Final Cut Pro HD for Dummies

Book Description
“Save it in the edit” is a common saying among film professionals. Editing makes the difference between boring vacation movies and exciting travelogues…between the whole dull news conference and the highlights on the evening news. Whether you’re a budding Spielberg, a proud parent who wants two-year-old Junior’s every feat documented for posterity, or a band that wants your music video to rock, Final Cut Pro HD For Dummies tells you what you need to know to edit regular digital or high definition video like a pro. It covers the basics of capturing, importing, and editing digital videos, with detailed how-to for: Organizing your media Navigating the audio and video Timeline tracks and selecting clips and frames on the Timelines Getting fancier with split, roll, ripple, slip, and slide edits Working with audio, including mixing, editing out scratches and pops, and using filters to create effects Using Soundtrack to compose a musical score, even if you don’t know the difference between horns and strings Apply transitions such as 3D simulation, dissolve, iris, stretch and squeeze, and more Adding text for captions, opening titles, and closing credits Color-correcting video Compositing, rendering, and outputting your final product to tape, CD, DVD, or the Web

Three bonus chapters online go into more depth about rendering, customizing the interface, and managing media so you can refine your skills even further.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
HDTV is coming on like gangbusters, but editing HD presents unique challenges. Apple￯﾿ﾽs impressive Final Cut Pro HD addresses many of them. If you￯﾿ﾽre just starting out with it, top video pros Helmut Kobler and Chad Fahs will get you comfortable, fast.

First, they demystify HD for the video editor (and, unfortunately, plenty of demystification is needed). Once that￯﾿ﾽs squared away, they walk through every stage of the Final Cut Pro HD production process: capture, import, organization, editing, soundtracks, transitions, text, effects, compositing, rendering, and output.

It wouldn￯﾿ﾽt be a For Dummies book if it didn￯﾿ﾽt have a ￯﾿ﾽPart of Tens￯﾿ﾽ section, and this one￯﾿ﾽs indispensable: Ten Tips for Becoming a Better Editor, and ￯﾿ﾽAlmost￯﾿ﾽ Ten Tips for Managing Big Projects. (Which most HD projects most assuredly are.) Bill Camarda

Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2003 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks for Dummies, Second Edition.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Got a story to tell? Movie-making is easy with Final Cut Pro HD, and this handy book puts a real filmmaker at your elbow to talk you through the process in plain English! Soon you'll be cranking out professional quality movies in regular digital or high definition format and distributing them to all your adoring fans.

SYNOPSIS

Create professional, high-definition videos using tips from the pros

Edit video clips, add soundtracks, create special effects, and put it all on DVD

Got a story to tell? Movie-making is easy with Final Cut Pro HD, and this handy book puts a real filmmaker at your elbow to talk you through the process in plain English! Soon you’ll be cranking out professional quality movies in regular digital or high definition format and distributing them to all your adoring fans.

The Dummies Way Explanations in plain English "Get in, get out" information Icons and other navigational aids Tear-out cheat sheet Top ten lists A dash of humor and fun