Prologue

Film and video editing may be your chosen profession, but more importantly, you could find that it is your passion, and you will be cognizant of this when you can’t stay away from the editing suite. Even to the point that you are tempted to miss family gatherings and festive events.

If the above sounds like you, then welcome to the club – this book is truly for you.

No matter what Non-Linear Editing (NLE) software you use, you will be a die-hard convert to film and video editing. This book is about Final Cut Pro and since you are a professional, you need to be familiar with different NLE software, as work can come from various sources and different editing houses will demand that you are familiar with their preferred NLE software.

So, no matter whether you are an out-and-out Final Cut Pro-only user or work with other NLE software such as Avid, Resolve, or Premiere, you need to know how to edit in Final Cut Pro without tears.

Who this book is for

This book is aimed at intermediate-level Final Cut Pro editors familiar with Final Cut Pro and looking to speed up their workflows while gaining more knowledge to produce higher-quality videos more efficiently.

Numbered among creative professionals, freelance video editors, YouTube content creators, graphic designers, and especially production houses, you will be looking to produce output for professional-level publications, dramas, documentaries, product commercials, and promo videos, as well as for vlogs for social media. You need to have a macOS operating system to use Final Cut Pro, and an understanding that editing is removing material, just leaving that which is necessary to tell the story.

You need to be familiar with the basic concepts of video editing, particularly having an understanding of the principle that editing is removing unwanted material rather than just adding bells and whistles. You should also have an understanding of media formats and...

What this book covers

This is a list of the chapters in the book and a short explanation of what you will learn in each chapter:

Part 1: Planning

Chapter 1, It’s All About the Media

This chapter should be used as a reference to understand the makeup of video files and where they are located on the computer.

Chapter 2, Organizing Media

Knowing where to access media quickly is paramount. In this chapter, you will learn that while the actual edit is progressing, it is important to know how to access extra media quickly without breaking the creative flow of the editing process.

Chapter 3, Planning the Video Story

As an editor, you will need to plan a journey. Otherwise, the outcome is unlikely to be controlled. A video requires planning, as does a literary composition, to produce a structure for the clips to tell the story.

Chapter 4, Pre-Editing a Rough Cut

This chapter shows that removing unwanted media is the first step. The pre-edit assembly gathers...