Final Cut Pro notes and crib sheet

These are note by Chris Horrie of a year three training tutorial with Corin. It is about how to use Final Cut Pro (FCP) to edit film into a package.

1. load FCP

2. Check the audio and video settings. Set audio to default. Set the audio and video setting FINAL CUT PRO > AUDIO VIDEO SETTINGS - brings a dialogue box with lots of scary stuff. Set for DV PAL 48 kHZ (next line the same)

Device Control Pre-set - Firewire Pal

On AV devices tab set to 'default' (this is the easiest way).

Then press save (shortcut is apple S). By saving you will create a project folder (name it something other than untitled).

3. Create a scratch disk. System Settings> (option says set and prompts you to give a location - this should be where the project file is).

4. Now we need to make/get some clips which we will use to make the film.

Put your tape into the tape deck. (You need a Mac connected to a tape deck. There are two machines like this in the TAB9 newsroom, one on the sportsdesk, one on production.

Capture the video using the commands File>Log and Capture

That will automatically detect the film in the tape deck. Press play and run it in real time in a window. You will see what you have filmed.

You have three options when you are creating the clips from which you will construct your package.

1. Capture Now - it will capture stuff as you watch it -
2. Capture Clip - this can capture part of the video automatically between two times that you noted when filming.
3. Batch Capture - you can set many in and out times and it will capture each as a separate film and it will make a list of these. Advice is not to use batch capture if you are a beginner. It is very useful and will speed you up when you are confident.

The clip will automatically accumulate into the Library. They will appear in the library on the left hand side of the screen. Name the clips in the description bar before capturing them

Now we have our clips.

Drag clips from source window or the library into the time line. Use in and out points to trim the clips. Shortcut is I and O.

WORKING ON THE CLIPS

You can de-link sound and video. Link selection and shift L. This allows you to keep the soundtrack (eg of an interview) running underneath a still picture or a graphic or a 'cut-away' piece of filming. You can turn the sound on and off on each clip or adjust the sound.

this will globally de-link the sound and vision, but there is a way of doing it for each clip.

THE RAZOR TOOL - press 'B' and this will turn it on.

The razor tool is for adding transition effects - eg a fade from one sequence into another.

Transitions are found in the effects window in the browser. You need to create a gap in the video time line so that transitions have time to work.

(It is best to render as you go along - rendering is reversible. It is the process that 'prints' the transition. You have to render transitions. The command is in the tool bar).

[Select default video settings for the video playback).

You can control and adjust the sound level in each clip and globally. There are advanced controls which allow you to automate the balancing of sound levels. Not for beginners.

Effects on the clips - click on the clip to load it into the viewer - in the motion tab you can control the size and shape of the clip - you can do slo mo (doesn't work too well - but speeding up does work). Slo mo and speeding is time re-mapping. It will keep the length of the clip the same, but speed up the action or slow it down.

All additional effects can be found in the effects tab in the top left of the screen.

Careful - once you do these effects it will take time to reverse them.

If you are speeding up a clip you will need to d-link the sound. Speeded up sound / slowed down sounds terrible. You will then have to re-edit the sequence to run the sound under the altered video.

Effects window has controls for compression and sound standardisation. Corin and Don Hendy are going to think about standardisation for compression. Don't worry about that right now.

When you are finished the film will need to be rendered. But it is best to render as you go along, eg after each time you crate a transition (effect) from one clip to another. The shortcut for rendering is apple R.

Please add comments on this blog adding detail and tips to these rudimentary notes.

Questions: Corin's email: corin.pritchard@winchester.ac.uk

Also - a video tutorial on capturing. You can find other tutorials on editing, and on special effects.