Blog Archives

Trimming clips in Final Cut Pro takes time. Here are some techniques, tips and keyboard shortcuts to help you work faster. (These apply to FCP 10.4 and 10.5.)

Here are ten keyboard shortcuts that make Apple Motion a whole lot easier to use – and ones I wish I knew a month ago.

In this session, we step deeper into the 3D world of Apple Motion with a look at cameras and sets. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to move a single camera between multiple sets in Motion.

In this session, we step deeper into the 3D world of Apple Motion with a look at cameras and sets. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to add and frame multiple cameras to shoot a single scene in Motion.

In this session, we step deeper into the 3D world of Apple Motion with a look at cameras and sets. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan illustrates how to add depth of field (focus) to a camera in Motion.

In this session, we step deeper into the 3D world of Apple Motion with a look at cameras and sets. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to add a camera to a Motion project, then illustrates the difference between a framing camera and viewpoint camera in Motion.

Everything in production was perfect – except someone wore the wrong color. How do you “fix it in post” in Apple Final Cut Pro? Here are two methods: Color masks and the Hue/Saturation Curves. One of them is CLEARLY better!

When using Premiere, caption timecode for importing captions doesn’t matter. But it DOES matter when exporting. Here’s what you need to know.

The Whirlwind Micmute PMD has exactly one job – to mute a microphone – but it fails miserably at it. It generates a loud noise spike every time the mute button is pushed. The details are in my review.

Many of the titles shipped with Final Cut Pro look, um, suboptimal. Here are some tricks you can use in both Final Cut and Motion, to make your titles look a WHOLE lot better.

Motion has a virtually limitless package of lights that can be positioned for both 2D and 3D elements. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan illustrates the four different light types in Apple Motion, and how they are used.

Motion has a virtually limitless package of lights that can be positioned for both 2D and 3D elements. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan illustrates what happens when you change light settings in Apple Motion.

Motion has a virtually limitless package of lights that can be positioned for both 2D and 3D elements. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan illustrates how to light a 3D object in Apple Motion using a variety of lights.

Motion has a virtually limitless package of lights that can be positioned for both 2D and 3D elements. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan illustrates how to create a cast shadow from a chroma-key using lights in Apple Motion.

Here’s a step-by-step tutorial creating an animated reflection in Apple Motion, then publishing it to Final Cut with additional effect controls, to use as a template.

In this illustrated, step-by-step tutorial, discover how to use Apple Motion to motion-track, blur or emphasize elements within a video frame.

[This is an excerpt from a recent on-line video webinar: “Advanced Techniques in Apple Motion 5.5” which is available as a download in our store, or as part of our Video Training Library.] EXCERPT DESCRIPTION Explore the capability of Apple …

Explore the capability of Apple Motion for your projects in more depth. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan illustrates how to use and modify particle emitters, then showcases two simulations: Repel and Vortex using Apple Motion.

Explore the capability of Apple Motion for your projects in more depth. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan illustrates how to create a curved path for text, then animate text along that curve using Apple Motion.

Adobe added minor features to both Premiere Pro and After Effects in its January, 2021, update. As well, it announced it is adding new, more inclusive language to its software. Here are the details.

The microphone you use for recording audio is more important to audio quality than any cable, plugin, software or hardware you use to record it. Here’s my thoughts on how to make yourself sound better.

You don’t need to be an incredible artist – or a programmer – to create interesting and useful effects using Apple Motion. In this short video training, Larry Jordan shows how to create a custom transition in Motion for use in Apple Final Cut Pro.

You don’t need to be an incredible artist – or a programmer – to create interesting and useful effects using Apple Motion. In this short video training, Larry Jordan shows how to create a custom effect in Motion for use in Apple Final Cut Pro.

In this illustrated tutorial, I show how to use chroma-key to create an irregular object in Apple Motion, then create a cast shadow that changes as the foreground image changes.

Every editor has their own list of features that they’d like Apple to implement. I’m no different. Over the years, I’ve been struck by five imponderable missing features in Final Cut that, try as I might, I can’t get Apple to explain why they don’t exist. Here’s my list.

I use blurs all the time, to keep a background from becoming too distracting, or improve a green-screen shot, or provide the illusion of depth. Here’s an in-depth tutorial on how to create them, what they look like, how to animate them and examples of their use.

At first blush, many of the backgrounds included with Apple Final Cut Pro are mostly unusable for text. However, when you adjust their settings – and combine them with a few well chosen effects – you’ll discover a wealth of creative options to make your projects more visually interesting. Here are six examples.

The OWC Envoy Pro Elektron is a small, rugged, fast, bus-powered storage system that easily fits in your pocket. With speeds averaging over 900 MB/second, it can easily support multicam or traditional HD editing. Here’s a detailed review.

Effects are the fun part of video editing because there are so many different options. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to animate clips using keyframes in Premiere Pro. He’ll also show how to add speed changes to keyframes using Ease In and Ease Out.

Effects are the fun part of video editing because there are so many different options. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan illustrates different ways to create green-screen keys (also called “chroma-keys”) using both good and, um, awful footage in Adobe Premiere Pro.

Effects are the fun part of video editing because there are so many different options. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan presents three simple ways to fix color problems in Adobe Premiere Pro. One to change the look, another to fix exposure and a third to correct color problems.

Effects are the fun part of video editing because there are so many different options. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan illustrates how to create an adjustment layer , then explain how it works, how to add effects to it, and what happens when you move clips around it.

Whether you use Adobe Premiere Pro or Apple Final Cut Pro, exporting and archiving an XML file of a finished project is a good way to preserve it for the future. Here’s a step-by-step tutorial explaining how.

The Comparison Viewer is tricky to find, but very useful once you open it; especially when you are trying to compare the look between multiple shots. Here’s how to use it.

In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to use the new, hidden, Transform Overscan feature in Apple Final Cut Pro to preserve important details when creating a picture-in-picture effect.

In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to use the new Comparison Viewer in Apple Final Cut Pro, along with a quick way to modify colors across multiple clips.

In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to create, import, modify and export closed captions in Apple Final Cut Pro.

There have been 12 updates to Apple Final Cut Pro since version 10.4.0 was released in Dec. 2017. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan illustrates the new ways we can copy libraries, including the ability to create a proxy-only library, in Apple Final Cut Pro.

Here are the twenty most-read tutorials (and links) from Larry Jordan’s website for 2020. These popular tutorials span millions of views and extend back in time to 2012.

Two “Top Ten” lists of tips and techniques from “The Inside Tips” for 2020. The first is by number of views, the second is by reader ratings. These cover Adobe and Apple software, along with codecs, media, visual effects and production.

Here are some text tricks that can help position and display text in eye-catching ways using Apple Final Cut Pro.

“Should you upgrade?” is the wrong question. Here is a better answer on when to upgrade to Big Sur – along with links to help your transition go smoothly.

Most of the time, you want audio to stay perfectly in sync with the video clip it is attached to. But, sometimes, to get the sync perfect, you need to shift the position of the audio. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows you how to move a synced audio clip less than a frame to improve sync using Apple Final Cut Pro.

Emojis are little icons that have taken over the world. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to add and modify emojis in a video project using Apple Final Cut Pro.

In Final Cut Pro, there are two audio commands that seem similar, but actually do two version different things: Detach Audio and Break Apart Clip Items. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows you the difference between the two.

Trimming and cropping are basic techniques in any video edit. In this video tutorial, Larry Jordan illustrates the difference between trimming and cropping a video clip using Apple Final Cut Pro.

Apple released minor updates for Final Cut Pro and Compressor, along with stability improvements and a name change.

Here’s a quick illustrated tutorial on how to create, find, access or delete backups for Apple Final Cut Pro X libraries.

After updating to Final Cut Pro X 10.5, many of Luke’s titles and effects became unavailable. Here’s how he fixed the problem.

Just as we use multiple cameras to provide different angles on the same scene in live production, we can use multiple cameras in Motion to simulate the same thing. Here’s an example, along with a finished movie.