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The Editing Workflow of Final Cut Pro HD

Final Cut doesn't force you to work in any particular order. However, what I've learned during years of editing and working with Final Cut is that I can be more productive, which means I have more time for creativity, if I break each project down into individual steps and focus on completing each step before moving on to the next.

There are nine basic steps to editing any project:

Planning and Organization




By spending a little time getting your project organized at the very beginning, you can save huge amounts of anguish at the end. Hundreds of different elements go into even a medium-sized project. Planning upfront about how files are named, where they are stored, what format they should be in, and what you want to keep (or trash) after the project is over can make the difference between getting a job done by deadline or frantically floundering at the finish.

Planning is covered in this chapter.

Gathering Media




Bringing audio and video elements into a Final Cut project is the subject of Chapter 3, "Gather Your Media." Although you can bring elements into your project lots of ways, there are basically two broad categories: "capturing" elements that need to be converted from videotape into a format the computer can read, and "importing" elements that are already digitized and simply need to be brought into a project file. Chapter 3 covers both.

Building Your Story




Once you've assembled the components that make up your story, you need to start putting them together. Chapter 4, "Build Your Story," teaches you how to create a new project, view your clips, set Ins and Outs, and edit them together. Then, in Chapter 5, "Organize Your Story," you'll learn techniques to easily move clips around in the Timeline.

Chapter 4 teaches you how to view clips and edit them to the Timeline; Chapter 5 teaches you how to get them organized. From a purely editing point of view, Chapter 4 is probably the most important chapter in the book, and you'll probably use its tips the most. (At least, they're the ones I use the most.)

Trimming Your Clips




After you have all your clips organized in the Timeline, it's time to start trimming the fat. Chapter 6, "Trim Your Story," teaches you all the different trimming tools built into Final Cut. Also, you'll spend time learning why a particular tool is the best, along with the effect it has on the rest of your Timeline.

One of the key features of Final Cut is that there are multiple ways to do the same thing. My goal is to teach you many different approaches so you can pick the one that works best for you.

Adding Audio




Chapter 7, "AudioThe Secret to a Great Picture," brings sound into your project. Great sound makes even mediocre pictures seem interesting. Final Cut gives you some serious audio tools, and Chapter 7 shows you how to put them to work.

Adding Transitions




Purists would argue that a cut is also a transition, but I haven't seen many people get excited about how sexy a cut is. However, I have seen them wax eloquent over whether a page peel is "so 1990,"or the intrinsic difference between a 0 dB audio crossfade and a +3 dB audio crossfade. Chapter 8, "TransitionsMaking Change Beautiful," will teach you everything you need to know to hold your own in these discussions, plus a few tricks that will shut up that know-it-all in the second row.

Adding Titles, Graphics, and Effects




True, this could easily fill an entire book. But, here you'll do it in only three chapters. Chapter 9, "Text, Titles, and Graphics," covers a variety of different ways to put text on the screen. Chapter 10, "Motion Effects," discusses how you can get your pictures to move. And Chapter 11, "Filters and Keying," presents a variety of ways you can give your images a unique look.

Outputting Your Project




Whether you want to show your work on the Web or on prime-time network television, you'll need to get your project out of Final Cut. Chapter 12, "Output Your Project," teaches you the best way to get video out of FCP for the Web, CD, DVD, and videotape.

Archiving Your Project




Finally, when everything is over, all the dust has settled, and the client's check has cleared the bank, it's time to back up essential information and trash the rest. Chapter 13, "Archiving Your Project," shows you how to tell the difference. Plus, it gives you a wealth of tips on the best settings and fastest ways to get your projects output.

Chapter 13 also includes a section on media management. This is the process of tracking, moving, copying, adding, deleting, or changing just about every file that Final Cut Pro uses. Not every project needs to use this. So, I saved it for the end. You'll either really need to know this, or you'll never use it. After you read this, you can decide for yourself.

Appendix




There's one more section, an Appendix, that provides troubleshooting help and additional resources to keep you current on this frequently changing application.