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A Preference That Makes a Difference: Set vs. Scale in Adobe Premiere Pro

When a clip is added to the timeline, if the frame size of the clip doesn’t match the frame size of the sequence, Premiere will scale it to fill as much of the frame as possible. In almost all cases, this is a bad choice. Here’s why.

Apple Motion Speed Test – Intel vs. Apple Silicon

Richard asked me to compare the speed of Apple Motion running on Intel vs. Apple CPUs. The results were STUNNING – and NOT what I expected. This offers a caution that simply running on Apple Silicon is not a guarantee of blazing speed.

I Just Upgraded to Monterey – Here’s What I Learned

It is a true saying that “change is the only constant in life.” But, when it comes to operating system upgrades, I tend to be far from the bleeding edge. Recently, I upgraded to macOS Monterey. Here’s what I learned.

Animating a Draw Mask in Final Cut Pro

Masking is a time-consuming and persnickety task. However, the Draw Mask in Apple Final Cut Pro makes the process straight-forward, with lots of ways to adjust it. Here’s an illustrated tutorial that explains how it works.

Playin’ Around With Motion – for the New Year

Happy New Year! Here’s an easy way to combine text, particles and animation in Apple Motion to celebrate the new year with an animated logo.

How to Come Up With Unique Ideas for Your Next Short Movie

Here are a variety of creative tactics, suggested by Rebecca Alston, that can help you come up with unique ideas for your next short film.

A Fast Work-Around for the Spinning Beach Ball of Death in Apple Final Cut Pro

Here’s a quick work-around, contributed by Lloyd Walker, to cancel the “Spinning Beach-Ball of Death” when it appears in Apple Final Cut Pro.

Top 20 Media Tutorials for 2021 on LarryJordan.com [u]

Here’s a list of the top 20 most-read media and video editing tutorials on Larry Jordan’s website from Jan. 1, 2021 to Dec. 31, 2021.

New Features in Adobe Premiere Pro (Dec. 2021)

In it’s latest release (Dec. 2021), Adobe added some some, but significant, features to Premiere Pro that make text easier to find and graphics more flexible. Here’s an illustrated tutorial on what these new features are and how they work.

Round-tripping Sequences from Adobe Premiere Pro to DaVinci Resolve – and Back

There are many reasons to send a project from Premiere Pro to DaVinci Resolve. Fortunately, it’s fairly easy to move projects between apps. Easy, but there are a lot of steps. Here’s how it works.

Round-tripping Projects Between Final Cut Pro and DaVinci Resolve

There are many reasons to send a project from Final Cut Pro to Resolve, then bring them back into Final Cut. Fortunately, the process isn’t hard, but there are a lot of steps. Here’s what you need to know.

Adobe Updates Premiere Pro, After Effects and Character Animator (Dec. 2021)

This morning, Adobe announced new features and updates for Premiere Pro, Character Animator and After Effects. Here are the details.

The Secret to Setting Skin Colors Accurately

While human skin gray-scale and saturation values can vary by individual, skin color values are remarkably consistent. Here’s an illustrated tutorial on how to set skin color values to fix color problems and make on-camera talent look “normal.” This applies to all video editing software.

First Look: Elgato Stream Deck

The Elgato Stream Deck is an easy-to-use, flexible and well-built external keyboard specifically designed to trigger actions by pushing a button with your fingers, not the mouse. For live events, webinars, gaming and general productivity, this is a great little device.

What To Do When Your Mac Slows Down

Most technical problems with media editing are often the result of insufficient bandwidth caused by bottlenecks in the media, the operating system, software, or hardware. This looks at each in detail to provide ideas to get your system working better.

Get Started Editing in the DaVinci Resolve Cut Page

DaVinci Resolve is a high-power media editing program. It is also very intimidating to learn. Here’s an illustrated tutorial on how to use the tools in the Cut page to get started learning Resolve. The Cut page is designed for projects with deadlines measured in minutes. It is a very fast way to edit.

Edit Multicam Video Using the DaVinci Resolve Cut Page [v]

The latest version of DaVinci Resolve introduced the Cut Page, an interface designed for high-speed, fast-turnaround, editing. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to sync, edit and trim multiple cameras using Resolve’s Cut page.

Apply Transitions Using the DaVinci Resolve Cut Page [v]

The latest version of DaVinci Resolve introduced the Cut Page, an interface designed for high-speed, fast-turnaround, editing. In this short tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to add, modify and remove transitions applied to clips in Resolve’s Cut page.

About Security, Storage and M1 Macs

Apple introduced new security technology with M1 Macs that affects 3rd-party RAIDs, hard disk and other external gear frequently used by professionals. Here’s what it is and how it affects you.

Explaining the Primary Storyline in Apple Final Cut Pro

The Primary Storyline is an innovative way of editing and organizing clips in the Final Cut Pro Timeline. But many editors find it confusing. In this illustrated tutorial, I explain what it is, how it works and how to work-around it when you need to.