working with final cut pro

7/31/2019 Working With Final Cut Pro

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LECTURE NOTES 7

Course: Video 1Course Code: COMM2303Program Code: BP203Semester: Semester 1, 2010

Lecturer: Dr Shaun WilsonEmail: [email protected]

THE FUNDAMENTALS OF POSTPRODUCTION: WORKING

WITH FINAL CUT PRO

OVERVIEW

Postproduction refers to the after production stage in making your film bywhich all footage and related material is placed together in an orderedsequence using various types of software, namely a non-linear editingsystem, to achieve the final product ready for distribution though broadcast,cinema, optical disc author or other kinds of distribution media. In this lecturewe will discuss using Final Cut Pro as a means to log, capture or ingest yourfootage to begin the editing stage from set up to output.

Final Cut Pro is an industry standard non-linear editing system that is used inthe film industry and television industry known as an inexpensive alternativeto more complex and expensive editing systems such AVID and CYQUEST. Itwas developed and perfected as both PC and MAC software but after itsrelease in 2000 was exclusively run as a MAC platform and (still is) theflagship of Apple moving image-editing software.

It is released in six major versions being Final Cut Pro (2000), Final Cut Pro 2(2001), Final Cut Pro 3 (2002), Final Cut Pro 4 (2003), Final Cut Pro 4.5 HD(2003), Final Cut Pro 5 (as Final Cut Studio 1 2005) and Final Cut Pro 6 (asFinal Cut Studio 2, 2007). All variants have added features and more codecsto work from as the later versions now accommodate high definition video etc.The current version if Final Cut Pro 6.0.5.


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SYSTEM SET UP

Despite the advances in recent versions the software operates on a basicprinciple of a timeline and supporting windows. Before you learn about theinterface it is IMPORTANT to set up your system and save correctly otherwise

problems will immediately follow. To avoid early issues, users must set theirscratch discs in order to tell the software where to place the abundance ofmain files and cache files needed to run your edit.

When using external hard drives it is a good idea to assign different drives toeach scratch disc. For example, drive 1 would link with video capture; drive 2would link with video render, etc. This process speeds up render andprocessing time but is also problematic when one or more drives becomeinaccessible due to corruption, power failure or is knocked.

1. Open Final Cut Pro2. Go to > Final Cut Pro > System Settings3. Set your scratch discs to ONE folder on your nominated drive (this

makes your entire project moveable)4. Select > Set > location > return and repeat in the BOTTOM THREE

options of Waveform Cache, Thumbnail Cache, and Auto saveVault.

SAVING YOUR PROJECT

Now you are ready to save the project into your project folder by selecting the

following options.


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1. Go to > File > Save Project as2. Select project folder > name project > return.3. Press Apple Button S just in case this doesnt work.

Your project is now saved and filed. DO NOT select future options of Save

Project As unless you want to make a duplicate project. Go back to yourproject file and open. You should have one red icon project file and severalblue folders. If you cant see these then your either in the wrong folder or youdidnt save and file your project properly.

AUDIO/VIDEO SETUP

This option is used to determine your video and audio settings based on thetype of camera used to capture and record your footage. The golden rule is

(unless up or downsizing footage) to select the options used in your camera.For example, if I used a HDV camera at 50i then I would select the optionsillustrated below.

1. Go to Final Cut Pro >Audio/Video Settings >Summary tab2. Go to Sequence Preset > select appropriate preset from drop down

menu3. Go to Capture Preset > select appropriate preset from drop down

menu4. Go to Device Control Preset (how you control your camera from the

computer) > select appropriate preset from drop down menu

5. Go to Video Playback > select appropriate preset from drop downmenu


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6. Go to Audio Playback > select appropriate preset from drop downmenu

As a general guide use these settings on BAAIM Mac computers when usingRMIT video cameras:

Sony 1080i HDV cameras @ 1080i, 50fps (various sized black cameras)

Sequence Preset: HDV 1080i50Sequence Capture: HDVDevice Control Preset: HDV FireWire 50 fpsVideo Playback: NoneAudio Playback: Default

Panasonic DV 3CCD cams @ 720i, 25fps (small silver cams)

Sequence Preset: DV-PAL 48khzSequence Capture: DV-PAL 48khzDevice Control Preset: Firewire PALVideo Playback: NoneAudio Playback: Default

EASY SET UP

The next thing you need to do is to create an easy setup and make sure FCPis using the correct video and audio settings.

1. Go to Final Cut Pro > East Setup


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2. Go to Format > select type from pull down menu3. Go to Rate > select frames per second option from pull-down menu4. Go to Use > select option from pull down menu.

USER PREFERENCES

User Preferences nominate how FCP will function in the appropriate settingsyou have chosen for your audio and video files. I recommend using theGeneral and Labels tabs then when you become more familiar with theprogram venture into the other tabs to experiment what they do and how theyaffect your overall project. But for now lets just stick to these two tabs.

1. Go to Final Cut Pro > User Preferences2. Go to General tab > set Levels of Undo to 99 (the maximum amount)3. Leave all other standard preset alone until they are needed to change.

For reference, the pull down menu for on time code break is by default listedas make new clip. This means that every time you press pause or stop onyour camera, when a new scene is registered on your tapes time code, orwhen a time code is broken, a new QuickTime file will be produced which canor cannot be helpful to you depending on the methods of your editingpreference. Change this option if you do not want to have multiple clips pertape. The Save a copy every under the Autosave Vault option can be set toauto save less than the default 60 minutes. I like to set this option to 20minutes purely because when working in a very intense and complicated editit sometimes is helpful to have your work saved more frequently to protectyour valuable time and effort.


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LABELS TAB

The Labels Tab nominates a coloured labeling and ordering hierarchy systemto use in the assembling and organizing stages of arranging your footage andother assets, sequences, and exporting folders. You can change the naming

of each colour by typing in your designated title. I like to use other namessuch as first edit, raw footage, second edit, not rendered, rendered, andfinal edit and also in the colours of folders to distinguish video, audio, stillsand other types of assets. Once you assign a different name then it will stayconsistent until changed. On a public machine it is a good idea to change thetitles back every time you use the particular machine.

OTHER OPTIONS

Before starting work in FCP, there are other options you can use to increaseperformance and stability of your workflows. The first is to turn off all otherprograms, especially web browser and even other non-essential drives whichcan take away processing power and RAM. Other options are to increase theamount of RAM to at least 1-2GB (4GB is better); clear your caches on aweekly basis; perform regular security and software updates to make sureyour suite of Final Cut Studio software is able to talk to each other in auniform manner (always check QuickTime compatibility); run weekly virusscans; run weekly first aid checks on your overall system preferences; makesure you are running a compatible and updated version of OSX; keep yourcomputer free of dust, dirt, and liquids; regularly clean out your QuickTimefolders from multiple and duplicate video footage files; and dont use pirated

or borrowed software!


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THE STANDARD INTERFACE OVERVIEW

FCP uses a series of different types of interfaces according to different typesof functions and tasks required from the software. The Standard Interfaceconsists of four main sections that each serves their own function and role inyour workflow progression. Some sections have multiple tabs that lead intoother tabs etc. To reset your interface to the default setting try: Window >

Arrange > Standard.

THE BROWSER: PROJECT TAB


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The Project Tab in the Browser Window is where you locate all of your assetsneeded to complete the edit. It contains an area to dock folders andsequences (project view of your entire edit in a sequential timeline), and aseries of other columns containing information about various aspects andproperties of each asset including: In and Out Points, Duration, FPS,

Compression, Timeline Compression and many other controllable indicators.You can scroll left to right through all of he information (which is automaticallycompiled when an asset is placed in the project tab) or you can choose whichcolumns are active and hidden by right clicking on the column heading. Rightclicking in the media column will reveal a set of options allowing the user tosee the asset icons in list or icon format, cut and paste, importing, exporting,and adding sequences (editable timelines) and bins (folders) etc.

A handy tip is to colour code your folders so that all assets and relatedmaterial are ordered and categorized to be easily recognizable.

THE BROWSER: EFFECTS TAB

The Effects tab in your Browser window contains drop and drag able iconviews of all generated video, audio, and template effects. You can see this asthe default list view or right click to view as icon view. To add an effect to yourvideo or audio simply highlight the desired icon then drag it to your assets inthe timeline or drop and drag into the canvas window under the Filterswindow. You can copy and compile certain effects into template bins or intothe Favorites bin.

A user tip is to work in list view mode as you can freely cycle throughindividual effects much more quickly that in the icon view.


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THE CANVAS: CLIP WINDOW

The Canvas window is as the name suggests the visual workspace of yourproject and demonstrates what your project looks like. It contains informationabout your clip as it appears in your timeline. In the top left and right handsides are the clips in and out point timecodes. In the top middle are drop downlist menus which control the size, format, and function of the display which areall viewable by clicking the downwards pointing arrow in the right hand side.

Below centre are the play controls complimented by toggle sliders that finetune edit points. Underneath this are coloured icons which are shortcuts forInsert (yellow ion), Overwrite (red icon), Replace (blue icon) options plus aright facing triangle option to select or reorder further options of Superimpose

(purple icon), Fit to Fill (green icon), Insert with Transition (yellow linedicon), Overwrite with Transition (red lined icon). You can alter the interface ofwhich icon appears where using the third optionable icon.

To the right of the play controls are (from left to right) Mark In and Mark Out,Add Marker, Add Motion Keyframe, Mark Clip, and Show Match Frameicon options but for the first time or intermediate user, become aware of theoverall editing protocols of FCP before using these kinds of options in yourtimeline project.

The yellow triangle facing down to a movable line on top of the play controls is

called the scrubber that indicates the specific frame your clip is viewing andthe process of moving this left and right is called scrubbing.


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THE VIEWER: VIDEO TAB

The Viewer Tab is almost identical to the Canvas Tab but it serves a different

purpose to what the FCP manual claims as the source monitorof your projectin that it displays your clips in before they are manipulated in your timeline.

The Video Tab displays your clip using the same surface controls of thecanvas minus the coloured icons but also has two new icon options on theright hand side of the play controls that are both drop down menus. The bluesquare lists all of your clips used in the timeline allowing the user to togglethrough and replace clips without going into the project sequence tab, and theletter A inside a white square contains options to insert objects andtemplates including text, generators, motion templates, and other effects. Usethis option to include text in your time line.

Toggles either side of the play control remain the same as the canvas as dothe top left and right hand side in and out points. To cycle between the Viewerwindows click on the top left hand side insert tabs or isolate windows intoseparate windows by dragging the tab sections out or snap into otherwindows into another area in the FCP interface.


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THE FILTERS TAB

The Filters Tab contains all of the specified clip filters added to the rawfootage and presents this in a movable hierarchical order from top to bottom.Many filters can be viewed and activated using both drop down list views orgraphical views as in the case of the Two-Way and Three-Way ColourCorrector.

An expandable timeline can be used that springs out from the right hand sideof the tab which allows the user to use keyframes to manually activate effectin and out points. Users of dual screen monitors are best suited to use theseeffects without disturbances to the overall interface layout.

Keyframe icons located at the right hand side of each effect window allow theuser to manually insert and track keyframe effects. Clip and timelinetimecodes are viewed on the bottom left hand side and a toggle slider andspring load slider allow the user to move in and out of the keyframe timelinewith relative ease and freedom of movement.

An In and Out point can be seen in the diagram above indicated by two blackfacing triangle and blue lines which is the standard FCP in and out pointindicators throughout the program.


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THE VIEWER: MOTION TAB

The Motion Tab is used to alter the motion behaviors of the selected clip andloads all of subsequent changes back into the timeline-affected clip.

The seven basic functions allow the user to modify Basic Motion (Scale,Rotation, Center Points, and Anchor Points), Crop (effecting the dimensionsof the clip), Distort (effecting the distortion of the clip dimensions and pictureplains), Opacity (effecting the opacity of the clip), Drop Shadow (distorts theclip shadow properties), Motion Blur (distorts the clip by blurring motionproperties), and Time Remap (alters the clips speed properties).

THE TIMELINE


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The Timeline is the main driver of your project and visualizes all of the assetsused to make your final output. It consists of a divided layering system placingup to 99 video channels ABOVE the line and 99 audio channels BELOW theline. To insert an asset to the timeline the user can either drop and drag anitem from the Project Tab or drag an asset from the Canvas or Viewer Tabs or

use the hidden timeline menu system options or the visible timeline options ofthe coloured icons in the Viewer Tab, or use the many other options (there areseveral more read the manual!).

Once an asset is placed in the timeline you may experience a coloured lineacross the top of the Timeline Window. This indicates the state of renderingneeded to finish the desired asset. There are several different types of coloursbut the main colour that will hold up your progress if not addressed is the redcoloured line. This indicates the designated clip needs to be rendered (aprocess of drying the paint so to speak). To do this choose either Option > Ror Apple Button > R or Sequence > Render >select one of three options. This

will, depending on which colour is selected, render the effects needed to playyour clip in full.

To the left hand side of the Timeline is a small drop down menu icon with theletters RT which controls how your project will be played in real time. Theseoptions will give you playable modes that are partially controlled by your

computers graphics card, processor speed, and allocated RAM. The moreadvanced your graphics card, processors and Ram allocation is the betterperformance you will have in real time option controls.

To the right hand side of the timeline are two main controls that allow the userto make certain choices in editability of the desired clips. The first icon (left) isthe Linking option which links both audio and video together when movedwhile the second icon (right) is Snapping used to provide seamless joiningbetween clips.


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Other controls are located on the bottom left hand side. The green icons aremute buttons, the padlock icons lock individual channels preventing changes,and the square icons with letters are the channel tracks (V1 = Video Track 1,A1 = Audio Track 1 etc). There are many other functions and drop down/rightclick menus so experiment and get to know all the options.

SEQUENCE SETTINGS

The Sequence Settings tab is located by right clicking your sequence icon inthe Project Sequence Tab and select Sequence Setting. This tab tells theuser the various properties associated with the sequence and how it willprocess and handle the project edit.

The main Tab you have to use is General and when more experienced,venture into the other tabs only when confident.

Frame Size is set to the native format of the used footage. Always use yournative clip size unless specifically outputting or up/downscaling to a


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nominated size. For example, if your footage was shot on an BAAIM SonyHDV cam at 1080i50 then your Frame size should be set to 1440x1080 (16:9)with a Pixel Aspect Ration of 1440x1080. The Field dominance of interlacedHDV is always top (use none for progressive scan because you dont needto alter the fields), the Editing Timebase set to 50, and the Compressor set to

HDV 1080i50, and so forth. Audio rates should also be set to your nativefootage.

THE AUDIO INTERFACE

To edit with audio you can select a specific interface designed to allow you tomake critic decisions using an optionable audio mixer by selecting Window >Arrange > Audio Mixing.

The mixer automatically adds keyframe audio levels straight into the timelineby using the live keyframe assistant and then altering the levels that thentranslate into live keyframe imbedding.

Other options include mixing individual or master tracks, muting, highlightingand reducing audio filters and transitions, and providing red lining indicators inreal time.


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COLOUR CORRECTION INTERFACE

The Colour Correction interface allows the user to work with colour correctingin real time by using both video scopes and a before and after log window toview changes and alterations in real time. To activate this option chooseWindow > Arrange > Colour Correction.

THE VIDEO SCOPES

The Video scopes used in the Colour Correction interface are industrystandard scopes that measure levels of intensity (in real time) in the videotrack traditionally monitored for broadcast transmission. There are six differenttypes of scopes that can be displayed and each serve a different function.


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Waveform: measures the levels of luma and

chroma saturation

Vector Scope: measures the distribution ofcolour

Histograph: measures the distribution of allluma values

Parade: measures single levels of either

Red, Green, or Blue components

Luminance: measures light intensity


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TWO UP INTERFACE

The Two-Up interface moves the Project and Effects Window to the bottomright and reduces the overall timeline screen real estate but increases theCanvas and Viewer Windows. To activate this option choose Window >Arrange > Two Up.

MULTIPLE EDITS INTERFACE

The Multiple Edits Interface allows the user to work on several edit points atone by creating three smaller video windows and a Frame Viewer and VideoScopes Window called a Tool Bench. To activate this option choose Window

> Arrange > Multiple Edits.


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VOICE OVER

To add a voice over direct in the timeline you need to have either an externalmicrophone or an internal microphone in built to your computer. The VoiceOver Tab is a simple device that features a record and stop function and dropdown menus that allows the user to select what type of inputs, rates andsettings to use. To activate this option choose Tools > Voice Over.

EXPORTING

There are several basic ways to export media in FCP. The main factors toconsider are: what type of distribution media are you using and what format isthe best method to output my project as?

Audio Only (Aiff file)Choose Export > Audio to AIFF > select details.

Video and Audio (FCP QuickTime File)Choose Export > QuickTime Movie > select details

Video and Audio (Generic QuickTime file)Choose Export > Using QuickTime Conversion > select details

Video and Audio (using Compressor)Choose Export > Using Compressor > select details (Compressor will open)

Video and Audio (using Soundtrack Pro)

Choose Export > For Soundtrack > select details (Soundtrack Pro will open)


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Video and Audio (using LiveType)Choose Export > For LiveType > select details (Livetype will open)

REFERENCES

Final Cut Pro 6 Users Manual, Apple Computers Inc, Los Angeles, 2007.

working with final cut pro

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