A
few months ago I was sent some plane tickets to fly to Idaho
to provide some lessons in Final Cut Pro for a new user. She
was starting with Final Cut Studio 1 and I saw this as a good
opportunity to clear out some of the older books taking up room
on the bookshelf. I chose the ones I thought would be the most
helpful, including Rick Young's Final Cut Pro 5 Easy Guide. During
the course of my 3-day stay, when we had finished for the day,
I would bring out a new book as a surprise present, hoping she
would use these after I had left. A few days after I returned
home I gave her a call. Of the 5 or 6 books I gave her, the only
book she had read was the Focal Easy Guide by Rick Young. There
is a good explanation for this, and with the release of his new
version for Final Cut Pro 6 what better time to highlight just
the book for a great many users of Final Cut Pro.
Aimed primarily at the new and
intermediate user, Rick Young has successfully updated his Final
Cut Pro 5 edition with new sections covering many of the new
features found in FCP 6 and additional techniques designed to
accomplish a quicker and more efficacious workflow and, more
importantly, a deeper understanding of this venerable application.
In a relatively brief 255 pages,
the Focal Easy Guide to Final Cut Pro 6 takes the user through
all the basics and then some. Rick Young begins with an interestingly
written segment on hardware and software requirements, a discussion
of the history of editing prior to the use of fire wire and non-linear
editing, and various video formats. He then moves on to a complete
and comprehensive coverage of the proper installation of Final
Cut and an easy to read explanation of the FC interface. Here,
Rick gets down to business with step-by-step methods designed
to get you up and running learning how to apply transitions,
filters and compositing techniques. Thankfully, Rick devotes
a section to 'Handles', something that always seems to elude
the new user.
The big thing with this book is
that there is no intimidation factor. Supplemented by colorful
graphics, there is nothing confusing about his friendly writing
style. While so many manuals are goal based, in that supplemental
project discs are supplied for you to complete a project by,
too often the editor using these books completes the steps without
a clear understanding of why he/she is taking the steps in the
first place. With Rick's Easy Guide, no tutorial discs are included
so there are no 'author's projects' to work on. Better yet, with
the Easy Guide, you can focus on and apply what you learn immediately
to your own project sequences. Rick provides clear explanations
for each step so that, once learned, you understand and can apply
your learning to all of your projects not limiting yourself to
just the one on another's manual.
There is an entire chapter devoted
to Audio, another facet of editing often given short attention
to. No one should skip this section as Rick does an outstanding
job, especially when instructing the use of Audio Splits, with
excellent suggestions given in a clear and concise manner.
Chapters covering the use of Compressor,
Pro Res, the Multi cam capability are just as comprehensively
reviewed, and I doubt that even though this book was not designed
to be the be all and end all reference source that other authors
suppose theirs to be, most all questions and concerns will be
more than adequately answered.
Nothing is perfect, with more and
more editors, pros and amateurs alike, shooting in HD and HDV,
Rick Young does bring up the fact that editing in HD/HDV can
be more problematic than when in post with SD. However, he really
doesn't address the different problems or how to circumnavigate
them. In today's world, a more expansive discussion would have
been warranted.
Bottom line, the more I learn,
the more I realize that there is still, and probably always will
be, much that I do not know. Even when reading the Focal Easy
Guide to Final Cut Pro 6, cover-to-cover, I picked up a few excellent
tidbits of info. Rick Young's' easy going writing style makes
it a pleasure to read and I couldn't recommend it more.
Available in the lafcpug
store. (Click on FCP Books)
Steve Douglas is a certified Apple
Pro for Final Cut Pro 6 and underwater videographer. A winner
of the 1999 Pacific Coast Underwater Film Competition, 2003 IVIE
competition, 2004 Los Angeles Underwater Photographic competition,
and the prestigious 2005 International Beneath the Sea Film Competition,
where he also won the Stan Waterman Award for Excellence in Underwater
Videography and 'Diver of the Year', Steve was a safety diver
on the feature film "The Deep Blue Sea", contributed
footage to the Seaworld Park's Atlantis production, the History
channel's MegaDisaster show and other networks. Steve is one
of the founding organizers of the San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition
and leads both underwater filming expeditions and African safaris
with upcoming excursions to Indonesia and the Coco Islands, Costa
Rica in 2008, Kenyan safari in Africa and the Red Sea for 2009,
and Truk Lagoon in Micronesia for 2010. Feel free to contact
him if you are interested in joining Steve on any of these exciting
trips. www.worldfilmsandtravel.com
copyright © Steve
Douglas 2007
This article first appeared
on www.kenstone.net and
is reprinted here with permission.
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