Final Cut Cheat Sheet
Welcome to Final Cut. This is where we separate the amateurs from the experts. Gone
are the days of limited iMovie feature sets. I am truly sorry we had to learn that program, as
I believe it only works against you when learning the Final Cut methodology. So forget
everything you learned in iMovie. Everything.
Today we will be learning an industry standard video editor that is used all over the world
by filmmakers. You can use the knowledge you acquire here today and use it in nearly any
and every professional editing application you will come across in the industry. Out of
those editing applications you may when pursuing a career in film, two will come up often.
Final Cut Pro and Avid. Avid is old, and expensive, but is used a ton in the industry. Good
thing you can use all of your Final Cut knowledge in Avid! But hey, before I bore you to
death with standard this, industry that, lets get to know Final Cut.
Final Cut Layout
There are 6 essential windows you need to know about in Final Cut.
Browser
This is where all of your video is stored. It acts as a library for all of
the clips on your computer. It can hold pictures, graphics, sound,
and video. It also holds sequences. Sequences are where individual
scenes in your movie are stored. Consider sequences a container
for your assembled video project.
Viewer
This is where you preview your media before taking it into the timeline.
Timeline
This is where your video is constructed. It is a visual representation of how your video is
aligned and will play. Consider it a flowchart, where you can modify and re-arrange the
video clips. There is a play-head that runs across the top most grey bar of Final Cut. This
plays the video. Video can be played by pressing the space bar, of the L button. The
forward and backward arrow keys move the play-head (when stopped) forwards and
backwards one frame at a time. The
timeline consists of tracks. Each
video clip has one track of video and
two tracks of audio. Video is stored
on the top bars, and audio on the
bottom. You can have up to 99
Tracks.
Canvas
The Canvas plays video that is assembled on the timeline.
Where the timeline is a flowchart of your video, the Canvas is
the video monitor displaying what the flowchart holds. The
Canvas not only plays what is on the timeline, but things can be
modified in the Canvas as well as in the timeline.
Tools
When editing you will be using a set of Tools:
Arrow
Used to select the video.
Edit Selection
Selects an entire portion of your timeline.
Select Track Buttons
Moves track(s) in the timeline.
Roll Edit Button
When selected at a point when two video tracks meet (in the timeline), and if dragged to the left
or right it will add video to one track and subtract video from the other.
Slip Edit
Moves clips content (in and out points) without moving there spots in the timeline.
Razor Blades
Cuts clips in the timeline.
Zoom in and Out
Zooms in and out of the timeline. Used to make finer edits, or to see an entire project at once.
Crop and Distort
Used to crop video clips and distort them.
Pen Tools
Used to modify keyframes.
Editing Your Video
Editing your video in Final Cut is very simple. You grab the video from the Browser and
then take it into the timeline. Unlike iMovie, the clips in the timeline can be individual clips,
or a huge video file that consists of 100’s of clips. If you are dealing with the latter, you
need to set In and Out points. In and Out points tell Final Cut where you want your video
clip to begin and end.
Example:
1. Double click video in the Browser. It will open in the Viewer.
2. In the Viewer set in and out points with the in and out
buttons.
3. Drag edited clip into the Timeline.
4. Double click on another video in the browser and repeat the steps, or set new in and
out points for the video that is currently in the Viewer.
Note: You can keep on setting in and out points to the same clip in the Viewer, and it will not modify any
clips in the Timeline. If you however, double click video in the timeline it will appear in the Viewer just like
video double clicked in the Browser. Here you can re-define the edit points of the clip in the Timeline. This
will change only the clip in the timeline, not the original clip in the Browser. To edit the clip in the browser
you must double click it.
Timeline Basics
Once in the timeline video can be moved any way possible. By dragging a video clip above
another, a new video track will be made. By dragging a video directly on top of another it
will overwrite the video the new content was
dragged on top of. Remember everything in
that you do in the timeline can be undone. The
video is never lost like iMovie.
Trimming Your Video in the Timeline
By placing your mouse pointer on the side of a video clip, you can drag it to the left or right
and thus expand or shorten the length of that video clip. This is called trimming.
Example:
1. If you have a clip in the timeline, and want it to end at a specific frame in the middle of
the video clip, play the video and stop it (using the space bar) anywhere near the point you
want the clip to end at.
2. Use the left and right arrow keys move the play-head to the exact frame that you want
your video clip to end at.
3. Take your mouse and place it at the end of the video clip. Click (and hold) on the end of
that video and drag it to the play-head.
Advanced Viewer Functions
So we are talking a lot about bringing video up in the viewer today. If you just want to do
basic trimming aren’t you just better using the timeline? Yes, I would say so. However, the
viewer offers a ton of powerful tools that can be used to modify several different parts of
your clips. When your clip is double clicked there will be tabs at the top of the viewer:
Video Tab
This shows your video.
Audio Tab(s)
This shows a graphical representation of the audio attached to your video. Here you can
use keyframes to control the pan and volume.
Filters Tab
Video and Audio filters can be applied to your clips. When applied they show up in the
filters tab of the clip that they were applied to. In this tab you can modify the filters settings.
Motion Tab
This tab controls settings such as the videos position on screen, the opacity (transparency)
of a clip, distortion, and motion blur.
Note: If the clip that you double click does not have all of these tabs its OK. An audio clip will not contain
video, just as an image file will not contain audio.
Transitions
While the majority of your shots should be straight cuts, there may be times where you
feel the need to add a transition between shots. Final Cut has many transitions to choose
from, but remember that the transitions you choose must always effectively add to your
story. Some of those transitions may be fun to put in, but if you overdo it, it will give your
movie a very unprofessional look. With that said, let’s discuss how to add your transitions.
Example:
1. Determine the place you wish to put your transition; it must be in between two shots.
2. If the “Effects” window is not already open, go to the Window menu, and choose
Effects.
3. Click the arrow next to the Video Transitions icon to expand the folder.
You will now see a new list of folders. Each folder’s name tells you the type of transitions it
contains. Click the arrow next to the desired folder to show the transitions.
4. Click and drag the chosen transition from the Effects window to the timeline, and drop it
in between the two shots that you wish to transition between.
From the Sequence menu, choose Render All. This will render your transitions (and all
other parts of your movie requiring rendering) to make them viewable.
5. Play your sequence. You should now have working transitions.
Voiceovers
There will be times where you need to record voiceovers, and other audio, for your movie.
Rather than waste part of your tape just recording audio and not video, you can use Final
Cut’s Voiceover feature to record the audio directly into the computer.
Example:
1. Make sure the camera and/or microphone is plugged in, because you will need it to
record the audio.
2. Go to the Tools menu and choose Voice Over. This will open the Voice Over window.
3. Scrub through your footage to the location where you want the audio to record to.
4. Type a title in the Name box on the Voice Over tool to label your audio.
5. When you are ready, press the red Record button on the top left of the Voice Over
tool.
6. You are given 5 seconds before recording starts. When it starts, speak into the camera
microphone or whatever microphone is hooked up.
7. The record button has become the Stop button with a small black square. Click this
button when you are done recording.
8. The voiceover should now be in the location you have specified.
Importing Audio
You will undoubtedly need to import audio into your video project. While Final Cut makes
it rather simple to do this, there are some extra steps you will need to take if your file is an
MP3. If you’ve noticed that MP3’s are much smaller in size than audio files on CD’s that is
because of compression. MP3’s are audio files that are compressed to lower their file size.
However, when you are working in an environment such as Final Cut Pro, audio files that
are already compressed simply do not sound great. If you have the audio CD, it’s simple to
fix. All you need to do is put the CD in the drive, open it up in the Finder, and drag the
audio tracks to the desired location. They will be saved in uncompressed AIFF format by
default. If you are working with MP3’s, here’s how to do it.
Example:
1. Open QuickTime and choose Import from the File menu. Choose the MP3 you wish to
use.
2. Now choose Export from the File menu, and select the location you wish to save the
uncompressed audio file.
3. Choose Sound to AIFF from the dropdown menu on the bottom of the Export window.
4. Select the Options button. Click the Settings button on the window that opens.
5. Make sure the compressor is set to None, and select the number 48 under the
dropdown menu. This will save your audio at the highest quality. Click OK.
6. Click OK on the Options window to go back to the Export window.
Click Save. Your audio file will be exported.
More tutorials soon… this is just the Final Cut intro!
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