Focal Easy Guide to Final Cut Express

Focal Easy Guide to Final Cut Express

by Rick Young
Released July 2012
Publisher(s): Focal Press
ISBN: 9781136069970

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Book description

This highly illustrated, full color book tells you all you need to know to get up and running quickly using Apple's new digital video editing application - Final Cut Express. Rick Young shares his professional insight to ensure you get the most out of all the pro-level tools, offered at a very affordable price by Express.

All the essential areas are covered: set-up; capture; editing; multi-channel sound mixing; effects creation and print to video, web or DVD, enhanced throughout by important workflow tips. This is an ideal first read, whatever you want to edit in Final Cut Express, at whatever level, as this powerful package is the answer to all your digital video needs, presenting a complete, easy to use digital laboratory for your movie creation.

Rick Young (www.digitalproduction.net) is Director and Founding Member of the UK Final Cut Pro User Group and an Apple Solutions Expert. A freelance television director and editor with many years of broadcast experience, including work for the BBC, Sky, ITN, CNBC and Reuters. Also a Final Cut Pro Consultant, Rick has attended numerous UK and US exhibitions, is a liaison to the US FCP user groups, and author of the best-selling, 'The Easy Guide to Final Cut Pro'.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Half Title
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright
  5. Contents
  6. Preface
  7. For New Users
  8. The Old and the New
    1. The Digital Laboratory
    2. Inside Your Mac
    3. Hardware and Software Requirements
    4. How Much Hard Drive Space?
    5. Decks and Cameras
    6. Firewire
    7. A World of Different Standards
    8. Television Aspect Ratio
  9. Hands On
    1. Loading the Software
    2. Initial Setup
  10. The Interface
    1. Arranging the Interface
    2. Learning a Custom Layout
    3. Building a Film Structure
    4. Important Details About the Interface
    5. Saving Projects
  11. Setup and Capture
    1. DV Audio
    2. Easy Setup
    3. Setting Scratch Disks
    4. Working with Formats other than DV
    5. Methods of Capturing DV Footage
    6. Deck Control
    7. The Capture Window
    8. Capture Clip
    9. Capture Now
    10. Working Around the Lack of Batch Capture
    11. Getting the Most Out of the Capture Process
    12. Dealing with Timecode Breaks
    13. Importing Music from CD
    14. Converting Audio Sample Rates
  12. Sorting Through Your Footage
    1. Viewing Clips
    2. Playing Video Through Firewire
    3. Setting Poster Frames
    4. DV Start/Stop Detection
    5. Working with Bins
    6. Working in List Mode
    7. Searching for Clips
  13. The Cutting Room
    1. Insert and Overwrite Editing
    2. Getting Started with Editing
    3. Distinguishing Between Insert and Overwrite
    4. Three Point Editing
    5. Other Editing Options
    6. Modifying ‘In’ and ‘Out’ Points
    7. Directing the Flow of Audio/Video
    8. Locking Tracks
    9. Adding and Deleting Tracks
    10. Essential Editing Tools
    11. Undo/Redo
    12. Linked/Unlinked Selection
    13. Moving Edits in the Timeline
    14. Selecting Multiple Items in the Timeline
    15. Edit Like Using a Word Processor
    16. Snapping and Skipping Between Shots
    17. The Razorblade Tool
    18. Magnifier Tool
    19. Bringing Clips Back into Sync
    20. Creating New Sequences
    21. Slow/Fast Motion
    22. Rendering
    23. Using the Real-Time Effects
    24. Subclips
    25. Freeze Frame
    26. Match Frame Editing
    27. Split Edits
    28. Drag and Drop Editing
    29. Extending/Reducing Clips by Dragging
  14. Effects
    1. Single and Multi-Layered Effects
    2. The Concept of Media Limit (Handles)
    3. Applying Transitions
    4. Changing Transition Durations
    5. Applying Filters
    6. Compositing
    7. Methods of Creating Multiple Tracks
    8. The Motion Tab
    9. Using the Motion Tab
    10. Image and Wireframe
    11. Titlesafe
    12. Working with Multi-Layers
    13. Keyframing Images
    14. Multi-Layered Dissolves
    15. Copy and Pasting Attributes
    16. Titling
  15. Working with Audio
    1. Setting Correct Audio Levels
    2. Getting the Most Out of Your Audio
    3. Converting Clips into Stereo Pairs
    4. Adjusting Audio Levels
    5. Adding Sound Fades
    6. Adding Audio Cross Fades
    7. Adding Audio Tracks
    8. Mixdown Audio
  16. Output
    1. Playing it Safe
    2. Print to Video
    3. Other Forms of Distribution
  17. Final Cut Pro 4
    1. Final Cut Pro vs Final Cut Express
  18. Epilog
  19. Index

Product information

  • Title: Focal Easy Guide to Final Cut Express
  • Author(s): Rick Young
  • Release date: July 2012
  • Publisher(s): Focal Press
  • ISBN: 9781136069970