Book Image

Final Cut Pro Efficient Editing

By : Iain Anderson
Book Image

Final Cut Pro Efficient Editing

By: Iain Anderson

Overview of this book

Final Cut Pro (also known as FCP, previously Final Cut Pro X) is Apple’s efficient and accessible video editing software for everyone, offering powerful features that experienced editors and novices will find useful. FCP is the quickest way to transform your raw clips into a finished piece, so if speed is important, make this a key tool in your editing arsenal. Final Cut Pro Efficient Editing is a comprehensive best practice guide for all editors. You’ll not only learn how to use the features but also find out which ones are the most important and when you should use them. With the help of practical examples, the book will show you how typical footage can be assembled, trimmed, colored, and finessed to produce a finished edit, exploring a variety of techniques. As you progress through the book, you’ll follow a standard editing workflow to get the feel of working on real-world projects and answer self-assessment questions to make sure that you’re on track. By the end of this Final Cut Pro book, you’ll be well versed with the key features of this app and have all the tools you need to create impressive edits.
Table of Contents (20 chapters)
1
Section 1: Importing and Organizing
7
Section 2: Rough Cut to Fine Cut
13
Section 3: Finishing and Exporting

Creating and using Compound Clips

Compound Clips let you group several clips and treat them just like a single clip within a Project. Like Multicam Clips, Compound Clips are containers, and as you'll see soon, containers enable advanced replacement workflows. But a Compound Clip isn't limited to a single angle; it can contain anything a Project can, including any number of simultaneous or sequential clips.

For example, if several icons were positioned at the same time in a Project, all as independent, connected clips, they could be selected and converted into a single Compound Clip, then moved, modified, and trimmed as a single unit. Similarly, you could combine a green-screen clip and its separate background clip into a single Compound Clip. The process is easy:

  1. Select one or many clips, either in the Timeline or in the Browser. They can be connected or sequential; any group of clips will do:
    Figure 10.1: Here's a background, then a custom generator above, then a logo, then a title

    Figure 10.1: Here's a background, then a custom generator above...