2009

Table Of Contents
Quality-Control Guidelines
An absence of standardization and engineering oversight means that venues hosting
web video usually have extremely permissive quality-control standards. Furthermore,
computer display of video is simply more forgiving than that of traditional video playback
devices. However, its to your advantage to use color correction to adjust the clips in your
program in order to provide your audience with the best possible experience. What this
means to you is:
Although you don’t have to legalize your programs picture to exacting video standards,
video compression for the web may still clip super-white luma (above 100 percent)
and out-of-bounds chroma that go uncorrected, so it’s wise to at least adjust your clips
to these minimum standards.
Color correction, even if applied simply inside Final Cut Pro, can dramatically improve
the quality and legibility of your images.
Delivery Specifications
Overall, there are many possible delivery specifications for web video. Frame rates, frame
sizes, and media formats vary widely depending on the intended playback platform and
application. Common delivery platforms for Internet video include QuickTime, Flash (SWF),
and Windows Media. Long-term archiving of the final master is typically accomplished
via a high-quality QuickTime file backed up to a variety of media. What this means is:
You usually create a self-contained QuickTime master of your program.
You use Compressor, the Share command in Final Cut Pro or Motion, or another
third-party video encoding application to prepare a version of your program for the
web.
Workflow Summary
This is one of the most basic and straightforward workflows you can follow. Your video
is ingested into Final Cut Pro using the Log and Capture or Log and Transfer window, as
appropriate. During editing, you can use Motion and Soundtrack Pro, along with the video
and audio effects tools that Final Cut Pro offers, to incorporate motion graphics, effects,
and sound work into your program. After editing is complete, you can color correct your
project inside Final Cut Pro or send your edited sequence to Color.
After you finish your program, you can use Compressor to export it to a format that’s
suitable for web delivery and playback.
Tip: You can also use the Share command in Final Cut Pro or Motion to export programs
directly to web-hosting services such as MobileMe and YouTube. See the Final Cut Pro
documentation for more information.
Acquired on Video for Output to a Consumer Playback Format
This workflow refers to programs that are acquired via any consumer or professional
video format and produced for delivery via DVD or Blu-ray for consumer playback.
16 Chapter 1 Developing a Post-Production Strategy