An Introduction to Final Cut Pro 5.0
I have just completed a very interesting three day hands-on course on editing professional video. Although the course was a beginners guide to Final Cut, it managed to touch base with everything it has to offer.
The course was taken by Chris Roberts who with real enthusiasm gave me a fresh look into an area I studied many moons ago whilst the process was still analogue! It awaked interest.
Day One
- Working with the interface.
- Marking and Editing
- Drag and drop editing.
- Marking in the timeline, adding cutaways (B-roll material).
- Trimming edit points with dragging, rippling edits and the razor blade.
- Adjusting edit points using Rolling and Slipping.
Day Two
- Editing with Subclips, using markers, Replace edits, storyboard editing and keeping things in sync
- Browser basics and customisation
- Capturing footage
- Applying transitions
- Mixing Audio tracks
Day Three
- Changing motion parameters, inc. clip speed, freeze-framing and variable speed changes
- Applying filters, inc. video, corrective, audio filters and keyframes
- Multicam Editing.
- Adding text and graphics (this was really only touched on with time running out)
- Finishing and outputting (also only touched on with time running out)
The three days I enjoyed. No really. It was peeking through the letter box into a palace I’m sure, with the scope of FCP’s potential but well worth it.
Walter Murch edited ‘Cold Mountain‘ using Final Cut Pro 3.0 and a bunch of Power Macs, so I’m off to watch it.
(After note: Ten minutes in, I’d forgot that Walter Murch edited ‘Cold Mountain’ using Final Cut Pro 3.0 and a bunch of Power Macs)