FINAL CUT PRO SET UP TO OPEN PROGRAM: Double click the film clapper icon to open Final Cut. TO START YOUR PROJECT: FILE MANAGEMENT: First you have to do some file management. You need to tell the software where to save all your media and files. If you don't do this, you could accidentally put your info in someone else's folder. You do not want your files in someone else's folder. If they delete their folder, you will lose everything. When you open Final Cut if there are projects open that are not yours go to File and Close Project. If it asks you if you want to save them, say yes. 1) SET YOUR SCRATCH DISKS Go to Final Cut at the top left of the screen and pull down to System Settings. A dialogue box will open and the Scratch Disk tab is open on top. This tab is where you direct FCPRO to save your media into your folder on Use Storage or in your External. You will click on and set 4 set buttons.. Click the Set button and the Mac file management tool opens with the blue bar at the bottom. Pull that blue bar to the left until you see the User Drive and the System Drive. Click on the USER Drive or on your FireWIRE Drive. (NEVER EVER SAVE ANYTHING IN THE SYSTEM.) If this is your first time to do a project on the computer, you'll have to create a folder with your first and last name. To do this click the new folder option in the lower left of dialogue box and name it your first and last name. Choose the Create button and then click choose. Now you have to set your scratch disks to the Folder you just created. This folder named your FirstNameLastNAME is where you will save all your projects. You will have to set your scratch disk 4 times. Set it at the top. Then, go to the lower part of the dialogue box and one at a time, Click set for each of the three items listed. (waveform cache, thumbnail cache and autosave vault) and use the blue bar on the Mac file management box to set them to the folder you created with your name in the User drive or in your Fire Wire drive.
You have told the computer where to save your Media (clips) and your autosave, waveforms and thumbnails, so you are almost ready to start your project. 2) YOU WILL HAVE TO RESET YOUR SCRATCH DISKS EVERY TIME YOU SIT DOWN TO EDIT AT THE COMPUTER. If you do not do this and someone else has reset them to their folder, everything you do from that point on will be saved in that person's folder. YOU WILL NOT HAVE TO MAKE ANOTHER FOLDER. You will just have to set your scratch disks to that folder. 3) SAVE AND NAME YOUR PROJECT: Now go to File (upper left menu of final cut) and pull down to Save Project As. Click on it and name your project, but make sure that your project is going into your folder in user storage or in your external. If it is not, navigate to your drive and to your folder. Now the computer knows not only to put all your media files in your folder, but also to save your timeline, your EDL and all the info for your project into your folder. This will allow you to manage your files, even between computers. You will only choose SAVE AS this one time. After this, you will Save (command S). NEXT STEP: NAME YOUR SEQUENCE: Just click in on the word sequence in the browser box one time and it will allow you to type a name. Give it a unique name that you'll know and that others will know belongs to you. For example: MhoustonNews1. If you just call it News1 and fellow classmates do the same, you might lose it later. I suggest you add the 1 so that when you decide to duplicate it, you can call the second sequence MhoustonNews2 and so on. Do not call projects good and final. The problem is that you change your mind and then have to name one "real final", "best", "ThisisItforsure", etc. It gets confusing and silly. NOW YOU ARE READY TO LOG AND CAPTURE YOUR FOOTAGE.
LOG AND CAPTURE: This is where you input your footage (called clips) into the computer. The process is called digitizing or capturing and involves several steps. Put your tape in the deck or your camera. Make sure the camera or deck is plugged into the firewire and into your computer. Make sure the deck INPUT SELECT is on DV. If you're using a camera as a deck, make sure your camera is on VCR/VTR. Open Log and Capture by clicking Apple (Command) 8. CHECK LOGGING BIN: Two ways to ensure your clips will capture into your browser. Look to the right of the video box with the color bars at the Log Bin and make sure the log bin is your project and not someone else's. If you see a film clapper icon in the upper left of your browser, it is set as the logging bin. To change the log bin: Close Log and Capture. Go to your browser. Control Click in the grey area of the bin and a pull down menu will appear. Choose Set Logging Bin. NEXT MAKE SURE THE CLIP SETTINGS ARE RIGHT: At the top of the log and capture box are several tabs. Click on the Clip Settings tab. There are two boxes and the one on the left should say Aud + Video. The one on the right should say CH1 + CH2. This means it will digitize both channels of your audio. To hear your audio as you digitize, click on the Preview Box. NAME YOUR REEL: At the top of the logging bin, there is a box labeled Reel. It will most likely say 001. If you only have one tape to log you may leave it as 001. If you have more than one tape, you should indicate from which tape you are digitizing material. If I had 10 tapes from a shoot, and I did not do this, I would not know which footage was from which tape.
If I had to go back and re-capture a piece of footage or get a longer shot from a clip, I would have to guess. Name the reel something that indicates which tape it came from and make sure your tape is labeled with the same name. Tape 1, 2, 3, 4, etc work. You can also use words like interview tape, b-roll tape. LOG AND CAPTURE CONTROLS: Reverse= J. Tap J twice to rewind at 60fps. Each click speeds up rewind. Spacebar = stop or start. Fast Forward = tap L twice = 60f/s, 3x=90f/s, etc. In = I Out = O (letter nut number.) The timecode box in the upper right is the current timecode of your tape. The lower left box is the timecode of your mark in point. The lower right box is the timecode of your mark out point. The timecode box in the upper left is your duration of the clip you want to log or capture. Do not mark I (in) until your timecode has rolled to at least 5 seconds. The tape deck needs pre-roll time, or at least 3 to 5 seconds to rewind before the In point to then get up to speed to capture your footage. NAME YOUR CLIP: Once you have marked in and out on the clip you desire you need to name your clip. Type the name in the box labeled description in the logging area. You do not have to fill in scene, shot/take, or log notes. Click LOG, CAPTURE CLIP or CAPTURE NOW. Each one works differently. CAPTURE CLIP: In this method you capture one clip at a time. It is slower than logging and capturing, but when you are first starting to edit, it helps assure that each clip is captured correctly. It also helps avoid issues with time code breaks. Find your clip by using the j, k, l controls and marking In (I) / Out using (O). Name your clip in the Description area.
Make sure your videotape is sitting in valid time code. To do this I would rewind it a bit, so that it is sitting in your clip area before deciding to capture your footage. Choose Capture Clip at the bottom of the logging window. The capture clip box will appear. The computer will control the deck and rewind it 3 to 5 seconds before your In point. At your In point it will begin to capture the video. When it is done, you will see the clip appear in your browser. To get the next clip, repeat the steps. LOG THEN BATCH CAPTURE: If you log your clips, they will appear in your browser as grey icons with a red line through them. This means the computer has noted where you want to begin and end capturing your clip via your In and Out choices, and what you want to name it. It has not input the video from your tape into the computer. Why would you want to log? If you want to capture multiple clips, this is the fastest way to get them all in the computer. You log them all and then you batch capture them. If you have broken time code or dropped frames on your tape this can cause problems. Directions: Find your clip by using the j, k, l controls and marking In (I) / Out using O. Name your clip in the Description area. Choose Log Clip at the bottom right of the logging window. Your clip will appear in your browser as a grey icon with a red line through it. Repeat these steps until you complete logging of all your clips. Make sure your videotape is sitting in valid time code. To do this rewind it a bit, so that it is sitting in your last clip area before deciding to capture your footage. Then, close out of log and capture mode. Highlight all logged clips in the browser. You may choose all clips by clicking on the first clip and holding down the shift button and then clicking on the last clips. You may choose individual clips by clicking on one and holding down the Apple key as you choose other clips. You may also lasso clips. To batch capture go to the file menu and pull down to select batch capture. The batch capture menu will appear, simply click through by saying yes.
The computer will batch capture your clips one by one in reel time. BREAKING TIME CODE DISCUSSION: All videotape and all video-editing systems use time code. Time code is a system of 8 numbers symbolizing hours, minutes, seconds and frames. Video is 29.97 frames per second. We simply say it is 30 frames per second. Time code looks like this. 00:00:00:00 When you begin recording a video image, the time code begins to run. At 5 seconds it will look like this 00:00:05:00 You must have at least 5 seconds recorded on your tape before the deck and computer can digitize your material. All video decks take between 3 and 5 seconds to get up to speed so that your tape is rolling at correct speed. If you set your In point to digitize before 4 or 5 seconds, you will receive an error and the computer will NOT digitize your material. On minidv it is easy to break timecode. If you stop the camera and rewind the tape to see what you have recorded and then forward the tape even 1/30th of a second past your recorded footage, you will break time code. THIS IS OK. It will however, mean that you have to pay attention to any broken time code as you digitize. If you see the timecode in the upper right hand of the log and capture box go to 00:00:00:00, you need to rewind the tape until it is in the previous numbers. At that point, you should capture all the footage from the beginning timecode up until the time code break. Treat the video after the break as if it were on another tape and capture it in a second log and capture session. This means you'll log all the video from the beginning until the break. Then, rewind your tape so it is safely in video before the break. Capture all that footage. Now forward the tape until it is 5 seconds after the time code break and being logging and capturing again.
VERY BASIC FINAL CUT PRO EDITING: Once you capture your clips, and you see them in your browser, it is time to begin your first edit. Make sure you name the sequence (click on the sequence and type the name of your piece and a 1 next to the name.) You are adding the number 1, because you may have multiple sequences. WATCH YOUR CLIPS: To watch a clip, double click on it. It will open in the viewer. You can watch your clip in several ways. Click the space bar to play it. Use l to fat forward. (click 1 one time to play 30fps, 2 times for 60fps, 3 times for 90 fps, etc) Use J to rewind.(click J one time to rewind 30fps, 2 times for 60fps, 3 times for 90 fps, etc) You may also scroll through the clip using your mouse. EDIT CLIP: Once you have watched the clip and know what part of it you want to use in our video, set in and out points. To set the in point, scroll to the start point in the clip and click i on your keyboard. To set the out point, scroll to the end of the clip footage you want to use and click o. PUT CLIP IN TIMELINE: Click the clip with your mouse. Hold down your mouse and drag the clip to the start of you sequence. Repeat these directions placing each clip in order on your timeline. SNAP TOOL: When you drag your clips to the sequence you want to make sure you do not cover up previous clips that you put on the sequence. To make sure the clips SNAP together, without chopping off any of the previous clip, you click on the letter n. N toggles the snap tool off and on. REARRANGE CLIPS: To change the order of clips in your sequence, click on a clip with your mouse, hold the mouse down and drag the clip to a new location. If you drop it on top of another clip it will edit over that clip. If you don't want to edit another clip drag the clip to an empty space or drag it to a new line Video line.
INSERT A CLIP: If you want a clip to go in between 2 clips in your sequence, you can INSERT it. Place your edit marker (click your mouse) at the point in your sequence where you want the clip inserted. Drag the clip from the Viewr to the right towards the CANVAS rather than to the Timeline. Options will appear. Drag the clip to the Insert option. The clip will appear in your sequence at the point where you placed your pointer. CUT A CLIP/BLADE A CLIP: Click the letter b. As you move your mouse you'll notice the mouse arrow has turned into a blade. Click on the clip in your Timeline where you want to cut it. This splits the clip. Click the letter a to turn off the blade and return to neutral mouse mode. Click on the section of the clip you wish to delete. TWO DELETE OPTIONS: Click on delete. This will lift delete the clip, leaving a gap where it was. Shift+ delete. This will delete the clip and close the gap. It shifts all of your other clips to the right, closing the gap. EDIT COMMANDS: Below is a short list of short cuts used in SMU's Basic Video on a regular basis. For a complete list, check out: Keyxl.com's FCPRO keyboard shortcut list. Save: Command s Undo: Command z In: i Clear In point: option i Out: o Clear Out point: option o Blade: b Arrow: a releases any tool chosen. Pen: p allows you to lower and raise audio levels. Snap: n toggles snap off
Copy: Command c Cut: Command x Paste: Command v Waveform: command+option+w shows you the waveform of the audio on the Timeline. COMMANDS FOR MOVING AROUND IN THE TIMELINE: To move forward 1 frame on the Timeline: right arrow To move back one frame on the Timeline: left arrow To move to the next edit on the Timeline: up arrow To move to the previous edit on the Timeline: down arrow To move the the beginning or start of the Timeline: Home To move the end of your video on the Timeline: End Toggle Track sizes shift t OTHER USEFUL COMMANDS: Open log and capture: Command 8 Batch Capture: Ctrl c Print to Video: Ctrl m IMPORT MUSIC FROM A CD TO FINAL CUT PRO Insert CD on the right side of the Mac. Wait for itunes to pop up Name your tracks. Click import. Wait for green checks to signal that your songs are completely imported into itunes. The computers in the labs should be set up to convert your files to Aiff or Mp3. To check this, click on itunes - preferences and near the bottom set the import settings to aiff or Mp3. Quit itunes and Eject CD. Open User Storage > itunes, then find your music. Open your folder in User Storage and drag the song file into your folder. Close User Storage. Go back to Final Cut Pro and Hold control and click on the mouse in your browser window. A window with options appears - Click import files.
Navigate to your folder and click on the song it will then show up in the Browser window of final cut pro with all your video shots. Just drag it down to the waveform to insert it into your video. If your music is imported as an Mp3 file you will have to render it once you drag it to the timeline. If you try to play it without rendering it, you'll hear a beeping sound rather than music and you'll notice a red line indicating a need to render the file at the top of your timeline. BASIC COLOR CORRECTION Color Correcting is one of the last things you do when editing a video, and it is required for any video that will air on television. The directions below will walk you through basic color correction. To select all of your video click (Command) Apple+A Click on the Effects Tab. Go to the Filters Folder and open the Color Correction Folder and Choose the plain Color Corrector. Drag it to your project Timeline. Double click the first clip of your project. A new tab appears next to Motion called Color Corrector. Use the color corrector tool to change Whites, Mids, Blacks, and Saturation, but you need a tool to tell you how much to change to change each option. Go to Tools at the top of the screen and Select Video Scopes. Pull the Video Scope window to the left and put it over your Browser Window, so you can see the Viewer and Canvas windows. In the upper left of the Tools Window, use the Layout pull down window to select Waveform.
Whites should be at the top line or below. Black should be on or above the black line at the bottom. If you are correcting a silhouette raise the Mids. When lowering Black to give more depth and shadow, be careful not to scrunch dark areas so that they lose definition. When using Saturation be careful not to turn people strange colors. Make sure skin, teeth and/or eyes do not turn orange or yellow. FULL PAGE GRAPHICS WITH A MATTE Go to Effects Tab, click on Video Generator and Select Matte. It does not matter which Matte. Pull the Matte onto the project Timeline. Put the Matte underneath the Logo or image that you want to show. TWO WAYS TO CHANGE MATTE COLOR Double click the Matte, go to Controls and Select the Eyedropper Select whatever color you want to copy from the Logo, and it will change to that color. Double click on the Matte, go to the Controls Tab and click on the color box to choose a color. LOGO FOR GRAPHIC You may either design your own logo or use a jpeg or psd file sent to you by the cliet or found online. From Web Look for a large image in Google images or Find an image on the organization's website. Control click and select Save image as jpg. Save it to your folder on the user storage. Control-click in the gray and choose Import. Select Import File and find/chose the Logo from your folder.
Bring it down to the project Timeline and put it on top of the Matte. You might need to Scale it down and/or move it by using Scale/Center in Motion Tab Then add text. FADING If the graphic is at the end of your video and you need to fade it: Only fade Text and Logo layers. Do not fade the Matte layer at the bottom. If you do, as it fades you will see all the separate layers fade.
Final Cut Pro Final Cut Pro is an incredibly extensive program used to edit feature films, documentaries, news, music videos, commercials, etc. These notes will get you started, but I suggest that you purchase a Final Cut Pro HD book to move beyond the basics. I can of course teach you more than is in these notes, but a book is a good tool. Workspace When you open Final Cut Pro, you will see four main windows: Browser, Viewer, Canvas and Timeline Browser Here, you organize your unedited content. Viewer The viewer is where you work on individual clips or shots. You can preview clips, check the clip length, edit and modify clips. To edit your clip, set in and an out. Canvas The canvas looks much like the viewer and sits in the upper right corner of the workspace. Here, you can view the edited sequence.
Timeline The timeline is where you edit your story. The tool palette and audio meters sit to the right of the timeline, and a collection of buttons sit on the bottom left. Each option on the tools palette is associated with a shortcut key. Knowing the shortcut keys can increase work speed. While this site focuses on introducing journalism students to the basics of Final Cut Pro, the Knight Digital Media Center's introduction at http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/tutorials/finalcut/ is another great resource.
CREATE TEXT: Click Effects tab at top of your Browser. (If the tab isn't there go to Windows and click on Effects) Double click Video Generator folder. Open Text folder. Choose the type of text. Drag Text icon into Timeline ABOVE video.
Shorten the text clip to make it fit your needs by dragging the end in with your mouse. Make sure yellow arrow (your mouse marker) is above the text so you can see what you are typing in the viewer. Double click the text in your Timeline to open up the Text in your Viewer so that you can type. Click on the Controls Tab. Type your text. Choose your font.
If the font is too thin, Bold it. The Style pulldown offers 4 choices. Size your font and MAKE SURE it is within safe title inside the inner green box. For a drop shadow: Click Motion tab Check the "drop shadow box," arrow to Left of drop shadow to change settings.!
HOW-TO CHANGE FONT TEXT: Double click on the text clip in the Timeline. It will open in your Viewer. Make sure your mouse marker is on top of the text clip, so that you can see the results of your action in the Canvas. Click the Controls tab in your viewer. In the Controls Tab you'll type your text. Choose the font. Size your font. Choose the font style: plain, bold, italics, as well as alignment, color and spacing. If you change your font, the size will also change. If you change the font style by bolding, that will change the size of the font. As you make aesthetic changes to your font, make sure all of your text stays within safe title. Remember to always size your font in the Controls tab window. If you scale your font in the Motion tab, it'll become soft or out of focus.!
HOW-TO MOVE TEXT: Double click on the text clip in the Timeline. It will open in your Viewer. Make sure your mouse marker is on top of the text clip, so that you can see the results of your action in the Canvas. Click Motion tab in your viewer. Inside Basic Motion, the third choice is center. Click center. You'll see a cross in the middle of your Canvas. Click it and move it. Your text will move as you move the cross. (Note: Each time you release your mouse, you'll need to reclick the center button in order to move the text.) Remember to keep all text inside the safe title/safe text area.!
FREEZE FRAME: Double click on the clip in the browser to open it in the Viewer. Scroll through the clip in the Viewer and find a spot that you like. Mark IN (i) and OUT (o) at that spot. Be sure it is in the same frame. Go to the Modify menu at the top of the screen and scroll to Freeze Frame. (Shortcut:shift+n) A 10 second freeze frame appears in the Viewer. You can shorten the freeze frame clip by marking In and Out (i/o) before dragging it to the Timeline. Click and drag it to the Timeline. Change length of freeze frame clip by pulling it out or in, or using the Blade tool.
REVERSE A SHOT: Double click on the shot in the timeline so that you can work on it. Click the Modify tab and pull down to choose speed. The shortcut for Speed is (Command + J) Check the reverse box. Render the shot. SAVE before rendering. (Command s)!
ROTATE A SHOT: Double click on the shot in the Timeline. Click the Motion Tab in the Viewer. Rotate. (Use the numbers to rotate.) Rotating an image will cause black edges to appear around the image. To get rid of these enlarge the image using Scale. Scale is in the Motion Tab near Rotate. Be careful. Enlarging an image with Scale will pixilate your shot if you scale too large.!
CHANGE MOTION SPEED Fast Motion a Shot: Double click on the shot in the timeline. Click Modify, Scroll down to speed (or Apple + J), and type a larger number than 100 into the box. Render. ALWAYS SAVE BEFORE RENDERING. (Command +s) Slow-Mo a Shot: Double click on the shot in the Timeline. Click Modify, Scroll down to Speed (or Apple + J), and type in a smaller number than 100 into the box. Hint: Take the shot to the end of your piece before doing this to make sure the speed modification doesn't change all the timing for the shots after it. After you've changed the speed, Drag the slowed clip over to the spot you want the shot to be in, place it above the video line and cut it down. Save, Render.!
How To Create a Black and White clip/shot in Final Cut Pro:! 1. The clip/shot should already be in your timeline ready to edit. 2. Click on the Effects Tab at the top left of your Browser 3. Double Click to Open the Video Filters folder. 4. Double Click to Open the Image Control folder. 5. Click on the Sepia icon & drag the icon, dropping it onto the shot in your Timeline. 6. Your shot will turn Sepia, which is an old-fashioned orangey, brown photo color. To turn the clip black and white rather than sepia
7. Double click on the shot in the Timeline. 8. Click on the Filters tab in your Viewer. 9. Open the square color box & click on the crayon box in the upper right corner. 10. Choose the black crayon and your image will turn Black and White.