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Tutorial?
What is the best DVD-tutorial out there for an in-depth crash course in Final Cut? I see on B&H there is “Total-Training”, “Class on Demand”, and “Absolute Training” – anyone with experience on the differences between these, and a recommendation?
Thanks,
David -
13 Replies
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I just bought the iTunes version of Steve Martin’s “Final Cut Pro: Getting Started” and I really love it! He is a very good teacher! I really liked that I could just download them and start learning too! I am only on lesson 6 right now but I was very happy that I decided to purchase DVD studio Pro tutorial too!
I don’t find many people that are good teachers but Steve is one of them! You can view a bunch of free tutorials at his website too. One thing I also like about his tutorials is that he does offer consulting services if I ever need them.
I just ordered Shane Ross’s “Getting Organized in Final Cut Pro” too. I also plan on ordering to order Barry Green’s “Sound for Film and Television”. There is another user here who has a sound book, something like Gorilla Audio?, that looked pretty good.
I figure if I can pick up one just one really helpful tip or trick for $50 it is probably worth it!
I would definitely recommend starting with Steve Martin’s stuff. He is very good!
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I am partial to Lynda.com – Non-linear learning if you need it, or take the whole class. And for the money, you have so many otehr titles available as well.
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Hey Thomas,
I just checked out Lynda.com. It is coincidental that I was almost going to post some articles by Larry Jordan I just found but didn’t want to overwhelm my post.
So I go to Lynda.com and it says it is $25 per month!!!
Then I pull up FCP 6 to see what they have. I see a FCS 2 keying tutorial and it is by… Larry Jordan!
https://movielibrary.lynda.com/html/modPage.asp?ID=633
I watched it and it was very good! I think I am gonna definitely get a membership there too!
Thanks for the tip!
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I just found out that the $25 does not give you access to the “exercise/lesson files”. They want $375/year for that. Probably still a great deal but maybe I will wait for approval before I make that impulse buy :).
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I won’t recommend you a DVD but a book with a DVD.
“Motion Graphics and Effects in FCP” from Kevin Monahan.
As a freebie you get some interesting filters for FC.
Rafael -
There’s a free Final Cut Pro podcast here at the Cow.
https://podcasts.creativecow.net/final-cut-studio-podcast
There’s also Ripple Training.
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Looks like a great book Rafael. It is from 2004. Do you know if he is going to make a updated version? It sounds like I could still learn quite a bit from it but it would be nice to have something current.
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Hi Elijah,
The techniques I use stem from FCP 1.0, so they are useful for every version of Final Cut Pro, and hopefully, going into the future too.IMHO, no tutorial or book can totally prepare you for mastering FCP. I think you should train in a classroom/bootcamp environment as well. I spent 6 months at Video Symphony training on the Avid Media Composer and they had to drag me out of there each night. These endless hours of supervised “hands-on” time in the Avid Lab locked in my knowledge of digital video editing. I emphasize “supervised” because having someone there to ask questions to as you learn was so very helpful. That cannot be stressed enough.
As far as the book goes, the project file still works just fine (if not, I’ll send you one) and the clips still playback normally. The techniques are timeless, so no worries there.
Although my book is about creating graphics and effects in FCP (Motion did not exist at this time!), it is also about FCP technique and how to “think” in FCP terms. It’s a bit out of the box in its approach, but the things you learn are more “how to fish” rather than give you the fish. The other win here is that it saves you from jumping to Motion because you can create the same effect in FCP.
It is a book you may want to go through after you have basic concepts down in FCP, however, don’t wait too long as you want to incorporate some of my ideas to give you a stronger foundation in the application.
I will have more training materials soon. I have one based on my book coming out with DV Creators and there’s also a number of tutorials I wrote for this book:
https://www.fcpworld.com/2008/12/28/new-editwell-book-features-work-by-kevin-monahan/#more-346
As a new editor, you also want to digest a number of books by Walter Murch, who describes the motivation behind pushing buttons.
Stay creative!
Kevin Monahan
http://www.fcpworld.com
Author – Motion Graphics and Effects in Final Cut Pro -
I will 2nd any recommendation for Kevin Monahan’s book. I have had the book, actually won it at the first FCPUG meeting I went to at NAB. It is always my go to guide for when I am bored and need some inspiration. Also, there are a lot of freebies out there. Walter Biscardi does some great freebie ones on the Cow here. You really can’t go wrong with any of the suggested ones so far. Just had to throw my vote in for MGE in FCP.
Scott Robinson
President
Take 2 Productions, Inc.
https://www.take2productionsinc.com -
Those are all great suggestions, thank you.
Maybe it would help to clarify that we need to get a tutorial for someone who is already trained and experienced in Avid. Does that help narrow down the list? 🙂
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