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Final Cut Pro Tutorial 1

a. Project Setup

 

In this tutorial, we will open Final Cut Pro, set up a project, make a simple edit, and export the result for iPod.

 

Open Final Cut Pro. You'll probably see a workspace like this one:

 

 

The main windows in the interface are:

1. Browser (top row, left)

2. Viewer (top row, middle)

3. Canvas (top row,right)

4. Timeline (bottom row)

5. Toolbar and Audio level meter (bottom row, far right)

 

If any of these main windows are missing, go to the main menu Window, and under Arrange select Standard.

 

 

The first time you open FCP (Final Cut Pro), you are opening an untitled project. Under the File menu, select Save Project As...

 

 

. . . and name your project FCP_tutorial.fcp under the Final Cut Pro Documents of your Documents folder. 

 

 

Before you click Save, create a new folder where you can put all your files relating to this project. Click on New Folder, and name the folder FCP Tutorial. Click Create.

 

 

Click Save.

 

 

Under the View menu, change the way you'll be looking at your material in the Browser window by selecting Browser Items > as Large Icons.

 

 

b: A Basic Edit (Overwrite)

 

When you first open FCP, there will be one untitled sequence in the Browser. Select that sequence and rename it as TutorialRemix. Sequences are the main timelines in FCP. 

 

 

 

Under the File menu, select Import, and choose the 'redset.mov' file (available online at _______________).

 

 

To enable your sequence to properly display this material, open the Settings. . . window under the Sequence menu: 

 

 

Change the settings to match what you see here:

 

 

 

Make sure you have the Anamorphic 16:9 button selected, otherwise this video clip will be distorted. 

 

Next, go to the Timeline Options, and make sure you've selected Show Audio Waveforms:

 

 

 

Now, back in the main interface, double-click the redset.mov icon in the browser window. It will pop up in the Viewer window.

 

Move the playback head (the vertical line with the inverted yellow triangle) along the grey bar that stands for the viewer timeline. Designate the beginning and ending points of a part of this clip (the In and Out points) by pressing the keyboard keys I and O, or by clicking on the in point/out point icons ( ). Click and drag on the image in the viewer window and drop into the main timeline. Here's what you should see:

 

 

 

Double click on the redset.mov edit in video channel IN THE TIMELINE (note: we call media in the browser clips, and when those clips are cut and dropped into the timeline, the result is an edit). This will show you the filters and motion effects you've applied to this particular edit.  It's a little like the symbol/library/stage relationship in Flash:  changes you make to the edit on the timeline will not affect the clip in the browser from which the edit is derived.

 

So, to review: if you double-click an edit in the timeline, the Viewer window will show you characteristics that apply to just that edit - - if you double-click a clip in the browser, the Viewer shows you the master (original) clip before anything (filter, motion effects, etc.) has been applied to it. 

 

 

 

OK, now that you've double-clicked on the redset.mov edit in the timeline, click on the Motion tab in the Viewer window. Here's what you should see: 

 

 

Every aspect of the edit's motion that you alter will change that aspect of the entire edit--it's a global change. For example, the entire clip was scaled from 159% to 200%, and the aspect ratio (hidden under the 'Distort' tab) was changed to 18. 

 

 

 

The red bar across the top of the timeline window indicates the timeline needs to be rendered (that is, temporary video files need to be created) in order for you to preview the timeline in the canvas window (which will show you how you've edited the clip). With the edit selected in the timeline, go to the Sequence menu, and select Render Selection > Both.

 

 

When you make this selection, you'll see the progress bar telling you how long you can expect it to take to render: 

 

 

When the edit is rendered, the red bar goes away, and you can preview your clip in the Canvas window:

 

 

 

c: Basic Insert Edit

 

The previous edit was an Overwrite edit: the new material simple replaces whatever was on the timeline for the length of the new material. Now, we're going to make an Insert edit, where new material will just push the existing material forward in the timeline, and the point where we make the insert edit.

 

Move the playback head in either the canvas window or on the main timeline (they function identically) . . . 

 

 

to a point just before one of the musical outbursts in the latter part of the clip. You can find this point visually by noticing where the audio waveform diminishes to 0, right before the activity in the waveform begins again. This will be our insert point:

 

 

Now, double-click the redset.mov clip in the browser window again, and set in and out points for some new material you want to place at the insert point. Click in the Viewer window and drag this edit to the right side of the Canvas window. The edit options will pop up, and you will drop the clip into the yellow Insert area.

 

 

When you release your mouse, the edit will be inserted into your insert point on the main timeline: 

 

 

Move the playback head on the main timeline to the middle of the new edit. You'll see that the new edit (the image in the Canvas window) has the scaling and aspect ratio that doesn't quite fill the frame, so we need to fix that: 

 

 

Double-click the new edit in the timeline. You should then see identical images in both the Viewer and Canvas windows:

 

 

 

Click on the Motion tab in the Viewer window, and change the scaling to 200 percent, and the aspect ratio to 18. These are the same settings you previously applied to the first edit. 

 

 

 

d: Changing the Speed of an Edit

 

Now, we're going to alter the insert edit we just made by slowing it down. With the new insert edit selected in timeline. . . .

 

 

select Speed. . . under the Modify menu:

 

 

Change the Speed setting to 50 percent (your duration will be different): 

 

 

Click OK, and notice the edit in the timeline window is now twice as long, meaning you've reduced the speed by 50%: 

 

 

 (this is #31)

 

Render the results, and preview in the Canvas window.