Blog Archives

In this tutorial, learn all the different ways, and sources, to create a freeze frame in Final Cut Pro X.

This article show why images displayed in Final Cut Pro 7’s Viewer look better than those in the Canvas.

In this article, Larry Jordan explains why image quality suffers when you scale video, or stills, larger than 100%.

This technique shows you how to create hold frames, remove them, adjust their duration, and change the frame that freezes in Final Cut Pro X.

Here is an explanation of how to create a highlight overlay menu in Photoshop when creating menus for DVD Studio Pro.

Here’s a quick effect to create a “pull quote” using the Motion tab in Final Cut Pro.

This is a very cool technique that changes the color and display of your text as the background changes.

This is a very fast way to edit multiple camera angles into the Timeline in FCP 7 – without using multi-clips.

When placing still images in DVD Studio Pro, a PNG will be autosized to fit, while a TIFF won’t. This article explains more.

Donald Smith sent in the following explanation of DPI and I thought it would be something you might want to read.

H.264 and X.264 are two different development projects that result in two different codecs that both do the same thing: create H.264-compliant files.

A subscriber recounts the difficulties, and the workaround that fixed them, he experienced with Buzz lines cropping up in a project.

A subscriber noticed that if there is a clip generator or any clip in a top track in the Timeline, the clip under the top track becomes invisible, making it impossible to edit using Playhead > Open Sync. He supplies three very helpful workarounds.

For those of you interested in a more technical look at the Broadcast Safe filter, Dennis Couzin, technical assistant to a video documentarian based in Germany, sent me the following article that he wrote.

Growing out of a topic originally posted on our Facebook page, this article serves as a summary of our subscribers’ biggest challenges with the industry’s reliance on tapeless video.

In this article we give a quick examination of how to upsize an original 4:3 sequence into a 16:9 timeline.

Experiencing a problem exporting a sequence as a mov and finding that the quality of the QuickTime is soft, a subscriber is referred by Larry to a previous article and walked through an easy QuickTime7 solution.

In addressing a subscriber’s question we look at what makes 3D work, what’s required to best create the desired effect in Motion and what makes them difficult.

While at the Director’s Guild of America’s “Digital Day,” I was impressed by a fabulous presentation given by Scott Billups called, “Zero Post.” In this article we’ll take a look at this process and the great opportunity it offers us.

Here are a series of thoughts I jotted down during the presentations at DGA Digital Day, specifically during a long session devoted to 3D video.

In this article we examine how SmoothCam is processor-dependent, faster computers working this program more quickly, and recommend a couple of options to speed up the process without upgrading your system.

In response to a subscriber’s question regarding the “blurry and aliased” look of his clips, Larry suggests that the problem may lie in the monitor settings.

Subscriber Mike Henry writes in to see about finding the most highly recommended practices with mixing cameras with different resolutions.

Vignettes are a great technique for highlighting something or softening edges. This article explains how to create a vignette in Final Cut Pro, as well as some ideas on how to adjust it to create different effects.

Dealing with shifting color temperatures during shooting presents a raft of problems during editing. This article describes what you can do during shooting to compensate for color temperature changes, as well as how to “fix it in post.”

Video images are not the same as computer images — and what you don’t know WILL get you in trouble. This article explains what you need to know to keep your tapes from being rejected for technical reasons.

What’s the difference between 8-bit and 10-bit video and why should editors care? Well, if you are doing a lot of effects, you should care a lot and this article explains why.

What’s the best video format for archiving materials? This is an easy question to ask, but a hard question to answer. Also, what’s the best way to preserve 1″ and 2″ master video tapes — especially since those machines are increasingly hard to find? This article gets you started in the right direction.

You know the drill. The client didn’t have the money for makeup when they were shooting the video, then is horrified to discover in post that their star/kid/sweetie has a humongous zit that spoils all the close-ups of the video they dumped in your lap to edit.

Unlike video, which has a fixed duration, still images are assigned a duration when they are imported into Final Cut.

Nothing causes more confusion for video editors than trying to figure out how to size still images for video. I’ve written extensively about this in the past — which is referenced in this article — this is an additional follow-up.

If you’ve ever had to convert a 16:9 sequence into a 4:3 letterbox video, this explains how to do it.

You’ll find that you can retouch images directly in Photoshop. You will need Photoshop Extended CS3 or CS4. In fact, I created a video tutorial that shows you how.

Understanding how to read the Waveform Monitor and Vectorscope are essential to getting the best possible pictures out of Final Cut Pro. This article gives you an overview of how to read them and what they mean.

Still images, especially when you move on them, create weird shimmer, or moiré, patterns. This article describes what they are and how to fix them.

The quality of slo-mo footage processing can vary by the level of equipment you possess. However, does this mean that you should upgrade? There are three possible answers here: Yes, No, and Maybe.

Creating smooth moves on stills is at the heart of many documentaries. Final Cut makes creating moves easy. But smoothness is sometimes much harder to achieve. Take a look at what these editors have to say about the best way to get your images to move.

Creating stills that you can do moves on in Final Cut is tricky. My email In-box will attest to that. This article describes what you need to know to make sure your images are the right size and how to import them.

Working with still images in Final Cut Pro is very, very confusing. Not least because video ignore the DPI settings of your image. In this short article, I explain what you need to know to size your images appropriately.

With the release of Final Cut Pro v5.1.2, Apple added 53 new filters. Here’s an article that shows you how to create interesting “trail” effects.

Travel mattes are a fascinating multi-layer effect with countless uses. Here, we use a travel matte to blur portions of an image to prevent identification, or to draw attention to the portions that are in-focus.

Confused about what size to create your images? This article explains what image size to use so they import correctly into Final Cut Pro HD.

One of the effects I wanted to create for my training was a reflection of a moving clip of video. This is what we are going to create in this technique.

Computers use square pixels to represent images, while video uses rectangular pixels. And this difference drives all of us nuts. This article describes pixel aspect ratio and helps you get your images looking great.

Nesting is the process of placing one sequence inside another sequence. There are many reasons why this technique is useful. This article highlights several of them, including ways to fix problems when your nested audio does not appear.

This detailed analysis looks at how to create graphics on your computer that look “right” on FCP. It’s a detailed look at the difference between square and non-square pixels.

Judging by my email, handling still images is by far the most confusing part of editing video — especially because the computer creates images using square pixels and video uses rectangular pixels, in a variety of shapes. This article explains everything you need to know to create great looking still images for your next video project.

Keynote is a secret weapon in the arsenal of creating motion graphics. The problem is getting the files exported from Keynote into something we can edit. This article describes the process, along with several tips from readers.

Final Cut makes it challenging to line things up properly in the Canvas or Viewer, because there are no grids or guides. Here’s a quick technique you can use to create your own grids.

Gamma settings control the gray-scale midpoint. The reason this is significant is that Macs, video, and Windows all use slightly different settings. This means that video that looks good on one system, may look washed out or too dark on others. Snow Leopard, however, has changed the rules. In this article, I explain what gamma is, how to use it, and where to set it.