In successfully working with tapeless media, I’ve developed an easy-to-implement workflow that will help prevent problems in your own projects.
Ben Balser, an Apple-Certified Trainer for Digital Media, sent me the following commentary on investing the time to get trained. By way of background, Ben is a long-time educator and trainer.
How to upload a file automatically after Compressor has finished converting a file.
Ever needed to find what video you haven’t used in your edit? Here is a very fast technique you can use in Final Cut Pro that shows all your unused clips.
Deciding whether to upgrade to Final Cut Studio 2? Read this short note first.
A variable-speed clip is one that changes speed during playback; as opposed to a “slow-motion” clip, which remains at the same speed for the duration of the clip. There are two ways these variable speed effects can be created and this article shows you the technique.
What happens when you change Final Cut’s display background to any color except black? Much less than you think. Here’s why.
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.
Final Cut supports over 52 different video codecs, and this gets close to a hundred when you add a third-party capture card. How to do you choose which to use? This article explains what you need to know to select the best codec for your video.
Larry explains the somewhat intensive process of shooting digital video for use with FCP.
New with FCP 5 are render settings and video processing controls that help keep your video “broadcast safe.” This article explains how they work while giving you techniques for using them.
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.
This article grew out of newsletter discussions over the last few months and features thoughts from experienced tape editors.
The View menu has changed in FCP-HD, making it easier to select how you want to monitor your audio and video. This quick article explains what you need to know.
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.
Here are a series of tips, written by a professional voice-over talent, that you can use to make sure your voice-over scripts are organized, easy to read, and run correctly to time.
While you can create watermarks in FCP, Compressor provides a much better alternative. This technique shows you what to do.
Recent versions of Western Digital Hard Drives have had interface issues with Mac systems. This reader-submitted article describes the problem and a solution.
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.”
Here’s a technique that can totally change how you think about sequences, nests, and the special effects you can create with them.
Final Cut Pro is a QuickTime editor. But what if you want to create WMV files? Well, you are not out-of-luck, but you will need different software. This article describes what you need to know, along with how to resolve problems when creating WMV files.
Dean Schweinler writes in to ask if he needs an AJA or a BlackMagic capture card to edit HDV. This article explains three options for capture.
Sometime between February and June, 2009, all broadcast television stations in the US need to convert from analog to digital transmission. However, this is NOT the same as converting from SD to HD – they are not, necessarily, related. While the current changeover timing is being debated in Washington, here are some answers to your questions.
XDCAM is generating a lot of interest for its high-def quality and small size. This discussion began with a question about using it for archiving – which spawned a lot of additonal thoughts.
Need to get a sequence from a later version of Final Cut back to an earlier version? Here’s how to do it — though, keep in mind, that not everything will transfer.
When you send a stereo audio pair to Soundtrack, STP treats it as a stereo clip. When you send a dual-channel mono pair to Soundtrack, STP treats them as two separate files. This article describes how to switch from one to the other.
Regardless of the video format we edit, understanding storage speeds and capacity, along with the data requirements of video can prevent a lot of problems. This is a detailed explanation of storage types, bandwidth, capacity and video codecs. You don’t need to memorize this, but you do need to keep it handy.
QuickTime can make viewing 16:9 anamorphic video a bit difficult because it always displays video using square pixels. In this article, discover the secret to getting QuickTime to show your video correctly.
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.
Canon’s new HV20 camera shoots a modified version of 24 frame video. Up until recently, Final Cut did not easily support this format. In this discussion learn how to capture video from this camera, as well as a short discussion of when shooting 24 fps is appropriate.
New with Final Cut Pro 7 are two shortcuts: Zoom In/Out at Playhead on Timeline. However, they don’t do anything until you assign them to a keyboard shortcut. But, what if you want to assign them to your mouse? This article shows you what you need to know to do it.
Rendering is the bane of an editor’s life. Waiting for the computer to calculate an effect can seem interminable. What can be done to speed rendering and what causes it to slow down in the first place? This short article answers these questions.
This powerful technique can quickly bail you out when you need to match shots from the middle of a clip, rather than the In or the Out.
One of the terrifying facts of hard disk life is that a hard disk, unplugged and sitting on a shelf, will slowly have its magnetic data “evaporate.” While the time period varies, industry experts tell us its between one to three years! This article explains what you MUST do to safeguard your data. Best of all, its FREE!
Adding DVD chapter markers to a QuickTime movie is reasonably easy. But how do you do this for H.264 compressed video. This article describes what you need to know.
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.
The problem with reverb is that the effect needs to continue after the clip ends. While Soundtrack Pro has some great audio filters, often there just isn’t time to move your project from Final Cut to STP. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to use nesting to create a reverb effect inside Final Cut that can last long after the clip itself is over. Best of all, this is both quick and easy.
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.
Drobo has been making a lot of noise in the market with its new storage hybrid – part RAID, part expandable hard drive. I’ve been using one for a couple of months now and in this review, I put it to work and discover that it can serve a very useful role in editing, but not in the place you would expect.
Data Robotics released a new storage unit: the Drobo Elite. In this detailed product review, we examine how it works, how well it works, how fast it works, and what its limitations are.
The Drobo line of storage products offers a lot for video and audio editors. Their newest product – the Drobo FS – doesn’t help editors, but it CAN help around the office, as this detailed review explains.
Data Robotics makes a family of RAID products that can be very useful in a video capture and editing environment. This is a review of their latest unit – the Drobo S – which directly attaches to the computer via FireWire. I find these units to be especially useful on set when shooting tapeless media.
Editing is all about storage. Successful editing requires storage that is big enough and fast enough to keep up with your work. One company that specializes in meeting the needs of video editors is Dulce Systems. Here’s a look at the new RAID, the Pro Q.
get is the new kid on the block — an almost magical piece of software that searches your audio files looking for words you type into a typical text entry window. If you know “you’ve got the file around here somewhere,” but haven’t a clue where it is, get is for you, as this product review explains.
NewBlue is new to the Mac, but not to creating effects. They’ve been producing video effect for Windows users for years. This product review takes a look at several of their new plug-ins for Final Cut Pro/Express/Motion. Featuring a very easy to use interface, there is a lot to like.
Adobe Premiere can create text transcripts of your media files. prEdit takes those transcripts and allows you to edit a rough cut for either Premiere or Final Cut just using those transcripts. For editors wading through a ton of material trying to find just the right quotes, this software can make your life VERY easy, as this product review explains.
When you are working with tapeless media during production, and recording to cards, the basic workflow is to copy the card to your hard disk then ERASE THE CARD! (Sorry, I come from a tape background and that word “erase” is just plain scary…) So, it makes sense that when copying the card to your hard disk you take every precaution to do so safely. Here’s a review of a product that can help: Imagine Products’ Shotput Pro.
Transcriptize is a new piece of software that takes the text transcripts automatically generated by Adobe Premiere or Adobe Soundbooth and formats them so people, rather than computers, can read them. PLUS, it allows you to a great trick to import those text transcripts into Final Cut Pro to speed your editing.
Making sure you have the right equipment – and figuring out what equipment to buy – is probably the question I get asked the most. So, I put this article together to help you build the studio of your dreams.
