You can get them all here: Tools For Film and Video Post Production

CrumplePop yesterday announced CrumplePop Notes, a set
of photo-realistic, HD “Post-It” style effects that can be easily
dropped directly onto the Final Cut Pro timeline.

With CrumplePop Notes, a busy editor can tack notes onto any video
sequence by simply dragging and dropping, without leaving Final Cut
Pro.  Just pick a style, pick a color, drop on the timeline, and enter
your note text.

“In so many productions, you just need a quick way to highlight a
piece of information,” said Gabriel Cheifetz, creative director at
CrumplePop.  “You need to introduce a new character, a new ingredient
in a recipe, or a useful fact.  CrumplePop Notes is especially ideal
for video tutorials, where you’re popping useful info into the frame
all the time.”

CrumplePop Notes supports multiple resolutions, including 1920×1080,
1280×720, and 720×480.  In addition to displaying text in three
different hand-drawn typefaces, CrumplePop Notes lets you drop images
onto your notes, including images with alpha channels. Since each
CrumplePop Notes element is extremely high resolution, they may be
fully animated and keyframed within Final Cut without stair-stepping
or loss of quality, even when rotation is introduced.

Pricing and Availability:

CrumplePop Notes is available immediately as a digital download for
$34.00 (USD).

Check out the Example Video:

CrumplePop is part of 612 Authentic Media, an award-winning film, tv,
and web production studio located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Copyright
2009 612 Authentic Media.

I had eagerly awaited the day I could finally purchase Final Cut Pro and install it on my new computer (which was a mac G4 at the time). After successfully installing the software I felt like half the battle was over. But I opened Final Cut Pro not knowing what to do with it. All I knew was that i cost me a lot of money and I did not know the first thing about editing. Thus the adventure of editing began.

In this article I have put together a list of a few editing tips I wish I could have had when I began editing in Final Cut Pro. These tips are not just for Final Cut users but for any editors that want to expand their editing skills.

Tip #1 - Be Objective

The biggest problem with editors (especially these days) is that they are too emotionally attached to their footage - since many editors are also the director, cinematographer, grip…..etc  An effective editor will always look at the project with an objective eye and be able to make sacrifices in order to produce a better finished product. This leads me to my next point.

Tip #2 - The Fear of Cutting

For those of you that have not had to deal with cutting your favorite scene out because one reason or another - that day will come soon. Many times I have edited a great scene, the colors are perfect, lighting is great, acting is awesome, but sometimes a scene needs to be cut to continue moving the story forward. I hate cutting my favorite shots or scenes out but you have to let them go. Put them on the bonus features.

Tip #3 - A Third Eye Never Lies

Getting your rough cut shown to a friend or fellow filmmaker is always a good idea. I cannot stress how important it is to have another set of eyes look over your rough cut before you move on to polishing your project. Show it to someone you trust will be honest with you and will challenge you to improve your work.  Every-time I have shown someone my rough cuts I have always come away with more to improve upon.

Tip #4 - Cross Dissolves and Other Transitions

Final Cut Pro and all the other great editing software have one thing in common - dorky transitions. Do not ask me why the software comes with such crazy transitions but just because they are there does not mean you should use as many as you can in your videos.  If they enhance the story then by all means you should use them but ONLY if they enhance the story.

Tip #5 - Experiment

Trying out new effects and editing techniques is always a great idea. I often find myself duplicating a sequence and playing with different filters, color correctors, or arrangement of clips. Often I find a better way to edit a scene just by experimenting and playing around with it. There is no CORRECT answer in editing, just a a better one.

Hey everyone. Today I have a great Final Cut Pro tip for you! Cropping. It is stronger then it sounds, I promise. I recently made my own video using the cropping tool.

Let’s get started!

So let’s say you are using a single camera and you want more then one of the same person in the shot. I know what you are thinking, green screen right? Wrong! All you simple need is a tripod and Final Cut Pro!

The cropping tool can be reached simply by double clicking on your video and then clicking on the motion tab. As seen in the photo below.

In the video I needed to be walking out my apartment door and then back out the closet door. This was easily done by using the same shot and the cropping tool.

All I had to do was keep the camera in a fixed position while I was shooting. Then in editing, I was able to use the cropping tool to split the screen and get both of my performances seemingly in the same shot.

Play around with his tool and I’m sure you will learn it in no time!

Check out my video:

Endless Doors from Anthony Bosco on Vimeo.

Anyone can get started writing right away, once you submit them I’ll check them and schedule them to be posted. You can include whatever links or contact information you would like about yourself in order to promote your skills and services.

If you become a regular contributor, then we can work out a special deal with more benefits and access.

I look forward to seeing what kind of contributions we get on the site!

Start writing for The Final Cut Professional today.

Please cruise around the site, see whats new.

Let me know in the comments any thoughts you might have about the new design, especially if you are experiencing any problems.

Thanks for your continued support!

We start with a simple task of making some text move across the screen, then we add rotation and scale into the mix to see how all the basic features work.

After viewing this tutorial, I highly recommend that you test out these techniques and play around with them in our own project to really get a good understanding of how they work and how powerful they can be.

Check out the free sample:

Total Run Time: 10:39

Difficulty Level: Beginner

Format: QuickTime movie

Size: 106mb

Cost: $9.97

Important note: After you complete the store checkout process, you will see a Download Link on the Order Confirmation page. This link will allow you to download the video to your computer. You are given two attempts and 24 hours to download your video.

From Shurwin:

Hi CJ as user of 5 years tell me why you chose FCP and what do you most like about it.

I managed to find a press release to confirm FCP release under Apple,

“Since its introduction in April 1999, Final Cut Pro has become the most popular professional video editing software in the world with a strong following among film and video professionals.”

See original link below.
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2002/aug/20emmy.html

Now a decade on with a million plus user base, what you memories, first
use and favorite things about the package and on your wishlist what do
think it still needs?

I started using FCP 1 when it was on OS9 and had commotion that was in
2001. Previously a premiere user as I was PC owner, got involved with FCP
when I was in a Mac based artist resource centre in Hackney, London.

Biggest plus at the time multiple timeline management, using DV and firewire to edit without the need to purchase a firewire or video capture card. Hated the long rendering times on occasion, loved the fact you could use wireframes to align video clips for picture in picture.

What are your memories or fcp clangers.

And to all those I met at T3 Regent St - London July 2006, what are you guys up to now.

Yours,

Shurwin Harewood
FCP Certified Trainer and Profesional and still sticking with FCP

My Response:

Hey Shurwin,

Great question,

I too was using Premier to edit before I became familiar with Final Cut. For me, it is both a very powerful editor that can handle large projects and I can get into it and get a quick cut together with ease.

Not to mention that there is an amazing support network on and off-line of passionate Final Cut Pro users.

Then the myriad of plugins and programs that expand the reach and capabilities of the program make it my NLE of choice.

Finally it has a relatively low barrier to entry so that people can afford it, learn how to use it, and be creating quality video within weeks.

It still needs a lot of things I think. The first, for me, is better support of going back and forth with programs outside of Final Cut Studio, specifically After Effects. More support for native formats. An updated GUI. I think the wishlist could go on for days and varies from person to person depending on how they use the program.

What do you think?

How have you used Final Cut Pro over the last 10 years? Any specific experiences in the past? Where do you see it going in the future? What are some features that you would like to see? Let us know your thoughts in the comments…

Pretty helpful to download and print out as a reference.

Another great use for this is when you want to embed video online. Say the standard YouTube embed is something like 500×311, but where you want to embed it is only 300 pixels wide. You can use this tool to first determine what the aspect ratio of the original embed is, then adjust the width to what you want and it will automatically tell you the height to keep the aspect ratio the same.