If you're ready to get serious about editing video, this best-selling, Apple-certified guide to Final Cut Pro is the best place to start. Master trainer Diana Weynand starts with basic video editing techniques and takes you all the way through Final Cut Pro's powerful advanced features, delivering comprehensive training--the equivalent of a five-day course--in one project-based book. Each chapter presents a complete lesson in an aspect of video editing and finishing, with hands-on projects for you to complete as you go. All the files you need are on the DVD-ROM. After getting acquainted with the software's interface, you'll learn how to mark and edit clips, insert and adjust edits, and work with clips on the timeline, before moving on to complex topics like creating transitions and motion effects, real-time color correcting, and titling techniques. Previously published as Final Cut Pro 4, this revision has been updated for the HD interface.

Publishers Note If you previously purchased Apple Pro Training Series: Final Cut Pro 4, there is no need to purchase this revision: All the project files and exercises in the previous edition can be used with Final Cut Pro HD.

In the only Apple-certified source for Final Cut Express 2 training, a bestselling author provides authorized instruction in Apple and Adobe products and curriculum development for entertainment-industry technologies. The comprehensive course gives even complete editing novices the chops to start creating high-quality with Final Cut Express 2. The companion DVD includes lessons.

The scalability, performance and Emmy Award-winning workflow of Final Cut Pro 5 make it the first choice of professional editors everywhere. For those clamoring to get in on the action, this best-selling volume uses a series of class-length lessons designed to provide a strong foundation in all aspects of the digital video editing powerhouse. Readers follow the step-by-step instructions to complete the book's hands-on exercises, using the project files on the accompanying DVD. Master teacher Diana Weynand covers everything from basic editing skills to complex topics such as creating transitions and motion effects, real-time color correcting, titling techniques, and more. Previously published as Final Cut Pro HD, this revision has been updated to cover all of Final Cut Pro 5's new features, including higher quality effects, RT Extreme with Dynamic RT, editing multi-camera projects, closer integration with Apple's other creative tools and more.

Table of Contents

Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Lesson 1 Working with the Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Preparing the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Final Cut Pro Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Following a Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Working with Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Working with Bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Working with the Timeline and Canvas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Project Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Magnifying Timeline Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Quitting and Hiding Final Cut Pro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Lesson Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Lesson 2 Marking and Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Preparing the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Playing Clips in the Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Marking Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Working with Audio Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Preparing to Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Making Overwrite Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Backing Up Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Inserting Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Saving and Quitting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Lesson Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Table of Contents

vi

Lesson 3 Drag-and-Drop Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Preparing the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Manipulating Clips in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Preparing for Drag-and-Drop Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Dragging Clips to the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Dragging Audio to the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Changing a Clip in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Saving and Quitting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Lesson Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Lesson 4 Marking in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Preparing the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Marking in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Selecting Tracks in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Deleting Clips and Gaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Editing to an Audio Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Importing Clips into a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Editing Sound Effects to Video Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Linking Clips Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Adding Cutaways or B-Roll Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Lesson Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Lesson 5 Trimming Edit Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Preparing the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Trimming Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Dragging to Trim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Trimming One Track of a Linked Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Trimming and Rippling Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Trimming in the Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Using the Razor Blade Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Extending an Edit Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Lesson Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Contents vii

Lesson 6 Adjusting Edit Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Preparing the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Adjusting Two Edit Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Rolling Edit Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Slipping Clip Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Adjusting and Changing Clip Placement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Using the Trim Edit Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Lesson Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

Lesson 7 Other Editing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Preparing the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Making Subclips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Working with Markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

Copying Clips in the Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Replacing Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247

Storyboard Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

Keeping Linked Clips in Sync . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Lesson Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

Lesson 8 Browser Basics and Project Customization . . . . 257

Preparing the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Customizing Browser Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Finding Items in the Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Working with Master Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Organizing Project Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Customizing the Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Customizing Shortcut Keys and Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Choosing an Easy Setup Preset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

Selecting User Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

Viewing Clip Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Changing Sequence Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Lesson Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Lesson 9 Capturing Footage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Preparing the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

Connecting Sources for Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Previewing and Marking Your Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

Logging Your Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306

Choosing Clip Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

Choosing Capture Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Capturing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322

Setting Capture Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

Lesson Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

Lesson 10 Applying Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

Preparing the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

Understanding Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

Viewing Transition Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

Applying Video Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

Applying Audio Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349

Using the Transition Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352

Changing Transition Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356

Previewing and Rendering Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362

Lesson Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367

Lesson 11 Mixing Audio Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371

Preparing the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372

Organizing and Previewing Audio Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373

Adjusting and Editing Audio in the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . 377

Changing Audio Levels Over Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386

Mixing Tracks Using the Audio Mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391

Recording a Narration Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396

Importing CD Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401

Lesson Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404

Lesson 12 Changing Motion Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407

Preparing the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408

Changing Clip Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408

Creating a Freeze-Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413

Changing Motion Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416

Sharing Motion Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425

Animating Motion Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429

Creating a Variable Speed Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438

Lesson Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442

Lesson 13 Applying Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445

Preparing the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446

Applying Video Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447

Viewing and Modifying Filter Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450

Applying Corrective Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454

Applying Audio Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465

Compositing Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466

Adding Keyframes to Animate Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476

Lesson Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478

Lesson 14 Multicam Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481

Preparing the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482

Organizing a Multiclip Editing Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484

Synchronizing Camera Angles by In Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486

Creating and Viewing Multiclips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490

Modifying Multiclips in the Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493

Editing with Multiclips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498

Synchronizing Camera Angles by Timecode . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507

Switching Angles with Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511

Collapsing a Multiclip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512

Lesson Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514

Lesson 15 Adding Titles and Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517

Preparing the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518

Working with Text Generators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518

Adding Color Mattes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535

Working with Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 538

Adding Motion Effects to Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543

Working with Boris Text Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548

Lesson Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552

Lesson 16 Finishing and Outputting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555

Preparing the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556

Reconnecting Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557

Finishing Audio and Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562

Exporting Finished Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569

Outputting to Tape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579

Managing Project Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590

Backing Up Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593

Lesson Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594

Appendix A Introduction to LiveType . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597

Appendix B Final Cut Studio Workflows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627