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FCP 7: Creating Special Effects with Non-Standard Sequences

Here’s a technique that can totally change how you think about sequences, nests, and the special effects you can create with them.

White Balancing During a Color Change

Dealing with shifting color temperatures during shooting presents a raft of problems during editing. This article describes what you can do during shooting to compensate for color temperature changes, as well as how to “fix it in post.”

Western Digital Drives

Recent versions of Western Digital Hard Drives have had interface issues with Mac systems. This reader-submitted article describes the problem and a solution.

Compressor 3: Add a Watermark to Video

While you can create watermarks in FCP, Compressor provides a much better alternative. This technique shows you what to do.

Formatting Scripts for Voice-Over Talent

Here are a series of tips, written by a professional voice-over talent, that you can use to make sure your voice-over scripts are organized, easy to read, and run correctly to time.

Visibility Lights Affect Up/Down Arrow Keys

Those glowing green lights on the extreme left side of the Timeline have a very important purpose – especially if you are trying to see tracks below other tracks, output, or export. This article shows you their secrets.

Selecting Visibility Lights

Those green visibility lights on the far left of the Timeline have some very useful functions; and hidden keyboard shortcuts. Learn what they are here.

FCP 7: Creating a Vignette

Vignettes are a great technique for highlighting something or softening edges. This article explains how to create a vignette in Final Cut Pro, as well as some ideas on how to adjust it to create different effects.

The New View Menu in FCP-HD

The View menu has changed in FCP-HD, making it easier to select how you want to monitor your audio and video. This quick article explains what you need to know.

How Long Does Video Tape Last?

This article grew out of newsletter discussions over the last few months and features thoughts from experienced tape editors.

Picking the Right Video Format for Storage

What’s the best video format for archiving materials? This is an easy question to ask, but a hard question to answer. Also, what’s the best way to preserve 1″ and 2″ master video tapes — especially since those machines are increasingly hard to find? This article gets you started in the right direction.

Explaining the Video Processing Tab

New with FCP 5 are render settings and video processing controls that help keep your video “broadcast safe.” This article explains how they work while giving you techniques for using them.

Shooting Video with a Digital Still Camera (DSLR)

Larry explains the somewhat intensive process of shooting digital video for use with FCP.

Choosing the Best Video Codec

Final Cut supports over 52 different video codecs, and this gets close to a hundred when you add a third-party capture card. How to do you choose which to use? This article explains what you need to know to select the best codec for your video.

Why Video Bit Depth Matters

What’s the difference between 8-bit and 10-bit video and why should editors care? Well, if you are doing a lot of effects, you should care a lot and this article explains why.

Creating Background Colors for Video

What happens when you change Final Cut’s display background to any color except black? Much less than you think. Here’s why.

FCP 7: Create a Variable Speed Clip

A variable-speed clip is one that changes speed during playback; as opposed to a “slow-motion” clip, which remains at the same speed for the duration of the clip. There are two ways these variable speed effects can be created and this article shows you the technique.

My Philosophy on Upgrades

Not all software updates work the way they are advertised.This article describes an update approach you can use to make sure all software updates go smoothly.

When Should You Upgrade to Final Cut Studio 2?

Deciding whether to upgrade to Final Cut Studio 2? Read this short note first.

FCP 7: Finding Unused Footage

Ever needed to find what video you haven’t used in your edit? Here is a very fast technique you can use in Final Cut Pro that shows all your unused clips.