Final Cut Pro 7 Exploring Final Cut Pro
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Contents 7 8 10 14 19 24 28 29 31 Chapter 1: A First Look at Final Cut Pro Opening Final Cut Pro Jump In: Explore the Browser Jump In: Explore the Viewer Jump In: Explore the Canvas Jump In: Explore the Timeline Jump In: Work with the Main Windows Learning About Projects, Sequences, Clips, and Media Files Key Concepts 33 34 40 48 Chapter 2: Bringing Media into Your System Jump In: Explore Tape-Based Video Capture Jump In: Explore File-Based Video Transfer Jump In: Import Still Images and Other Media 51
55 55 61 62 68 77 Chapter 3: Preparing Clips in the Viewer Jump In: Get to Know the Viewer Jump In: Change Clips in the Viewer Jump In: Create a Title Clip Jump In: Change Clips over Time Learning About Motion Parameters 79 Key Concepts 81 81 86 93 97 Chapter 4: Working with the Canvas and Timeline Jump In: Work with the Canvas Jump In: Work with Tracks in the Timeline Jump In: Edit Clips into a Sequence in the Timeline Key Concepts 99 Chapter 5: Basic Editing 99 Jump In: Trim Clips 107 Jump In: Make Si
141 Chapter 7: Creating Voiceovers 141 Jump In: Add Voiceover Clips 150 Key Concepts 151 Chapter 8: Adding Video Filters and Transitions 152 Jump In: Apply Filters to Clips 157 159 165 169 Jump In: Make Simple Color Corrections Jump In: Add Transitions Between Clips Learning About Transitions Key Concepts 171 172 173 176 Chapter 9: Outputting Your Finished Movie Jump In: Create a QuickTime Movie Jump In: Export a Movie in a Specific File Format Key Concepts 177 Chapter 10: Getting Answers 177 Jump In: E
A First Look at Final Cut Pro 1 Welcome to Final Cut Pro. If you’re new to the Final Cut Pro video editing workflow, this guide is for you. Here you’ll create a sample video project and learn by doing. Each chapter of this book presents major features and guides you in trying things out. Feel free to explore on your own. Have fun learning the basics. Later, when you feel comfortable, you can bring in your own video and other media and begin serious editing with Final Cut Pro.
Opening Final Cut Pro You’ll start by opening Final Cut Pro and creating a sample project. To open Final Cut Pro: 1 Double-click the Final Cut Pro icon in your Applications folder. 2 If you see the Choose Settings dialog, click OK to accept the default settings. When you open Final Cut Pro, it checks to see if a camera or other device is connected to your computer.
3 Click Continue. When Final Cut Pro opens, your screen will look similar to this: Browser Viewer Canvas Timeline On the left you see the Browser, where you create projects and organize bins that hold your clips. Now you’re ready to explore a simple video editing workflow.
Jump In: Explore the Browser First, you’ll import some clips into your project, and then you’ll explore some important parts of the Final Cut Pro interface. If you have video files of your own on your computer, feel free to import several and work with them as you explore. You’ll learn more about capturing video from a camcorder or other device later. Getting Ready To import sample video files: 1 In Final Cut Pro, choose Help > Final Cut Pro Help.
To import your own video files that are already on your computer: 1 Choose File > Import > Files. 2 Navigate to the folder holding your video files. 3 Select the files you want to import into Final Cut Pro. You can Shift-click or Command-click files to select several at once. 4 Click Choose. Next, you’ll explore the Browser.
Try This Feel free to try out any of the following to see what happens. Change the Browser display: mm Choose View > Browser Items > as Large Icons to display the clips as icons. mm Choose View > Browser Items > as Small Icons to display the clips as smaller icons. Drag the clips around in the Browser to reposition or reorder them. mm Choose View > Browser Items > as List to display the clips as a list of items. Create and work with bins: 1 Choose File > New > Bin to create a new bin to hold clips.
Create a new sequence: 1 Choose File > New > Sequence. A new sequence icon appears in the project. A sequence represents clips in the Timeline. A sequence might hold a scene, a portion of your movie, or the entire movie. 2 Select the sequences and name them “Scene 1” and “Scene 2.” 3 Double-click the Scene 2 sequence icon and notice that there are now two sequence tabs in the Timeline. Sequence tabs 4 Click the sequence tabs in the Timeline to switch between sequences.
Jump In: Explore the Viewer You use the Viewer to view and edit individual clips, set In and Out points, set markers, and more. Try This Place a clip in the Viewer: mm Drag Sample Clip 1 into the Viewer. Change the display of a clip in the Viewer: mm Choose Fit to Window from the Zoom pop-up menu in the Viewer. Final Cut Pro resizes the clip to display it completely within the Viewer’s frame. Choose 50% from the Zoom pop-up menu to display the clip at half size.
Play a clip in the Viewer: mm Click the Play button to start and stop playing the video clip. Then press the Space bar to start and stop playing the video clip. Scrubber bar Play button mm Press J to play the clip backward. Press K to stop playback. Press L to play the clip forward. Press the J or L key several times to accelerate the playback speed, and press K to stop playback.
Navigate to specific locations in a clip: mm Click in the white scrubber bar to reposition the playhead. The scrubber bar represents the length of the clip. mm Press the Home key or the End key to move the playhead to the beginning or end of the clip. mm Drag the shuttle control right or left to play the clip forward or backward slowly. Shuttle control mm Drag the jog control to move the playhead forward or backward by a small number of frames.
Set and work with In and Out points: mm Position the playhead near the beginning of the clip and choose Mark > Mark In to set an In point. Position the playhead near the end of the clip and choose Mark > Mark Out to set an Out point. Click the Play In to Out button to play the clip starting from the In point. Click the Play In to Out button again to restart the playback from the In point. Press the Space bar to stop playing the clip.
Navigate between edit points: mm Click the Go to Next Edit button or the Go to Previous Edit button to move the playhead to the next or previous edit point. Go to Previous Edit button Go to Next Edit button mm Press the Up Arrow and Down Arrow keys to move between edit points.
Jump In: Explore the Canvas The Canvas is where you play back the movie that you’ve created in the Timeline.
Try This Use the Canvas to place a clip in the Timeline: mm Drag the clip from the Viewer (just drag the image) into the Canvas until the colored Edit Overlay appears. Drag the clip to the Insert section of the overlay. The clip is inserted in the Timeline. Drag from here... ...to here. Note: If you see a message asking if you want Final Cut Pro to set the Timeline sequence settings to match the incoming clip settings, click Yes.
Change the display of the Canvas: mm Choose several different zoom levels from the Zoom pop-up menu. Last, choose the 50% zoom level from the Zoom pop-up menu. Zoom pop-up menu Play and navigate within the clip in your sequence: mm Click the Canvas window to make it active. To play the clip in your sequence in the Timeline, press Home to move the playhead to the beginning of the Timeline, then click the Play button in the Canvas transport controls.
mm Press the Space bar to start and stop playback. mm Click in the white scrubber bar in the Canvas to reposition the playhead. The scrubber bar represents the sequence in the Timeline. mm Press the Home key or the End key to move the playhead to the beginning or end of the sequence in the Timeline. mm Press the J key or L key to play the clip backward or forward. Press K to stop playback. Press the J or L key several times to accelerate the playback speed.
Reposition the playhead in the Canvas (if your mouse has a trackball): mm Position the pointer over the Canvas and roll the trackball left or right to reposition the playhead in the Canvas and Timeline. Change the display of the Canvas: mm Choose Show Overlays from the View pop-up menu. Choose Show Title Safe from the View pop-up menu to have Final Cut Pro display borders showing the part of the image that will appear on a standard video screen.
Jump In: Explore the Timeline The Timeline holds your sequences, which contain the arrangement of video and audio clips, and other items such as titles and transitions, in the order you want them in your movie. Sequence tab Playhead Ruler Video clip item Audio clip items Zoom slider Thumb tab Try This Play and navigate within the sequence in the Timeline: mm Click in the Timeline ruler to reposition the playhead. Try using the J, K, and L keys to play the sequence in the Timeline.
mm Drag the thumb tabs at the ends of the Zoom slider to change the displayed length of the Timeline’s clips. Scroll through the Timeline by dragging the Zoom slider left or right. mm Press Command–Equal Sign (=) and Command-Hyphen (-) to zoom in to and out of the Timeline. Scroll through the sequence in the Timeline: mm Press H to select the Hand tool, then drag left or right within the Timeline. Press A to select the Selection tool again.
mm Position the pointer over the end of the clip and drag to shorten or lengthen the clip. You can trim either end of a clip this way. mm Click the Razor Blade tool in the Tool palette. Position the pointer over the clip, then click to split the clip. Click the Selection tool. Select part of the clip and press Delete. Selection tool Razor Blade tool Cancel your actions: mm Choose Edit > Undo to cancel your last change. Press the Undo command’s keyboard shortcut, Command-Z, to undo the change before that.
Change the Timeline track size: mm Change the size of tracks by clicking the Track Height control. Track Height control Add more clips to the Timeline using the Canvas window: 1 To add another clip to your sequence in the Timeline, first press End to position the playhead at the end of the last clip. 2 Drag Sample Clip 2 from the Browser into the Viewer. Set In and Out points if you wish (press I to set an In point, and press O to set an Out point).
Jump In: Work with the Main Windows Final Cut Pro provides some easy methods for working with its main windows. Try This Change the active window: mm Press Command-1 to activate the Viewer. mm Press Command-2 to activate the Canvas. mm Press Command-3 to activate the Timeline. mm Press Command-4 to activate the Browser. Change the window layout for different editing purposes: mm Drag the title bar of a window to change its position.
Learning About Projects, Sequences, Clips, and Media Files To begin creating a movie, you create a project in the Browser. To create a new project, choose File > New Project. You can have multiple projects open at once, each represented by a tab in the Browser. To access a specific project, you click the project tab. You can also drag a project tab out of the Browser window to open the project in a separate window. You can reuse and share sequences and clips between projects.
Understanding the Relationship Between Clips and Media Files An important first stage in creating a project is transferring your video to your computer. Final Cut Pro provides a variety of ways to get media into your computer. The method you use depends on the media type. You’ll learn more about capturing and transferring video in the next chapter. After you’ve captured or transferred your media into a project, clip icons representing the media files appear in the project’s tab of the Browser window.
If you transfer a Final Cut Pro project file to another computer for editing, you must also transfer all the media files to the other system as well. It’s important to maintain the connection between your media files on disk and the clips in your project. If, for example, you rename media files on your hard disk in the Finder, you may have to reconnect those files to the appropriate clips in your project later.
ÂÂ Viewer: A window in Final Cut Pro in which you can work with a clip to set In and Out points, play back the clip, and make many other types of changes such as applying filters and adjusting motion parameters. Basically, you make changes to a clip using the Viewer and then place the clip in the sequence in the Timeline. ÂÂ Timeline: The Timeline holds a sequence of clips in the order in which they should appear in your movie.
Bringing Media into Your System 2 Final Cut Pro provides a variety of methods for bringing your video and other media into your Final Cut Pro system for editing. Bringing media into your system is called ingesting. In this chapter, you’ll experiment with bringing some of your own video footage into Final Cut Pro and familiarize yourself with the features for logging and ingesting.
Jump In: Explore Tape-Based Video Capture You use the Log and Capture window to preview and capture the footage on your tape. You can play the footage on tape from your camera or deck using the transport controls. To capture a clip, you mark the beginning and end of the clip using the Mark In and Mark Out buttons, enter logging information, and then capture the clip to your hard disk.
Create a new project to hold your video: mm Choose File > New Project. For now the name of the project is “Untitled,” and a new project tab appears in the Browser. Later, when you save the project, you can give it any name you like. Choose an Easy Setup to configure Final Cut Pro to work with your type of video and camcorder: 1 Choose Final Cut Pro > Easy Setup. 2 In the Easy Setup dialog, choose the format of your footage from the Format pop-up menu.
Try This Select a logging bin: mm Choose File > New > Bin to create a new bin to hold clips. Rename the bin, if you wish. Select the bin and choose File > Set Logging Bin. Open the Log and Capture window: mm Choose File > Log and Capture. Preview footage on tape: mm Use the transport controls to play and review the videotape. The transport controls work similarly to those you’ve already used in the Viewer and Canvas. You can also press the J, K, and L keys to rewind, stop, and play the tape.
Set rough In and Out points for a clip that you want to capture: mm Use the transport controls to go to the beginning of a section of tape that you want to capture. Click the Mark In button to set an In point to roughly mark the beginning of the clip. Play the video forward until you’ve reached the end of the section of tape you want to capture. Click the Mark Out button to mark the rough Out point of the clip. Enter logging information about a clip: mm Enter a reel name or number in the Reel field.
Capture a single clip: mm After setting In and Out points and entering logging information, click the Capture Clip button. Capture Clip button Final Cut Pro rewinds the tape and captures the footage as a media file on your hard disk. The new clip appears in the Browser. Log additional clips without capturing them: 1 Use the transport controls to set In and Out points in another clip that you want to capture. 2 Enter logging information for the clip.
Batch capture multiple clips at once: mm Capture offline clips by clicking the Capture Batch button. When the Batch Capture dialog appears, choose All Items in Logging Bin from the Capture pop-up menu, then click OK. When the Insert Reel dialog appears, click Continue. Final Cut Pro rewinds the tape and captures the logged clips, one by one.
Jump In: Explore File-Based Video Transfer You use the Log and Transfer window to preview file-based media mounted on your computer or another device. You can preview the footage using the transport controls. To transfer a clip into your Final Cut Pro project, you mark the beginning and end of the clip using the Mark In and Mark Out buttons, enter logging information, and then transfer the clip to your hard disk by adding it to the Transfer Queue.
Getting Ready Create a new project to hold your video: mm Choose File > New Project. For now the name of the project is “Untitled,” and a new project tab appears in the Browser. Later, when you save the project, you can give it any name you like. Choose an Easy Setup to configure Final Cut Pro to work with your type of video and camcorder: 1 Choose Final Cut Pro > Easy Setup. 2 In the Easy Setup dialog, choose the format of your footage from the Format pop-up menu.
Choose a scratch disk to hold the media you’re transferring to the project: 1 Choose Final Cut Pro > System Settings. 2 In the System Settings window, click Set in the Scratch Disks tab. 3 Select the hard disk location where you want the media files stored. Select a disk or folder and click Choose. Although there are many other custom settings that you can specify in the System Settings window, just click OK to set the scratch disk location for now.
Try This Select a logging bin: mm Choose File > New > Bin to create a new bin to hold clips. Rename the bin, if you wish. Select the bin and choose File > Set Logging Bin. Open the Log and Transfer window: mm Choose File > Log and Transfer. Mount a volume: mm In the Browse area of the Log and Transfer window, click the Add Volume button. Select any volume that holds footage that you’d like to transfer, then click Open. Add Volume button Search field Click a file to select it for logging and transferring.
Locate files on mounted volumes: mm In the Browse area, click a file to select it for logging and transferring. mm Click a column heading in the Browse area to sort the files by that column category, in ascending or descending order. mm Enter a filename in the search field to locate files with that name. Preview footage: mm With a file selected in the Browse area, use the transport controls in the Preview area to play and review the footage.
Set rough In and Out points for a clip: mm Use the transport controls to go to the beginning of a section of a media that you want to transfer. Click the Mark In button to set an In point to roughly mark the beginning of the clip. Play the video forward until you’ve reached the end of the media you want to transfer. Click the Mark Out button to mark the rough Out point of the clip. Log a clip: mm Enter a reel name or number in the Reel field, if you wish.
mm Enter scene, shot/take, and angle information in the Scene, Shot/Take, and Angle fields if you wish. mm Enter a note about the clip contents in the Log Note field, if you wish. If the clip is one worthy of inclusion in your movie, select the Good checkbox. Add a clip to the Transfer Queue: mm After entering your logging information and setting In and Out points for the clip, click the Add Clip to Queue button to have Final Cut Pro move the clip to the Transfer Queue and begin transferring the file.
Log additional clips without immediately transferring them: 1 Select a clip in the Log and Transfer window’s Browse area, then set In and Out points and enter the logging information for the clip. Click the Increment button beside a logging field to increment the previously entered information by one number. 2 Select other clips in the Browse area, and set In and Out points and add logging information for those clips.
Jump In: Import Still Images and Other Media You can import still images and graphics files into your projects and place them in your sequence in the Timeline. You can also import audio files such as CD tracks, voice recordings, or sound effects and place these clips in the audio tracks of the Timeline. Final Cut Pro can import many common file formats (see the Final Cut Pro 7 User Manual for a complete list).
Try This Import still images into a project: mm Choose File > Import > Files. Select the still-image files you want to import and click Choose. The still images appear as clips in the Browser. Experiment with dragging a still-image clip into the Viewer, changing In and Out points if you like, and then editing the image into your sequence in the Timeline. You can edit and change the still-image clip in the Timeline just as you can a video clip.
Import audio files into a project: mm Choose File > Import > Files. Select the audio files you want to import and click Choose. The audio files appear as clips represented by a speaker icon in the Browser. To place an audio clip in the Timeline, drag the audio clip from the Browser down to the audio tracks in the Timeline. Experiment with editing the audio clip using the same methods you use for editing video clips.
Learning About Ingesting Media and Setting Up Projects When you capture or transfer footage from a camcorder, the media files are stored on your scratch disk, a disk location that you tell Final Cut Pro to use. You can configure Final Cut Pro to store different types of media files in different locations. For example, you can have Final Cut Pro store audio media files in one location and video media files in another.
Choosing an Easy Setup that matches the majority of your video footage helps you avoid having to render most of your footage. You can’t always avoid rendering clips; for example, when you superimpose a title above another clip, Final Cut Pro must render the clips to make them work together. However, choosing the correct Easy Setup for your video is important not only for ingesting but also for facilitating the editing process.
Key Concepts ÂÂ Logging: Logging footage allows you to record information about a clip that will help you identify it later. Using the Log and Capture window or the Log and Transfer window, you can record information about the clip, including a reel name, clip name or description, and other information such as the shot or take number, notes, and more. You can also set rough In and Out points for the clip that you can refine later during your edit.
ÂÂ Capture Now: The Capture Now process begins the automatic capture of your tape-based footage at any point on a tape and continues capturing until the end of the tape or until you stop the capture by pressing the Esc (Escape) key. The captured footage is stored as one clip. You can then use Final Cut Pro commands and editing features to break the clip into smaller subclips. Capture Now allows you to skip the process of previewing and logging many individual clips.
Preparing Clips in the Viewer 3 The Viewer provides efficient ways to review and edit individual clips in your projects. In this chapter, you’ll explore more of the features of the Viewer. Jump In: Get to Know the Viewer You work with individual clips in the Viewer. The Viewer provides powerful ways to position and adjust how clips appear onscreen. You can also change the Viewer’s display of your clip to match your work style.
Getting Ready 1 In the Browser, click the tab of the project that holds your sample clips. Drag a clip from the Browser into the Viewer. View pop-up menu Viewer title bar Current Timecode field Zoom pop-up menu Resize control Mark In and Mark Out buttons 2 Set In and Out points for the clip using the Mark In and Mark Out buttons. Use the illustration above to locate the Viewer items you want to explore next.
Try This Reposition the Viewer: mm Drag the Viewer title bar to move the Viewer to a new screen location. Change the size of the Viewer: mm Drag the resize control in the lower-right corner of the Viewer to change the Viewer size. Open multiple clips in separate Viewer windows: 1 Select another clip in the Browser. 2 Choose View > Clip in New Window. You can also use this command to open clips in the Timeline in a separate window. 3 Select a clip in the Timeline, then choose View > Clip in New Window.
Show the timecode overlays: mm Choose Show Timecode Overlays from the View pop-up menu. Change the In and Out points to see how the timecode overlays change. Turn off the display of overlays: mm Choose Show Overlays from the View pop-up menu again to turn off the display of overlays. Open the Timecode Viewer: mm Choose Tools > Timecode Viewer to open the Timecode Viewer. Play the clip in the Viewer to see how the Timecode Viewer changes. To hide the Timecode Viewer, choose Tools > Timecode Viewer again.
Set the playhead at an exact frame in a clip by entering a timecode value: mm In the Current Timecode field, enter a timecode value that matches a point in your clip. Enter a timecode value in the format 00:00:00:00 (hours: minutes: seconds: frames). You can also enter just the second and frame values. For example, to specify the frame at 3 seconds and four frames, enter “03:04” and press Enter. (Final Cut Pro assumes that the value for hours and minutes is 00.
Add markers to indicate specific times in a clip: mm In the Viewer, place the playhead where you want to add a marker and click the Add Marker button. Set several markers to mark specific times in a clip. Add Marker button Navigate between markers: mm Press Shift–Up Arrow to move the playhead to the previous marker. mm Press Shift–Down Arrow to move the playhead to the next marker. Delete markers: mm Position the playhead over a marker and choose Mark > Markers > Delete.
Jump In: Change Clips in the Viewer After opening a clip in the Viewer, you can reposition the clip on the screen and enlarge it, shrink it, or rotate it to display it at a different angle. To make such changes, you display the clip in a wireframe view. Getting Ready 1 If necessary, click the Scene 2 tab in the Timeline to open the sequence with your sample footage. 2 Double-click a clip in the Timeline to open it in the Viewer.
Reposition the clip on the screen: mm Position the pointer on the image in the Viewer and drag left or right to reposition the image. Play the clip to see the effect of repositioning it. Scale the display of the clip up or down on the screen: mm Drag a corner of the clip to resize the clip larger or smaller. Changing the size effectively zooms in to or out of the clip. Reposition the clip to adjust the focal point. Play the clip to see the effect of your changes.
Try This Create a title clip in the Viewer: mm Choose Text > Text from the Generator pop-up menu. Generator pop-up menu Sample text appears in the Viewer. You can now change the text using the titling controls. Get to know the titling controls: mm Click the Controls tab in the Viewer to reveal the titling controls. mm Select the sample text in the Text field and type “At the Pipe” or text of your own. mm Choose a font from the Font pop-up menu. mm Set a font size using the Size controls.
mm Choose a text color by double-clicking the Font Color color picker. Select a color from the color wheel and then click OK. Click the Video tab to see the sample text onscreen. Font Color color picker mm Enter “03:00” in the Timecode Duration field at the top-left corner of the Viewer to set the length of the title clip to 3 seconds. Insert a title clip in your sequence: mm Click in the Timeline and press Home to position the playhead at the beginning of the sequence.
Reposition a title on the screen: 1 Double-click the title clip in the Timeline to open it in the Viewer. 2 In the Viewer, drag the title text to a different position. Experiment with repositioning the text on the screen. You can also experiment with changing the look of the title using the controls in the Controls tab.
Superimpose a title over another clip: 1 Drag the title clip at the beginning of the movie above Sample Clip 1 in the Timeline. 2 Position the playhead over the gap at the beginning of the movie and choose Sequence > Close Gap. 3 Press Option-R to render the clips if a red line appears above the clips. 4 Play the movie to see how the superimposed title looks.
Arrange a title and clip to appear side by side: 1 Place the playhead in the title clip in the Timeline. 2 In the Timeline, double-click Sample Clip 1, the background clip, to open it in the Viewer. 3 Drag the corner of Sample Clip 1 to reduce the clip size so that it is smaller than the screen size, as in the illustration below. 4 Reposition the clip by dragging it left or right to leave a blank space on the screen. 5 Double-click the superimposed title clip in the Timeline to open it in the Viewer.
Jump In: Change Clips over Time The changes that you’ve made to clips and titles can also be made to happen over time as the movie plays. For example, a clip might move across the screen, or a title might appear and then disappear. Final Cut Pro allows you to make many types of changes over time. To effect changes in a clip, you specify frames at which a change should occur. These frames are called keyframes.
2 Click the Add Motion Keyframe button. In this case, the keyframe marks where the clips will begin to change size. Add Motion Keyframe button Note that the wireframe and handles of the clip in the Viewer turn green to identify the new keyframe.
3 Move the playhead ahead in the Viewer to the frame where you want the change to end. In this case, place the playhead at the approximate position you see in the illustration below. This will be the frame at which the clip is completely resized. Move the playhead to approximately this position. 4 Click the Add Motion Keyframe button to set another keyframe. 5 Resize and reposition the clip to fill the normal display area. 6 Play the clip in the Viewer to see it change size over time.
Navigate between keyframes in the Viewer: mm With the Viewer active, press Shift-K and Option-K to move the playhead from one keyframe to another. You can use these keyboard shortcuts to quickly find and move between keyframes. Move a clip over time: 1 In the Timeline, position the playhead about midway through the title clip. Position the playhead here. 2 Double-click the title clip to open it in the Viewer. 3 Click the Add Motion Keyframe button to add a keyframe.
5 Press Control-K to set another keyframe. Drag the title clip off the screen background. Drag the title clip off the screen. 6 Press the Up Arrow key to move the playhead to the beginning of the clip, and then play the clip to see the text move over time. Click in the Timeline to make it active, press Option-R to render the clips, if necessary, and play the sequence.
Rotate a clip over time: 1 With the title clip still open in the Viewer and the Viewer active, press Shift-K or Option-K as necessary to move the playhead to the last keyframe, where the text stops moving. 2 Position the Selection tool pointer near a corner of the wireframe for the title clip. When the pointer changes to a curved pointer, drag to rotate the clip to a different angle. Drag to rotate the wireframe.
Change a clip’s opacity over time: 1 With the title clip still open in the Viewer, click the Motion tab to display the motion controls. Drag the corner of the Viewer to expand it, as shown below. The options you see are all parameters that you can set to change the display of the clip. Drag here to resize the window. 2 Click the disclosure triangle for the Opacity parameter, then enter “0” (zero) in the Opacity field and press Return to set the text to be transparent.
3 Click the Motion tab again. Beside each parameter appears a keyframe graph area that represents the duration of the clip. You can add keyframes to this keyframe graph area to change specific parameter settings over time. 4 With the Viewer active, press Home to position the playhead at the beginning of the clip in the keyframe graph area, then click the Opacity keyframe button to add a keyframe.
7 Click the Motion tab and click in the keyframe graph area to position the playhead near the end of the clip, then click the keyframe button to set another keyframe. Add a keyframe here. 8 Press the Down Arrow key to move the playhead to the end of the clip, and set another keyframe. Set the opacity to 0 (zero). The keyframe graph area should now look similar to this: Add a last keyframe here. 9 Choose Window > Arrange > Standard to resize the Viewer.
Learning About Motion Parameters You’ve had a brief introduction to some of the changes you can make using the Viewer, but many more are possible using the Motion tab. By adjusting a clip’s motion settings, you can change its geometry to move, shrink, enlarge, rotate, and distort in nearly any way you like. You can change any of these options independently over time using keyframes, allowing you to create professional effects and impressive changes to your clips.
You can add keyframes in the keyframe graph area by clicking the keyframe button for a parameter. Keyframe navigation buttons Keyframe button If the playhead is currently on a keyframe, clicking the button removes the keyframe. The buttons on either side of the keyframe button move the playhead forward or backward to the next keyframe. When keyframes are added to a clip, small diamonds appear in the keyframe graph area to mark the location of the keyframes.
Key Concepts ÂÂ Image mode: A Viewer display mode that shows the video content of a clip as it plays back. You can change the display to show the clip at reduced or expanded sizes as you work with the clip. ÂÂ Image+Wireframe mode: A Viewer display mode that shows the video content of the clip surrounded by a wireframe and handles. In this viewing mode, you can change the display of the clip, repositioning it onscreen, rotating it, and even adding keyframes and animating the clip’s parameters.
Working with the Canvas and Timeline 4 You use the Canvas and Timeline to build your project’s sequences, adding, removing, rearranging, and trimming clips as you like. Next, you’ll use the Canvas to learn its basic video editing functions, and then you’ll explore working with clips in a sequence in the Timeline. Jump In: Work with the Canvas As you’ve seen, the Canvas provides a view of a sequence in the Timeline. You can use the Canvas to edit clips into your sequence.
During this section, feel free to place your clips in the Timeline repeatedly to build a longer sequence to experiment with, or place Sample Clip 1, Sample Clip 2, Sample Clip 3, and Audio Clip 1 in the Timeline as shown in the following illustration: To add Audio Clip 1 to the sequence, drag the audio clip from the Browser to the Timeline below Sample Clip 1 and release the mouse button when the downward-pointing arrow appears. Final Cut Pro automatically adds two audio tracks.
Try This Change the window layout for a larger view of the Canvas: mm Choose Window > Arrange > Two Up. Canvas Timeline Display a sequence in Image+Wireframe mode in the Canvas: mm Choose Image+Wireframe from the View pop-up menu in the Canvas. The image appears with handles on the corners. You can now manipulate the display of the clip by dragging the image and repositioning the clip by its handles.
Update the Viewer to show the current frame in the Canvas: mm Play the sequence, and notice that the frame displayed in the Viewer is different from the one displayed in the Canvas. Click the Show Match Frame button in the Canvas. The Viewer changes to show the same frame as the Canvas. Show Match Frame button Keep the Viewer and Canvas in sync for easy editing: 1 Choose Open from the Playhead Sync pop-up menu in the Canvas. Playhead Sync pop-up menu 2 Play the sequence.
Set markers in the Timeline to mark specific points in a sequence: 1 Click the Add Marker button in the Canvas to set a marker in the Timeline at the current position of the playhead. Add Marker button 2 Reposition the playhead in the Canvas, and this time press M to add another marker. Play your sequence and press M to add more markers on the fly. You can use this method of adding sequence markers to quickly mark specific frames where events occur.
Jump In: Work with Tracks in the Timeline As you work with clips in your sequence, you can select clips in specific tracks, lock tracks so clips can’t be changed, turn the tracks on or off so that they play or don’t play as you review your sequence, and set specific tracks as destinations for incoming clips. Try This Select clips in the Timeline: mm Select the Select Track tool and try selecting an entire track at once.
Lock a track to keep it from changing: mm Click the Lock Track control for a track to prevent changes to that track. You can lock a track anytime that you want to make sure the timing and positioning of items on a track won’t change while making edits on other tracks. Click the Lock Track control again to unlock the track.
Place only the video portion of a clip in a sequence: 1 Click the a1 and a2 Source controls for the audio tracks to disconnect them from their Destination controls. This disconnects the audio tracks as destination tracks and prevents the audio portions of a clip from being placed in the sequence. Disconnected Source controls 2 Double-click Sample Clip 1 in the Browser to open it in the Viewer. 3 Position the playhead in Sample Clip 3 in the Timeline.
Place only the audio portion of a clip in a sequence: 1 Click the a1 and a2 Source controls for the audio tracks again to reconnect them to their Destination controls. This allows the audio portion of a clip to be placed in the sequence. 2 Click the v1 Source control to disconnect it from the V1 Destination control. Disconnected v1 Source control 3 Press the End key to move the playhead to the end of the sequence.
Add new tracks to a sequence: 1 Choose Sequence > Insert Tracks. 2 Type “1” in the Insert N Video Tracks field to add a new video track, type “2” in the Insert N Audio Tracks field to add two audio tracks, then click OK. Scroll in the Timeline to see the new tracks that were added.
Set a video destination track before placing clips in a sequence: 1 Drag the v1 Source control to the V2 Destination control to specify that the V2 track should be the destination track. Click the Source control to connect it to the V2 Destination control, if necessary. Connect the v1 Source control to the V2 Destination control. 2 Press End to move the playhead to the end of the sequence. Drag a clip from the Viewer to the Overwrite section of the Canvas Edit Overlay.
Set audio destination tracks before placing clips in a sequence: 1 Drag the a1 and a2 Source controls to the A3 and A4 audio Destination controls. Drag the a1 and a2 Source controls to the A3 and A4 Destination controls. 2 Drag a clip from the Viewer to the Overwrite section of the Canvas Edit Overlay. The clip’s audio is placed in the audio tracks you selected.
Jump In: Edit Clips into a Sequence in the Timeline After building a sequence, you may need to make changes, such as replacing one clip with another, adding cutaways, and adding music or sound effects. In this section, you’ll try out some of the basic methods for placing clips in a sequence. These methods include steps for 3-point editing in which you to place clips in the Timeline by specifying three In or Out points in your Viewer and Timeline.
Mark a clip in the sequence and replace it: 1 Move the playhead to a clip in the Timeline that you want to replace. 2 Choose Mark > Mark Clip. The sequence clip is marked with In and Out points on both ends in the Timeline. Sequence In and Out points marking a clip that you want to replace 3 Double-click Sample Clip 3 to open it in the Viewer. Drag Sample Clip 3 from the Viewer to the Overwrite section of the Canvas Edit Overlay to replace the clip marked in the sequence.
Place a clip so that it starts at a specific point in a sequence: 1 Place the playhead on a frame in the sequence where you would like to add a clip. (Anywhere will do.) 2 Press I to set an In point for the sequence in the Timeline. Sequence In point marking where an incoming clip should start 3 In the Viewer, set In and Out points in a clip that you want to place in the Timeline.
Place a clip so that it ends at a specific point in a sequence: 1 Place the playhead on a frame in the sequence where you would like the incoming clip to end. 2 Press O to set an Out point for the sequence in the Timeline. Sequence Out point marking where an incoming clip should end 3 In the Viewer, set In and Out points in a clip. 4 Drag the clip from the Viewer to the Overwrite section of the Canvas Edit Overlay. Final Cut Pro places the Out point of the incoming clip at the sequence Out point.
5 In the Viewer, set an In point in a clip. You only need to set an In point. (If there is an Out point already set, choose Mark > Clear Out to remove the Out point. Final Cut Pro is then free to use as much of the clip as is available to fill the duration between the sequence In point and the sequence Out point.) 6 Drag the clip from the Viewer to the Overwrite section of the Canvas Edit Overlay to have the clip fill the duration between the sequence In point and the sequence Out point.
Basic Editing 5 The heart of video editing involves arranging and trimming clips in a sequence. Final Cut Pro provides easy-to-use tools and editing procedures for efficient editing. Next, you’ll try out basic video editing methods and use simple tools to select and trim clips. Jump In: Trim Clips Once you’ve ordered clips in a sequence, you may need to adjust the clips, shortening, lengthening, or repositioning them in the Timeline.
Getting Ready 1 Press Control-U to choose the Standard window layout. 2 Choose File > New > Sequence to create a new sequence. Name the sequence “Trimming” and press Return. 3 In the Browser, double-click the Trimming sequence icon to open the sequence in the Timeline. 4 Choose 50% from the Zoom pop-up menu in the Viewer. Zoom pop-up menu 5 Choose Image from the View pop-up menu in the Viewer.
6 Drag Sample Clip 1 into the Viewer and set In and Out points at the approximate locations shown below. These In and Out points ensure that there are extra unused frames on each end of the clip. Set In and Out points approximately here. 7 Drag Sample Clip 1 to the Insert section of the Canvas Edit Overlay. 8 Drag Sample Clip 2 into the Viewer and set In and Out points at the approximate locations shown below. Set In and Out points approximately here.
9 Drag Sample Clip 2 to the Insert section of the Canvas Edit Overlay so that it is placed in the Timeline after Sample Clip 1. 10 Drag Sample Clip 3 into the Viewer and set In and Out points at the approximate locations shown below. Set In and Out points approximately here. 11 Drag Sample Clip 3 to the Insert section of the Canvas Edit Overlay so that it is placed in the Timeline after Sample Clip 2. You now have three clips in the Timeline, one after the other.
Try This Drag with snapping on or off: mm Press A to select the Selection tool, if necessary. Drag Sample Clip 3 right and left and notice that the clip automatically snaps to the end of Sample Clip 2 to facilitate dragging clips into the correct position. mm Press N to turn snapping off. Drag Sample Clip 3 right and left and notice that the clip now moves smoothly as you drag, not snapping to the next likely edit point. Press N to turn on snapping again.
3 Position the pointer over Sample Clip 2 in the sequence. 4 Drag Sample Clip 2 left or right. Notice that the clip moves left or right without its duration changing. After you slide the clip, the sequence adjusts, leaving no gaps. Important: You can slide the clip left or right only when the surrounding clips have In and Out points that leave extra media on the ends of the clip. Move an edit point between clips to change where a cut occurs: 1 Select the Roll tool in the Tool palette.
Change a clip’s In or Out point without leaving gaps: 1 Select the Ripple tool in the Tool palette. Ripple tool You use the Ripple tool to move the In point or Out point of a clip, shortening or lengthening that clip. A C B A B C Before edit After edit 2 Position the pointer over an edit point in the middle of the sequence.
Slip a clip’s content within the current sequence In and Out points: 1 Select the Slip tool in the Tool palette. Slip tool The Slip tool allows you to change the contents of a clip (the portion of the clip’s media that is shown) without changing the clip’s position or duration in the sequence. Try using the Slip tool to see how this works. 00:00:30:00 00:00:10:00 B A 00:00:17:00 A C Before edit 00:00:37:00 B C After edit 2 Position the pointer over Sample Clip 2 in the middle of the sequence.
Jump In: Make Simple Split Edits and Cutaways You can create split edits in a clip to have the audio begin playing before the video or have the video appear before the clip’s audio starts. To create a split edit, you give a clip’s audio and video items different In points or Out points. For example, during a clip of a person talking, you might have a clip of a person listening appear as the first person continues talking.
By default, the video item and audio items of a clip are linked together. When you select the video item and change it, the audio items change also. To make a split edit, you unlink the video and audio items of a clip so that you can change them independently. In this section, you’ll also make a simple cutaway by overwriting a short section of a video clip with another shot. Cutaway clip Getting Ready 1 Choose File > New > Sequence to create a new sequence. Name the sequence “Split Edits” and press Return.
Try This Create a J-cut, in which the audio precedes the video: 1 Click the Linked Selection button in the Timeline button bar to turn linked selection off. You can now change the audio and video items of a clip separately. Linked Selection button 2 Press R to select the Roll tool. Roll tool 3 Drag the video edit point at the beginning of Sample Clip 2 forward in the Timeline, as you see in the illustration below. Drag here with the Roll tool. Now the clip’s audio starts before the video.
4 Click the Play Around Current Frame button in the Canvas to see how the split edit works. Play Around Current Frame button When you click the Play Around Current Frame button, playback begins just before the current playhead position and continues just past the playhead. This provides an easy way to check your work. Create an L-cut, in which the video precedes the audio: 1 Make sure linked selection is still off. (If linked selection is on, click the Linked Selection button to turn it off.
5 Experiment with setting up split edits. 6 Click the Linked Selection button to link the video and audio tracks again. Add a short cutaway shot to a sequence: 1 Position the playhead in Sample Clip 3 in the Timeline at the approximate position shown below, and press I to set an In point. Place a sequence In point approximately here. 2 Press the Right Arrow key 15 times to move the playhead ahead 15 frames, then press O to set an Out point at the approximate position shown below.
3 Double-click Sample Clip 2 in the Browser to open it in the Viewer. Position the playhead at the approximate position shown below, and press I to set an In point. Set an In point here. 4 Click the a1 and a2 audio Source controls to disconnect them from their Destination controls, so that only the clip’s video is placed in the Timeline. Disconnected a1 and a2 Source controls 5 Drag Sample Clip 2 from the Viewer to the Overwrite section of the Canvas Edit Overlay.
Learning About the Trim Edit Window Once you’ve finalized or nearly finalized a sequence, you can begin the polishing process of trimming clips using the Trim Edit window. To open the Trim Edit window, you choose Sequence > Trim Edit or double-click an edit point in a sequence with the Selection tool. The Trim Edit window appears, displaying the outgoing and incoming clips of the selected edit point or the next edit point.
The left side of the window shows the Out point of the outgoing clip. The In point of the incoming clip appears on the right side of the window. You can drag the In point or Out point markers to change them. You can also move the playheads on either side of the Trim Edit window and click the Mark In and Mark Out buttons to move the In and Out points to the location you want. Click in the left side of the window to select it, and a green outline appears, indicating that you’re editing the Out point.
Key Concepts ÂÂ Slip edit: Changes the portion of the clip’s media seen in the sequence, but the position and length of the clip remain the same in the sequence. ÂÂ Slide edit: Moves a clip left or right in the sequence without changing the duration of the clip. ÂÂ Roll edit: Moves an edit point left or right in the sequence (changing the preceding clip’s Out point and the following clip’s In point simultaneously).
Working with Audio 6 Final Cut Pro provides easy methods for editing and changing the audio associated with your footage. In this chapter you’ll learn to adjust a clip’s audio and work with audio tracks in the Timeline.
Jump In: Work with a Clip’s Audio in the Viewer You can adjust an individual clip’s audio in the Viewer. Final Cut Pro provides an Audio Mixer that allows you to easily adjust the audio level of your clip and the pan of stereo clip items to change the balance between speakers.
You can also use the controls in the Viewer’s Audio tab to make changes to specific portions of a clip’s audio. Drag the Level slider to change the audio level. Level field Pan field Audio level overlays Pan overlay Getting Ready 1 Choose File > New > Sequence to create a new empty sequence in your project. 2 Name the sequence “Adjusting Audio” and press Return. 3 Double-click the Adjusting Audio sequence icon to open the sequence in the Timeline. 4 Drag Sample Clip 1 into the Timeline.
Try This Set up for working with audio: mm Choose Window > Arrange > Audio Mixing to set up your windows in a convenient arrangement for working with audio. Notice that the Audio Mixer appears in the Tool Bench window in the upper-right corner of this window layout. The Viewer appears at the top left.
Play an audio clip in the Viewer: mm With the Viewer active, play some of the clip and watch the progress of the playhead through the audio. Audio tab Scrub audio forward or backward: 1 Choose View > Audio Scrubbing to turn on audio scrubbing. 2 Drag the jog control back and forth to scrub and listen to a specific portion of the audio. Shuttle control Jog control 3 Drag the shuttle control to carefully control the forward and backward playback of the audio.
Change a clip’s audio level using the Audio Mixer: mm Drag the A1 or A2 fader slider up or down in the Audio Mixer to change the clip’s audio level. Play the clip to hear the differences as you change the audio level. Both faders work together because the stereo clip items are linked. Press the J and L keys to play the audio backward and forward, and press K to stop playback.
Change a clip’s audio level using the Level slider in the Viewer: mm Drag the Level slider in the Viewer’s Audio tab left or right to change the audio level. Level slider Pan slider Change a clip’s pan using the Viewer’s Pan slider: mm Drag the Pan slider in the Viewer left or right to change how the clip’s audio channels are output to speakers. Play the clip to hear the differences as you change the pan level of your clip.
Add markers during playback: mm Play the audio track. As the clip plays back, press the M key whenever you want to add a marker. You can add markers on the fly this way to mark significant sounds or video frames. This method works in the Viewer, Canvas, and Timeline, whichever is active. Remove all audio changes from a clip: mm Click the Reset button in the Audio tab to remove audio level and pan changes that you’ve made.
Jump In: Change Audio Levels over Time You can adjust a clip’s audio so that the audio level and pan change over time. To make audio level or pan changes during a clip, you set keyframes at specific frames where the audio should change. Next, you’ll use keyframes to edit the audio level values in a clip to increase or decrease over time.
Try This Increase a clip’s audio level over time using keyframes: 1 With Audio Clip 1 open in the Audio tab of the Viewer, drag the fader sliders in the Audio Mixer all the way to the bottom to set the audio level at the lowest level possible. 2 Press Home to position the playhead at the beginning of the clip. 3 Click the Level Keyframe button in the Viewer to add an audio level keyframe to the first frame of the clip.
5 Click the Level Keyframe button to add an audio level keyframe to the clip at the position of the playhead. 6 Drag the Level slider in the Viewer’s Audio tab to 0 (zero) to increase the audio over time. Drag the slider until the Level field displays 0 (zero). 7 Press the Home key and play the clip from the beginning to hear how the audio level increases. 8 Position the pointer over the pink audio level overlay line in the Audio tab and drag up or down to change the audio level.
Decrease the audio level over time using keyframes: 1 Position the playhead where you want the audio level to begin to decrease, somewhere near the end of the clip. Position the playhead here. 2 Click the Level Keyframe button to add a keyframe to the clip at the position of the playhead. 3 Press End to position the playhead at the end of the clip, where you want the audio to reach a minimum level. 4 Click the Level Keyframe button to add a keyframe to the clip.
5 Drag the Level slider to the left to decrease the audio level all the way. Drag the Level slider to decrease the audio level. 6 Play the clip to hear how the audio fades over time. 7 Experiment with dragging the keyframes and audio segments up and down to familiarize yourself with changing the audio level using keyframes.
Edit a sound using keyframes: 1 Position the playhead at the beginning of a sound, such as a click or pop, that you want to eliminate. For now, just pick the beginning of the second whistle in Audio Clip 1. Position the playhead at the beginning of the sound. 2 Click the Level Keyframe button to add a keyframe to the clip at the position of the playhead.
3 Press the Right Arrow key once to move the playhead forward one frame, then click the Level Keyframe button to add a keyframe. Position the playhead at the end of the sound and click the Level Keyframe button to add a keyframe at that point. Place a keyframe at the end of the sound. 4 Press the Right Arrow key once to move the playhead forward one frame, then click the Level Keyframe button to add a keyframe.
5 Position the pointer in the middle of the four keyframes that you just added, and drag the audio level overlay (the pink line) down to decrease the audio level. You’ve now isolated a sound in the audio clip and decreased the sound’s audio level. Drag the audio level overlay segment down. 6 Play the clip from the beginning to hear how the audio drops out.
mm Position the playhead where you want to make an audio level change, and drag a fader slider in the Audio Mixer. Once again, moving the fader slider adds a new keyframe at the position of the playhead. Quickly navigate between keyframes: mm Click the left or right keyframe navigation button to move from keyframe to keyframe.
Jump In: Work with Audio Tracks in the Timeline Next you’ll add clips to a sequence in the Timeline and try out some of the Timeline audio track options and controls.
Getting Ready 1 Click in the Timeline to make it active, then press Home. 2 With Audio Clip 1 open in the Viewer, drag the drag hand in the Viewer window down to tracks A3 and A4 in the Timeline. When you release the mouse button, the audio clip items appear in tracks in the Timeline. Drag hand Try This Select a clip’s audio items: mm Press A to select the Selection tool, and click Sample Clip 1 to see that both the video and audio clip items are selected.
Delete a clip’s audio: mm With the audio clip items selected, press Delete. You’ve now removed the clip’s audio, leaving only the video. You could now add a voiceover, a different audio clip, or a music clip to the silent video footage. For now, restore the clip’s audio by choosing Edit > Undo. Display audio waveforms: 1 Choose Medium from the Track Layout pop-up menu to enlarge the display of tracks in the Timeline. Track Layout pop-up menu 2 Choose Show Audio Waveforms from the Track Layout pop-up menu.
Display audio level overlays: mm Click the Clip Overlays control in the Timeline to display the audio level keyframes applied to the clip. Clip Overlays control Trim an audio clip: 1 Select the Razor Blade tool in the Tool palette. Position the tool over the audio clip and click to make a cut. Red triangles appear. 2 Select the Selection tool and click the end segment of the audio clip to select it, then press Delete to delete that portion of audio.
Change audio over time by adjusting keyframes in the Timeline: mm Position the Selection tool over the audio level overlay in an audio track and drag to change the audio level. Experiment with changing audio level keyframes in the Timeline. Drag the audio level overlay to change the audio level. Balance the audio level of clips in the Timeline: 1 Position the Timeline playhead over the audio clip items. Examine the Audio Mixer to see that there are now four faders, one for each audio track in the sequence.
Balance the overall audio level of a sequence in the Timeline: 1 Position the Timeline playhead over the audio clip items. 2 Drag the slider of the Audio Mixer’s Master fader up or down to adjust the overall audio output level of the entire sequence. You can use the Master fader to adjust the general audio level of all the tracks in your sequence at once.
Key Concepts ÂÂ Clip Overlays control: Displays audio level overlays on clips in the audio tracks of the Timeline. With the overlays displayed, you can work with audio level keyframes in the Timeline, changing audio levels for specific portions of a clip. ÂÂ Audio Mixer: The Audio Mixer appears as a tab in the Tool Bench window and allows you to adjust the levels of the audio clip items under the playhead.
Creating Voiceovers 7 Final Cut Pro provides the Voice Over tool for recording voiceovers for documentaries, shorts, and any other kind of movie using narration. In this section, you’ll use the Voice Over tool to add a narrative track to your video. Jump In: Add Voiceover Clips The Voice Over tool appears in the Tool Bench window and provides the following options for recording speech and audio.
To use the Voice Over tool, you need a microphone built in or attached to your computer, and optionally you can use headphones to monitor your recording. If you don’t have a microphone, you can skip this section for now, or just read it over to familiarize yourself with recording features without actually recording any audio clips. Although there are instructions for using headphones, you don’t need headphones to complete the exercises in this section.
8 If you haven’t already, you can choose Window > Arrange > Audio Mixing to choose a window layout convenient for using the Voice Over tool. 9 Drag Sample Clip 1 and Sample Clip 2 into the Timeline, one after the other. Try This Open the Voice Over tool: mm Choose Tools > Voice Over to open the Voice Over tool. Enter an audio clip name here. Source pop-up menu Rate pop-up menu Specify microphone settings in the Voice Over tool: 1 Choose your microphone or audio interface from the Source pop-up menu.
Specify a clip name for the first voiceover clip: mm Type a name for your voiceover audio clip in the Name field. Set an audio destination track for your voiceover clip: mm Drag the a2 audio Source control to the A3 Destination control to set track A3 as the destination track for your voiceover clips. Drag the a2 Source control here. Final Cut Pro places a newly recorded voiceover clip in the audio track specified by the a2 Source control.
Turn off audio playback for the sample clip in the Timeline: mm Click the Track Visibility buttons for the A1 and A2 audio tracks of the Timeline to turn off audio playback for these tracks. This prevents the clip’s audio from being picked up in the background as you record your voiceover. If you have headphones, you don’t need to turn off the audio tracks because these tracks will play through the headphones and won’t be picked up by your microphone.
Listen to the new voiceover clip: mm Click the Review button to hear the clip. Click the Review button again to stop playing the clip. You can replay the clip repeatedly using the Review button. Review button Discard a new voiceover audio clip that isn’t acceptable: mm Click the Discard Last Recording button and then click OK to delete the clip. You can use this button to immediately remove a clip in which a mistake occurs that’s serious enough to warrant starting over.
Specify headphone settings in the Voice Over tool (if you’re using headphones): mm Adjust the Volume slider to set your headphones to a comfortable listening level. Record multiple voiceover clips, one after another: 1 Position the playhead in the Timeline where you want the first voiceover clip to start. 2 Click the Record button and record a clip. 3 Click Record or press the Esc key to stop recording. 4 Move the playhead to where you want to start recording the next clip.
Record multiple takes of a voiceover clip: 1 Position the playhead in the Timeline where you want recording to start. 2 Click the Record button and record a clip. 3 Click Record or press the Esc key to stop recording. 4 Click the Review button to listen to the clip. Click the Review button again to stop playback. 5 To record a second take, position the playhead at the beginning of the first take, then click the Record button again and record the second take.
Delete takes that you don’t want: mm Click a take to select it in the Timeline, then press Delete. Record a voiceover clip within a specific interval of your sequence: 1 Position the playhead in the Timeline where you want recording to start, then press I to set an In point. Sequence In and Out points set the duration for the voiceover clip. 2 Position the playhead in the Timeline where you want recording to stop, then press O to set an Out point.
6 To record a second take, click the Record button again and record the second take. Multiple takes appear stacked in the audio tracks, aligned with the In and Out points you set. Experiment with creating multiple takes of a recording within a set duration. 7 To remove the In and Out points, choose Mark > Clear In and Out. Key Concepts ÂÂ Voice Over tool: You can use the Voice Over tool to record narration or sounds to accompany your sequence.
Adding Video Filters and Transitions 8 You can add professional touches to your movie by applying filters to clips to create special looks or effects and adding transitions between your clips. Applying filters to a clip can allow you to change a clip’s overall appearance, such as blurring an image over time, adjusting color, or even creating sophisticated green-screen or blue-screen composite images.
Jump In: Apply Filters to Clips You can apply a filter to a clip in a sequence by double-clicking the clip to open it in the Viewer and then choosing the filter you want to use from the Effects menu. Options for configuring and changing the filter parameters appear in the Filters tab in the Viewer. Filters tab in the Viewer Canvas showing a clip with the Sepia filter applied Sepia filter controls You can apply multiple filters to a clip.
Getting Ready 1 Choose Window > Arrange > Two Up. 2 Choose File > New > Sequence to create a new empty sequence in your project. 3 Name the sequence “Filters” and press Return. 4 In the Browser, double-click the Filters sequence to open it in the Timeline. 5 Place Sample Clip 1 in the Timeline. 6 Double-click Sample Clip 1 in the Timeline to open it in the Viewer. Try This Apply a Sepia filter to a clip in a sequence: mm Choose Effects > Video Filters > Image Control > Sepia.
Adjust the Sepia filter for a clip: mm Drag the Amount slider to change the amount of sepia color applied to the clip. Note: If a red line appears in the Timeline over clips in your sequence, press Option-R to render the clips for playback. mm Drag the Highlight slider to lighten or darken the effect. Play the clip to see the result. mm Click the color picker for the Tint Color parameter, then click the color you want in the color wheel and click OK.
Apply a Color Tint filter to a clip: 1 Choose Effects > Video Filters > QuickTime > Color Tint. “Tint type” pop-up menu Reset button 2 Choose different tint styles from the “Tint type” pop-up menu to see their effect on the clip. 3 Choose Other from the “Tint type” pop-up menu and then adjust the options in the “Other options” section of the filter controls to see their effect on the clip. 4 Experiment with changing the Color Tint parameter settings to see how they affect the look of the clip.
Change a filter over time using keyframes: 1 With Black and White chosen in the “Tint type” pop-up menu for the Color Tint filter, click in the Timeline and press Home to position the playhead at the beginning of the clip. 2 Click the Keyframe button for the “Tint amount” parameter. Keyframe button 3 Press Shift–Right Arrow twice to move the playhead ahead 2 seconds in the clip. 4 Click the Keyframe button to add another keyframe.
Jump In: Make Simple Color Corrections When you have color or exposure problems with a clip, you can apply a color correction filter to make basic corrections. (If you need to make sophisticated color grading corrections, you can use the Color application to grade your clips with professional tools and controls.
Getting Ready mm Drag Sample Clip 2 into the Timeline and then double-click it to open it in the Viewer. Try This Apply the Color Corrector 3-way filter to a clip in a sequence: 1 Choose Effects > Video Filters > Color Correction > Color Corrector 3-way. 2 Click the Color Corrector 3-way tab in the Viewer window to see the Color Corrector 3-way options. Change a clip’s saturation: mm Drag the Saturation (Sat) slider left or right to see the effect of changing the clip’s saturation level.
Jump In: Add Transitions Between Clips You can use video transitions to make visually effective changes between clips. Next, you’ll try adding transitions to the sample clips and get acquainted with the variety of transitions you can use. When you add a transition to a cut between clips, the transition looks similar to this in the Timeline: Transition between clips Getting Ready 1 Choose File > New > Sequence to create a new empty sequence in your project.
5 Set In and Out points similar to the ones you see in the illustration. Leave about 2 seconds of unused footage at the end of the clip. Final Cut Pro requires these unused frames, called a handle, to create a transition. Place an In point here. Place an Out point here. 6 Drag Sample Clip 1 to the Insert section of the Canvas Edit Overlay. 7 In the Browser, double-click Sample Clip 2 to open it in the Viewer.
8 Create handles at the beginning and end of the clip by setting an In point and an Out point similar to the ones you see in the illustration. Leave about 2 seconds of unused footage at the beginning of the clip. Place an In point here. Place an Out point here. 9 Make sure the Linked Selection button is light green to show that linked selection is turned on.
Try This Add a clip with a transition to a sequence: 1 Drag Sample Clip 2 from the Viewer to the Insert with Transition section of the Canvas Edit Overlay. Drag Sample Clip 2 here. Final Cut Pro adds the clip to the sequence, placing a default cross dissolve transition at the edit point. The default cross dissolve transition is added between the clips. 2 Play the sequence to see the transition that you added.
Delete a transition: 1 Click the transition in the Timeline to select it. 2 Press Delete. Add a transition to an edit point: 1 Click the line between two clips in the Timeline to select the edit point. 2 With the edit point selected, choose Effects > Default - Cross Dissolve to apply a cross dissolve to the selected edit point. 3 Position the playhead before the transition and play the sequence to see the transition.
Get to know the available video transitions: 1 Select the transition in the Timeline. 2 Try applying different transitions by doing any of the following: ÂÂ Choose Effects > Video Transitions > 3D Simulation > Zoom. ÂÂ Choose Effects > Video Transitions > Dissolve > Ripple Dissolve. ÂÂ Choose Effects > Video Transitions > Iris > Diamond Iris. ÂÂ Choose Effects > Video Transitions > Page Peel > Page Peel.
Learning About Transitions When you add a transition between clips, the length of your clips and the sequence length don’t change. The transition takes up time between the outgoing and incoming clips. It doesn’t lengthen them. The duration of the clips remains the same when a transition is added.
If you want to use transitions between clips, you should plan the In and Out points of your clips to allow a transition to occur without affecting the content you want shown. The content you want to appear before and after the transition must be located as shown below.
You can lengthen or shorten a transition by dragging its edges. But keep in mind that changing the length of the transition also changes what content appears just before or after the transition. For example, increasing the duration of a transition might clip vital footage that you want seen before the transition. The last full frame to be seen is now earlier in the clip.
When you initially ingest your clips, you should include some extra footage around the scene or event that a clip shows. Final Cut Pro requires extra footage before an In point or after an Out point to create a transition. The extra frames on the ends of clips are called handles. When you use transitions, your clips must have handles in order for the transitions to work.
Key Concepts ÂÂ Filter: A filter can change the look of a clip or be used to eliminate or mask out portions of a clip. Filters allow you to create subtle or dramatic changes to a clip and, in the case of color correction, make fine adjustments to give your movie a polished look. ÂÂ Transition: A transition is a special effect used to give the change between two clips a certain appearance. Final Cut Pro provides a variety of transitions that you can apply to give your sequence visual appeal and continuity.
Outputting Your Finished Movie 9 After you’ve completed editing your movie, you have numerous options for delivering your work. You can send your completed movie, a sequence, or even a single clip to another Final Cut Studio application for further work. For example, you can send your movie to Color to grade your sequences, to Motion for inclusion in a motion graphics project, or to Soundtrack Pro for audio editing.
Jump In: Create a QuickTime Movie You can export a sequence or clip as a self-contained QuickTime movie that can be viewed on many computers and in applications that are compatible with QuickTime. A self-contained QuickTime movie includes all files and media necessary for playback in a single file, making the movie easy to transfer and use elsewhere. Getting Ready mm Open a project that has a clip or sequence in the Timeline that you want to export.
Jump In: Export a Movie in a Specific File Format If you need to convert your movie to a specific format, Final Cut Pro provides many format options. One of the simplest methods is to use the Share feature to export your movie in a format compatible for use with iPod, Apple TV, or iPhone, among other options. You can also export clips from the Browser or Viewer and export movies for a specific format or use, such as for streaming from a website.
Try This Export your sequence for display on iPod: 1 With your sequence open in the Timeline and the Timeline active, choose File > Share. Output Type pop-up menu 2 Choose Movies from the Destination Folder pop-up menu to set that folder as the destination for the output media file. 3 Choose iPod as the output type in the Output Type pop-up menu. 4 Enter a filename in the Filename field. 5 Click Export.
Export your sequence for display on YouTube: 1 With your sequence open in the Timeline and the Timeline active, choose File > Share. 2 Leave the Movies folder set as the destination folder in the Destination Folder pop-up menu. 3 Choose YouTube as the output type in the Output Type pop-up menu. 4 Type a filename in the Filename field. 5 Click Export. 6 In the Finder, open the Movies folder and double-click the YouTube file that you just created to open it in QuickTime Player. Play the movie.
Export a streaming sequence suitable for viewing on a website: 1 Open a sequence in the Timeline that you’d like to export for viewing on a website. 2 Choose File > Export > Using QuickTime Conversion. 3 Type a filename for your movie in the Save As field. 4 Select a location for the movie file. For example, select your Movies folder. 5 Choose MPEG-4 from the Format pop-up menu. The Format pop-up menu lists the file formats available for you to use.
Getting Answers 10 Now that you’ve been introduced to Final Cut Pro, you probably have further questions about how to set up Final Cut Pro to match your editing style and use its features effectively. Use Final Cut Pro Help to find the answers you need. Jump In: Explore Final Cut Pro Help Final Cut Pro Help provides comprehensive explanations and instructions for using Final Cut Pro features.
Learn about working with high definition video formats and specific types of media supported by Final Cut Pro: mm In Final Cut Pro, choose Help > Final Cut Pro Help, then click Final Cut Pro 7: Professional Formats and Workflows. Browse topics that interest you. Search for Apple service and support information: mm In Final Cut Pro, choose Help > Final Cut Pro Support. Browse topics that interest you.
