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FCP vs iMovie – Effects and Transitions
Hi,
Just started working on a music festival documentary that I am editing with a friend in FCP.
He has been using iMovie for a few years and swears by its speed when it comes to creative effects driven editing. Although I admit, the word “creative” could be replaced with “cheesy” depending your perspective.
Anyway, I have explained to him the finer points of why FCP is a better program, but am tired of making excuses about why it lacks the effects power of iMovie. It’s ashame that FCP can’t borrow some of the best user friendly features of iMovie, most notably “EZ effects” and full screen preview mode.
Can someone here make a good argument why these features should not be included in FCP?
I understand that “professionals” don’t use cheap and easy effects in there work, and that “full screen preview” means output to a real monitor. But come on, wouldn’t it be great to have them included just to save time and hassle on occasion?
As far as FCP plugins; I have searched and found a few plugins here and there but nothing like the hundreds of creative canned effects that you can get for iMovie, and doesn’t offer the same user friendly fx gui.
Why do professionals resist some of the automated features that could make life so much easier?
Its hard to justify the hassle in rendering out video from FCP, jumping over to Motion or After Effects, creating the cheesy effect from scratch, outputting the video clip, and importing it back into FCP just to do it all over again. Even when all you want to do is a tiled mosaic zoom out, or a fairy dust star sprinkle. Compare this with the ease of doing the exact same function in iMovie?
To end I will reassure everyone that I do realize that iMovie is a HORRIBLE editing program and that the flexibility and power of FCP is amazing. It’s just can’t we have our cake and eat it too?
Rant off!
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3 Replies
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I can build all kinds of transitions and save them as “favorites” for nearly “instant use” in FCP,
There must be scores of third-party Plug-ins available, as well.Many editing pros don ‘t need to view a preview of a familiar effect during the assembly process,
The work-flow can be to quickly cut together the scenes, drop on familiar transitions, render (if necessary) and take a look.Its the nature of most pro, however, to tweak (miro-tweak?) nearly EVERYTHING once a project is rough-cut.
Having ONLY “preset” effects can be quite frustrating.
The small details of careful adjustment can make a difference in the “cheese-level.”BTW, to state that iMoive is “HORRIBLE” is a mistake. It is, in fact, AMAZING!
I’m sure many of us here could cut a very respectable project or two using only iMovie.
I’ve certainly cut shows on far LESS systems than that over the years! -
Jason,
FCP is designed to facilitate the creation of broadcast video, DVDs, and web video. If previewing to a computer monitor displayed video accurately enough that they could be relied upon at even the minimum level required for outputting a professional product to tape or to DVD, pros would be using that feature and it would have been a feature of FCP a long time ago. On the other hand, professionals who output only web video hardly ever use anything but a computer display. Think about that…
BTW, you can expand the FCP to display full screen if you wish.
DRW
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Full Screen Playback is called “Digital Cinema Desktop” in FCP.
But really, you should have a pro video monitor or be labled a “hobbyist”.View > External Video > All Frames
View > Video Playback > DCD Preview RawPros tend to avoid cheesy transitions or fx in the pro realm. My sister in law is getting into the biz of
Ken Burns FX for B-day parties and weddings. EVERY single shot had a cheesy wipe (shudder).I mean compare the quality of FX you get with iMovie compared to BCC, Sapphire or Trapcode.
You simply can’t. Would an iMovie user see the need for Bumpmap or Displacement plug ins?
Probably not. However, these are prominently featured in a plug-in set I helped create. I consider them vital.I’m sure though, that iMovie is a fine tool for many projects, especially like that of my sister in law.
I’m gonna have to call her about those cheesy wipes though.Kevin Monahan
Take My FCP Master’s Workshop!
fcpworld.com
Pres. SF Cutters
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