| Final Cut Pro Studio 2 |
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| Written by David Hurd | ||||
| Saturday, 01 December 2007 | ||||
Page 2 of 2 As a customer, I would most likely pay the extra money for support so that I could get my questions answered in a timely fashion. The truth is that sometimes clients and deadlines won’t wait, and angry clients and missed deadlines are career killers. On my journey, I found that there is no shortage of ways to learn to use the software. The folks at www.macprovideo.com were very helpful and signed me up to their on-line school. I downloaded Mastering your Mac, Capturing and Outputting, Video Editing Essentials, The Science of FCP, and Mastering Color Correction. It was here that I found the “How To” knowledge that got me going in the right direction. You can also search the web for schools like www.geniusdv.com. I talked with some people who had attended the school, and learned that, after graduation, they can retake the class for free and call anytime with support questions…Forever! Over time, this option would be less expensive than the $1200 per year that Apple charges for FCP support, and you would actually get to sit down and learn from a video professional for 5 days. The good news is that once you learn to use these complex tools, you can create some very nice things. My movie ended up looking great and is getting good reviews. In addition to Final Cut Pro 6, Final Cut Pro Studio 2 comes with Motion 3, Soundtrack Pro 2, Color, Compressor 3, and DVD Studio Pro 4. I used FCP, Motion, Compressor, and DVD Studio Pro to make my film. I could have used Color, (which was a ten to twenty thousand dollar finishing program before the company was purchased by Apple), but the FCP Color Correction was great all by itself. Although I had an audio guy mix and sweeten the tracks at his studio and email me a file, Soundtrack Pro could have easily done the same thing on my computer. When I found a shot where the talent’s jacket had opened to expose a lav mic, Motion easily zoomed in and cropped the shot, saving rotoscoping or a re-shoot. It’s moments like this when I really love shooting in HD. If I had shot in SD and blown up the shot by 25%, it would have gotten really pixilated and ugly. Apple seems to handle the DVCPro HD format really well. The Compressor program can re-format your project for any use. I even made a copy of my movie for playback on my Iphone. Now I don’t have to tell people about my film, I can simply show them anytime, anywhere.All in all, Apple has come out with a superior editing package in the Final Cut Pro Studio 2. It has a powerful toolset that is rapidly becoming the choice of professional editors. You just have to take the time to master the tools. MSRP: $1200 Contact: www.apple.com  |
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Iain Blair
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Dyana Carmella
