
Resizing Clips That Are Already on the Timeline 127
Resizing clips directly on the Timeline 128
Resizing clips in the Viewer window 129
Understanding the limitations of resizing clips 131
Cutting a Clip in Two 132
Deleting Clips from the Timeline 134
Using lift edits and ripple deletes 135
Deleting a range of frames on multiple tracks 136
Chapter 8: Getting to Know the Timeline 137
Investigating Timeline Tracks 137
Locking tracks so that they can’t be changed 138
Muting and soloing audio tracks 140
Hiding video tracks so that they don’t play 141
Setting up destination tracks on the Timeline 141
Adding and deleting tracks from the Timeline 144
Customizing Your View of the Timeline 147
Making Timeline tracks big and small 148
Customizing other Timeline stuff 149
Navigating the Timeline 154
Moving the playhead anywhere on the Timeline 154
Moving the playhead linearly through the Timeline 155
Zooming In and Out of the Timeline 156
Some Timeline Details 158
Chapter 9: Editing Wizardry 161
Going Beyond Insert and Overwrite Edits 161
Replace edits 161
The Match Frame feature 163
Fit-to-fill edits 165
Superimpose edits 166
Splitting Video and Audio Edits 167
Splitting edits from the Viewer 168
Splitting edits on the Timeline 169
Using Advanced Editing Tools 170
Resizing clips with roll and ripple edits 171
Slip-slidin’ clips 175
Using Markers to Highlight Important Moments 179
Setting markers 179
Renaming, deleting, and designating markers 182
Searching for markers 183
Playing a Clip Backward 184
Changing a Clip’s Speed 185
Setting a constant speed 186
Setting a variable speed 187
Stopping Action with a Freeze Frame 191
Nesting a Sequence into Another Sequence 192
Adding a Voice-Over to a Sequence 193
Part IV: Adding Pizzazz 197
Chapter 10: Audio Excellence 199
Some Audio Basics 200
Capturing and maintaining high-quality audio 200
Understanding stereo and mono audio 201
Rendering audio 202
Three Ways to Set Volume Levels 204
Changing the volume of audio clips in the Viewer 205
Adjusting the volume of clips on the Timeline 210
Mixing with the Audio Mixer 212
Panning an Audio Clip 217
Creating Audio Transitions 219
Working with Audio Filters 221
Applying an audio filter and changing its parameters 221
Changing filter parameters over time with keyframes 223
Disabling and deleting filters 226
Getting quick access to your favorite filters 226
Exploring Audio Filters 226
Equalization filters 227
Echoes and reverberations 227
Compression and expansion filters 228
Noise-reduction filters 229
Copying and Removing Audio Attributes 229
Chapter 11: Composing a Soundtrack 231
Getting Started 232
Installing and launching 232
A quick overview of the interface 233
Creating Your Soundtrack 235
Getting video into soundtrack 235
Establishing your score’s master settings 238
Finding the right loops 239
Editing loops on the Timeline 241
Looking at your Timeline options 244
Changing volume, pan, and key 245
Other Stuff 249
Markers mark important moments 249
Applying effects 251
Making your own loops and one-shots 252
Exporting Your Score 252
Chapter 12: Creating Transitions 255
Exploring the Types of Transitions in Final Cut Pro 255
Applying Your First Transition 257
Looking at the Many Ways to Apply Transitions 259
Dragging transitions from the Browser to the edit point on the Timeline 260
Using the keyboard shortcut 260
Copying and pasting a transition 261
Editing Clips and Adding Transitions 261
Rendering Transitions 263
Rendering a single transition 263
Rendering all transitions in a range 264
Modifying Transitions 264
Changing the duration of a transition 264
Changing the alignment of a transition 266
Moving transitions 267
Replacing and removing transitions 267
Fading In and Out 267
Saving and Organizing Custom Transitions 268
Using the Transition Editor to Customize a Transition 269
Chapter 13: Adding Text to Your Videos 271
Formatting Text for Display on a TV 271
Selecting the right font size 272
Avoiding thick and thin 272
Using textures and colors sparingly 273
Getting Started with a Text Generator 274
Creating Text with Final Cut Pro 275
Creating text and adding it to a video 275
Understanding the options on the Controls tab 279
Touring the text generators 282
Creating titles on colored backgrounds 285
Creating Titles with LiveType 286
Exporting a movie from Final Cut Pro to use with LiveType 287
Using LiveType to create a new title 288
Using Titles and Text Created Outside Final Cut Pro 291
Working with Photoshop and Final Cut Pro 291
Preparing Photoshop Text for Final Cut Pro 292
Chapter 14: Special Effects with Filters and
Color Correction 295
Shooting Video with Effects in Mind 296
Making a Colored Clip Black and White 296
Getting That Old, Grainy Video Look 298
Changing Colors 300
Using mattes 300
Using the RGB Balance tool 302
Working with Color-Correction Tools 304
Selecting and changing the color of an object 307
Copying color-correction settings to other clips 309
Fixing or Adjusting Exposures 309
Comparing Results with the Frame Viewer 312
Checking Out More Handy Filters 313
Blurring the Action 315
Saving and Applying Customized Filters 316
Chapter 15: Motion Effects 319
Manipulating Images in Wireframe Mode 319
Scaling, rotating, and moving images 321
Cropping or distorting an image 322
Working in Wireframe mode in the Viewer 323
Changing Images with the Motion Tab 324
Using Keyframes to Change Motion Settings over Time 326
Using keyframes to set clip opacity 327
Editing existing keyframes 329
Using keyframes to set other motion values 329
Editing motion keyframes 332
Creating a Multiple-Screen Effect 333
Chapter 16: Compositing 337
Choosing a Composite Mode 338
Applying a Composite Mode 340
Understanding Alpha Channels 342
Compositing with Mattes and Keys 342
Creating a simple matte 343
Compositing with keys 347
Tips for getting clean keys 350
Part V: Outputting Your Masterpiece 353
Chapter 17: Recording to Tape 355
Setting Up for Recording 355
Looking out for dropped frames! 357
Recording to DV tape with a camera or deck 358
Recording to VHS 358
Recording to Tape 361
Recording directly from the Timeline 361
Printing to video 363
Editing to tape 365
Editing Online versus Offline 369
Chapter 18: Exporting Your Movie to a Digital File 371
Working with QuickTime Video 372
Getting to Know Codecs 373
Looking at the Video Codecs 374
Looking at the Audio Codecs 376
Knowing Your Data Rates 377
Export Away! 378
Exporting a Batch of Movies 381
Easy Exporting with the Compressor Application 383
Exporting video from Final Cut Pro using Compressor 384
Batch-exporting sequences with Compressor 386
Part VI: The Part of Tens 389
Chapter 19: Ten Tips for Becoming a Better Editor 391
Try Out the Final Cut Pro Tutorials 391
Study (Don’t Just Watch) Movies and Commercials 392
Practice on Someone Else’s Real-World Footage 392
Go Online and Find a Community 392
Join a Final Cut Pro User Group 393
Upgrade Your Hardware 393
Upgrade Your Software 394
Curl Up with a Good Book 395
Chapter 20: Almost Ten Tips for Managing Big Projects 397
Keep Your Media Files Organized 398
Use Bins — Lotsa Bins! 398
Keep Your Clip Names Informative 399
Document Your Clips 400
Use the Find Feature 401
Stay Oriented with Markers 401
Break Scenes into Sequences and Nest ’em Together 403
Save on Hard Drive Space 403
Index 407
