Inside Final Cut Express
I like training series. They usually offer an easy to follow explanation of an application, and often throw in some jewels of information you would be pressed to find anywhere else. Recently I’ve been flooded with books, DVDs, and videos of training materials for a variety of products. This time, I take a look at the Digital Media Training DVD Inside Final Cut Express.
For those of you not familiar with Final Cut Express, it is a watered down version of Final Cut Pro. For many people just starting their digital non-linear editing career even the “lite” version of FCP could cause you to scratch your head. iMovie looks nothing like Final Cut Express so some type of training is going to be needed so the user can get up to speed. This is where the Inside Final Cut Express DVD comes in.[an error occurred while processing this directive]
Actually calling this a DVD can be a little misleading. The DVD is not a video DVD, but actually a DVD ROM, which contains over three hours of training in Flash format. In addition to the training content, the DVD ROM also contains project files for you to use to complete a project the instructor has you work through. The fact that this DVD contains project media is a big plus as it not only allows you to follow along with the project, but there is plenty of material for you to tinker around and come up with your own version of the final project.The training lessons are broken down into two main sections – Basic Training, and Building a Real-World Project. In Section One, Editor Noah Todd walks you through the basics of what nonlinear editing is, how to set up your Final Cut Express system, how to capture and log footage, and a general “grand tour” or the application and how each of the different controls work. What I like about the first section is Noah does not spend hours explaining how features work (unlike some training series I’ve seen). Instead, discussion on these features is limited to around 10 minutes each (give or take a minute or two). This makes watching these segments a good experience because you get all the info you need and are able to digest it without problem.
Section 1: Basic Training
Introduction to Final Cut Express
Hardware Set-Up
Interface Basics
Saving and Project Set-Up
Capturing Video
Basic Editing Tour
Titles and Effects
Working with Audio
Compositing and Animation
Color Correction
Finishing and Output
As you can see from the breakdown of the first section, all of the features of Final Cut Express are covered. For beginners, this is a thorough walkthrough and should answer nearly all your frequently asked questions.
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