Introduction to Final Cut Pro X

About This Course

Make the leap from home video enthusiast to professional video editor using Apple's revolutionary Final Cut Pro X editing software! Whether you're an absolute beginner, an iMovie user, or an editor needing to upgrade from a previous version of Final Cut Pro, this course will prepare you to work on any type of editing project quickly and intuitively.

We'll cover the FCPX interface and its basic editing toolset including its advanced handling of metadata, the Magnetic Timeline, the Ripple and Insert edit tools, filters, titles, transitions, and audio tools. We'll also explore many of its advanced features such as Auditions, Compound clips, color correction, masks, and Roles.

You'll discover every feature of the FCPX software via hands-on tutorials in which you'll edit footage to produce finished works that you can show to potential employers, family, and friends. Each lesson focuses on general editing techniques and strategies for many different kinds of projects involving dialogue, music video, documentary interviews, action sequences, and promotional video. Along the way, you'll develop essential skills that will make editing your videos fast, expert, and fun.

By the end of the course, you'll know how to edit professional video presentations for use on the Web, in education, for business, or for a career in the motion picture industry!

About The Instructor

This course includes a knowledgeable and caring instructor who will guide you through your lessons, facilitate discussions, and answer your questions. The instructor for this course will be Lewis Weinberg.

Lewis Weinberg is an independent filmmaker and professional videographer. His movies have been showcased at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and screened at the Ann Arbor, Athens, Chicago Underground, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis International Film Festivals. While working as the Media Technology Specialist for Carleton College in Northfield Minnesota, Lewis gave regular training and workshops on Final Cut Pro. Before that, he spent 15 years in the Motion Picture Industry in Los Angeles, working for companies such as Disney, Warners, Polygram, and Samuel Goldwyn.

Syllabus

A new section of each course starts monthly. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.

Week 1

Wednesday - Lesson 01

In this first lesson, you'll get acquainted with the basic concepts and workflows of video editing with Final Cut Pro X. You'll explore the FCPX interface, using actual footage you import into your first project. We'll talk about how to review your footage, and you'll practice by adding keywords and markers to your clips to make them easy to identify. By the end of the lesson, you'll lay the foundation for your Editor's Reel, the business card of the professional video editor!

Friday - Lesson 02

Today you'll get to know some of the challenges of working with digital video. We'll explore techniques for managing your files in FCPX, and we'll talk about how different kinds of video compression may affect the way you work and your best options for optimizing your media. We'll also look at some basic troubleshooting techniques that every editor should know. In the final part of the lesson, you'll make selections from your clips and edit them into your first project!

Week 2

Wednesday - Lesson 03

This lesson is all about dialogue! You'll edit a dialogue scene today—evaluating your footage for technical quality and comparing different takes and making decisions about which are the best to use. We'll also walk through some techniques that will help you to quickly produce a rough cut. Finally, to refine your edit into an effective fine cut, you'll use some of FCPX's advanced editing tools.

Friday - Lesson 04

We have a special way of editing the on-camera interview, the staple of all documentary films and videos. In this lesson, you'll discover how to tease the story out of an interview and how to build on that story with related visuals. You'll work on pacing, condensing time, creating rhythm, and making a compelling narrative out of your footage. Along the way, you'll experiment with a new set of FCPX editing tools.

Week 3

Wednesday - Lesson 05

Who doesn't like music videos? And today, you'll learn how to edit them! We'll discuss the basic concepts and strategies for editing music videos, and you'll get lots of practice along the way. You'll import, analyze, and mark music; you'll use a few new editing tools to precisely adjust your cuts; and you'll make transformations to your images in the Viewer window. We'll also talk about how design principles and copyright influence the way you work.

Friday - Lesson 06

Today's lesson is about getting to the point quickly! You'll edit a promo video for a famous horror film. We'll cover the format-specific techniques for editing your video down to an exact 30 seconds in length. You'll rough out the elements in the script, analyzing the dialogue for its rhythms and finding exciting images to help tell the story. Finally, once you've trimmed your images to perfection by slipping and sliding your shots, you'll discover the power of FCPX's audio mixing tools.

Week 4

Wednesday - Lesson 07

Action, action, action! You'll edit a quick-moving action sequence in this lesson, and while you work, you'll discover the benefits of using Auditions, a special set of FCPX tools specifically designed to help you choose the best possible clips for your edits. After you cut the sequence, you'll discover how to fix problems with audio, and I'll also show you a convenient way to add music.

Friday - Lesson 08

In this lesson, we'll explore important technical details about video files, FCPX customization, and some of the basic tricks of the editor's trade. You'll develop a better understanding of the kinds of files you'll use for different projects, and you'll discover how to tailor the FCPX work space to match your needs. Finally, I'll give you some useful tips for audio mixing, flipping images, and altering the speed of video clips for better editing.

Week 5

Wednesday - Lesson 09

Today you'll conquer the brave new world of motion graphics. You'll develop basic skills for creating transparencies, combining multiple images, and animating different image layers. By the end of the lesson, you'll transform your raw project materials into complex visual compositions that harness many of the same techniques as the latest action movies!

Friday - Lesson 10

This lesson is all about color! Color can be an important creative component of any video, adding emotion and giving new meaning to the visuals. Today, you'll explore the automatic and manual color tools in FCPX, while incorporating elements of color theory into your working method. You'll also use the professional tools of the trade, video scopes, to assure the quality and effectiveness of the colors and contrast in your images.

Week 6

Wednesday - Lesson 11

Can narration help you tell a story? Yes! That's what we're going to talk about in this lesson. We'll start by recording narration in FCPX's recording window. Then, using iPhoto as a companion to FCPX, you'll work with still photos and video to bring visual punch to your narrative descriptions. You'll explore the Crop tool and the Ken Burns effect, adding movement to your stills. And finally, you'll bring the whole thing together using Lower Third titles and Compound Clips.

Friday - Lesson 12

Our final lesson is about showing the world what you can do! Your editor's reel features the best of your work in a short, exciting video showcase that you can use to impress potential employers, as well as friends and family. You'll get the inside scoop into all the things that will help you create the perfect reel. Using Roles, you'll create alternate versions of your work, and finally, you'll pull it all together by outputting distribution formats for the Web, mobile devices, and DVD.

Requirements

Apple, Final Cut Pro X, updated to Version 10.0.3 or above; FCPX is available exclusively from the Mac App Store (software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins); No Windows version, Mac only; Mac OS 10.6.8 and above; Internet access, e-mail, the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser, and the Adobe Flash and PDF plug-ins (two free and simple downloads you obtain at http://www.adobe.com/downloads by clicking Get Adobe Flash Player and Get Adobe Reader).

Note: It is recommended to use a Mac computer with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor or better, Open-CL-capable graphics card or Intel HD Graphics 3000 or later, 256MB of VRAM (512MB of VRAM recommended), and 2GB of RAM (4GB of RAM recommended). A display with 1280-by-768 resolution or higher and 2.4GB of disk space is recommended. Final Cut Pro X must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.