Final Cut Express : Make the Cut (Paperback)

Summary

Final Cut Express: Make the Cut is written for anyone who has a DV camera, a Macintosh, Final Cut Express, and an idea for a digital film. If you want to learn how to use this affordable, powerful tool to edit your own home movies, documentaries, or short films, this is the book to get you started.

This book is not only a detailed technical guide to the basic procedures in Final Cut Express; it is also a creative, process-oriented tutorial on editing, which will guide you through the entire process from shooting to the final mastering of your film. The coverage throughout the book closely mirrors a real-world production workflow, beginning with an overview of DV camera technology and the shooting process. With this knowledge, you'll quickly progress to learn how to digitize footage into your computer. From there you'll begin the editing process, including specifics on working with the FCE timeline and the multitude of editing tools. In the last parts of the book, you'll learn about the often over-looked FCE color filters, techniques for stylizing your film, and how to master your final work to DV tape, DVD, or QuickTime format.

Using a short documentary about a puppeteer, you'll work through the editing process and practice with all the essential tools. Along the way, you'll find lots of pictures to make sure you don't get lost, and plenty of details about the tools relevant to the editorial workflow. In addition, Final Cut Express often provides multiple ways to accomplish the same task, so we've provided instruction on each for you to use and test as you develop your own editorial style.