Editing Techniques With Final Cut Pro (2nd Edition)

Editing Techniques with Final Cut Pro, 2nd Edition is an insightful and practical guide for intermediate to advanced Final Cut Pro users who want to extend their use of the tool to achieve sophisticated storytelling. The second edition of this popular book by professional filmmaker and editor Michael Wohl includes an entirely new chapter on finishing and outputting video to a variety of formats for both film and the Web; a major new section on color correction, including color photo illustrations; and a comprehensive look at how to create effective sound design. A unique blend of editing theory and practice, this book opens the readers' eyes and ears, making them more perceptive movie viewers and giving them the essential film vocabulary they need to advance their work to the next level and develop their own editing style.So you've got a new DV camera, a shiny new Mac, and you're itching to make your first film. The only problem is that you don't know a script from a storyboard, or a WS from an MCU. Editing Techniques with Final Cut Pro might be just the thing you need to say "Action!" with confidence and bring that certain polish to your production.

Clearly written and lavishly illustrated, this excellent handbook features over 425 pages and 9 chapters covering everything from the basics of production and what an editor does, the language of film and editing, the planning needed when preparing to edit, and the use of Final Cut Pro itself, from beginning through advanced techniques and effects like ramping the speed of a clip, compositing computer animation over a clip, picture-in-picture, color correction, creating titles, and much more.

This is not a book for the experienced user, but it is a solid handbook for beginners who intend to get serious. Offering far more information than just how to use Final Cut Pro for editing, Editing Techniques with Final Cut Pro is almost misnamed. While the focus of the book is editing, there is so much useful information here on preproduction and production that it is simply a wonderful handbook on how to make a good digital video film.

Apple's Final Cut Pro, now up to version 3.0, has helped fuel the next evolutionary step in video production. By integrating powerful software with their hardware technology, Apple has put video postproduction into the hands of almost anyone who can afford a camera, computer, and software. Access to the equipment, however, doesn't mean a windfall of Oscar winners. Learning how to make a good film requires generous amounts of both talent and technical mastery. This book won't infuse you with talent, but you'll walk away with a clear understanding of how production and postproduction techniques work, and how to produce a finished piece that looks finished. --Mike Caputo