It’s All about the Media

This chapter covers the foundations that Final Cut Pro is built on. In this chapter, we will see how media is stored within libraries and where it can be accessed in the Finder. You will be introduced to the library structure, which is the foundation of Final Cut Pro’s organizational uniqueness. You will understand the importance of being able to locate and manually install or uninstall plug-ins. Finally, you will gain a thorough understanding of different video formats and how they affect the use of Final Cut Pro. When you have completed this chapter, you will comprehend the individuality of Final Cut Pro’s organizational structure and the importance of using the correct video format.

In this chapter, we will cover the following main topics:

• The Users folder
• The definition of a video file
• Where Final Cut Pro libraries are stored
• The library concept
• The plug-in folders
• Video formats
• Audio formats
• Second...

Technical requirements

The following are the minimum system requirements that you need to be able to run Final Cut Pro 10.6.8:

• macOS 13.4 or later
• 4 GB of RAM (8 GB is recommended for 4K editing, 3D titles, and 360° video editing)
• A Metal-capable graphics card
• 1 GB of VRAM, recommended for 4K editing, 3D titles, and 360° video editing
• 4.5 GB of available disk space

The Users folder

Because Final Cut Pro is produced by Apple, the application files are deeply integrated into macOS, and many parts of the foundations of Final Cut Pro are spread throughout the Mac system.

I’m not suggesting that you need to know completely where everything is, but there are locations that you will need to access on a Mac to make full use of Final Cut Pro.

The Users folder is the most important location for you to know about. It’s where most of Final Cut Pro’s files are stored – or at least all the files that you need to know about!

Let me give you a little background on how macOS works. All the files that a computer needs are located on the boot disk, which is usually the internal disk – nowadays, that is a solid-state drive (SSD).

To find these files, make sure you are looking in the Finder window. When Finder is selected, the name will appear in the top-left position of the Mac taskbar.

The following screenshot shows...

The definition of a video file

Think of video as being a series of still images with associated audio. Because the images and audio are packaged together, the video file is significantly more complex than a still image or audio file individually.

You will already know the concept of these images moving so fast that they appear to the viewer as moving images. A camera records a set number of frames per second (FPS) along with masses of metadata.

Since the frame rate is a set number of FPS, when it is increased, the smoothness of the video improves, and any blurriness will likely be removed. The downside is that the file size increases in terms of the storage space on the computer.

Historically, 30 FPS became the norm for analog TV broadcasts in North America, Japan, and South America. Europe and Africa adopted 25 FPS due to the different frequencies in the mains power supply – 60 Hz and 50 Hz, respectively.

There is another important reason that frame rates should...

Where Final Cut Pro libraries are stored

The storage structure that Final Cut Pro uses revolves around a library. To use an analogy, a town’s public library contains many books and magazines, DVDs, and other things. The town’s library categorizes everything into different sections – for instance, fiction, non-fiction, and sports. Final Cut Pro uses a similar method of categorization to store all of its contents. It uses terms such as events, keywords, and smart folders, which you can give appropriate names so that you have quick access to the contents when you are editing.

A library is a database of all the information required for an edit. It is known as a bundle, which gives you a hint as to its purpose. Libraries contain the media or links to any media stored outside the library. They also store all the metadata and render files, including the projects themselves.

While you are editing, Final Cut Pro libraries keep track of the process of your editing...

The library concept

All Final Cut Pro media, which includes camera footage, music, and stills, is stored in a unique type of folder known as a library. Libraries are visible in the Mac’s Finder window as a purple icon with four white stars, as mentioned earlier in the chapter.

When you double-click on the purple icon, the library opens in Final Cut Pro. It also contains all the files that Final Cut Pro needs to operate, all in one place.

For day-to-day use, there should be no need to access the files contained in the Library folder in Finder. There are times when you may need to in an emergency; one such occasion would be if you need copies of media files contained in a library.

Important note

I don’t suggest that you access the files contained in the Library folder unless you feel confident and know what you are doing.

First, make sure that the library is closed and that you have closed the Final Cut Pro app. Right-click on the library icon in Finder,...

The plug-in folders

Plug-ins are purchased titles and effects that you will almost certainly be tempted to add to Final Cut Pro. After plug-ins are purchased and downloaded, most of them are supplied with a type of automated installer, but not all. You don’t want to be in a situation where a client has specified a particular effect that you can’t find out how to add to Final Cut Pro. At times, you may also find yourself in the following situations:

• What will you do when you upgrade macOS and find that an important title used right throughout your project isn’t working with the upgrade?
• Where would you look to find a title on the computer’s system?
• You may find yourself in a situation where there are some hiccups with Final Cut Pro and you need to access the internal workings on a Saturday night when all your support people are out partying

Don’t be stressed about this, as I am exaggerating a little to make a point. This is not...

Video formats

The term video format is also loosely interchangeable with video codec. There is a difference, but for the sake of simplicity, think of them as the same thing or at least that formats are containers that can hold different codecs.

A container is a package that stores video along with audio data. It is common for a video file format to be referred to as a container. Containers have extensions such as .mp4, .avi, and .mov.

A codec is a program or software within the container that encodes and decodes the video signals. It stores the video signals and then processes those signals when a video is played.

A video container can store videos of multiple formats, although not all codecs and containers are perfectly compatible. When a video is recorded or played, a device is configured to choose appropriate codecs and containers by default, so you only need to choose the container/file format.

Uncompressed video files are extremely large, which means they are unwieldy...

Which video format is best for which purpose?

Some video formats are more suitable for different purposes than others. Some are better as camera clips, and others are better for editing or delivery (export). This section will delve into various file formats and their respective strengths for different applications. Let’s get started:

• The following are the formats best suitable as camera files. The most common file formats for entry-level cameras are AVCHD and MP4. However, different brands and more advanced cameras will have proprietary formats:
  • Sony camera formats are AVCHD, MP4, DV, XAVC S, XAVC S HD, HDV, MPEG2, MPEG4, and ProRes RAW
  • RED cameras use R3D and REDCODE RAW
  • ARRI cameras use formats with the .ari, .mxf, and .arriraw extensions
  • Canon cameras use MP4 (H.264), MP4 (HEVC), HEVC, XF-AVC (.mxf), RAW – Cinema RAW (.crm), and .mov
  • Panasonic cameras use the following:
    • HC: AVCHD, MP4, MP4, iFrame, and .mov
    • HDC: AVCHD and 50p H.264
    • HM: MPEG4 and Apple iFrame
    • SDR: SD...

Audio formats

Audio file formats or file extensions are containers or wrappers for audio codecs. As with lossy video file formats, most audio formats lose data in compression. Which format you choose depends on the balance you want to strike between quality and ease of use.

Common lossy audio formats are as follows:

• Advanced Audio Coding (AAC)
• Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC)
• Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC)
• MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 (MP3)
• Ogg (Vorbis)
• Windows Media Audio (WMA)
• Common lossless
• Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF)
• Pulse-Code Modulation (PCM)
• Waveform Audio File Format (WAV)

The following section looks at how you will view video files with a second monitor.

Second monitors

Organization of media is one thing, but more importantly, you need to be able to view the footage, which is why a computer’s monitor is crucial. Obviously, size matters, and while you can easily edit on a laptop while out in the field, I would not recommend that as a permanent single-monitor solution. This brings to light the amazing advantage of utilizing a second monitor. Not only does a bigger monitor mean you can see more of Final Cut Pro but a second monitor also means you can see more of the specific parts of the Final Cut Pro interface. Personally, and more importantly, I think it’s about the associated files that you need to refer to while using Final Cut Pro. You don’t need to switch between layered windows, and instead, you can view them side by side with the extra screen real estate.

The following are the things to keep in mind when selecting a monitor for Final Cut Pro:

• Color accuracy: DCI-P3, sRGB, Rec709, or Adobe RGB (factory...

Types of disks

As you saw earlier in this chapter, SSDs are the best type of external disk for editing, but they are still somewhat expensive. So, there is still a place for spinning disks for archiving or backup purposes. At a pinch, a library on a spinning disk connected by USB-C or even USB 3 will serve the purpose for short projects, or quick corrections of previously completed projects in 4K or less.

RAID is a different story. Simply put, RAID combines several disks together to share the load, as it were. The biggest benefit is for spinning disks, as the mechanical process is duplicated so that more platters can be accessed at the same time. This results in the read and write speeds being faster. However, RAID still relies on the speed of the connection to the computer. If you are buying a new RAID setup, consider Thunderbolt technology version 3-4.

The added advantage of RAID, other than RAID 0, is that it allows data on a disk to be duplicated. If a disk in RAID fails...

Summary

This was a particularly technical chapter that you should remember to refer back to. You should by no means try to remember all these details, as an abundance of the information is background material or historical data. The information that is important to retain includes the Users folder, where Final Cut Pro locates its files. You should know how to access the Users folder for emergency recovery of media, as well as be able to install and view the plug-ins used by Final Cut Pro. Equally important are the locations that you can choose to store Final Cut Pro’s library and, most importantly, understanding the library concept as a whole.

You need to have a broad understanding of the different file formats and how they are either best suited as camera files, editing formats, or for export. The differences between the ways that files are compressed will give you an understanding of when to use those files, and when indeed you will need to convert them for best use within...