Educational Review

Final Cut Pro Training

Where to go to become a Pro

Reviewed by Wayne LeFevre

Lately I have had a desire to improve my videos. For years I have used my Digital-8 Sony to record various school plays and the like, and haven’t done much to them. When I began to use the Mac, it became a conduit for my “creativity,” and I began putting them on the computer for the digital screen. It became quickly apparent that it could be a lot, a whole lot better. Yet it wasn’t until a few people not only saw some of this work, but actually started to ask for copies, that I had to do something to make it look decent.

 

I started with a copy of Final Cut that I got on eBay. I quickly came to realize that if I wanted to learn what the heck was going on, then I needed some serious training. Now I live in rural Vermont. Not exactly a panacea for an aspiring student of any kind of computer education. The nearest Apple stores being around two-hours in any direction, and no chance of an Apple User Group or even an adult education opportunity anywhere about. I guess it’s all on me to learn how.

 

The type of training material I first began with was Peachpit Press and Apple’s own Apple Training Series Final Cut Pro 6. It’s a fine book from a fine series. By following the lessons from the beginning and going through each chapter one can and will learn how to edit eventually with Final Cut Pro 6 – Professional Editing in Final Cut Studio 2 by Diana Weynand. ISBN 978-0-321-50265-0, listed at $54.99.

 

Within it’s 631 pages, there are a total of 14 lessons in 5 groups. Those groups include Creating a Rough Cut. Refining the Rough Cut. Supporting the Process. Completing the Cut. And finishes with Adding Effects and Finishing.

 

I think I got all the way to through the second lesson before I knew that this wasn’t how I was going to get my feet wet with Final Cut. Not because it wasn’t teaching me what I needed to know. See, I was trying to edit a school musical at the same time, so I needed to know how to do things now, not in weeks, if not months, of book learning. I needed something visual.

 

I turned to macProVideo next. MPV Has many instructional videos. Not only on Apple’s pro apps, but many other vendors as well. They’ve had other instructional videos that I’ve used before, and their videos are really very well done and informational. First you should know about their selection. Their videos range from Ableton Live to Soundtrack Pro with everything in between. MPV mainly deals with the artistic side of instruction. Audio, Video, Design, and only dabbling a bit with the Mac OS and Microsoft Office. They have been discussed before in macCompanion, so I don’t want to dwell too long on the specifics. I did want to mention that they do have a new application that organizes and displays your lessons that is like their current one on the desktop computer, but it’s for the iPhone/iPod Touch. It’s name is N.E.D.i, and I discuss it a bit in the sidebar.

 

macProVideo has many tutorials that deal not only with Final Cut Pro, but with the entire Final Cut Studio 2 package. The Final Cut Pro application itself has three specific tutorial packages. Final Cut 6 101: Core Final Cut, Final Cut 6 103: Color Correction in FCP 6, and Final Cut 6 105: Capturing & Outputting in Final Cut 6. The other application tutorial packages dealing with the entire studio line are Color 101: Core Color 1. DVD Studio Pro 101: Mastering DVD Studio Pro, DVD Studio Pro 105: Custom Menu Templates and DVD Studio Pro 207: Mastering A.Pack. Motion 101: Core Motion 3, Motion 105: 3D in Motion. (No Motion 103?) Finally, Soundtrack Pro 101: Core Soundtrack Pro 2. Most of these tutorials are $39.50, with a few of the 101 core training articles at $49.50.

 

These tutorials are some of the best I’ve watched, though I haven’t been able to get them all yet. The best thing about macProVideo though, at least for me, is the ability to not only download the tutorials to your computer, but to burn them to DVD. That, and the ability to put the training onto your iPod Touch and iPhone. (Though that’s not really the greatest thing in the world, even though it should be!)

 

There are a couple more web sites that deal with the same types of Final Cut tutorial videos. There is Ripple Training at rippletraining.com, and Lynda.com. There is one other site that I’m very interested in. It’s Izzy Video at IzzyVideo.com. Israel Hyman has a new Final Cut Pro training video out that I wouldn’t mind watching. He hosts a bi-weekly training video on Shooting, editing and producing video. It’s similar to Don McAllister’s Mac instructional videos, but for video. I have a subscription to his free shows and haven’t yet been able to get his pay-for shows yet, but it is done in very high quality and the shows are very good—so if your looking for an all-in-one video training on everything having to do with video, not just post production, then Izzy Video looks very promising. I’m only going by the very few shows I’ve seen though. Perhaps in the future I can evaluate it further.

 

I’ve never seen any of the ripple training videos, though they do have many that look most promising. That is another set of videos that I would like to evaluate in the future.

 

The ones I have seen, though, is the ones by Lynda.com. The instructor for most of the Final Cut Studio applications is Larry Jordan, an excellent instructor that I have written on before. The only problem I have with Lynda.com is you must always be online to watch, unless you purchase the DVD, which is a whole lot more money than the $25 a month, all-you-can see plan. It’s by far the least expensive way to gain the most knowledge. And it’s good knowledge, too. The training for the Final Cut studio package is similar through all the applications. For example, Final Cut Pro has a 10+ hour initial training called Final Cut Pro 6 Essential Editing, with a secondary 9 hour training named Final Cut Pro 6 Essential Effects. Of course, all the other applications in Final Cut Studio 2 have similar training at Lynda. Apple Color Essential Training, Compressor 3 Essential Training, DVD Studio 4 Essential Training, etc.

 

As a comparison with macProVideo, their initial 101 training program, Final Cut 6 101: Core Final Cut, is 5.5 hours, Final Cut 6 103: Color Correction in FCP is a little over an hour. Final Cut 6 105: Capturing & Outputting is around an hour and a half. This, of course, doesn’t mean a whole lot considering that the content between macProVideo and Lynda.com isn’t the exact same. However, the information is close enough that you will get the knowledge you need to get you up and running. The total for the 3 videos from MPV, not in any bundles and without any of the many specials and deals that can net you up to one-half off the price, is $128.50. The price of the Lynda.com Final Cut Pro 6 Essential Editing is $99.95 if bought on DVD, with the Essential Effects going for the same.

 

You can, however, purchase “bundles” at macProVideo. The Final Cut Bundle with all three Final Cut packages goes for $109.23. Right now, until the end of June, all videos are 50% off, so you can effectively get all three training packages for just over $50. You can’t beat that. Of course, by the time this review is out that particular sale will be over, but by no means is this the only one. These types of sales are happening all the time.

 

What this video training will do, of course, is get you editing in Final Cut Pro a lot quicker than will a book. Usually you can grasp concepts quicker and retain them better by seeing the action happen, instead of trying to figure out exactly what a book is trying to tell you. This is not to say that the Apple Pro Training Series aren’t very well presented, and won’t teach you anything. Quite the opposite, really. The thing is, the books are geared more toward getting your Apple Certification and passing that test than to get a beginner started in such a complex application. After you do the video training, if you happen to go back through the book, it will suddenly make sense and you will be able to understand it all the better. Perhaps enough to get that certification for hanging on the wall in your home post-editing studio.