HD

Chapter 1 About the Post-Production Workflow 33
I
Step 4: Editing
The editing process involves taking the video and audio you’ve captured, along with
any music or graphics you’ve imported, and arranging these raw materials into a final
edited sequence of clips. Most editors start with a rough cut, where they quickly
arrange all of the clips for a movie in sequence. Once that’s finished, they work on fine-
tuning, subtly adjusting the edit points between clips and refining the pacing of each
cut. Basic audio editing and synchronizing are also part of this process, as well as
adding transitions, such as fades and dissolves.
Often, the type of project you’re working on determines your method of editing. For
example, documentary editing, in which the script often evolves in parallel with the
editing, is quite different from commercial television and film editing, in which there is
already a finished script to provide an order for clips.
Step 5: Mixing audio
Once your movie is edited and the picture is “locked,” meaning the duration of the
movie is fixed and you no longer intend to change any of the edits, you can begin
working more extensively on your audio. This involves:
 Cleaning up the dialogue with more detailed audio editing, balance audio levels,
and equalization
 Adding sound effects, music, and voiceover on additional audio tracks in the sequence
 Mixing the levels of all the different clips together to create a balanced sound mix
You can use Final Cut Express HD for each of these processes. For more information, see
“Overview of Audio Mixing” on page 561.
Note: You can also sweeten your audio with another audio application, perhaps even
at another facility. To export your movie audio, see “Exporting Audio for
Mixing in Other Applications” on page 1015.
Step 6: Adding effects
Creating effects tends to be more time-consuming than cuts-only editing, so it’s good
to focus on basic edits first and work on effects when the timing of your project is
finalized. Effects are any enhancements you want to make to your footage, such as
color correction, special transitions, animation, still or motion graphics, multilayered
images (compositing), and titles. Final Cut Express HD has a wide variety of video and
audio filters, each with parameters that you can keyframe to adjust over time in your
sequence, as described below.
Step 7: Outputting
Once editing is finished, effects are added, and the final audio mix is complete, you can
output your movie to videotape or film. You can also export to a QuickTime format for
web delivery or use in a DVD-authoring application.