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

Applying and using video effects

This topic is huge, but if you want to blur, glitch, focus, sharpen, warp, distort, or otherwise stylize your clips visually, video effects are the way to get that done. Found in the Effects Browser to the lower-right of the interface, there are over a hundred effects included by default, and that's enough to get started with. When you need some more, you can install hundreds of additional third-party effects (free and paid) or even make your own with Motion. As you'll see, some effects have only a few controls in the Inspector, while others include many customizable options with draggable on-screen controls:

Figure 12.49: On-screen controls come in all shapes and sizes, such as this double-ring control on Droplet

Figure 12.49: On-screen controls come in all shapes and sizes, such as this double-ring control on Droplet

But — surprise! — you've actually used effects already. The color corrections you added in the previous chapter are video effects, from the Color category of the Effects pane. While...